Late evenings rarely found us in the forest. One time, we deliberately set out on the trail a bit later to see the forest creatures that are active at night. We also wanted to see the mushrooms that glow in the dark again, so we only used our flashlight occasionally. This time, only the tiny fungi covering the fallen bamboo turned out to be faintly aglow. However, luck smiled upon us on the way back. The flashlight's beam revealed a gecko, a creature with extraordinarily expressive eyes, as if framed by eyelashes. The scales on its skin shimmered in golden hues against the backdrop of a wall covered with a thin layer of yellow-green moss. It seemed I had seen this gecko before in an atlas with photographs from Bidoup Nui Ba, and it was someone unique! The little reptile, completely unafraid, posed for a long time without running away. Later, my guess was confirmed: this gecko, Cyrtodactylus bidoupimontis, was first described in 2012 as a separate species in the National Park, and encountering it was a great fortune.

Thanks to social media, which "overheard" our conversation about the gecko and immediately suggested an account for friendship with a Russian scientist whose team discovered and registered this new species, we were able to learn more. The scientist also confirmed that we had encountered a young individual that had not yet acquired all the traits of an adult gecko.