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South Africa wildlife I

I’ve renamed my nature photoblog series from ‘Cape Town wildlife’ to ‘South Africa wildlife’, to distinguish these new occasional posts from my previous month-by-month year of wildlife posts. It’s been a long time since I last posted nature photos (9 months!), so I have a lot of special things saved up to show you, when I have time to organise and edit my thousands of photos! I’ll ease back into the wildlife blogging with a study of one of my favourite local animals…

I like to play ‘spot the chameleon’ in my garden. It’s like a real-life version of Where’s Wally/Waldo, only with a much better reward: you get to watch the tiny adorably grumpy-faced lizard after you spot him, and, because chameleons don’t dart off in a split second like geckos do, it’s much easier to take good photos.

I have no idea how many Cape Dwarf Chameleons live in, or visit, our garden. My best guess is ‘several’, and I choose to believe that they are all babies of Kermy, the chameleon I used to watch every day last year (and even fed a grasshopper to, on one magical occasion). Look how difficult it is to spot the (full-sized) Kermy:

cape dwarf chameleon

There he is! In dark colour mode:

cape dwarf chameleon

And in bright colour mode, with my hand for scale:

cape dwarf chameleon

Now imagine how much more difficult the chameleon-spotting game is when they are teeny-tiny babies like this:

cape dwarf chameleon

Awww! And it’s not just the size that makes it tricky; they change colour like crazy! Here’s another baby (these are all the same species btw, Cape Dwarf Chameleons):

cape dwarf chameleon

Look at the amazing colours!

cape dwarf chameleon

I was even more excited though, when I saw this completely different type of baby chameleon…

cape dwarf chameleon

(who, incidentally, has a pretty neat way of hiding when he sees you coming…)

cape dwarf chameleon
Where did he go?!

…only to discover the next day that his grey colouring was just skin getting ready to shed and he was a regular green chameleon all along! I could hardly believe it, but I have proof: here he is with just the nose skin left:

cape dwarf chameleon

And then I spotted this very skinny orange baby on the same bush, so I know for sure that there are at least 2 of them:

cape dwarf chameleon

The next day, I managed to catch one of them napping! Awwww….

cape dwarf chameleon

Then I didn’t spot any for a couple of weeks until yesterday, when I found this one – he’s much bigger now, and starting to look more like his daddy, my old friend Kermy 🙂

cape dwarf chameleon

You can probably tell that I’m pretty smitten with these little guys…

I almost wish I hadn’t already designed my chameleon crochet pattern last year, because I’m just not getting over this fascination, so I settled on the next best thing: I’ve designed a different lizard pattern to indulge in my newfound appreciation for reptiles. (It’s a cute one, and I’ll be revealing it very soon…)

I really hope you’ve enjoyed my chameleon photos – please leave me a comment if so. I promise I’ll try not to leave such a long gap until my next wildlife report 🙂

27 Comments »

  1. P Muller said

    Good afternoon,

    Is your website still active?

    PM

    • June said

      Yes, it is! But I don’t live in South Africa any more, so there won’t be any more African wildlife posts… If you look through my Wildlife & Nature archives though, there are 12 posts in my Cape Town Wildlife series and 11 in my South Africa Wildlife series that you can still enjoy 🙂

  2. Kiirsi said

    I love these photos so much! My 12-year-old son does, too…he is obsessed with lizards, especially loves chameleons. Thank you so much for posting!

  3. Caroline said

    They are gorgeous photos, gorgeous subjects! Very much worth waiting for. Thank you for the glimpses.

  4. Allie said

    AHhhh these are so adorable. Such fascinating animals–you’re so lucky to have them nearby all the time!! xx

  5. Kristy Tyra said

    I love your chameleons! They are so amazing!

  6. I love the wildlife sharing. I’m so charmed by your chameleons in this post. 😀

  7. Those guys are really a lot more adorable than I would imagine reptiles should be 🙂

  8. Susan Carder said

    I love your wildlife posts! As an earlier commenter said, “no pressure” but I would enjoy seeing more.
    Thank you!

  9. Julie said

    Thanks so much for sharing these photos! It’s great to see all the different colors – I’d love to have friends like that living in my yard! I really do love your wildlife series 🙂

  10. Angela said

    These wildlife posts are some of my favorite. 🙂 Aaaaah, could those babies even BE any cuter?

  11. Desiree said

    I love the look inside your life in South Africa.

    Please don’t stop, but also don’t feel any pressure. I enjoy your posts.

  12. Amazing photos!

  13. Martha said

    I can sure see why you are smitten. They are such fasinating creatures. I have missed your wildlife posts. They make me feel like I’ve taken a vacation to the other side of the world. Thanks for the new post.

  14. Simone said

    Squeeeee! Those are cute little critters! Makes me want to do another chameleon with your pattern. 😉

  15. I just LOVE these chameleons! I’d be looking at them all the time too! Even if you only get a chance to do a wildlife post once in a blue moon, it is always a treat! I’m glad that you are getting into reptiles. I think they make great amigurumi. The crochet stitches naturally look like tiny scales. If you ever want to make a New World reptile, might I suggest the Green Iguana? They are so cute! Love their dewlaps!

  16. Kim said

    Very neat photos! Thanks for sharing them.

  17. Alicia Brink said

    Thanks for sharing your photos. I love to see the wild life from around the world.

  18. pam said

    What a treat that you shared these sweet creatures with all of us. And they live in your own backyard? Lucky you!

    No wonder you are so smitten.

  19. Alycia said

    How awesome!! I’m so excited because I love chameleons and have been wanting one for a long time, but to have them living in the wild in my garden would be even better 🙂

  20. Gillian said

    I LOVE these pictures, June – I’ve missed your photographs while you’ve been unwell. I do hope you’re feeling a lot better now. Can’t wait to see the lizard pattern. I’m thinking about how to add that ridge to the spine of your chameleon pattern.

  21. Loulou said

    How interesting. You got such great pictures of them!

  22. Johanna said

    They are beautiful! Don’t you miss the snow though? Ok, maybe not. It sure is a chilly windy New England day here. Thanks for the warm looking photos!

  23. Anna (alcatmom) said

    Love the photos! The chameleons are adorable, especially the little ones!! Thanks!

  24. Beautiful! Amazing! I LOVE all the new photos! So many different looks for a chameleon! and “in person”! 😀 I have missed your wildlife posts, this one was fun! Thanks June!

  25. Susanna said

    Beautiful! I love lizards, the chameleon is on my to-do list, can’t wait to see the new one too!

  26. Lindy said

    Amazing! How interesting, and great colours and brilliant photos!
    Love, Lindy xx

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