I found this lovely chameleon in among the lavender and if I hadn’t been watering the garden would never have spotted him/her. Upon further investigation I found that this is the Cape Dwarf Chameleon, technical name is Bradypodion pumilum, it is found in the Western Cape and more specifically in the region around Cape Town.

The Cape Dwarf Chameleon is presently on the CITES endangered species list. Garden chemicals and domestic cats are some of the reasons for these beautiful creatures steady decline.

Two years ago I found some newly born babies, which I managed to rescue from some hungry birds intent on devouring these little wriggly things, which looked far more like worms than chameleons. I put them into an aquarium with some pot plants for them to climb on to and hide in. I then added a light to keep them warm and some chopped banana to attract fruit flies for them for food. They loved this and although so very young they could flick their tongues out quite capably and capture the fruit flies, they in fact ate far more than what I imagined they could consume. I also lightly sprinkled water over the plants, every second day, as chameleons only drink water from the leaves of plants and never from a bowl.

Four months later and I put them out into the garden in a sunshade box with a larger plant, a miniature pomegranate tree, and still added the chopped bananas as bait for the fruit flies. The chameleons continued to thrive and at nine months old I released them into the garden proper and I like to think that this is one of them, if it is it could be a she as it is very fat and round and looks as though it could be pregnant? I sincerely hope so.

The animals of the planet are in desperate peril...

Without free animal life I believe we will lose the spiritual equivalent of oxygen.

Alice Walker