Our tent is located under a thatched roof made of grass. Whether it is weavers picking the grass for a nest or the surprisingly cute arboreal acacia rat making a nest of it, the dried grasses can become its own little ecosystem.
This past week we had two unusual and notable events occur, both of which had never happened before. The first occurred while we were on the phone with someone and we were startled by a rustling at the very top of our roof. We were initially afraid it was a snake because of the loud rustling. We got out our binoculars and saw it was a...white-throated monitor lizard?! It was a pretty massive reptile that had wedged itself in the top of our roof and was making himself very comfortable. He spent the night and in the morning we could see him basking through a hole that he had unfortunately (for us) poked.
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You can kind of see him here.
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| Zoomed in. |
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| White-throated monitors can be BIG and are in the same family as the more well known Komodo Dragons (Varanidae) |
Later that day we were inside the tent and when looking out the window we saw a Flap-necked Chameleon hanging from the roof. It was a funny scene and I helped the chameleon find a safer location. My efforts were not appreciated as it was hissing and attempting to bite me the entire time but I will also admit that I appreciated its dramatic change of colors. I had never seen one with such a deep orange which was visually stunning though a by-product of the stress that I induced. At least it was only temporary as I photographed him and then quickly sent him on his way within some shrubs.
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Hanging upside down, looking for a way out
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It changed colors dramatically after I handled it. It was NOT happy about being handled.
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