Stephen Davis and Girish Luchooman, Tableview
The waterwise restio,(elegia tectorum) provides the perfect host for the Cape dwarf chameleon, one of the few which gives birth to live young.
The reed stem is just the right size for their little digits to hang on to, especially when the gruelling south-easter takes them on a dizzying ride.
It is also the ideal place to lie in wait for the vlei gnats at dusk and provides cover from the prying eyes of both the neighbour’s feline and the ever watchful fiscal shrike.
We have counted as many as 19 babies in one evening:
In the garden, a small bradypodion
Can change colour in case she is preyed upon.
With her tongue mighty long,
And a tail just as strong,
She can hang upside down at her luncheon.
Her eyes move in different direction
And no bug can avoid her detection.
For hours she just sits
‘Til her meal past her flits,
Then its zap…and a crunch… what perfection!
