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I know lots of people battle to spot them, but how many of you can say you have loads in your garden? I was one of those who could say that, but since these constant high winds – not anymore. I blame it on the wind and not on the fact that I talked to them - of course. When we moved into our house in Bothasig 10 years ago there was no garden. Well, there was one moth eaten guava tree whose sole aim seemed to be to drop tiny bullet hard fruit that played havoc with the lawn mower; dirty sand with patches of moth eaten grass, a succulent plant entwined with a basketball hoop and more cigarette ends than I have ever seen in my life - and I have worked in pubs and bars! I love gardening, so I started to create a garden. To start with I had no money to spend on loads of plants, so my partner and I took his Kombi and paid a visit to the rubbish dump. This was 10 years back when it was still in Parklands and no one stopped you taking away old tree roots and the like – now I have to pay the guy at the Dunoon dump if I want old tree roots. We loaded said tree roots and odd plants that people had dumped and brought them home. These and some sale plants formed the basis of the garden. I will not bore you with too many of the details but the logs and chunks of wood were strategically placed and somewhere along the line we must have brought frogs home with us too as we started getting merry ribbitting in the evenings, particularly after my granddaughter and I spent a day in the rain making a pond in one corner of the garden. So far so good. Trees started to bush out, and bushes started to grow, creepers covered the walls, and things filled the beds and then one day I spotted a lady chameleon. Now, don’t ask me how you sex a chameleon, because I honestly don’t really know. I have ideas on the subject around the crest on the head, and that seems to work out, but in this case she was a lady and she was pregnant. She had a bad wound on her one side and I did wonder if a bird or cat had had her and dropped her in our garden. At any rate she proved to be the Eve of chameleons for our garden, as she popped babies like it was going out of fashion, and they popped babies, and they popped babies – the garden was a chameleon paradise and breeding ground! Thank goodness they do not chirrup! They can give a good hiss though. Over by the pond I had planted a reed type grass and the chameleons seemed to like this and used it for a nursery. This was where you first saw the babies. It got so that I would see a large plump chameleon [okay, so chameleons cannot be called plump, but they swell out when full of chameleonettes], hanging around the area and know that we would have new additions to the family. It was my first port of call in the early morning, coffee in hand, to see if there were any on the reedy grass stalks. They are so cute and brown; about an inch to an inch and a half long from tip to tail. They only start changing colour when they get a bit bigger. The have big heads and eyes, like most babies. They look like little brooches, and on the grass stalks they looked like bits of lumpy stalk. Anyway, the garden was veritably seething with chameleons. I enjoy spotting them no matter how well they blended in. Best time to see them is in late afternoon and early morning – when there is no wind, because in the morning they go high up on any bush or tree or plant to catch the first rays of the sun to warm up. Late afternoon on a still day they tend to be high up again to catch the last of the sun and catch flies and bugs. My partner could never spot them and used to get angry about this, but I have found the best way to spot them is to not look too intensely. Look, but more in a glancing over the shrubbery way. The Western Cape Chameleons are usually to be found as lime or slightly duller green colours with reddish pink patches along their sides. Each one has its own pattern, much like a fingerprint I would guess. I can tell them apart in my garden at any rate. Eve was around in our garden for about 3 years or so, and then one day I found her dead on the grass. I presume she died of old age – and popping little chameleonettes! But the tribe was well established and we continued to have loads of chameleons. It got so that you had to be careful as you mowed the lawn as they would also take short cuts to a particular bush or tree across the lawn. Fortunately I never chopped one up, but it was a close call on a couple of occasions. I would have been really upset had I done so. I feel they are my family in my garden, and I really do talk to them. My X-lab, Willa, is not keen on them and if she hears me talking in my chameleon voice she is there like a shot to check on these little critters that walk on me. They do get used to handling as well if you do it regularly. I just love their little hands and feet too. I had to go overseas for a while, but when I got back I was pleased to see a number of them in the garden despite the garden having suffered while I was not there to nurture and look after it. It was my first port of call actually, a tour of the garden to find and talk to my chameleons. During 2008 they were again thriving as my garden came back to life and burgeoned, and I enjoyed my morning and late afternoon perambulations around the garden looking for my chammies. As I have already said in a previous post, I belong to a couple of ‘Friends of’ and another one I belong to is the Tygerberg Hills. They also have regular events, like walks and talks, and during 2008 we had a lady come and talk to us about the flora and some fauna of the area. She had grown up around there and had, as kids do, come to know the names of the various flora and fauna, and photographed much of it too. She mentioned the Western Cape Chameleons and said that they were disappearing, so, after the talk I went to speak to her and tell her about my garden and chammies. A few people asked me what plants and trees I had in my garden that seemed to attract them, because they did not seem to have any in their gardens. I left feeling lucky that I had so many in my garden. Special in fact. The Cape has always had its windy periods, but you knew when they were and then they went away and you had weeks and months of fine weather. As 2009 galloped towards its close this was not the case. If there are constant strong winds like we now have, there are fewer flies cleaning their hairy legs whilst sitting on a branch within reach of a sticky, extending chammie tongue, and I think that they have either gone to ground or have died, maybe even moved off. I had friends arrive in September and October, and fortunately there were several chammies around then for them to photograph and look at, but since around the middle to end of November I have not seen even one! From an extensive family to zilch. I am so sad, and I still look for them in what were their favourite places, as well as the more sheltered places, but I have not seen one. So, there you probably have an effect of climate change, and this will affect other creatures as well of course. I no longer have frogs in the garden, and I do not hear them ribbitting every evening up the road as the used to do either. I hope that we are not going to lose the Western Cape chameleons. They really are cute. Until my next post… keep your eyes peeled and let me know about any you see, or, if one of you has a garden that still has them in, let me know about your garden and the effect of wind in your area for example. Bye for now. Image Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Dwarf_Chameleon Comments
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 written by Sophia , February 09, 2010
I have also loved Chameleons since my first spotting of one as a child and indeed have many chameleon stories. I am also able to spot them easily. As they are so dear to my heart their welfare also concerned me. In our garden in Somerset West we have lots of chameleons. The winds have not been a problem as there are always an abundance of insects for them to eat and many quiet days between the winds. They prefer bushes with fine branches and leaves and move to bushes that are in flower thus attracting insects. This year however, a few just died mysteriously, I suspect poisoning. As the chameleons seem to move around a lot perhaps they ventured into other gardens where poisons were used. They are so vulnerable to poisoning, I wish more can be done to make people aware especially in the Western Cape that there might be Chameleons in their gardens even if they do not see them. I am very concerned for their future.
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I have enjoyed reading your post about the chameleons and I am glad to say that we are very fortunate to also have them in our garden still. We stay in Sonstraal in Durbanville and my husband is also the one that spots them easily. I am more like your partner and hubby usually lands up pointing them out to me with the broomstick. I don't think he counts them because we have a huge propperty of over 1100 square metres. We have found 2 dead onder trees after a day of hectic wind. My husband thinks that it is actually the wind that blows them out of the trees/or they loose their grip somehow. One was in the top of a cordalline that stands very high (probably 5-6 metres) and as you know there aren't much place to grip on the leaves of a cordalline. So I think the wind really got to him that day. I never thought of the fly theory but will mention it to my husband.
Take Care
Zettie