jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
I finally had a chance to go through some of the chameleon shots while in Madagascar on the island of Nosy Be. I know many of you will be very disappointed because I mostly have Nosy Be Panther shots and a few Brookesia.
We spent one day and night in Tanny (Antananarivo) which was extremely scary and 6 nights on the beautiful island of Nosy Be. We stayed at the Amarina Hotel and Resort and it was truly spectacular. I will post resort and Nosy Be pictures in the Lizard Lounge when I get a chance. I also have photos of chams from Cape Town that I will post later.
The resort website for those interested. http://www.amarinahotelmadagascar.com/index_eng.php
We were the only Americans there and very few English speaking people. Three of the workers at the resort knew a little English. One of the workers told us that the dry season kills off most of the chameleons every year and they pick them up off the ground. The eggs hatch in early spring and the chams start all over again. Most of the panthers we saw were young. It was late spring/early summer there. Once the workers figured out we were looking for chamelongs, as they called them, they would wait for us for hours to come out of our villa or off the beach to take us and show us another chamelong. Some of the chams were friendly and others did not want to be messed with. We would always return them to the exact spot that we found them in after a photo session.
The flora and fauna was absolutely gorgeous and we saw more chameleons on our resort that in the rain forest. We walked on the beach and found most of the chams in the trees and bushes on the edge of the beach and on the walking trails behind the hotel. They were even on the bushes right outside our villa room door. It was amazing that we found most in small bushes with flowers, that attracted bugs for food.
The resort was very safe and secure protected by guards all around the property. Maddy was extremely scary and very sad for me to see all the poverty. Madagascar was by far the poorest county I’ve ever been to, much worse that Africa and Brazil. If the locals don’t stop cutting the trees and burning the forest down to plant rice, pretty soon there will be no wildlife left to see. We could see smoke everywhere from the fires and tons of rice fields to feed the starving Malagasi. Their entire day is filled with looking for food, preparing the food, eating and getting up and doing the same thing again the next day.
Ok here are the pictures. Jeremy I tried to keep a count for you. We saw 40 + chams althogether.
I hope you enjoy.
Our first boy
Our second boy and these two lived together in the same big tree.
Our 3rd boy and this is the bush he lived in right outside our door.
4th baby girl living on a tiny bush at first before moving to a bigger tree
4th girls larger tree
5th cham another little skinny girl that I tried to catch flies for
6th cham was a young handsome boy and so sweet
We spent one day and night in Tanny (Antananarivo) which was extremely scary and 6 nights on the beautiful island of Nosy Be. We stayed at the Amarina Hotel and Resort and it was truly spectacular. I will post resort and Nosy Be pictures in the Lizard Lounge when I get a chance. I also have photos of chams from Cape Town that I will post later.
The resort website for those interested. http://www.amarinahotelmadagascar.com/index_eng.php
We were the only Americans there and very few English speaking people. Three of the workers at the resort knew a little English. One of the workers told us that the dry season kills off most of the chameleons every year and they pick them up off the ground. The eggs hatch in early spring and the chams start all over again. Most of the panthers we saw were young. It was late spring/early summer there. Once the workers figured out we were looking for chamelongs, as they called them, they would wait for us for hours to come out of our villa or off the beach to take us and show us another chamelong. Some of the chams were friendly and others did not want to be messed with. We would always return them to the exact spot that we found them in after a photo session.
The flora and fauna was absolutely gorgeous and we saw more chameleons on our resort that in the rain forest. We walked on the beach and found most of the chams in the trees and bushes on the edge of the beach and on the walking trails behind the hotel. They were even on the bushes right outside our villa room door. It was amazing that we found most in small bushes with flowers, that attracted bugs for food.
The resort was very safe and secure protected by guards all around the property. Maddy was extremely scary and very sad for me to see all the poverty. Madagascar was by far the poorest county I’ve ever been to, much worse that Africa and Brazil. If the locals don’t stop cutting the trees and burning the forest down to plant rice, pretty soon there will be no wildlife left to see. We could see smoke everywhere from the fires and tons of rice fields to feed the starving Malagasi. Their entire day is filled with looking for food, preparing the food, eating and getting up and doing the same thing again the next day.
Ok here are the pictures. Jeremy I tried to keep a count for you. We saw 40 + chams althogether.
I hope you enjoy.
Our first boy
Our second boy and these two lived together in the same big tree.
Our 3rd boy and this is the bush he lived in right outside our door.
4th baby girl living on a tiny bush at first before moving to a bigger tree
4th girls larger tree
5th cham another little skinny girl that I tried to catch flies for
6th cham was a young handsome boy and so sweet
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