More from the Martinique!

On the same day during which I managed to spot the Thrasher , we went to Le Robert (for some reason, cities seem to have been given the names of people on this island), hopped on a boat and were taken to a beach on Ilet Madame. Before getting there though, we stopped briefly on Ilet Chancel to see the Lesser Antillean Iguana, that numbers about 1000 on this island in Martinique, but because of predation by feral and introduced animals (see the usual suspects: cats, mongoose, rats, dogs..) and high fragmentation of the population (more nuclei exist on various islands in the Caribbean) is considered endangered by the IUCN.

a beautiful female

We were alone on Ilet Chancel, a rare and pleasant condition, considering the amount of tourists that usually visit the island: 600 per day! We walked around quite silently and, helped by our local guide started seeing the iguanas…that were literally everywhere. Females, being a brilliant green, were easier to see than the males, a duller grey. They were on the rocks, trunks, ground;

a large male

A beautiful female, very obvious on the brown mulch!

behind logs, scurrying between the ruins of a sugar (or rum?) factory…

another male

a female, in a “sleepy-time” position!

…and on the branches above us. I stood underneath one, and asked the guide:

“How can they just hang there, on the branches? They must be very good climbers”

And the guide promptly answered:

“Oh no, they’re not: they fall very often!”

I quickly took a photo and moved away.

Just hangin’

checking me out ^_^