Cabanas Jurassic Park

Today's upload of our Algarve holiday is a Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon/Kameleon). It is a stunning creature, and I was very happy to find one. They are known for their ability to change the color of their skin 'pixels' (in order to blend in their environment). But it is also fascinating to see the grabbing limbs, the independent directed eye-balls and the slow but careful movements of this African species. This photo goes with a little story.
I found on the Internet that Chameleons are seen regularly near the visitor center of the National Park Ria Formosa. So we went to this place (50 km from our apartment), and together with my wife Judith I checked-out every bush in bloody hot sunshine, without any success. A bit disappointed (but not too much, because this is how it typically goes when exploring nature; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose) we returned to our apartment. Later that day, at the end of the afternoon, when I was grabbing a well-deserved beer from the fridge I saw from the kitchen window of our apartment something 'suspicious' in the fence of the Garden Cabanas compound. I said to myself: “This can't be true; it must be a leave or some piece of wood sticking into the fence”. Against all odds I left my cold beer alone to check-out the strange leave. And this time it indeed was a Chameleon. And moreover this Chameleon appeared to be our garden companion. With some effort I found it back every day, and with some patience I could make this photo. The morale of this story: Pick up a cold beer from the fridge regularly (and while doing so, do not forget to look outside)!

* Canon EOS 7D, 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/320s; -0.3 stop; hand held.