From the first moment I heard about the Caiman Lizard (Anolis Vermiculatus), a species endemic to western Cuba and especially to the Mil Cumbres Protected Area in the province of Pinar del Rio 🇨🇺, I could not contain my desire to go and photograph it in its natural environment.
I had the best friends for the trip, we gathered the necessary equipment and set out on the journey.
Getting to the place was an odyssey, a very tiring trip, but we wanted to be there in contact with nature so much that we were getting strength all the time.
Very early in the morning we started the trip to the rivers where we could find them.
It is not easy, you have to be very quiet because they are very skittish and at the slightest sign of danger they hide. The first one I saw was a juvenile, on a rock in the sun. The feeling of finding it is indescribable.
Then an adult appeared, trying to hunt a damsel. Little by little others arrived and when I realized, I was surrounded by them. It is an experience to be lived, a mixture of joy and satisfaction, and being accompanied by such good friends who are already family, one thinks that there can be nothing more satisfying in this life.
As the afternoon was falling and the light was getting warmer, I saw the opportunity to photograph another species of anole, which although it was not in the best position, let me take a backlight, a picture that I always keep with great affection.
Arriving at the village, the well-deserved rest and, why not, a bottle of mango pulp and the respective selfie to make history.
All photos used are taken by me, with a Nikon D200 camera and a Tamron 70-300mm lens. I also used my phone for some of the pictures.
Text translated into English by DeepL.