Who says lizards can’t fish?

I love the natural world and it’s always tough to say which part of it I enjoy the most. However, there are two aspects I really do love, and they will never be out of the top five, and that’s fishing and reptiles. So you can imagine when the two come together in one moment it brings up a sense of euphoria with which little can compare (except the birth of my daughter, and my partnership with my lovely wife).

How does a reptile fish? I’m not referring to a brown water snake hunting in the shallows nor a crocodile waiting at the base of a rapid. My euphoria exploding moment happened watching a water monitor using its tail to school fish in a shallow pool.

The Sand River had dropped and a pool of water was all that was left in a small depression on the edge of the river valley. To our amazement this tiny isolated bit of water held so much life. As we turned the corner, we saw a saddle-billed stork fly off with a hammerkop following closely behind. Straight away I killed the ignition knowing that I had unintentionally disturbed the scene. But it wasn’t totally still. There was movement on the surface. I picked up the binoculars and guided my guests to look closer, a water monitor was there in this pool. They tend to be shy reptiles but this one didn’t want to leave.

We then observed as it used its tail to try and trap the fish against the bank. Their tail is almost twice as long as their body and quite broad, designed for swimming. This one felt it was well suited for fishing.

We watched as it used the curvature of its body and tail going from one side to the other of the small pan in hopes for fish for an early dinner. With very little success it kept trying like any good fisherman does. We watched in amazement as its never-give-up attitude was keeping the small reptile busy in its will to survive.