It was about 12.30 when we entered the park and already a great crowd of Sunday tourists ha settled down to watch, photograph or feed these unusual but not particularly attractive reptiles.
Iguanas were congregated on tree limbs, hanging over the pathways, laid across walkways, along a small pond edging, on the newly mowed lawns and even on some park benches. We had to be careful to look up above us when we were photographing them in case they sent us an unwanted, ugly green message and we had to look down in case we trod on one of these protected species. In spite of these precautions none of our group was messed up and we all managed to take some close-up photographs of a variety of iguanas. I took one of several iguanas in a tree top but they are so camouflaged that they are hard to distinguish between the leaves. We watched their antics as they lay in the warmth of the sun and sometimes tussled with one another over some food that visitors had tossed to them. Pigeons soon joined in eating the food scraps with the iguanas that seemed at home with their feathered friends. Some iguanas measure up to a metre in length and they could easily eat a pigeon.
Tourists agree that the iguanas give a prehistoric and natural ambiance to the park.
We were amazed at seeing so many iguanas at one time, in a city park. They did not appear aggressive and seemed comfortable amongst humans. Some people patted them, others fed them by hand but we just enjoyed watching them lazing in the sun or wandering across the lawns, bobbing their heads up and down as they walked. They can run quite fast if they are spooked and we saw one race up a tree trunk and settle atop the leaves.
