When we were little in Bulawayo, the suburb of Suburbs used to be inundated with those incredible Blue Headed Lizards.

They were to be found scuttling up the Jacaranda trees, long tongues slithering out in search of white ants, or one would see them rather sadly squashed on the roads by passing cars as they scampered across the roads from one white ant restaurant to another.

Now the Blue Headed lizards, or rather the lack of them, has disturbed me for some time, and I get a stiff neck these days as I trot around Suburbs each evening, head wimbeldon-ing back and forth looking for signs of the darn things. Then this week I saw one, not the blue headed one but the same type with just a plain grey head, but still the knobbly scaly one, not the plain gecko that is still so prevalent.

(Must make a mental note to find out if this plain grey is his summer plumage or his mating plumage, or perhaps it is a female looking for her beautiful blue headed mate.)

But, it is still the only one that I have seen for absolutely ages, and it is a bit disturbing. One things for sure, it is not through a lack of white ants that the lizards are not to be found.

White ants still abound in Suburbs. we have lost many a section of wooden skirting board to the busy little blighters and the other day, whilst on White Ant Rampage, I put the hose pipe down the hole near the back bedroom and left it there, not for one day but two days and nothing happened......the water just kept on disappearing down the hole.

Then He Who Must Be Obeyed, who is much wiser that I, disapproved of this plan, imagining his home floating away down the Matsheumhlope like Noah's Ark and also picturing his water bill !!

There are so many termite mounds in Suburbs, that one day I am sure, we are going to wake up and find a great cavern, a veritable, Kimberly Big Hole...right where Suburbs used to be.

But I digress, what has happened to the Blue Headed lizards ?