True Blue

They’re very fussy about the hole they live in and they eat fruit that would burn our skin off. Grand Cayman’s blue iguanas are definitely one of a kind, says Katie Stacey

- Katie Stacey

An imposing, outrageously blue body, far bigger than any lizard ought to be. A knowing red eye, set in a mosaic of sky-blue scales. Peering at me, calm, unafraid. I had never seen anything remotely like this in all my life – the words of conservationist Fred Burton of his first encounter with one of the world’s rarest iguanas, the Cayman blue.

This rare and unlikely creature’s home is equally unlikely: the idyllic island of Grand Cayman, where turquoise waters lap cream-coloured beaches and Caribbean culture meets high-finance corporations. In the East End region of this little island, there is a uniquely inhospitable landscape that just so happens to be ideal iguana habitat.

Our mission to photograph the Cayman blue begins at the Salina Reserve, a patchwork of around 2.5km 2 of sedge and buttonwood swamp, dry shrubland and forest, which can only be negotiated on foot. There are no real trails to speak of, and the area’s hostile wilds have a reputation for unprepared explorers underestimating their surroundings and going missing. Fortunately, our guide is Paul Watler of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands. Paul is armed with years of experience and a GPS, both of which prove invaluable as we strike out across the ‘iron shore’, an epic 16 million-year-old reef that forms the basis of our route.

DANGEROUS TERRITORY