Where Iguanas and Chickens Roam Free
If you visit the Cayman Islands and don’t see a chicken or iguana, you either have your head buried in a smart phone or arrived during a hurricane. Iguanas and chickens are crawling all over island. Green iguanas are hanging on the sides of buildings and chickens are crossing the road so often that chicken jokes are no longer funny. Their presence permeates life on island.
NOT a Real Blue Iguana
Now it’s important that you know that there are two types of iguanas on island, the blue and the green. The blue iguana is symbolic of Grand Cayman. Our international basketball tournament, the Blue Iguana Jamboree, is named after it. On the other hand, the green iguana is considered a pest. The blue iguana lives protected at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Garden. The green ones live everywhere but there. The blue was on the brink of extinction, and is successfully rebounding. Locals would like for the green to be extinct.
Green Iguana at Turtle Farm Grand Cayman
Sophie even has a pet green iguana that sits outside her window sill. She fondly named him Inky. I’m not sure if she picked this name because she likes that pet name or due to the amount of his crap that stains her window ledge outside.
Inky the Green Iguana Hanging Out
I can tell you this much, iguanas love the heat and they are stupid. You will find green iguanas perched on the ledges of buildings sunbathing. You will find them in the midday sun in open fields. You will also find them leisurely walk in the middle of busy roads finding the perfect spot in the sun. This is where the stupidity comes into play. Pancake flat dead iguanas litter the streets. Green iguanas don’t attempt to avoid vehicles until they’re directly on top of them.
A Chicken Welcome at the Grand Cayman Airport
In some countries, people would kill for a single chicken. Here, flocks of chickens roam the city and countryside unfettered. On campus, they walk our open air hallways and disrupt classes with incessant clucking. Our downstairs Italian neighbor collects eggs lying under bushes every couple of days. When my parents visited in November, they intently passed some of the time watching chickens. My Mom eagerly took photos of chickens running around the airport and my Dad often mumbled, “that rooster sure does have a lot of hens following him all the time”.
If your bucket list includes seeing iguanas and chickens living a carefree life, book your flight to Grand Cayman.
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[…] Free range green iguanas and chickens roam the island uninhibited without a care in the world. Our neighbor downstairs would go out […]