My guide Udaya Chanaka told me that these lizards, while widespread in Sri Lanka, are not usually easy to find in any particular place. But he know of one patch of forest that had a thriving population so one morning we went there and sure enough saw at least a dozen.

I saw a few more elsewhere on my trip, but never more than one or two a day, and usually only from a distance. This photo was taken from a safari vehicle in Yala National Park, where we had gone to look for leopards.