The boulders near the palm oasis were festooned with small-scaled lizards, banded rock lizards, and these large wary fellows. Most of them wouldn't let me get near enough for a photo before scuttling away into a dark crevice, or around the back of a large rock. This one finally stayed still on a palm trunk while I slowly crept up on it.

The granite spiny lizards were really annoying on this extremely hot morning. I saw a lot of them in about an hour and a half (20, but who's counting?), but couldn't get near enough to any of them to get a decent close-up photo. They would mock me by basking in plain sight, waiting until I was almost ready to take a photo, then casually climbing out of sight into a crevice in the granite.

Three years later, and the granite spiny lizards were no more cooperative. There weren't as many around as on my last visit, but they were just as elusive.