Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories

We all come from somewhere, and Chris Holmes, who oversees the Texas Outdoor Family in State parks program, comes from England. From the time he was a boy, Chris had a passion for the outdoors. It made sense that when he became an adult, he would seek a career that kept him close to nature. He has followed that career to several continents and two hemispheres. He shares a favorite memory.

I was a park ranger once in Australia. And we had some monitor lizards that were fairly aggressive—similar to the raccoons here in Texas—they would go after food. And it was always very funny to watch these monitor lizards slinking up towards tents, and smelling the food. These lizards were about five to six feet long. So, having a monitor lizard stick their head through the tent—a lot of people are not used to seeing that. So that was a lot of fun. And sometimes, maybe we had some mischievous young adults that have kept us awake at nighttime, so we may have encouraged the lizards to go see them in the morning.

Monitor lizards are like raccoons. I don’t think so. Thanks, Chris.

Do you have a fond memory of time you’ve spent in the Texas outdoors…a mischievous moment…a tale of terror…tell us. Go to passportotexas.org and click the Outdoor Stories link and tell us all about it. We may use it in the show.

That’s our show…for today. Remember: Life’s Better Outside… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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