Beauty around me

I was outside in the afternoon, hanging up clothes and I heard a sound of an animal trying to be quiet.  I looked up and saw, on a coconut palm near me, a monitor lizard creeping slowly and apparently clumsily, up.  But quiet though it was, my dog heard the sound and came running, barking away.  The next minute the lizard had gone up the tree so fast, it was unbelievable!  I never knew, 1) that monitor lizards climbed trees and 2) that they could move so fast.