Its length is 7.6 centimetres (3.0 in), relatively small for its genus, and it has bulbous scales of varying colors scattered around the body.

Males have a short orange stripe around the middle of their bodies and red-spotted eyelids, whereas females are brown with smaller helmet-like protrusions.

[4][5] This is a very close relative of the black-headed dwarf chameleon (B. melanocephalum), which looks very different due to adaptation to low forest and fynbos on the slopes and cliffs seawards from the B. thamnobates range.

[6] An undescribed dwarf chameleon population from Gilboa and Karkloof Forests in KwaZulu-Natal seems closely related to both B. melanocephalum and B. thamnobates.

[8][9] The range of the Midlands and Gilboa Forest populations and that of the Drakensberg dwarf chameleon (B. dracomontanum) require delimitation, as they appear to touch in eastern Lesotho and adjacent South Africa.