Relaxed Serval

We were following fresh elephant bull tracks in the northern area of the reserve. We started getting audio of this animal. We then turned around to go and see if we can get a visual of the elephant on the western side of the block where we had the audio. As we came around the corner Zakele our tracker said stop. I asked him what have you seen. He then replied and said he just saw a serval in the grass to our left. We looked around for a bit and then carried on looking for the elephant. We drove around the block again and as we came around to the previous position where we saw the serval, there it was. The serval standing next to the road in the long grass. We viewed it for quite a long time. These solitary cats are normally very nocturnal and viewing it in the day without it running of was very special. There is sometimes serval sightings on the reserve but not really during daytime.

Posted: &BEYOND Phinda by philip de bruyn, Date: 18 February 2008