The Endless Plains, Chapter 9: Cats & Dogs.

 Thursday Morning 18th September

After seeing so much incredible wildlife action, we knew that the possibility of our safari continuing like this was between small to impossible.

Wrong again.

At sunrise, we had already arrived at the hyena den that we had previously spotted. They were tentatively coming out. 

Very tentatively.

They soon gained confidence and started to play. 

They showed interest in us. Hopefully not as a food source.

They even came over to our truck for a good look around.

Hyenas do have a very bad press. They are often portrayed as the evil henchmen. This is partially because of Disney's version of Lion King, and partially because they are evil henchmen.

Despite that, they can look cute. Honest.

As they age, they deteriorate.

Does that sound familiar?

There were a pair of male lions not too far away, so we were torn between hyenas and lions to get golden hour photos.

Purfect lighting.

See what I did there?

We then saw more cats in the form of a female cheetah and two older cubs.

And even managed another glimpse of our favourite leopard cubs.

Before checking out yet another male lion.

With the usual dental problems.

Just as we thought we were running out of cats...

A serval cat!

We managed to stay with this cat for over half an hour, better than I've ever done before.

They are fairly closely related to caracals, although this is disputed by some taxonomists and most caracals.

Their legs are abnormally long compared to the domestic cat. Their heads abnormally small. Assuming our moggy is normal of course.

It may not be the equal to the work of the caracal's beautician, but it can climb nearly as well, and jump nearly as well.

The serval is active both day and night. A bit like I used to be. Long ago...

Although, like caracal, they only go searching for a male about twice a year, they do have a long bond with their young. A year or more. Humans, take note.

When hunting, which is pretty much all the time, they tend to move their head up and down, the opposite of all other cats. Way to be different.

Once more, an amazing day. Surely this could not last?

It did, but not in the way we had hoped. What is to come next was to underline to me the horror that nature can impose.

Let's spend a little time building up to that life-changing moment...