We were driving in the Maasai Mara, hoping to find cheetahs on the hunt. That is truly spectacular to watch and though we had already seen one that morning I really was hoping to find another hunting cheetah. No such luck but movement in the tall grass caught my attention and we turned that way. It was a troop of baboons feeding and grooming on the ground. A troop has a few large bulls that run the whole show and the females and youngsters are their responsibility. So they are always on the lookout. I saw that they were more alert than the baboons I had seen in Kruger Park. This is cuz they live on the ground and trees are not really so readily available. Leopards would love to have a nice juicy baboon for lunch and it’s the big bulls job to make sure that does not happen.
Anyway as we drive closer there was more movement downwind of the baboons and my breath caught in my throat as I saw the yellow and black markings through the grass. Oh wow… I thought leopard……. Then the whole animal popped out of the bush and it was a serval. About the size of a 6-month-old leopard cub, so my bad. A serval is a tall sleek cat with poise and a very haughty expression if I may be allowed a little anthropomorphism.
Anyway he seemed very interested in the baboons and looked at them and then tried to stalk them. Then he tried a rush very close to a little one at which point the whole group started barking and screaming and the big bulls came hell for leather after the serval. He was taking no chances and spun around and was on his way. He was angling for the little baby baboon but stood no chance. I will give him full marks for guts though. He charged in to 10 baboons which all outweigh him 10 times.
He came away looking disappointed and I thought “hey pal, you best be glad they left you alone and did not pursue the chase”. He would have gotten torn apart. Bull baboons are not to be trifled with. Leopards do not take those type of chances and more often than not leopards will give ground to bull baboons. Anyway this guy lived to hunt another day.
