Loretta was 12 when we first went to Tanzania. As a total (wild) cat fan, she knows about predatory cats that I didn’t even know existed. So she was well informed about wild cats living in the Serengeti when we went on our first safari there. “How are the chances of seeing a serval here?” she asked our guide on the very first evening. He said that you would need a lot of luck to see one.
The next morning we drove through the Serengeti towards the Ngorongoro Crater. The route was long and on the way we saw lots of animals, such as a male lion walking on the road and a beautiful cheetah right next to the car. A little later, guide and daughters saw an animal that was not recognizable at first sight. At the second glance they realized that it was a serval. They saw it very briefly—then it was gone again. I didn’t see the wild cat, but I did see something else I had never seen before: my child was crying with joy and emotion, WOW!!!! She was so surprised that tears of joy rolled down her face—how beautiful is that??? What an extraordinary day (!), but it was not over yet. We later visited the Ngorongoro Crater and had a fantastic safari. By the way, the crater is paradise par excellence for me. As a big surprise we saw in the crater … another serval. This one was looking for food and we could watch him for more than 30 minutes, partly really close.
So we all had the pleasure to see a serval. And for my daughter this was probably the most beautiful day of her life so far!
