Serval Hangs from Impala’s Head

A hungry serval thought it got lucky when it found an impala in a tree in Pilanesberg. Turns out the impala was expertly stashed by a leopard, and as hard as the serval tried to free the meal, it kept falling out of the tree without even getting a mouthful.

How the Serval was Found

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A couple of days before this happened, Kgodisa and Gahiji, taking turns feeding on an impala in a tree. Christine, a member of our community, happened to be using our platform at the time and marked the location as a spot to check out.

The leopards were tinged on Thswene Drive, between the Hippo Loop entrances. That’s exactly where Christine found the impala the next day; unfortunately, however, the leopards were nowhere to be seen.

But, there was a decent amount of meat left on the impala, so all hope was not lost. Knowing that anything could still happen, Christine decided to stay around a bit. She didn’t have to wait long for something even rarer than a sighting of two leopards to appear…

It wasn’t easy to see at first, but there was a serval sussing out the leftover impala all along. African serval cats are highly elusive even during active hours. If the serval wasn’t fully focused on the free meal in the tree, odds are that it would have gone completely unnoticed, even now, in the park’s peak season.

Christine couldn’t believe her luck. What are the odds of arriving at the sighting during the exact moment that a serval finds the impala, right? To make things even more extraordinary, the impala was wedged so tightly by its head and neck that the serval couldn’t get a firm grip. So, it wasn’t going to be leaving anytime soon!