When you win, yes win a safari and are the envy of friends, colleagues and indeed enemies, the correct protocol is surely to keep your head down and do your safari time …. quietly. Not so David Crumpton – not only has he enjoyed the regular surfeit of Valley Camp lions performing their balletic antics he has also scored pretty much the first Naboisho serval this year.

This is an obscene level of good fortune for anyone, let alone a prize winner. If lions are the Shearer or Kane of the bush, servals are the Messi: athletic, graceful: silent, efficient assassins. Photographing them is like trying to mark the little Argentinian, respect to you David and your guide Benja. The season is almost finished but the fat one is yet to sing her safari sonata, see you next week.

Hope to see you at Bradt’s Big Cat Festival 2019, Saturday 13th April, Royal Geographical Society London.
