Crombecs and Servals

So I guess its been quite a while since I've posted anything, and I know no one really reads this anyway, but I figured I might as well share a little about life here in the mara.

The other day, sitting in the mess tent at dinner with all the guests, a Red Faced Crombec flew into the mess from the open front of the tent. It must have been around 8:30pm, a time when I would never expect to see a diurnal bird like a crombec, and it seemed a little confused about its whereabouts. It perched itself on the basket-weave lampshades and sat still for a long time. After a while, however, I guess it decided to capitalize on the situation and began darting off, catching a couple of insects, which were very visible on the white cotton ceiling between the lamps.
Obviously entertaining for my guests, and fascinating for me, I was still a little worried that he was being blinded and confused by the lights and all the activity below him. When I left the mess at around 9:45, he was still there, flitting from one lampshade to another. But when I came back in the morning, he was gone. What happened to him, or why he was there in the first place will remain a mystery, I suppose.

Then just yesterday, having dropped a couple of guests off at Olkiombo airstrip, I was on my way back to camp, when I came across a beautiful serval, standing on the side of the road in the long grass. He seemed quite unperturbed by my sudden appearance and, actually, a little curious of the car. He stood and watched me fumble for my camera, pulling it out of the case and shoving the batteries in as fast as I could. As soon as the camera was on and ready to shoot, however, he was ambling his way past my door to smell the front bumper. Eventually he started walking up the road for a 100m or so before veering off to the left, ears erect and hair standing on end.
I followed until I dared not get any closer and switched off the engine. He had almost completely disappeared in the long grass and was inching forward, obviously with something in his sights. So I sat patiently for about 10 minutes, until I realized he wasn't moving forward anymore. I moved forward a couple of metres only to find him relaxing in the grass, obviously having given up on whatever he was stalking. Instantly, though, his ears pricked up again, and he stood up slowly, intent on something in front of him. Watching his lithe body moving in extreme stealth, as he stalked his prey was something I've never witnessed before with a serval. I waited for a pounce, with my camera at the ready, but when it actually happened it was over within a split second and my finger hadn't even pressed down the button! Anyway, he missed, and a very distressed cisticola flew out from under his chin, and off to freedom.

If I had some good pictures, I'd post them. I don't, so I won't.