Encounter with a Zanzibar Servaline Genet

Happy New Year to all members of this blog!
I have the following story as a followup to Valdimir’s last post regarding amateur mammalwatching:
Last month I had the mammal thrill of a lifetime.  My wife and I were in Zanzibar to see the Jozani and Mtende forests (a trip very well organized by Lau and Sine of Mambo Poa Tours http://www.mambopoatours-zanzibar.com/) While Mtende was a bit of a disappointment, we were in Jozani in later afternoon and it was pure magic.  We saw the endemic red colobus that many tourists come to see and then leave.  However, we also had a quick view of a black and rufous sengi- a red rufous blur.  The highlight came when we were walking through the groundwater forest part of Jozani when our guide noticed the movement of a squirrel.  We watched it running up and down a tree trunk about 25 feet into the forest and then noticed it was being chased by a mongoose looking creature which turned out to be a Zanzibar Servaline Genet. I had hoped to see an Ader’s duiker at Mtende (saw some possible sign but no animals) but I never expected to see such a rare creature let alone to get good photos of it. They ran up and down the tree trunk over a minute and then ran down into the leaf litter and disappeared. It was a fantastic sight.
Zanzibar servaline genet 1 Zanzibar servaline genet 2
Andy Holman

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