From Rhinos to a Feisty Cat - How Casper Came to Life

The idea for our Casper series came about because Mark thought it would be great to have a story set around the animals gathering at a waterhole. We’d been in Africa only a few weeks I think, and I’m not even 100% sure we’d seen many waterholes at this point, except maybe the one at Etosha Pans National Park. To be honest, now that I’m writing this, I can see why he’d thought of the idea. – the nights we spent watching rhinos battle each other at the waterhole were long and fascinating. What is with those animals! Non-stop butting at each other.  The rest of the animals – and I mean elephants and giraffes, so no tiny munchkins themselves – would get really upset and take their babies and walk away from the water. I felt so bad for them, had they drunk enough? When would they be able to come back? Why could they not all just live in peace? 

Well, anyway, he told me his idea on one of our long drives and I really wasn’t sure I could write something like that, mainly I guess because I’m not good at ensemble pieces. (Or rhino battles?). A few days later I happened to read an article about a cat that had gotten lost and travelled some 300 miles (it was in the States) to get home. I wondered how it had gotten home – had other cats and dogs helped it - like the old underground escape networks during both the epoch of slavery and the second world war? 

Well, obviously we couldn’t ask the cat, but I absolutely loved the idea of this cat stopping all the cats and dogs she meets along the way and asking for directions. I wondered if the animals would have different sort of attitudes depending on which town or suburb they lived in, I mean, gangster cats in a dangerous area is no stretch of the imagination, surely? Would they all help, or would there be really mean ones who actually put her in danger or just sent her in the wrong direction? 

And here we were, in Africa, with no shortage of animals, of every size and type and shape and I would absolutely love to write a heroine who is a cat. Why not put these two facts together and have a lost cat who asks for directions from a whole heap of fascinating wild animals? And make it totally educational so that as many kids as possible could learn about African wildlife, and maybe instill a life-long love of conservation of the wild? 

And so Casper was born – a feisty, big-hearted cat with mismatched eyes and a knack. For stumbling into wild adventures. She’s more than a character now; she’s become a way to share the magic of the bush, the humour of its creatures, and the lessons they hold for us all. If a single child finishes a Casper story knowing a little more about wildlife and believing that courage and kindness belong to everyone, then I’ll feel we’ve done something worthwhile.