Ndutu is still green and lush after the good rains we received earlier this month. We’ve had several more lake crossings by wildebeest and the Ndutu woodlands are just full of zebra. But the very special thing this month is the profusion of wild flowers, which carpet the area in April and May.
The Ngorongoro highlands to the Southeast are completely covered in a carpet of yellow flowers, which give the impression of being on an alpine meadow in summer rather than in Africa. In the coming weeks the same hillsides may turn white or even pink depending on which flowers are in bloom.
The woodland is a picture at the moment with stands of purple gutenbergia and yellow bidens. Intermingled are varieties of red, mauve and yellow hibiscuses. The plains are adorned with morning glory like flowers called ipomoeas, these along with commelinas and indigofera and many other colourful flowers bring a totally different feel to the African bush.
Lion watching has been great these past weeks. The sueda bushes between the lakes Ndutu and Masek are a wonderful place for the lions, who enjoy the shade and cover. It’s lovely to see the tiny lion cubs gambolling and cavorting in the evening light with a lioness or two looking over them. The big dark maned males are much in evidence, generally sleeping nearby or heard roaring in the night. Other cats seen in this area over the past week or so include caracal, which I think is the hardest cat to see in Ndutu, although they have been seen several times this month. Last night we saw a lovely serval cat walk out past the lioness with the cubs. Neither party seemed very concerned about the other although the serval didn’t take it’s eyes off the lion until it got well into the cover of the long grass.
There are six species of cat at Ndutu including lion, leopard, cheetah, serval, caracal and wild cat. Other predator sightings this month have been the many cheetah which are in the area. I think most of us at the lodge have seen a cheetah hunt in the past month. Just the other night on a short drive from the lodge we came across a pair of young cheetahs.They then proceeded to stalk and eventually chase an adult wildebeest which ended in disaster as the wildebeest stopped and proceeded to chase them, which looked a bit embarrassing for the cheetah. Other cheetahs seem to be doing a bit better as there are many cheetah mothers with young cubs. Life looks easy for the young cheetah cubs but the mortality rate is very high.
Only one in twenty cubs will make it to independence which is around eighteen months old. The biggest threat to cheetah cubs is from lions and hyenas, because their mothers cannot defend them against these larger stronger predators.
The night sky has been spectacular this month. Jupiter and Saturn are going down in the west, as is Taurus (the bull). Once Taurus has gone down in the west, Scorpius (the scorpion) rises in the east. Scorpius and Taurus do not get along and are deadly enemies according to Greek mythology and must never meet. They have been placed in the sky so as never to see each other, because if they do there will be big trouble. Hydra (the sea serpent) which was the nine headed serpent that Hercules had to kill as one of his twelve labours is directly above and will snake it’s way across the night sky over the next few months. Early in the morning you can see Venus which is unmistakable shinning very brightly in the East.
Interesting bird sightings of late include the Denhams Bustard and an African Crake which is a new bird for the Ndutu bird list. The very tame Black-lored Babblers who live around the lodge have just raised two chicks, the first for two years. The wire-tailed swallows have also successfully raised three chicks, which have just fledged. Large numbers of greater flamingos can be seen on lake Ndutu. And in the evening huge numbers of cattle egrets are sweeping across the lake shore and over the woodlands in their thousands. It’s truly an amazing sight, as no one can ever remember seeing so many of these lovely white birds. Why this lovely situation has occurred is a mystery as is where they go to roost at night as they drift along in huge long lines to a distant unknown place.
Sir David Attenbrough enjoyed his stayed at Ndutu Safari Lodge for a week last month, while filming for a new BBC TV series called Life of Mammals. Ndutu has always been famous for filmmakers and we have had several film crews and professional photographers staying at the lodge this season. The reason they come to Ndutu is that it’s simply one of the best places to watch wildlife in quiet unspoiled surroundings away from the madding crowd.
