After all the anticipation the wildebeest are finally here. The herds are pouring over the horizon and heading straight for Ndutu in their thousands. It’s been a strange year for rain with the short rains as such almost completely failing. But we’ve been getting isolated showers around us for some time, which has attracted tens of thousands of Thomson gazelle.
Never have we known so many cheetahs to be in the area, as there have been over the past month, and we’re seeing as many as 11 in a single game drive. I went for an afternoon drive recently with some guests staying with us who had seen 14 cheetahs in a few days. The idea was to go out for sundowners in the woodlands, and as they had seen so many cats they wanted to find some elephants. As luck would have it we bumped into a mother cheetah with 3 large cubs amongst the trees. Even more lucky, the mother started to stalk an impala right next to the Land Rover and she would have been successful if one of the cubs hadn’t been so enthusiastic in his stalk and completely messed it up by giving their position away. In these instances I always look at the mother for signs of annoyance but never see any, I’d be livid if I’d just lost my lunch!
We’ve seen the first shaky long-legged wildebeest calves of the season hugging close to their mother’s sides. Now a drive down the Makao road, or a trip to the marshes, is really fantastic. The spectacle of so many wildebeest is awe inspiring, a treat to the senses, and one of life’s experiences that make you just so glad to be alive is the best way I can describe it. If it keeps raining it’ll only get even better and the signs today look good, as we’ve already had 150mm this month.
This week we had a visiting film crew, from Germany who are making a series of short ten-minute television programs about European white storks, which are to be broadcast on German television. The documentary is to enlighten people to the conservation issues surrounding white storks, which depend on their well being in so many different countries. Scientists have fitted radio transmitters to a few of the storks to try to find out their exact migration route. While the crew were at Ndutu most of their storks were in the Sudan,one was in Yemen, one had flown straight through Tanzania to Botswana and one looked a little lost in Portugal. Most of the radio transmitters were fitted in the eastern part of Germany and are solar powered, apparently automatically releasing themselves after about two years. So if you ever happen to be passing through the Sudan and come across a strange looking object that may have looked like it fell off a stork I think there’s quite a substantial reward for its return. European white storks visit the Ndutu area during the rains, which coincides with the European winter, some are just passing through, heading to Southern Africa and others stay if the food supply is abundant. Last year we had an outbreak of armyworms on the plains, which attracted huge numbers of storks, one bird expert counted over sixteen thousand in one flock.
Another bird we are seeing a lot at the moment is the helmeted guinea fowl – thousands of them are another sight, which is wonderful to see. Somebody saw a flock of guinea fowl chase off a cheetah from under the only shade tree on a plain recently. The sight of a large group of these noisy characters bearing down on him was just too much he ran, whilst they happily took up his position under the shade. On a recent journey out of the woodlands I came across a large gathering of ostrich. After a quick count I made it 92 but on my return noticed a group of chicks which I hadn’t noticed the first time, so the total figure must have been well over a hundred. So it’s not just the wildebeest that are in big numbers around Ndutu.
To sit around the campfire after an exciting day, with a quality single malt under the watchful eye of the bright unmistakable Planet Jupiter makes the most perfect day. Ndutu is just the place to relax, appreciate and treasure the beauty of the natural world before returning to the busy world outside.
Ndutu Safari Lodge,
24/1/02.
