Ndutu is now well into the dry season. For me this is a favorite time of year because of the clear cool nights and the dry season colours of yellow ochre, brown and gold. Water is a scarce commodity in these months and the animals tend to be seen by the water sources at the Marshes or Lake Masek. The lodge birdbath attracts hundreds of brightly coloured lovebirds each morning as well as myriad of doves and this morning a Gabar goshawk came for a wash which was quite painful to watch as it took him a full ten minutes to actually get in. The small rocky depression in front of the lodge loved by the birds for the small amount of water we put out each morning is also much appreciated by the hyenas who drink whatever remains at night. But for an elephant it’s only one slurp, thankfully for the birds though, they seem to be drinking from the pool at Big Marsh at the moment.
However we did have one elephant visit the lodge recently, a particularly truculent bull (our old favourite DT) stood on the path to the staff quarters early one morning, refusing to let the staff come down to work. I could hear the commotion from the far end of the lodge. I’m not sure who enjoyed it the most, the elephant or the guys, who had to run a rather large circle around him, amongst much trumpeting before arriving to work.
The month of July is when all the staff are here to renew contracts, have meetings, play sports such as football, volleyball, darts and table tennis. It’s also a time when we give prizes for the elected worker of the year. The flying medical service also flies in for one of the twice-yearly health checks, where we all get a check up.
As August comes some staff go off on leave, which means we’ll not be all together again until the high season just before Christmas. While we are all together we have monster pilau evenings when huge quantities of pilau rice (a favorite with the guys and myself) are cooked up, drinks are handed out, speeches are made, and funny stories regaled. Such as the recent experience of our mason and his mate:
While retiling a bathroom in one of the rooms they were followed in by a rather large cobra. Pandemonium broke out as it chased them round the room. I think they were both as frightened as each other. To cut a long story short they locked themselves in the bathroom and wouldn’t come out. The rest of the staff thought this was hilarious, doubling up with laughter and offering no sympathy. The masons left by crawling through the bathroom window a feat I still cannot get over as my ample girth would never go through. As for the snake, we just left the door open all night and it was gone by morning. The next day they worked with the door closed.
Interesting sightings this month have been the large groups of eland seen on the plains, some of which are over 300 strong. 112 buffalo were seen at Lake Masek, which is very special, as we don’t often see buffalo in these numbers. Six lions walked past the lodge while everyone was having breakfast yesterday much to every one’s delight. Three cheetahs also wandered in front of the lodge this week, the second time this month.
An interesting and eerie thing happened recently when a family group of elephants passed by the bones of a bull elephant that had died 4 months previously. They stopped to pick the bones up and then carried them off short distances. I’ve heard of this sort of behavior but never actually seen it. Well, to be honest, I didn’t actually see it as they had just moved off when I passed the bones. But the fresh elephant tracks, dung, the elephants themselves which were still nearby and the scattered bones bore evidence to something quite strange. The skull had been turned over and some bones had been carried off and laid in the long grass, leaving the imprints of the original resting place in the dust. It seems death has a special meaning for elephants. I’ve never heard of them moving or picking up the bones of other animals. The privilege of seeing these fine animals in the wild is always very moving. Elephants have been persecuted for thousands of years and only studied for decades so I’m sure we still have so much more to learn from these magnificent beasts.
Ndutu Safari Lodge,
3 August 2002.
