Ndutu has received 102 mm of rain so far this month. There is already a green flush of grass and tens of thousands of wildebeest on the surrounding plains. Long lines of wildebeest are pouring into the area called two trees and along the Makao road. Guests are getting great views of lion, leopard and cheetah this week, including some very playful cheetah cubs. The transition from dry season to wet has to witnessed to be believed. The change from bare earth to green grass in two days is amazing but within hours of the first deluge we were treated to an almost deafening frog chorus. Large flocks of European white storks circle above the Lodge and harriers cruise the plains. Woodland kingfishers, Didric cuckoos call constantly a sound not heard for many months and the lesser-masked weavers have already started to build their tightly woven nests in the lodge grounds.
Just before this months rain began to fall we witnessed a wonderful incident recently at one of the last pools of water at Lake Masek. It happened when a small group of elephants approached the pool, which unfortunately had a hippo in residence at the time.
One of the younger elephants charged the unfortunate hippo on sight. This was enough to drive the hippo out of the pool and trotting off along the Lakeshore.
This was very unlucky for the serval cat hiding in the long grass, which had to take evasive action to avoid a trampling. The spectacle of the Hippo chasing the serval followed by an elephant certainly must have been a terrifying sight to the leopard, which jumped out in front of the serval and took off.
A leopard being chased by a serval, who in turn, was being followed by a hippo, or that was what it looked like from where we were watching was bizarre. In the meantime the elephants were calmly drinking, oblivious of all the commotion they had caused.
The serval we lost in all the excitement, the leopard shot up the nearest tree; the hippo walked around while waiting for the elephants to finish drinking. Within minutes calm had returned to the hippos little pool and nobody would ever guess that anything had ever happened.
Lions have been very much in evidence this month, especially when ten walked past the evening camp-fire the other day. They seem to be spending their time out on the plains where large herds of wildebeest and zebra are arriving at the moment. This is in complete contrast to last month, when they were trying to eek out a living in the woodlands. Four lionesses were seen stalking a young elephant bull recently at Lake Masek. Although he was a young bull, he is still a large animal and considerably bigger than the largest female elephant. When one of the lionesses rushed at him, he hoofed it so hard with his trunk that he sent her flying down the lakeshore like a bowling ball. He seemed quite unfazed by it all, as he just carried on browsing from the bush he was eating at the time, while the lioness staggered off, seemingly none the worst for the bowling she received, I think?
Ndutu has been a hive of activity the past couple of weeks as we get everything ready for the busy months ahead. 3 new rooms, which have replaced 4 of the older style rooms are now ready for use and the bar and dinning areas have a new lease of life after the installation of the new roof.
Marceli Mosha officially retires at the end of this year after nearly 4 decades. Marceli has been a waiter at the Lodge since the mid sixties when the lodge was originally a tented camp. He is retiring to his home in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania, with probably more than his fair share of stories of bush life and adventure. We will miss Marceli very much and hope he enjoys his well earned rest.
Those people living in the UK will get the chance to see the amazing new film by Owen Newman and Amanda Barrett called “Cats Under Serengeti Stars” which was filmed entirely in the Ndutu area. It will be shown in the evening of the 1st January on BBC2. Owen and Amanda based themselves at the lodge for 16 months while making this film of the smaller Serengeti cats along with more familiar animals and some not so familiar ones. It was filmed entirely at night and done with the use of infra red lighting, so as not to disturb any of the animals. The film will also be shown in America, sometime in the New year.
All of us at Ndutu would like to wish you a wonderful Christmas and very best wishes for the New Year.
