These past two months have seen a flurry of building activities! I believe Paul already mentioned some of the ongoing renovations. Guests have been very forgiving when occasionally confronted with some banging, sawing and fitting sounds! Actually, not only are guest cottages built but also the laundry room, some of the workshop and store facilities (these dated from 1987 and in dire need of renewal) were completely rebuilt and a bigger main water pipe put underground from our Water Tower. This will hopefully increase the volume and flow which sometimes during High Season ran down to a trickle on the far end of the Lodge! We also finalized complete renovations on the staff and drivers rooms, and everything is looking fresh, crisp and attractive! A new type of warm water boiler, using less firewood and in the future also able to serve as a holding tank for solar panels – yet to be fitted – is in the make, all done in our own workshop! When our real High Season starts in mid-December, we will be able to switch over to an entire new water system!
At this time of the year our bird and animal “Residents”, the white- crowned shrikes, babblers, spurfowls, our very tame African hares, the dikdiks, and the herd of impalas really seem to get habituated to the on-goings in and around the Lodge! The hares were in love for 2 weeks it seemed, and every late afternoon one could watch 4 or 5 out in the open, chasing each other around and around, then meet up, nuzzle, followed by a vertical jumps into the air!
The birdbath remains is a magnet for many birds, particularly the Fisher’s lovebirds that descend in great flocks just in front of the dining room…a wonderful attraction for the guests and a chance to photograph these colourful and noisy birds from close by! This is the first year that I have seen the helmeted guinea-fowl come right to the birdbath in the mornings too, and the other day I counted 45 birds!
Talking of birds: three weeks ago I managed to save a grey-headed sparrow’s life! Someone had put an old tin under the leaking tap of one of our building water tanks, normally a very sensible thing to do in a place where there is no water at all! Unfortunately, the tin was half filled with water and a little sparrow trying to drink had fallen in and could not get out…. When I walked past it was already floating face down in the water, making only feeble attempts with its wings. It seemed too late when I picked it out of the water. …. it was breathing heavily and fast and I must say I did not give it much of a chance. … In my house I tried to dry it by changing paper napkins and cupping it in my hand. Just then the sun came out and I sat down on my front porch for more than an hour. The feathers gradually dried while I watched it struggle back to life. These days I talk to birds (probably a worrying sign of old age!) but I did chat away to this little ball of fluff trying to urge it on and miraculously after an hour or so, it started to move and I put it on the ledge under the window in the sun. It sat there another hour and finally, after 2 hours flew away…!
During the past 6 weeks we have seen cheetah and lion from the front of the Lodge; serval and wildcat are often spotted during drives in the area and the elephants are never far away but only visited us twice, they probably knew Paul and Louise were on leave! There have been many sightings of striped hyena and occasionally guests have found leopards. Although this is truly Dry Season, there is always something of interest to find and see.
This year the Maasai arrived late June in the area, their normal grazing grounds between Ndutu, Olduvai and the Ngorongoro crater having dried out early. Great numbers of goats, sheep and cows are herded mostly along the course of the Olduvai from Lake Masek downwards. There is quite a serious food shortage in the area this year so we decided to bring some sacks of maize meal on our supply lorries coming out. The Maasai elders then bring their mules and fit the sacks on their backs and wander back to their bomas some five kms away!
We also had to do an “emergency” trip to take a wounded Maasai morani to the nearest hospital in Endulen, some 45 km away; the Morani had stuck his spear in the ground under a tree and climbed up to collect honey and fallen out, on top of his spear! It had gone straight into his thigh and hit the femur…. Only two days after this accident happened were we asked for help with transport – tough people – and we were happy to hear later that he survived!
On the Met front we are experiencing some unusually hot tides! Normally July and August are our ‘winter’ months, pleasant warm days and cold nights. The temperatures before the end of August were already into the 30 C before midday in the shade! And since the beginning of October it feels as if one wanders around in a giant hothouse all the time…. Luckily two good rainstorms at the end of September and beginning of October, helped fill up our empty building water tanks and made our tea and coffee meet world standards again!
I should not have doubted Nature as sure enough, prior to these rain showers the Scadoxus lilies were flowering everywhere! I have never yet seen a ’Fireball’ lily before the end of August, but they were accurate as always! Because of the unusual weather we have managed to serve dinner for almost a month now without rolling down the blinds in the dining room; there are no insects, there is no wind and it is so nice to have dinner with the little campfire visible and burning away just outside! The guests enjoyed watching the full moon rise between the acacia trees while tasting the tomato soup with croutons!
Those magnificent, clear night skies! The heavens above showed my favorite constellation Scorpio touching the Milky Way with its sting! Mars remained a regular companion overhead, although its brightness is waning a bit now… the months of Meteorites are here and we hope to witness a few special spectacles! With luck the Orionids, the Taurids, the Leonids and in December the Geminids will cast their spell and shower us with some spectacular and colourful“ shooting stars”!!!
Ndutu Safari Lodge.
October 2003.
