This year’s April-May months are again so different from previous years. All over Tanzania the rainfall pattern showed very localized showers throughout the Wet Season.. However, Ndutu was blessed with enough rain off and on since the end of November and as everybody could read in previous Newsletters, this resulted in plenty of animals close and around the Lodge all the time!
On the surrounding plains this erratic rainfall seems to have confused even the wildebeest, who moved constantly to and fro never staying for much time in one area… more recently, large herds of zebras grazed along the two rivers leading from Naibardad or “Twin Hills” while gazelles and the large, beautiful Eland antelope were plentiful on the surrounding plain. It was a delight to see them bright as buttons in the sun.
Now, unmistakably, it seems the Wet Season is over… most carpets of flowers are drying, the flowering grasses are turning to pure gold in the early morning sun, little pools of water are becoming stagnant mud holes and our salmon-pink aloes are starting to flower! This of course attracts the Variable and Red-chested Sunbirds and these can be seen all around the Lodge buildings, moving from flower to flower to suck the nectar.
On many nights the ground is alive with busy harvester ants and thus tons of grassy material is returned to the Serengeti soil. Bushes and grass turn into veritable pieces of art when heavy mist on some early mornings shrouds the area. When the sun finally appears these dew-laden ‘objects d’art’ show the millions of normally invisible intricate spider webs all around us!
Just along the woodland borders the red-billed Queleas are in full swing. They have just finished building their untidy nests, and now thousands and thousands of little birds are flying back and forth feeding amongst the purple-flowered Erlangea. At sunset the low fast- moving clouds of golden wings are quite a sight against the red and orange skies!
Just now the great herds of wildebeest and a lot of zebras are starting to move slowly north and most of the elephants seem to have gone to the Makao-Kusini south western woodland border. But we are still seeing a few family groups and an occasional bull elephant in the Masek area. The territorial leopards, lions and other smaller cats are all around and spotted off and on! However, it’s probably cheetah that are still the cat stars of Ndutu and most visitors enjoy seeing females with little cubs in the surrounding plains or the 3 brothers in the Marsh! They still seem to be the guests’ most favourite animal!
On the baby front, one of the Masek lion pride females was seen three weeks ago with tiny little cubs; the Masek hippo group has one baby, seen 2 days ago, and even more special: a baby croc was spotted! For the past four years, “Ndugu Snap”, as we christened the resident crocodile, has controlled the open water area of the marsh in solitary splendour so how a baby croc has arrived is still a bit of a mystery – maybe it is a case of “immaculate conception” We will try and keep an eye and a pair of binoculars on the ‘mamba’ secrets!
Early May brought us a truly wondrous spectacle in the night sky with a clear night and full moon and lunar eclipse….It was also one of the only two nights during the past four weeks that we “HP’s” or home-people (a phrase used by our staff) were without guests. We sat around our small fire in front of the Lodge, put up the scope and together with binoculars we watched with amazement how our Earth shadow slowly covered the moon. It was a memorable event and quite a few of our staff came over to look through the scope. That wasn’t the only excitement! Last night we spotted a comet with the inspiring name of C/2001 Q4 NEAT in the sky which was also wonderful on the Star front! How blessed we are with our clear skies untouched by any artificial lights!!!
On a sad note the last of the ‘old’ six rooms today was demolished; a big thud and remaining wall of room number 18 came down; a bit of history for Ndutu to those who remember the very early days here! On the bright side, when at the end of this year the four new Cottages will have replaced the last of the old rooms, all our accommodation will be the same and renovated in one style.
We are using most of the materials again for something or another and managed to save 1000 building blocks by chipping off the old plaster, and of course the wood will find a different destination or worthwhile cause too! Almost half of our regular staff is now on leave and things have finally quieted down even though we have bookings every night. These are peaceful and calmer days and we know just how lucky we are to have one of the most unique wildlife areas in this world right on our doorstep!
Ndutu Safari Lodge.
May 2004.
