May was the most beautiful month to be at Ndutu. The profusion of wild flowers brought on by the late rains at the end of April transformed the plains and woodlands and turned the African bush into a giant alpine meadow. The covering of yellow, red, white and purple flowers made grand opportunities to take photographs of wild animals standing amongst a carpet of colour. But hard perhaps to convince your friends at home that you really were in the Serengeti. The late rains also kept the wildebeest migration on the surrounding plains to the end of May, which meant that we witnessed the spectacular annual wildebeest rut for the second year running.
A striped hyena was seen troubling a cheetah mother with three small cubs one evening. Concerned guests went out early the next morning to search for the cheetah and were rewarded with great views of her and the 3 young cubs so obviously the hyena must have lost interest in them. It was probably looking to see if they had killed anything, which might be worth stealing rather than trying to attack the cheetahs themselves. Very little is known about striped hyenas compared to their larger cousin the spotted hyena. It’s possible to count over a hundred spotted hyenas on a morning game drive during the wet season around Ndutu but to catch a glimpse of a striped hyena is quite unusual. However with a little luck it is possible to get good sightings of striped hyena here and is another reason why Ndutu is so special.
Spotted hyenas killed a wildebeest behind room number nine last month, which caused quite a stir especially for the guests staying there. They probably didn’t get too much sleep as it was, putting it mildly, quite noisy.
Buffalo have been seen at Lake Masek recently. Ndutu is not known as good buffalo country, so the herd, which number about 120 are always a welcome addition to the variety of wildlife around the lodge.
There have been many good sightings of serval cats this month and even I managed to photograph one as he stalked through the grass one evening.
Other interesting things this month are the flocks of red-billed quelea crossing the plains. They look like clouds of smoke from afar but are infact thousands of tightly packed birds flying in tight flocks. How they don’t crash into each other is one of nature’s many secrets.
Porcupines, lion cubs and even a zorilla have been seen running through the lodge recently. The zorilla must have been frightened by something and panicked as it’s very rare to see them in the day-time. If you were wondering what a zorilla looks like, it’s a bit like a skunk and is related to the weasel family.
During the last week of April a very forlorn looking elephant was seen in one of the small valleys running into Lake Ndutu. We went out to look and found a young female elephant in a small pool of water, constantly spraying herself with the brown liquid. Her ear was hanging down, having been very badly torn. I wondered what could have caused such a terrible injury but on further observations it was noticed she had wire trailing behind her. She had been caught in a steel wire snare.
Elephants wander huge distances and very often out of protected areas. In certain places some people set snares to catch antelopes and buffalo for their meat. This type of poaching is highly illegal and the authorities work hard to stop it. Unfortunately, it’s also a very cruel and indiscriminate way of hunting. Whoever set the snare wasn’t trying to catch an elephant, probably a buffalo which is why the snare loop must have been so huge to be big enough for a small elephant to pass her head through. Having pulled herself free by snapping the branch/tree the snare was tied to and tightening the snare in the process, she must have headed to safety. This was when we found her, by which time the wire had cut deep into her neck and virtually severed her ear.
We called the veterinary department from the Serengeti National Park. They came down immediately, and had to tranquilize the elephant before the snare could be removed. The snare was cut off, but the wire was so thick and so deeply embedded into her neck that it took over half an hour to do so. She was given antibiotics, painkillers and the antidote to the tranquilizer and was soon on her way. I saw her the next day and was surprised how relaxed she was. She was in the same place, and still constantly spraying the wound with water. She took no notice of us, not even bothering to look up, so she was obviously none the worse for the stressful experience of the previous day. I haven’t seen her again, but we’ve done all we can and can only hope she will be all right.
Researchers from the Serengeti cheetah project have been staying with us this week. Ndutu is part of their study area in a long-term project spanning over 25 years. While here they found the cheetah known as Cinnamon around the Big Marsh and with her were two tiny cubs not much more than two months old. We know Cinnamon because her mother, called Chablis, is regularly seen around the Ndutu woodlands. Cinnamon was part of a litter of three born in 2000. Her two brothers, called Cardamom and Nutmeg were last seen in January 2002. Being just over three years old this is certainly her first litter. She was seen again yesterday in the same place but this time there was a large male lion snooping around close by. It all sounds rather stressful for the people watching because if he had found the cubs, he would almost certainly have killed them. Luckily he moved off but the cubs are going to need all the luck they can get if they are to reach adulthood, so fingers crossed!
Ndutu Safari Lodge.
June 2003.
