What's happening at Ndutu?
December 2004
Dramatic skies dominate Ndutu this month. With rain around the corner, dark thunderclouds pass overhead and distant thunder promises much. There are still lots of brilliantly coloured fireball lilies to be seen in the woodland, a sure sign of imminent rain.
With water being a scarce resource at this time of year it’s not surprising that a group of bull elephants have learnt to break into our water wells. The shallow wells where we collect our washing water have heavy steel plate lids, which are then padlocked closed.
They’re strong enough to drive a truck over, yet this posses little problems to an elephant. They just pull the lids
off! After several attempts at repair, we’ve given up and left one of the wells open, even so we still return the cover
several times a day. It’s amazing to watch them drinking from these as they have to bend over forward and by lifting
a back leg off the ground, can reach the water within. One particular elephant with long even tusks could only just get at
the water because as he lent forward his tusks touched the ground, thus restricting his reach. The family groups of elephants
are drinking from the Big Marsh where there is still plenty of water.
Driving past the wells recently I saw two bulls sparring quite aggressively. They pushed, shoved and jostled for better positions, amongst great clouds of dust kicked up by their feet. This sparring lasted for at least 20 minutes before they moved off together towards the wells. The larger of the two bulls took the first drink, just because of his sheer size compared to the younger bull. After all the exertion of sparring the younger bull was desperate for a drink. He would try to push in, only to be gently nudged back by the older bull as there was only space for one. He’d then try again from the other side, only to be pushed out by the older bull’s trunk and held at trunks length for a moment. He would then double back on himself and this time the other bull pushed him back and holding him back with an outstretched foot. For the larger bull the peace lasted for only one trunkful of water, before his companion tried to push in again and this time, obviously a little annoyed, he rumbled, what sounded like a warning to the young upstart. Taking the hint, he took a couple of steps back and then patiently waited his turn. After such a boisterous and aggressive sparring match it amazed me how gentle they were with each other. When he finally got his chance to drink, he made a complete pig’s ear of it. I suspect it might have been his first time to drink here. He didn’t seem to know how to reach the water below. He spent some time trying to dig around the top of the well, before going down on his knees, but this must have been much too uncomfortable because he soon gave that up. The light was starting to fade and we left him with the problem, hoping he worked it out, because it was a long walk to the Marsh. I saw him drinking quite comfortably a few days later with no problems so he obviously worked it out eventually and he even dug himself a hole around the top of the well so he doesn’t have to bend down nearly so far, very smart!
Great camp-fire experiences this month; from shooting stars, dik diks, hares, honey badgers, leopards and even an elephant. On one, very dark night after hearing rustling in grass, I shone my torch, only to startle an elephant that had snuck up to only a few metres away from the camp-fire. Sadly this frightened him and he walked off into the darkness. But the best thing around the campfire had to have been the serval cat that calmly walked pass and drank from the birdbath. After quenching her thirst she sat not more than a few metres from us and started to wash herself before apparently dozing for a short while. It was such a treat to have one of these beautiful, small spotted cats so close and so relaxed in our presence. It’s probably the same serval, an oldish female that the elephants chased past the front of the Lodge last year.
Lions walked past the dinning room during breakfast recently, which was a great treat. They’ve been seen feeding on giraffes on four different occasions this month. This must be quite an important source of prey for them at the end of the dry season. The cubs from both prides, Masek and Marsh are doing well and have been seen the past week. It’s been an amazing year for buffalo, which are not normally common around Ndutu. The herd of 150 seen regularly at the Big Marsh must be good news for the lions in these lean times, although I’m sure they’re not easy prey.
Stone cottages have finally replaced the last of the old rooms, which were demolished earlier this year. The rooms on the far ends of the Lodge are now honeymoon rooms with huge beds made with recycled wood from old dhows. Dhows, which use to ply the Indian Ocean carrying spices from Zanzibar and goods from the main land along the East African coast and further away. I’ve no idea how long a dhow lasts but surely some years? But once retired off, part of one of them became a honeymoon bed for Ndutu, complete with the old handmade bolts still in the wood. I think they look absolutely grand and guests love them. When the first one arrived it took six people to lift it into a room. Although guests love them because of their antique look, our resident carpenter who has been with us for 12 years shook his head and wondered if we actually paid for them? Probably thinking, if he made furniture from old wood that lay abandoned on the coast with holes and rusty bits of metal in it, he wouldn’t get any business and probably be run out of town! Although I think he’s secretly likes them.
The very
dry conditions of late saw two bush fires close to Ndutu. Some were controlled fires set by rangers that became uncontrolled
and spread from the Serengeti to the Ndutu area and others were set by Maasai trying to encourage new shoots of grass for
their cattle. Luckily it wasn’t a hot burn because most of the vegetation had been eaten down during the
past months.
We were amazed to see so many European white storks around the fires. There
were hundreds, maybe even thousands of these winter visitors from Europe enjoying this unexpected feast. Some seem to actually
go into the fire while trying to snatch some of the myriad of insects escaping the flames. The wind that had blown steadily
throughout the day died down during the night and by morning most of the fire was out.
On a grey cloudy evening recently, we came across two bull elephants wrestling with their trunks. The smaller of the two
seemed reluctant to spar with the other. The bigger one decided to reduce the size difference by getting down onto his knees
and crawling up to the other to spar. Desperate to play, he looked ridiculous as wriggled along on his stomach, looking like
a playful puppy. Which is quite something with an animal that weighs several tons. Once
the game was over they walked away side by side, probably off to break into our wells. But who could mind! Certainly brightened
up a grey evening.
Paul,
Ndutu Safari Lodge,
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