Dry season is now upon us; it’s golden grasses and deep red sunsets making it quintessential Africa. The Lodge birdbath is full lovebirds, canaries, waxbills, weavers, babblers and doves. Sand grouse drink at the Big Marsh along with elephants, while flamingoes trawl the alkaline waters of Lakes Ndutu and Masek. 
Dry season is, for me, a special time that I enjoy very much. The resident herds of impala seem to be in the lodge much of the time these days eating the fallen acacia pods with a sound like somebody eating burnt toast. They make a welcome addition to the lodge wildlife along with dik dik’s and the incredibly tame hares, which hop around under your feet.
The first weeks of July still saw the big musth male elephants around Lake Masek. During March 2002, we lost our most magnificent bull elephant to unknown causes. He was a grand looking animal with huge evenly matched tusks. I guess he was probably responsible for about 50% of the matings in and around Ndutu so I was quite sure another large male would have to come in and fill his slot as the dominant bull. Enter Bowmore!
Bowmore, as we call him, is an equally huge and magnificent animal. We’ve seen him a few times in the past but only very occasionally. However this year we’ve seen him regularly all through the wet season. This is his musth period when he is actively seeking out oestrus females and constantly, criss-crossing the area looking for them. The cow elephants much prefer these older bulls with proven genes who have survived for so long to become the huge males weighing up to 6 tonnes and that are prepared to fight for the chance to mate.
Bowmore was recently seen in action when he squared up to Aragorn, another large bull in his mid thirties. They clashed with such force it was frightening to behold. In the second clash Aragorn was knocked to the ground and would surely have been killed by Bowmore’s tusks but, luckily for him, he quickly scrambled to his feet and moved away. Bowmore chased him for over 3 kilometers before we lost them both in thick vegetation. Now we think that maybe this was how our old bull died, perhaps in a dominance fight with another large male. Perhaps it was even Bowmore?
Now that the grasses have dried out these large bulls have all returned to their bachelor bull areas to regain their strength for their next musth period. I’m quite sure that Bowmore’s bull area is the Ngorongoro Crater, about 40 kilometres from here.
Lions killed a hyena in the lodge car park recently, which was a bit disturbing. Although they never eat them, lions will readily kill hyenas as they’re competition for the prey that’s far more limited in the dry season. Many an old lion probably ends it’s days to hyenas, so there’s certainly no love lost between the two species.
The Masek pride could be seen this week sunning themselves on the Lakeshore. Having eaten an entire buffalo between them, they looked very uncomfortable. Their bellies, grossly extended, almost dragged the ground. They were so stuffed they could hardly move and lay there digesting, for almost two days.
The two lionesses of the small Marsh pride have six tiny cubs, seen by guests this week. Also seen at the Marsh was a crocodile moving through the water. This was the first time that we’d seen the croc for some months and we were surprised to notice how much it had grown, presuming it is indeed the same crocodile. It must have been at least 2.5 to 3 metres long although I’m told it gets bigger every time I tell this story.
The planet Mars is unmistakable this month being the brightest object in the night sky. Experts say this will be the closest Mars passes to the earth in our lifetime. Well something like for the next 60,000 years or so although I thought they said that the last time we saw Mars clearly a few years ago? Nevertheless it’s very special, especially sitting outside around a campfire in the African bush, paradise!
Ndutu Safari Lodge.
August 2003.
