Just having reread the last newsletter, I realise it ended on a very �green� note!
What a world of difference as I start this one: �the rains haven�t been too good this year and storms have evaporated early. Over the past three years the total combined wet months produced between 550 – 925 mm a year.�� Up to now, and with no signs of more rain, we have had only 400 mm of rainfall! �The Dry season is here, with blue skies, and at times fierce winds. May is the month of flowering grasses, and many species are waving with the wind. The gold and yellow form beautiful mixed carpets around the Lodge and make for a beautiful background to all the aloe species coming in to flower just now. Actually, the Lodge looks a picture right now and it is a joy to be here. The light still crisp, the air clear, with spectacular dawns and dusks, this change-over period from wet to dry is very special.
The �dry� sign is always the arrival of the lovebirds at the birdbath. Flocks will hover, and settle in the big acacia in front of the dining room. Their constant and excited chattering is meant to let us know that the bath needs filling! Hopefully, there is enough freshwater to spare from the rainy days� collection to see them through the rainless months ahead.�
Our continuous hectic High Season always kicks in before Christmas, only to calm down around mid April. However, this year we are still full on certain days in May! Normally this is a quiet time; staff can finish their leave, rooms can be painted, equipment is repaired, a sort of �licking our wounds� period, before in mid June the season warms up once more. But not this year! With Colin back from leave, Marleen is off again to represent Ndutu at the Durban �Indaba� tourist fair, and at present is enjoying a short add-on holiday in Kaapstad. Very well settled in here by now, she unfortunately has been combating and fighting the flowering pollens after the rains! �We all hope that by flying off to the south, the different climate there will help calm her allergies.� �Soon I am off to Holland on leave, and together with Colin and the staff we are very busy tackling a variety of problems.
One of the most work intensive ones of late can be attributed to DT, my love-hate elephant friend of old! He did an excellent job of completely destroying our biodegradable �compost cage.� �It is situated just under 2 km from here in one of the many little �korongo�s� (small valleys) and well hidden and tucked away.
It is actually part of our history, as George Dove, who started the Lodge in late 1968, began using the spot to throw away all manner of rubbish.� �Environmental issues were not yet a hot topic in those days and after George left, this same spot continued to be used. However, fairly soon after we acquired Ndutu, we tackled the korongo, and started to try and sort the old and new rubbish. �
Although we cannot compete with the world famous archaeological site of Olduvai Gorge, �unravelling and sorting all manner of interesting bits that have been buried for only 30-40 years can be an interesting exercise!� A huge mix up of metal, car parts, glass, plastics, old crockery and cutlery etc. has kept us busy on many occasions, especially after heavy rains. Over time we have sorted, and still collect, a lot of stuff and actually feel confident that the area is now quite clean. In order to keep away birds and animals we built a cage around the spot, and this has worked very well for these past 17 years. We have perfected the system with time, turning over different parts of the vegetable matter all the time, plus the interaction with the sun, and since last year we actually started to take out at least 11 trailer loads of beautiful compost.
Anyway, to get back to the �shida� (problem) at hand: after DT�s thorough trunk and tusk and body work, recovery teams collected all the twisted angle iron, weld mesh and chicken wire. Then we dug out the old corrugated sheeting (these were put in deep all along the foundation on the sides to keep out the very, very determined Honey badgers )�� and moved the soil to the side to dry after the rains. Back to the drawing board, and a fiendish plan was concocted that we hope can be labelled as an � elephant proof� cage! This entailed a lot of pre-planning and work in advance in our workshop � and as usual Leonard and Samson and their crews excelled in getting it done. The most complicated part were the whole segments that needed welding, ��and then were put on the lorry to be taken to the site. Offloading and setting these huge segments onto a ready made foundation, with reinforced cement pillar spaces waiting to be filled in as a big job.
Since construction on the new cage has started � some 6 weeks ago � we are now nearing completion. Time will tell, or rather DT, and we really hope that this time he will have met his match!
It has become a tradition for the Karatu Secondary School to come and stay at Ndutu for two nights in May every year. Normally, about 40 school kids and 3 to 4 teachers arrive in a little bus. With so few opportunities to see their own wonderful wildlife, it is a very worthwhile experience and 
we always try to invite someone who is staying here to give a short lecture. In the past our BBC friends held the group spellbound by showing them the night filming infrared equipment; on other occasions, Serengeti researchers have talked about cheetahs, lions and dung beetles! This time I asked our yearly returning guest friends from Scotland, Viv and Pete Reynolds to talk about environmental issues which invited some interesting discussions and questions. Invariably on the morning they leave we have extensive photo sessions with all the participants in front of the Lodge clicking away!
February, March, April and May have been baby boomer months. �The Ndutu cheetah and lion population has increased, with lots of much photographed and admired cubs! 
Various cheetah mothers have produced offspring and one called �Eleanor� stands out! She has 6 cubs and consequently has probably been the most photographed cheetah family in the Serengeti this year. Very relaxed about cars and tourists, the cubs� play and mom�s hunting has had many a camera clicking on and on. The Masek lion ladies have 5 cubs to look after, and are equally tolerant of many visitors. A number of guests have remarked on large groups of very young giraffes, so even those seem to do very well this year.
Elephants have not frequented the immediate lodge surroundings, maybe due to the drier conditions. Some areas haven�t quite recuperated from the fierce, late bushfire of last year. Our waterhole never filled up for more than a few days after a rainstorm, and although several lone male elephants passed by to check the hole, up until now the bigger groups were only seen along the Naiberdad rivers and further afield. Vast herds of zebra remained in the woodlands but have now also left for greener pastures. The last wildebeest herds left Ndutu late April and this year there were more lake crossings than usual. Masek is witness to carcasses still partly submerged in the water and mud.
With the failure of the rains here, Masek has hardly filled up this year. �This much smaller, but deeper lake normally rarely dries up, but this year the Masek water has been used to repair the main Ngorongoro-Seronera road, some 28 km away. Everybody admires the state of the road, which indeed is now better than ever before. However, the improved maintenance has had a dire impact on the environment, with huge water tankers driving back and forth across the plains.
Recently, the Ndutu airstrip was closed and is now being upgraded to an all-weather strip. And again, tanker loads and loads of water from Masek are taken each day to the airstrip, so the gravel can be compacted. Again, a great improvement but the impact all these movements of heavy equipment have on the environment are enormous.
We are quite concerned as we fear that our 20-odd hippos and 2 crocodiles won�t survive this onslaught.� I suppose this is the price we pay for the tourism boom and thriving economy and we have to live with that on our conscience.
Hyenas, I know, are not everyone�s favourite animal. �However, one has to give them kudos for fearlessness, and above all, perseverance. A few nights ago, around 21.30 hrs, some guests were still sitting in the bar area and we were at the fire outside. Suddenly, Seth our Barman rushed outside past the coffee table door and onto the grass beyond the birdbath. We all looked up surprised and I thought he was maybe violently ill or something� Guess what: a hyena had walked into the lodge entry, taken the Milk thermos and ran out again. Seth in hot pursuit but to no avail! And none of us had noticed anything!
We all said: now we have to be careful as the hyena will be back, no doubt. Sure enough, she was!� �Two nights later, and one hour earlier, there was the Hyena �just about to grasp the next milk thermos�. a very keen and observant Seth was �just too quick, and blocked another attempt! For a while now, we keep the little half door between the dining room and coffee table closed, and take away all thermoses at night. Yet another lesson learned in the bush!
Aadje
May 2008
