Ndutu
 

Hi! I just saw the latest newsletter from the ndutu lodge. www.ndutu.com

It makes it appear that the resident game is plentiful in the ndutu area (especially the big cats) even when the herds are not around. If so, why do people only visit the ndutu area during the migration? I would imagine, top quality game viewing without the crowds round the year......atleast from the newsletters.

Any thoughts?

Hari

Perhaps it's true, perhaps it's just PR. I'd like to know the answer too.

I sincerely doubt it! But this is one case where I'd love to hear that I'm wrong.

Lodge reports are summaries of the very best highlights over 1-3 month periods!

People do visit Ndutu year round. I have been there for different reasons in February, July, September, November and December. And each time there were a good number of guests at Ndutu Lodge!

It is funny but when I talk to people at Ndutu they are always happy about their visit, despite the long drives to get there and the scarcity of game during the dry season. An elephant here, a giraffe there, a genet in the rafters, a lion in the tree - less is apparently good for most year-round visitors.

Maybe people enjoy the remoteness of Ndutu after visiting the Crater and Seronera? I don't know - but it has a loyal following.

There is just enough wildlife to keep the guests happy at Ndutu Lodge, but currently not enough for the mobile tented camp companies to justify the costs of setting up camp there outside the migration months.

I liked it in Feb even though the mass migration was not there.

"makes it appear that the resident game is plentiful in the ndutu area (especially the big cats) even when the herds are not around. If so, why do people only visit the ndutu area during the migration?"

I think the current situation is skewed by the heavy rains in April (20 year record for them) and by the presence of that one big lion pride ... we were there for 5 nights in January and it was great since we were able to find the lions almost every day and also found six cheetahs (photographed a wildebeest kill by a pair of males). The big pride had 8 cubs about 2 months old, 8 larger cubs, 9 lionesses and 3 males and they were hams for the camera. It was dry so the migration hadn't started yet.

I thought the lion situation was as good as it gets but our leader told us that he's there almost every year and in 2005 they only found 2 lions but 18 cheetahs and 100's of thousands of wildebeests. So it varies quite a bit. Even in 2006 some people didn't find the lions every day, especially the people coming in for one or two nights ... we had five jeeps and fanned out each AM to locate the lions and then call each other in and the singleton jeeps missed out if they weren't on the same radio frequency. One driver couldn't even find the lodge on the drive in, so it helps to know your way around there I guess.

Point is that the current situation may not be typical ... we asked about returning in April and our outfitter recommended we go elsewhere because it's hard to move around Ndutu when it rains and he felt the herds would be north by then. Our driver told me that sometimes it's hard to find the pride, especially if they're in the woodlands. If you look at the photos sent in by Ndutu guests you'll see a couple of good sets of images in May and Oct though ...

At any rate, between roughly mid-January and mid-March (before the rains) Ndutu is a great place, if your driver can find the game. It's really nice to be able to drive off-track but it means you can't rely on other jeeps to find your game too. We've reserved six nights at Ndutu next January with three jeeps (though it looks like one party can't go because of illness) in hopes of spreading out and finding the lions and cheetahs again.

Bill

I can only speak to our own experience. We stayed one night at Ndutu on our way from central Serengeti to Ngorongoro. Two full days in the area around Ndutu I'd say. It was late Nov.-early Dec. and game in that area was extremely scarce. No water at all in the area -- all the lakes etc. were dry. The large migration herds were sitll in between northern-central Serengeti as the rains had not yet made it as far south as Ndutu. Our only remarkable sightings during those two days were (1) lovebirds at Ndutu's birdbath, and (2) some cheetahs on the day we were leaving -- two separate sightings -- one of a mother with 5 cubs (which was great) and the other of a male. There was no general game whatsoever in the area when we were there, in contrast to Serengeti -- we didn't see even a single impala or zebra. That said, we really liked Ndutu and I would certainly stay there again, especially if I were travelling in Dec.-April. I liked the whole atmosphere there, the meals were excellent, and I thought it was good value for money.

Thanks, everyone. I was just curious from all their newsletters...when i started this thread.

Hari