Tanzania - Ndutu Safari lodge

Monday 3rd April - Nairobi (Kenya) back to Arusha (Tanzania).

I slept a lot of the way to Arusha, about 2 hours from the border. We got off the bus near Ilboro (our lodge) and jumped Ina. Tik-tuk, luggage and all

Back at Ilboru

The monkeys were charming.

After cleaning up we found Lizzie and Peter at the bar, with Desiree and soon we were laughing our heads off at their stories. They are such good story tellers.

There was a loud thunder storm during the night!

Tuesday 4th April - Arusha

I enjoyed coffee and some fruit (I really need to start eating less!!) and caught up with this blog.

We did some shopping for Ndutu lodge where Maretha works and then me up with Tom who took is to his and Neema's beautiful new lodge which should open in September.

Beautiful mud Masaai huts

River at the lodge

Drove home and chilled for the afternoon. I'm going to swim now.

Sweet puppy next to our lodge

I swam 20 lengths and we had a nice dinner.

Wednesday 5th April - Arusha to Ndutu via the Crater!

I woke early and swam my 20 lengths. Had breakfast.

After some fabric shopping for the lodge we left for Karatu. Had coffee at the red banana village.

We swapped into the lodge's lovely blue Landrover and headed for Ngorogoro.

At the entrance to Ngorogoro

I'd paid for my entry to the park in Karatu so we had no issues at the gate. The baboons, thicker hair than ours were just as naughty and stole a tomato from the roof of a Landrover.

Naughty baboons

We were soon driving up the ridge of the crater, and I struggle to find words to describe the natural beauty of this wild jungle. Certainly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.

Soon we reached the ridge and stopped at the viewing point. Just WOW!

Looking in to the crater

Driving along the ridge for a while was magnificent. A little scary on such a narrow road and we heard that night that a vehicle had rolled and injured some tourists. But spectacular.

Here you can see the crater in the middle and Mdutu safari lodge is where Maretha is pointing.

We then drove down the outside of the ridge towards the Serengeti.

Masaai men

And just miles and miles of animals. Maretha told me this was as good as it gets - my luck has been so good this trip!! And since she was last here, two weeks back, the rains have come, and everything is so beautifully green! The pictures just don't do it justice.

This is Masaai land, and the red clothed people against the green landscape was so striking. We passed the area where a Masaai man recently passed away, having 21 wives and 120 children!!

The roads were rough in sections

The wildebeest, zebra, Thompson and Grants buck just go on for miles and miles. We reached the gate to the Serengeti and turned left this side of it.

Soon we saw our first giraffe.

We reached Ndutu about 6 o clock to warm welcomes all around. While the car was unpacked I enjoyed watching the little brown birds who were small enough to come into the drain through the mesh, feed the bigger birds. I found this behaviour incredible. Unfortunately missed it both times but you can see the smaller one climbing out. It really happened!!

I have room number 8

Ndutu lodge is simply beautiful

We had Aperols around the fire.

Cheeky bird

We had dinner with Geraldine (owner) and JeanAnne (other owners mother) and her partner Richard along with Evelyn and Raymond.

The resident Mom Gennett and her two babies charmed me beyond joy!!

Thursday 6th April - Ndutu.

Slept well with the sounds of hyena in the night.

Spent the morning relaxing at the lodge.

Lounge area

View from my bedroom

Went for a game drive with Evelyn from Holland in the evening.

3 young male lions

Lilac breasted roller

Wildebeest

One of five females

Selfie with lions - see the fly on my face 😂

We met Geraldine and Maretha for sundowners

Fideli

Sundowners

Back at the lodge

I woke at 3:30 and found zebra grazing at my door. No wonder I can't sleep. Just magic.

Friday 7th April - Ndutu.

I joined Evelyn again for the game drive and if was just fantastic!

Soon we found out first lion's

Touched a lion

We saw three spotted hyena

And at the end of our drive, we rushed to where there were cheetah, driving across miles of open plains.

3 young brothers

So many zebra

Keeping the flies off my face

Maretha and I did a walk around the lodge for exercise and found Inge, the beautiful Swedish Lion lady who lives on the crater Ridge. She has her family visiting.

See the birds?

It was Geraldines last night so I took my bottle of "life from Stone" to her cottage for sundowners.

We had dinner outside which was lovely

Raymond

Saturday 8th April - Ndutu.

Oh my word. Lions climbing trees and cute cubs playing!!

The cubs were romping around the tree.

They moved to another tree and I filmed two of them jumping up, one was already there

All three up safely

Ants live in the seeds of this thorny bush and if a giraffe tries to eat, the tiny ants get disturbed and come out which stops the plant being eaten.

We tried to have lunch at the top of twin peaks

The Masaai were camped all around the base and we couldn't find a way up.

Masaai goats

Found some dung beetles

Evelyn taking a dung picture

Massay (pronounced Masaai) our driver

Secretary bird sitting on her nest

Was heartbreaking seeing two separate baby wildebeest who had lost their Mom's, lying alone, too weak to even stand.

Miles of this invasive plant, Caulflia, that the animals don't eat. The only way to get rid of it is to burn it.

You are allowed to drive off-road here, and after a long drive across the plains we found the cheetahs, along with 10 other cars.

And five male lion close by.

Saw warthog and sparing impala on drive home.

Relaxing on my bed now listening to thunder rolling.

Maretha joined for our evening drive around the lake filled with pink flamingos 🦩

Impala

Bishop bird

Flamingos

Plover

Sweet giraffe

So many!

More tree lions.

They think they climb the trees to escape the flies.

Sunday 9th April - Ndutu.

On our morning drive we found 15 spotted hyenas at a kill.

Driving offroad we saw lots of birds of prey, Cori Bustard, a jackal and the beautiful Swift's following our car.

Jackal

I love standing on the front seat looking out the top, wind in my hair with views all around.

We sat with the engine off, scanning miles upon miles of open space in all directions, with our binoculars. Some eland there, zebra behind. Ostrich. Trees dotting the horizon. Birds chirping. Special.

Stopped for lunch on the plains.

Ingela and her family joined us for lunch on the plains. She is known as the Masaai lion lady. I'm sure one day they will make a movie about, this Swedish lady living on the crater edge.

She told us where to see a mother cheetah and her adorable two baby cubs, bouncing along behind Mom. Cuteness overload!

Later we stopped next to Ingela and family, watching cheetah hunt in the distance.

Ingela and her sister

Had a delicious buffet lunch and updated blog.

In our evening drive we found a herd of elephants.

We were looking for the cheetah again but it started raining and the crickets came out. Beautiful bright green.

See the cricket too?

The clouds were magnificent!

Cute owl

Secretary bird cleaning itself in a tree

Richard, JeanAnne and Raymonds last night

Monday 10th April - Ndutu.

On our morning drive we soon found two big male lions.

A bit further on we saw an enormous herd of wildebeest and zebra moving past us. Very special.

You need to see the video's - these pics don't do it justice!

Vultures eating a wildebeest head

Hyena chilling

We drove back towards home and found our 3 male lions again.

These two came walking up.. a female joined them....

They sat down

And then ....

Take that!!

Home through the crowd

The afternoon drive started with a smelly birding experience. Something was dead down there.

Vulture

Then we found a lion in a tree 😂

Whopoo

And then this darling family entertained us for the rest of the evening.

They played around our car, romping and jumping on each other. At one stage Evelyn and I were concerned a pup would jump in the car through the open roof as they do climb!

When big Daddy looked me right in the eye, less than a meter away it was quite exciting ❤️

Klaus sent me this photograph which is probably my favourite from the trip.

Lion staring at me

Dinner tonight was outside. We didn't eat with the large South African photographer group but sat with just us ladies and Patrick.

Myself and Patrick the next day

Tuesday 11th April - Ndutu.

My alarm didn't got off. I woke and checked my watch... 6:26!! Evelyn normally leaves a few minutes before half past. I threw some clothes on, grabbed my bag and phone and ran to the lodge. Gone. Ran to car and there she was climbing in. Perfect!!

We don't pee behind the car - we check the tyres. At least I could do that because I hadn't had time on waking 😄

We saw hyena and an adorable family of bat ear foxes.

Running from the car the one ran into two lions and a jackal, who chased it for a while. I was so relieved fox got away.

We watched the mating lion's for a bit,

before finding a second pride, three females and 3 males. There are so many cats here!

Driving for miles across the plains we disturbed a bunny and many wildebeest and zebra as well as hyena.

Under a tree were lying 3 cheetahs.

Hamisi told Massay there was a mother and her 3 older cubs hunting.

We joined them and watched. The Grants impala saw Mom when she got close and warned the other four still sitting to run. They live another day. We noticed the Elland running and realised Mom had seen a lone baby wildebeest. We saw the hunt from a distance and soon it was down. At least it wouldn't starve to death now.