East Africa 2012 - Lake Ndutu

East Africa 2012 - Photo Safari to Kenya and Tanzania

February 9 – 12, Lake Ndutu

Lake Masek Tented Camp

After a full day drive south through the Serengeti National Park we arrived at Lake Masek Tented Camp where we would stay three nights. In 2010 we stayed at the Ndutu Lodge, which is fairly close. There are two brackish lakes in this area, Ndutu and Masek. They are home to flamingos and many other water birds and they are located in the very southern part of the park.

Although each tented camp was different, they all had a feel of rustic luxury. The beds were always situated so you could view the outside if animals were to walk by. The tents were all on a raised wooden platforms. The sides were netted to allow for viewing and airflow, although at night the flaps were lowered for privacy.

The bathrooms all had hot and cold running water and flush toilets. This was the only camp that had a shower outside, which was very pleasant. It also was the only one with a tub, which we couldn’t imagine using. In no way did this experience resemble “roughing it.”

We had the usual two game drives every day. In 2010 this was the area where we found the migration of zebra and wildebeest. There were very few around this time. The grass had been grazed short and the migration was way north, as I shared in the last blog post.

There was, however, no shortage of lions. We came across a number of prides in the areas we explored. Lions are territorial and they stay in their area and don’t follow the migration.

With every pride of lions there were cubs of various ages. One morning we were late to the traffic jam of vehicles watching a pride of lions. I overheard someone count about 16 vehicles, and another about the same number of lions. As the safari vehicles jockeyed for favorable viewing positions the lions seemed to carry on with their daily activities generally ignoring the vehicles.

Depending on which vehicle one was in and where it traveled, the sightings could be very different, as our group’ five vehicles did not stay together. If there was a sighting, like a cheetah, sometimes we would all be able to make it and sometimes not.

We did watch three cheetah males slowly meander toward a possible meal of wildebeest. We positioned the vehicle so that we could observe the whole process. Unfortunately, another group’s vehicle came barreling into the area and scared off the wildebeest. For the most part, however, the drivers were very good about not disturbing the animals.

The last afternoon we were driving along the lake as a few elephants came by to enjoy the mud. They splashed around and sprayed themselves.

As it was our final evening there we were treated to another lovely “Sundowner” on the way back to camp. The camp staff and warriors were there to assist and make it a colorful event as we looked out over the lake and enjoyed the sunset.

The next morning there was an early but short game drive. For those of us who went we had to have our bags our before leaving.

After lunch we started the long, almost five hour, drive to the Ngorongoro Crater. On the way the group was scheduled to stop at the famous Olduvai Gorge where, over 50 years ago, the Leaky family uncovered the fossils of early humans. Since we had visited there in 2010, we chose the vehicle with Jack and Rikki and went directly to the crater. The road was extremely rough and dusty.

We were looking forward to spending the next day in the Ngorongoro Crater.

 

That's it for now. Grace and Paul