Tanzania – Day Two at Lake Ndutu

Our second day in Lake Ndutu brought less rain, which was great for us because that meant a lake crossing could take place! We started off the day with cheetahs and lions and ended the day watching one of the jeeps get pulled out of an aardvark hole. We also got to see two vultures fight over a carcass, which was pretty cool to see! Our driver told us that there is a hierarchy with all of these animals – even the birds. The larger vultures get first dibs and the smaller ones have to wait their turn. It’s pretty interesting seeing this all play out in real time. It’s very clear to see the order of things as we observe these animals, and our driver’s wealth of information made it even more amazing.

One thing that also came with this day were the flies. We had each packed a Buff headwrap, which can be used in lots of different ways. One of the reasons we packed them was because they are multi-functional – you can use them as a hat, a hairband, a facemask, a hood, and many other purposes! What we didn’t expect was to use them as fly protection! Both of us wore long pants and long sleeves the whole time – partly for sun protection and partly to reduce the amount of exposed skin available from mosquitoes. We were both on anti-malarials for the trip, but we didn’t want to take any chances! Needless to say, the headwraps helped for fly protection and we kept joking that we looked like Tanzanian bandits!

During our pre-departure meetings, Lake Ndutu was referred to as “cat heaven.” So far, it has lived up to its name!