A Slice of Cat Heaven in Ndutu

On the edge of the Serengeti lies Ndutu, a vast expanse of acacia-studded grasslands that offers some of the best big cat watching on the planet. In April 2022, I visited this area in preparation for our Festival of Wildlife in 2024.

My trip commenced in the fabulous Ngorongoro Crater, and after two days I thought my wildlife viewing had already peaked with my best-ever serval sighting and a front-row seat in a battle of life and death between a black-backed jackal and an injured Thompson's gazelle. Little did I know what Ndutu had in store for me ...

Leaving the crater behind, there's a very definite shift in the habitat as the landscape opens out before your eyes, villages and farms giving way to trees and open plains, and with the change, wildlife sightings become more frequent.

Driving towards the gates of the Serengeti, we turned left, skirting the rim of the park, and soon came across a cheetah and her three six-month-old cubs. The beauty of Ndutu is that you can drive off-road, which you can't do in the crater or the Serengeti National Park, enabling you to get much closer to the wildlife and position the vehicle for the best view. The cats were very relaxed, and we stayed with them until the sun set and they moved off through the grasslands. The following morning, we returned to the same area and found the young family close by. As the sun rose, the three youngsters engaged in bouts of play fighting, all under the watchful eye of their mum, even stalking an unsuspecting jackal on one occasion, which only just escaped unscathed after a game of hide and seek around a termite mound.

The freedom of movement in the park meant that at different times of the day, we could aim for more creative photography, repositioning the vehicle behind the cheetah to get some lovely back-lit shots as the sun shone its golden light on the grasses.

This was all within 12 hours of arriving at Ndutu - I was already hooked! As with anywhere in Africa, sunrise and sunset are spectacular, so early and late game drives were very much the aim. Driving along the lakeside offers views of lesser and greater flamingos, and the two marshes provide valuable cover for lions and their prey. Whilst I was at the lodge, a coalition of two male lions challenged the resident males, subsequently scattering the Marsh Pride across the area.

Long Gulley, which connects the lake and marshes, is something of a wildlife hotspot, and we came across some of the big and small five here, as well as incredibly characterful bat-eared foxes. The seemingly endless plains can at first glance appear empty, but on closer inspection hold a fabulous variety of species - at one point we had a cheetah with her cubs, a serval hunting and a lion on the move, all within about 200 metres of each other.

Tanzania is without a doubt one of the most varied parts of Africa I've visited, and I fell in love immediately. Kaleidoscopes of butterflies, great flocks of flamingos, serval, chameleons and more cheetahs than I've ever seen - I couldn't have asked for more.

Join us on our Festival of Wildlife Tanzania! To find out more or to book your place, contact our team today.