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Ambo and Enkesha were the first morning callers for all the orphans this morning. Ambo started knocking and pushing on his door, struggling to get out at around 5 o’clock this morning. It was still too dark for all the orphans to go out yet but the more Ambo pushed on his gate making a noise, the more Enkesha responded by screaming. This went on for some time and then Esampu on the other side of the stockades got involved with the screaming. Just before 6am it was decided to let Enkesha and Ambo out of their stockades to let them roam around. They both ran around in joy, Enkesha running behind Ambo and rumbling. In front of Jotto and Tamiyoi’s stables there is an open space and they turned this into their playground. They were running after each other and trumpeting like very excited babies. Meanwhile everyone could now watch their game and they were pushing and pulling on their gates, climbing on the walls and struggling to get out to join the others in their game. It turned into a game for them all for as soon as they were let out of their pens, each one went to join in the game unfolding in the courtyard area. Murit, Pare, Lasayen and Ngilai were involved in a game of hide and seek, while others were rolling on the ground and climbing on each other, like Jotto and Tamiyoi. The game came to an end when the keepers started to lead them out into the forest. At 9am we received a call from the Masai Mara that a small calf had been found all alone. A rescue team left by 10am and was back at the Nursery by 2pm. The girl was very tiny and less than a week old. She was very weak and had obviously been alone for some time.

As soon as the baby group reached the forest, Enkesha, Esampu and Mbegu were ready to receive them. Esampu was so happy to meet the smallest of them and she managed to take her away from Mbegu who had been surrounded by the other small babies. She was good to the little tiny girl who was walking around the place and who enjoyed suckling on Esampu’s ears. Meanwhile Enkesha was playing with the hanging blanket that had been put there for the babies! The time these three spent with the babies came to an end when it was time for them to go for their 9am milk feed. After their milk, the main herd went back to the stockades to escort Mundusi out to the field. Some waited beside Maxwell’s stockade while a select few actually went forward to his stockade to escort him out. When his gate was opened he came forward with his ears raised high, ready to charge at anyone. Murit went forward to stop him from charging and gave him a little push down, and after that lesson he behaved himself and moved out with them to the forest. They joined those that were waiting beside Maxwell’s stockade and they all walked out together with Mundusi in tow. Out in the bush he did not pay much attention to his new family, but only to Ndiwa who he kept following around. He did not attend the public visit today, but stayed in the forest. Ndotto made sure that Rapa was not able to bully him either, which is all down to his sweet nature for welcoming new orphans. Before 5pm when all the orphans return home, he was escorted back by Galla, Godoma, Tamiyoi and Mbegu. He went into his pen without any problems.

As the orphans went out to the field this morning the weather was so chilly from last night’s rain. The rain is a blessing to all the wild animals – buffalos were still around enjoying the results of the rain last night as the babies went into the forest. They are quite tricky and dangerous animals, the buffalos, and you cannot always detect their presence. The elephants were walking towards them as they went further into the wood and as they got closer the buffalos decided to run away. They were not aware of the animal but only the stamping footsteps, which sent Ngilai leading the run back to the stockades for safety. Esampu, the trumpeter, and Ukame were leading the trumpeting team as they ran behind the group. Whilst almost the whole herd turned back to the stockades in fear, Karisa, Kelelari and Ndotto were not even bothered by the commotion and simply carried on browsing. The other group would only come back and settle with lots of reassurance from their keepers that all was well. They decided to relocate to a different feeding area whilst the three other boys would only join them for the milk feed a bit later on. At one point today one of the little babies had to receive an antibiotic injection. Mbegu was browsing with the main herd quite a distance away but she heard it shouting from the pain of the injection and ran all the way, ears raised and calling out to save the baby. She had to be calmed down by the keepers not attending to the baby, who reassured her that all was fine with the little one. She spent some time with the baby after, before returning to the main herd once she was sure all was well. Kiko spent some time out in the forest with the elephants this afternoon, though it didn’t take long before he was demanding to return back to the stockades – it has been a long time since he has spent a whole day out in the forest.

It was a sleepless night for the two babies Musiara and Chumvi last night due to the long downpour and the sound of the rain on their roofs. They were both screaming and moving around their rooms the whole night. They were the loudest but they were not the only ones who were affected by the rain as Esampu, Tagwa, Lasayen, Kuishi and Wanjala were also bothered. Maxwell on the other hand, couldn’t contain his excitement and was running around in happiness, chasing the warthogs who were feeding on his food. He enjoyed running after them and found it even more fun when they got stuck at his gate, teasing them as if he was going to hit them with his horn. He wound up his exiting morning with a lengthy mud bath. He fell asleep on the edge of his mud bath and was woken up by the heat of the sun later on. As we wait for the rains to come, the orphans still have to walk further into the forest to find good browse. For this reason Luggard has joined the baby group again, for the time being, so he does not have to walk as far on his bad leg. He also happens to like his keepers, just like little Musiara. Today Musiara has been trying to charge at poor Luggard whenever he seeks some attention from the keepers and he didn’t allow any of the other babies to play with the hanging blanket – it seems he is a very jealous baby for the time being! Ambo seems to love his new room so much and loves running into it in the afternoon when it is time for bed. When he came home this afternoon he was in a very playful mood, wanting to play with Malima all the time. Malima was only interested in stealing Ambo’s food however, from the other side of the pen. Ambo then decided to guard his meal by staying by his food and whenever Malima starched her trunk to through to his side to steal some branches, he charged at the wood divider to fend her off!

Two babies of very different character but of the same attitude towards little ones, decided to walk away from the main herd in the early morning hours. It was Tamiyoi and Esampu that decided to visit the baby group this morning – Esampu known for her cheeky and greedy behaviour, and Tamiyoi for her polite and calm character, most of the time. As all the orphans were browsing in the thick forest, the keepers there just thought they were with the herd, and did not realise they had gone to see the babies until the 9am feed when they were reunited with the rest of the main herd – they were both so happy to have been given the chance to spend that time with the babies. Ndiwa has still not stopped her habit of revisiting the stockade in the middle of the day at unusual hours – today she did it twice. The first time she was accompanied by Mbegu, Jotto and Tamiyoi. The second one was whilst everyone was waiting to go for the private visit and 3pm milk feeding time. She was met by some keepers on her way down to the stockades, accompanied by Ukame, and led back to the group in the forest.

From today the little babies will always be visited by their older friends for at least 2 or 3 hours a day – which the younger babies are delighted with, and the opportunity to suckle on the older elephant’s ears. Normally the older ones visit the babies after public visiting and whilst some are not bothered by the younger ones at all, for others, like Esampu, Maramoja, Godoma, Malkia, Sana Sana, Malima and Mbegu, it is a precious moment and puts a big smile on their elephant faces. They live to visit the little ones and spend some time with them. Dupotto was there too but only for a short time as she was not too friendly with one of the babies, so she went to join Kelelari, Galla, Wanjala and Ukame who had less interest in the babies. They had moved deep into the forest to browse. All in all if there were any elephants who had the most fun with the little babies then it was Mbegu and Malima, as they refused to leave the babies even when all the others had started to walk away, and stayed with them right up until the 3pm milk feeding time. Even then Mbegu wasn’t a walk in the park for the keepers and gave the keepers a rough time trying to escort the babies back towards the stockade area. After the private visit though Mbegu managed to sneak away from the herd in the company of Tamiyoi, Jotto and Malkia to visit the babies again, and the keepers had to come and walk her back to the forest.

Today the boy that loves to play, Jotto, decided to have some fun enticing naughty girl Esampu into a game with him, and luckily Esampu was in a different mood today. There was no fighting, just having a good time with little Jotto. Jotto happens to be such a kind orphan who always wants to put a smile on everyone’s face, no matter their age, size or character. The two enjoyed a game of hide and seek around the bushes, wrestling and climbing on each other. During the babies’ hourly visit from the older herd this morning, Mbegu handed over the main responsibility to Godoma and Malkia who enjoyed plenty of time looking after the young babies. Sana Sana was involved as well, watching what the other two were doing with the little ones. She stayed a few steps behind Godoma and Malkia, seemingly not very accustomed to the young babies and their trunk touching and ear suckling habits. Ngilai and Rapa were sent away by the keepers after they started misbehaving. Ngilai kept following one of the babies around, pulling at his hind legs and trying to bite his tail. Rapa was also chasing some of the babies and trying to climb on them. They were very lucky that Mbegu did not see them or discipline them, as she usually does with those that mistreat young babies. The main herd would not leave the babies before having some fun on the heap of loose soil that has been made for them in the forest. On their way to the 3pm milk feeding time, Pare, Mundusi, Kelelari and Galla were the first to dust themselves, followed by the rest of the herd once they saw how much fun those 4 were having. They dusted and rolled in the soil before continuing on with their journey to the mud bath.

When the orphans arrived out in the forest Mundusi, Ndiwa and Mteto were in a very restless mood and were spotted several times trying to sneak back to the stockades. All three of these babies are becoming quite greedy characters these days for their milk, and this is why they try to sneak away from the others and back to the stockades, to see if they might be able to find any more milk. It is funny that Mundusi is always the leader of the three and yet he is the newest arrival! During public visiting today Jotto, Malima, Esampu and Ambo were enjoying cooling themselves down in the mud pool. Jotto and Malima were busy playing a pushing game and rolling and bumping against each other, though their happy game was soon challenged by the naughty Esampu. She frequently interrupted them by bumping into them, before running out of the mud bath and up to the rope cordon where the public where standing, splashing mud against them; although the visitors did not seem to mind! Esampu is one of the babies who is always prominent during the public visiting time due to her naughty behaviour!

Soon after the orphans had settled to browse in the forest this morning, we watched on as Godoma, Malkia, Esampu, Malima and Tamiyoi frightened the entire orphan herd by running out of the bushes, trumpeting as they went, and running towards where the baby group was relaxing. The babies were yelling amongst themselves too, and fighting over who got right of the hanging blanket. Godoma’s group led the whole herd over, and when they arrived they enjoyed touching and embracing the little babies, though Kelelari, Karisa and Pare all shied away from being touched by the babies. One of the babies started following Kelelari, which saw him run away from the herd as he didn’t want to play with them. The little one cried out when she couldn’t reach him, but Tamiyoi, Godoma and Malkia rushed over to comfort her and she enjoyed being patted all over with their trunks.

During the public visit today the orphans were not as active as usual as it was a cloudy and chilly day so they certainly didn’t feel like playing in the mud. None were even interested in soil bathing as they had been during the previous sunny, dry weather that has predominated over the last few months. It was quite funny to witness even Enkesha, who is a mud-bathing rock star, shying away from the mud pool after testing the temperature. Godoma, Esampu, Sana Sana, Kuishi and Ngilai kept themselves far away from the mud pool once they saw the keepers passing out shovels, which they use in order to assist with the mud bathing activity. If the keepers happened to walk towards or close to them with the shovel, they quickly moved away from what they thought was cold mud! They all decided to browse on the greens provided there for them instead, which they ate for the duration of the visit today.

As usual the older orphans walked out of their stables before the little ones in the early morning. But today the ones that love the babies the most like Mbegu, Godoma, Malkia, Tamiyoi, Esampu and Malima waited around in the stockades, trying to buy time and wait for the babies to come out as well. Due to the poor weather this morning the babies were being kept in their pens a bit longer this morning, so the older group waited around without success. The others in the rest of the herd had continued to walk out to the forest, so Mbegu had no other option than to leave and ran out charging and trumpeting, protesting that the babies had not come out with them that morning. On their way out they came across a group of warthogs that were also waiting around and browsing, waiting for the baby group to come out as well as they usually browse close to them during the day. Mbegu and Godoma chased the warthogs but they challenged them by disappearing into the bushes, leaving the two girls to carry on their charge into the forest to meet the rest of the group.

Nowadays it is not just Tamiyoi but also Murit, Pare, Kelelari, Mbegu and Dupotto who can be seen running out of their stockades in the morning and into the pens of their friends like Jotto, Esampu, Malima, Kuishi, Mteto and Mundusi to see if they have any left over lucerne pellets! Thus it has been quite hard for the keepers to control them as when some of the orphans are trying to come out of their pens, others are trying to go in, or running from one stockade to the next, and it can be rather chaotic. Recently it has taken some time to get them all out to the forest! Sometimes when Mbegu, Dupotto, Kelelari and Murit fail to find any leftovers, they start protesting by knocking or shaking the stockade gates! When the keepers cautioned them today they left the stockade area yelling as they ran out to the forest.

During the public visiting time today we watched as funny Kuishi came running out of the bushes, yelling and trumpeting towards the feeding area to get her bottle of milk. This entrance managed to scare all of the young orphans that were already around the mud wallow. Tamiyoi, Jotto, Malkia, Esampu and Ambo all ran towards the rope cordon where the public were standing and bumped into them, especially Esampu and Malkia who had a hide and seek game with the keepers who were trying to steer them back towards the mud wallow. They kept running either side of the rope as the keepers tried to move them back towards the others, which the public found very funny as well. After a few minutes they all settled down again and went back to the mud pool to enjoy a mud bath.

This morning little Tamiyoi, Malkia, Jotto, Esampu and Malima frightened the rest of the group when they went rumbling and trumpeting all the way back to the stockade area. This forced the other orphans to do the same, and they went running from the forest trumpeting and complaining (about what, they did not know) following Tamiyoi’s group back to the stockades. It seems that all the first group wanted to do was a) find any leftover lucerne pellets belonging to their friends in their pens, b) Tamiyoi and Malkia wanted to meet with the little babies and escort them out to the forest; they were so happy to join them! Kiko has been a good boy today; after fighting so much to go out into the forest, he was given a chance to go and join the elephants in the forest. Ndiwa and Rapa kept chasing him away but he would only disappear for awhile before returning back to the herd. The two elephants eventually gave up on chasing him as he only kept coming back. Kiko behaved so well that even when the first group of elephants when down for the public visit, he did not fight or dodge the keepers like he normally does, he just stayed there browsing. It was not until 4pm that he decided to make his way back to the stockades; sometimes he does not go straight back to his pen but first to the car parking area to give the keepers there some trouble before walking to his pen, but today he was a very different boy and went straight to his pen to enjoy his meal placed there without bothering anyone!