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Olare, Tumaren, Melia, Kandecha, Chemi Chemi and Kalama who had spent the night just outside the stockade, joined the orphans for lucerne in the morning. Shortly later, Yatta’s herd reported and disrupted the peace as they scrambled for the remaining lucerne. The orphans decided to give them space by leaving to go out to the bush to browse. 

Enkikwe developed an itchy ear and used a nearby tree to get rid of the itching. Mteto and Esampu had a brief soil dusting exercise before resuming browsing. At mud bath time, the orphans were joined by fifteen wild bulls. The brave, but slightly limping, Enkikwe joined the bulls. In the afternoon, Naseku and Roi had a game of rolling on the ground. Turkwel decided to use Roi as a scratching surface. In the evening, the sun was still hot and the orphans passed by the main mud bath where they had an evening cool-off exercise before returning back to the stockades. 

The stockade was flooded early in the morning by wild elephants and ex-orphans. We feel the dry season and the heat is getting worse with each passing day, making the elephants drink a lot of water. It was a day like never before. By evening, the elephants had drunk forty thousand litres of water; a new record set by the elephants. Approximately between one hundred and fifty to two hundred elephants visited both the stockade and mud bath the whole day, and the day was really hot. 

The ex-orphans joined the juniors to feed on lucerne as they waited for the big bulls to drink to their satisfaction so as to give them space. The ex-orphans’ babies got the opportunity to play with some of the dependent orphans, as Roi picked up a pile of lucerne and went to hide so as to enjoy it in peace. Mundusi and Rapa settled to scratch on nearby rocks as Esampu played baby Yoyo. Yetu came and picked her brother, and led him away from Esampu. Esampu moved on and tackled Galana’s baby Gawa, who has grown and is now the size of Esampu. Esampu finished up her games by playing with Kinna’s baby Kama, who had come to check what was going on between her and Gawa. Later, Kama played with Naseku before parting ways. 

Out in the bush later on, Pare settled to browse with Lemoyian while the rest of the herd scattered all over in an effort to find enough to browse on. At mud bath time, the sun was really hot and the orphans joined the wild elephants that had already arrived at mud bath for a cooling off exercise. The ex-orphans joined in the mud bath too. They had come round the Ithumba Hill where they have discovered that there is plenty to feed on.  The ex-orphans relaxed under a tree with wild elephants before making their mind up to follow the dependent orphans. In the afternoon, the orphans converged under a tree to take a break from the scorching sun. Later Kanjoro played with Garzi and in the evening, Mutara’s herd escorted the juniors back to the stockades. 

It was a busy morning with elephants and ex-orphans coming and going after having enough water. Rapsu, who had arrived earlier, joined the orphans and enjoyed some Lucerne pellets. Due to the heat and lack of water in the area, six wild elephants with a small calf also joined the orphans and had some Lucerne pellets. The wild elephants didn't even mind the Keepers. The little calf tried to grab some pellets from Tusuja's trunk but this seemed to upset Tusuja who pushed the calf back. Olsekki found a suitable rock which he used to enjoy a thorough scratching session. 

On the way out to the field, Mundusi challenged Tusuja but ended up losing the game. Baby Yoyo tackled Esampu but when the going got tough for Yoyo, his sister Yetu, who was watching closely, came forward in aid of her brother and drove Esampu away. During their mud bath, the orphans were joined by several wild bulls and in the afternoon settled to browse in between Ithumba Hill and Imenti area. The sun was hot and the orphans took a break to relax under a tree where they were joined by a wild elephant. Later, the wild elephant parted ways with the orphans. 

It was a wet morning following the 30mm of rain that fell during the night. It was a great relief for us all to get rain as it has been a long time coming and the wildlife were happy.  There wasn’t a single wild elephant or ex-orphan at the stockades today and this is due to the rainfall which has put some water into the natural waterholes around the park.  

The orphans exited their stockades in a jovial mood as the rain had brought a cooling effect to their environment and brought some respite from the past months relentless heat.  They settled to feed on lucerne pellets before making their way to the browsing field. Esampu and Wanjala took a break from browsing to scratch against nearby trees while Garzi communicated with Barsilinga and the two collected Kithaka and separated from the group to browse on their own. The orphans browsed until it was time for the mud bath time with Naseku leading the first group to their milk bottle.  

As it was a cool day none of the orphans wallowed choosing instead to return to the browsing fields once they had downed their milk.  The afternoon was spent feeding quietly with Kithaka, Barsilinga and Garzi returning to the stockades just before dark having spent the day enjoying the Park without the rest of the Ithumba orphan herd.

The sky was crystal clear when the orphans left the stockades and settled for their morning pellets breakfast. Galla slipped and fell as he hurried to be the first one to get to the pellets. By the time he managed to stand up, he had already been overtaken by almost ten orphans. Siangiki decided to use the stockade wall to scratch before joining her friends to feed. Shortly later, the orphans left to browse in an area that had plenty of vegetation. The orphans then concentrated on browsing until mud bath time when Ndiwa and Sana Sana led the way. The orphans had their milk then walked to have a mud bath before settling for some water. Esampu, Dupotto and Enkikwe spent some time scratching against nearby trees. 

In the afternoon, the sun became unbearable prompting the orphans to seek refuge under trees. They only resumed browsing when they felt that the temperature had dropped to a favourable level. In the evening, on the way back to the stockade, the orphans came across some water that they used to cool themselves down in before resuming with their journey back to the stockade for the night. 

It was wet in the morning following 9mm of rain received last night. Mist covered the top of Ithumba Hill as Ndiwa led the herd out. At the lucerne breakfast feeding time, the orphans embraced the spirit of sharing the piles. Sana Sana shared her pile with Ndiwa, Siangiki shared it with Oltaiyoni, Olsekki with Mteto and Pare with Naseku and Karisa with Galla. Rapa walked down to the water trough and had some water before coming back to join his friends. Out in the bush, Garzi and Ndiwa came across a steep valley and decided to compete who amongst them could climb it the fastest. Ndiwa being light and young managed to beat Garzi and emerged as the winner. Malkia developed an itchy foot and decided to find a nice rock that she used to scratch it on. 

At mud bath time, Malkia led the first group to the mid-day milk feed. The sun was starting to get hot and so after the orphans had their milk, some of them went for mud bath while the others briefly took cover under the nearby trees. Shortly later, the orphans started browsing to the right of the mud bath as they headed further south. Ndiwa, Esampu and Rapa settled for a scratching session. In the evening, the orphans passed by another new mud bath where they opted to cool themselves down before heading back to the stockade. Mundusi was the last one to quit the mud bath with Barsilinga.