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Malima is good at watching over the younger orphans, she is very protective and is always around to help them when needed. She seems to be very fond of little Larro. This morning, Sagala accidentally stood on Larro’s foot causing the young girl to trumpet loudly. Whilst Sagala was checking Larro’s foot with her trunk, as if to check that she was okay, Malima came charging over and pushed Sagala away. Sagala seemed irritated by this, and immediately turned to push back at Malima but was stopped by the Keepers who were nearby. Malima then walked off with Larro, and they were followed by Kiombo, Nabulu, and Dololo. 

During their midday feeding time and mud bath, Sagala who is normally quite quiet, was seen playing with the football around the mud hole. She placed her right front leg on the ball before kicking it towards Tagwa. Tagwa ran after the ball and pushed it towards Malima with her trunk. Malima then charged around with the ball not letting any of her friends get to it. Jotto seemed to also want to play and joined in chasing Malima around the mud hole trying to get to the ball.

Mukkoka is starting to behave like Mapia when he runs down for his midday bottle of milk. Like Mapia, he doesn’t want any of his friends to overtake him and is often trumpeting loudly as if to tell everyone that he is coming for his milk. 

Malima has always had a funny habit when she comes for her milk. If she arrives at the mud bath area before the other orphans and the Keepers are not ready with her bottle, she simply kneels down on her front legs and patiently waits. This continues to amaze the Keepers. 

After their midday bottle of milk, Enkesha, Mukkoka and Nabulu moved away from the other orphans, to browse quietly together, and only resurfaced when it was time for their afternoon bottles of milk. Enkesha seemed to know that the other orphans were down at the mud bath area as she was seen leading the other two. 

Larro has such a unique way of falling asleep. In the evening she falls asleep resting on the walls in her stable and then lies down as soon as she knows the day’s activities are over. 

Emoli seems to be the naughtiest boy in the herd at the moment. This morning, after her had finished his bottle of milk, he playfully charged at Larro and Dololo who were drinking near the wheelbarrow and knocked Larro over. Larro who got a fright trumpeted loudly whilst getting back on her feet. Tamiyoi, who doesn’t always intervene, was seen charging towards Emoli. Emoli quickly ran away, as though he understood that he had done something wrong but was caught by Malima and Tamiyoi who appeared to tell him off for upsetting little Larro.  

During their midday feeding time, Maktao and Musiara were seen enjoying a long wallow in the mud bath. Maisha can sometimes play quite rough with her peers. Whilst Maktao and Musiara were wallowing, she started poking Maktao with her tusks. Maktao seemed to get annoyed with her and decided to leave the pool. He was closely followed by his friend Musiara.

Nabulu has settled well into life at the Nursery. She now knows the milk feeding times and knows that after having her midday bottle of milk, she is to have a mud or dust bath before heading back to the forest. Although she has adapted well, she is still cautious of the naughtier characters such as Kiasa. Kiasa, Maktao, and Dololo can often be spotted trying to climb on her back and disturb her during her mud bath. However, she is often hanging out with Tamiyoi, Malima, Sattao and Larro as they all appear to enjoy her company. 

She has also formed a good relationship with her Keepers. Although she loves to trumpet for more milk when she finishes her milk, she seems to always respect the Keepers when they wave her away and doesn’t push or charge them.

Mukkoka is growing into a strong young bull and he can often be quite naughty. He seems to have a mind of his own and does not always want to listen to the Keepers and the other older orphans. For example he will not allow Kiombo, who is older, to get to the milk wheelbarrow before him. If Kiombo overtakes him, he starts to push him and trumpet loudly as though to warn him away. 

Kiombo, despite Mukkoka’s milk antics, seems to be adapting well to life in the Nursery. He sometimes appears to do his own thing and can been seen browsing on his own. Most of the time, however, he is seen with Kuishi and Malima who both protect him from naughty boys such as Mukkoka. 

Nabulu’s love for her milk bottle is growing every day. She doesn’t seem satisfied with her normal two bottles and every time she finishes them she complains about it. She always rumbles a clear indication that she isn’t satisfied. Today during the public visiting hour, she complained so loudly that the visiting public were in awe of how loudly such a young baby elephant could showcase her dissatisfaction, as she moved towards the wheelbarrow in order to try and steal another bottle, but she was moved away by the Keepers. Kuishi then tried to come in closer to the wheelbarrow as well, to suck up any spilled milk, and this was something she managed to do twice before being moved away by the Keepers as well – they knew her bad intentions! 

Malima showed off her playful character today as the foster parents lined up in the late afternoon to watch the babies come home. They were watching all the orphans as they came running in to go into their stockades for the night, and when Malima came running down she pretended to be focused on running to her room, but then she changed her direction and mock-charged the foster parents standing there, causing some of them to jump back as they got a shock! Malima is quite a naughty girl and we think she with her naughty friend Kuishi and perhaps Mapia will be the first orphans to graduate to Tsavo with the next move.

Kiko doesn’t like to go deep into the Park these days and prefers to browse around the safety of the compound. He got a fright earlier though when a warthog ran out of some bushes and Kiko turned and ran back to the stockades from where he was browsing near Maxwell’s. He ran at top speed, but giraffe’s always seem to look as if they are running in slow motion, and the Keepers watched as he ran all the way back and into the safety of his room! They soon managed to coax him back out though, when he realized nothing was wrong, and he was soon happily browsing on the acacia in the compound again.

Jotto and Malima have always been good neighbours and lived next door to each other in the evenings peacefully, but today was different for some reason. Something happened to cause a rift between the two, as Malima was in one of her naughty moods and decided to steal some branches from Jotto’s side, which obviously annoyed him and he decided to defend his share, and a fight broke out. As the two babies tried to fight with one another between the wooden posts separating their rooms, in the process one of them was broken and had to be repaired the next day, but Jotto managed to defend his food!