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It was the first morning at Ithumba for Olorien, Lodo and Esoit. Naleku, Suguroi and Sagateisa were eager to show their friends from the Nursery the ropes, and the newcomers followed them out of the stockades. The three babies calmly followed instructions offered by Naleku about how and where to leave the stockade and which gate to use. It was an incredibly misty morning. Suddenly, out of the mist emerged Mulika, Mkuu, Loijuk, Lili, Lenana, Lapa, Ithumbah, Iman, Naisula, Nyx, Mteto, Esampu and Maramoja, who came to welcome the orphans outside and walk together with them to the lucerne feeding area.

Ambo has come to discover recently that the final year graduates don't finish all their branches in the night. So, while everyone was fussing over the new arrivals and going to have some lucerne, he took the opportunity to walk down and into the seniors’ stockades to finish off their leftovers. Nabulu interacted for a bit with Mkuu, before being warned off by Mulika to keep away from her son. Mteto, Esampu and Maramoja, who left the dependent herd recently due to their love for Nyx and the desire to be nannies, are still doing a wonderful job of taking care of the little girl. They can be seen guarding Nyx all the time! Olorien walked over to look after Iman who was being watched closely by her mother. Later, Mukkoka was seen having a chat with Lodo, Esoit and Olorien and we couldn’t help but wonder if he was showing off about all his knowledge of Ithumba.

On the way out to browse, Esoit challenged Roho to a pushing match, just like old times, but then he backed out of the game and decided just to catch up and walk along with his friends instead. The orphans settled to browse in the Kone area where Neshashi teamed up with Lodo and Sagateisa chose to browse with Sana Sana. Later, Neshashi, Esoit and Nabulu opted for a soil dusting game. They looked like they were having so much fun. They were soon joined by Naleku, Suguroi, Mukkoka, Roho, Rapa, Mapia and Ambo. Naboishu and Kuishi moved away from the herd to browse on their own and returned later on the way to the mud bath.

After their noon milk feed the orphans chose to have a shallow mud bath in a water pan close to the mud bath. Little Olorien had such fun and rolled around covering her entire body in mud! Only her eyes and eyelashes stuck out. Perhaps the orphans felt a little too muddy, as once they were done in the mud they walked over to the main waterhole and had a proper swim there. Later they settled to browse west of Ithumba Hill. Sagateisa, Neshashi and Suguroi took a break from feeding to play at the edge of the road, rolling in the loose soil there.

The orphans returned safely to stockade compound just after 5pm as usual.