Keepers' Diaries, August 2015

Voi Reintegration Unit



This month has seen some high drama for the Voi Unit. Three baby elephants were rescued by our Voi team of Keepers. The first calf was found trapped in the Mzima Springs pipeline and thankfully by the time our team got there the mother was still in the area so the calf, despite being quite big, was retrieved and reunited with Mum. This took much effort from the men because he was still full of fight.

01 August 2015

It was a nice cold morning and the orphans happily came out of their stockades with the milk dependent orphans drinking their delicious milk bottle at a very fast pace. The orphans then assembled for feeding on the copra cake, before moving towards the browsing grounds for the day. The weather was fairly cold and the orphans came to the water hole to drink milk and water but did not bother taking a bath in the cold water. Later in the evening a small wild herd of elephants joined the orphans for browsing but Lesanju, Sinya and Lempaute engaged in a huge campaign of pulling the orphan herd away from that wild herd. They took the advantage of the evening hours to pull the orphans towards the stockade hence succeeding in their mission.

02 August 2015

The morning was fairly cold today. The orphans teamed up in some games in the stockade before setting off to the browsing grounds. The orphans browsed all the way to the northern side of the park with the milk feeding given to them there as they were reluctant to move into the water hole that afternoon in such cold weather. Later in the afternoon Ishaq B thought otherwise and led all of them to the water hole to quench their thirst and take a short bath as the weather had started to slowly warm up. Lesanju, Kihari and Naipoki went down into the water for a wonderful bathing competition. The rest of the browsing day went on close to that water hole with Lempaute remaining behind to browse as the others headed back to the stockade for the evening. She later came alone, running and charging, to join her friends in the stable safely for the night.

03 August 2015

It was a wonderful morning today with the orphans coming out from their stables in the morning and emptying a milk bottle before settling for some supplement feeding. They then left the stockade for the browsing grounds before turning slowly to arrive at the water pool in the afternoon. After a brief bath, Tundani got out of the water and went to some soil dusting games. Lentili came in to challenge him in the dusting game and later the two went to join their friends in browsing. Nelion enjoyed the lead of taking them back to the stockade that evening.

04 August 2015

The day began well with the orphans coming out of their stockades in the morning to catch up with an early morning browse on juicy green leaves. They seriously concentrated on browsing and as they did so, some dark clouds drifted slowly in to cover the sun. The orphans went to the big water hole and quenched their thirst; the milk dependent orphans came in to enjoy their delicious milk bottle before settling into browsing close to that water pool. Later on the day Layoni and Lempaute got hold of each other head on, in a tough tussle, sorting out a score they had to settle. The two took some time, pushing one another as the others moved further afield to browse. The day ended peacefully, with those two leaving one another and following the others heading back to the stockade under the careful leadership of Tundani.

05 August 2015

It was a cold morning once again and this month’s weather was really felt by both the keepers and the orphans. The orphans tried to warm themselves up by engaging in a dust bathing session before heading out of the stockade for their normal browsing. This went on peacefully as light showers wet the ground later that afternoon. The orphans lay down in the wet soil and played before heading to the big water hole to drink their milk and some water, without taking a bath in this cold weather. Upon arriving back at the stockade in the evening, a small wild elephant herd comprising a teenage wild boy, his mother and a small elephant calf approached the water trough to drink. Mbirikani, Panda and Ishaq B gave them a rumbled greeting from inside their stockade, with the wild herd responding with a rumbled greeting as well. After half an hour or so they later left the stockade and moved on their way.

06 August 2015

The day went on well with the orphans browsing on the far northern side of the park, moving slowly and arriving at the big water hole later that afternoon. They had a lot of fun in the mud bath, with Ndii producing the best performance in the mud bathing games. Kenia decided to offer Ndii a friendly challenge in the mud bathing games too. They then left the water pool for a brief soil dusting session, before resuming with their usual browsing of the day. Later on, a report came in of a wild elephant calf that had been trapped in the same natural water hole along the water pipe line. This time around the calf was slightly older, posing a slight threat of a potential attack when the calf was rescued. Despite this risk, the rescue went well and the calf went to rejoin her family that had been driven a little way away to pave way for a successful rescue of their calf.

07 August 2015

The day began well and the milk dependent orphans drank their bottles before joining their older friends to supplement feed. Ndoria nearly started a fight when she went demanding Panda’s milk after she had finished her own in the first group but the keeper’s intervened and pushed Ndoria away to leave Panda feeding in peace. In the afternoon the orphans were browsing and came across the water bowser emptying water into the new water hole that we created today, a part from the other big one. Lesanju, Lempaute and Wasessa drunk straight from the big water pipe coming out of the bowser, ignoring the clean water from the half drum barrels. The rest of the browsing day continued perfectly well with all orphans enjoying a bunch of Lucerne grass and grewia when they arrived back into the stockade that evening.

08 August 2015

It was a good day as the orphans browsed almost in single file and moved towards the new middle water hole in the afternoon. After a brief session of bathing, a big wild herd of elephants approached and joined the orphans to drink. Lesanju was preoccupied with trying to extract a small wild elephant calf from the herd to play with, but was spotted by an older sister and chased away. Then Lesanju, Lempaute, Sinya and Wasessa all tried to steal the calf away to play with but were quickly driven off by the same older sister. The rest of the day passed well and uneventfully.

09 August 2015

The orphans settled into a serious browsing session this morning after finishing their milk bottles and supplement feeding, with Wasessa, Sinya, Lesanju and Lempaute being deliberately slower than the others. They finished browsing and moved towards the middle water hole around noon; the milk dependent orphans traditionally moving first to drink their milk with their older friends joining them at the main water hole after. When the orphans were in the midst of enjoying their bath a very thirsty giraffe left her three friends and came over to the water hole to drink. The orphans very kindly gave her the chance to drink and did not bother her but the other giraffes did not trust the orphans as much and only came to drink when the orphans had left.

10 August 2015

The orphans browsed throughout the morning on the far northern side of the park before turning and arriving at the new middle water hole that afternoon. Soon after drinking water, a big wild herd of elephants joined the orphans and mixed freely with them. Lesanju didn’t want her control of the orphan herd to be compromised by the wild herd and she stamped around but only managed to keep Tundani, Lentili, Nelion and Bada by her side, the rest of the orphans stayed with the wild herd for more than twenty minutes before detaching themselves to rejoin Lesanju. Lesanju then drove the orphan herd far away from the wild herd in browsing for the rest of the day.

11 August 2015

This morning the orphans visited the middle water hole but only drank their milk and some water and did not bathe as the weather was cold. Mzima just stood by the edge of the water hole looking at it, as if imagining how cold the water was inside. He put his trunk in his mouth and started biting it in anticipation but left the water pool as nothing could be done to warm it up for him to take a bath. Mudanda and Ndoria went off to scratch themselves on a fallen tree, avoiding the cold water as well. Since they were not bathing the orphans just continues to browse and this is how the rest of the day continued before they walked back to the stockade for the evening.

12 August 2015

The morning was good enough with the orphans moving to the middle water pool that afternoon. There was a moment of anticipation when the orphans encountered two big, wild elephant bulls drinking in the middle of the water hole. Tundani, Ishaq B, Lentili, Nelion, Bada and Panda approached them for some bathing company and sneaked into the water behind them. The wild bulls were very peaceful but all the other orphans and especially the big females Lesanju, Lempaute, Sinya and Wasessa surprisingly avoided interacting with them. The six babies then left the company of the bulls and followed Lesanju who had started moving away. The wild bulls later left towards the direction of the Voi River and the orphans continued the rest of their day browsing through the bush. Kihari and Naipoki enjoyed leading them back to the stockades later that afternoon.

13 August 2015

It was a beautiful morning today and after their supplement feeding the orphans teamed up to play some games. Ndoria and Bada both stood next to a single rock in an amazing buttock-scratching competition. Their game attracted a considerable number of spectators which made Rombo jealous and decide to find his own rock to start a scratching game of his own. He didn’t get as many spectators though. The rest of the day passed uneventfully and the orphans continued to browse for the rest of the day.

14 August 2015

As the orphans were enjoying their morning browsing session, a report of an orphan elephant calf that had fallen into a natural hole in the Salt Lake Sanctuary was conveyed by the Ziwani de-snaring team for a possible quick response from the stockade team, as they were a little far from there. The stockade team was mobilized fast enough and by the time they arrived at the scene, the Salt Lake scouts had already assisted the calf out of the hole but left it on the plains in that area. The desperate wild elephant calf was following some zebra and three buffalo just to secure some company, but the animals were running away from her. The stockade team then rescued the little poor orphan calf and fed her the orphan milk formula whilst waiting for a plane to land that had been mobilized by the Nursery in Nairobi. The Ziwani de-snaring team then arrived in time, making the loading of the orphan calf into the plane for air lifting to the Nairobi nursery much easier than expected.

15 August 2015

Another morning and the orphans came out to drink their morning milk bottle before settling for some supplement feeding. Ngulia, the orphan zebra, ambushed a baboon busy watching and calculating how to steal the orphan’s copra cake from behind, hitting him very hard with her foreleg. The baboon screamed loudly and the other baboons teamed up to come to the rescue of their friend. Ngulia ran to the keepers who were having a cup of tea, leaving the baboons with no chance for revenge. The orphan elephants then walked to the browsing grounds, visiting the middle water hole later that afternoon. There was a good bathing competition between Ndii, Kihari, Panda and Layoni. Upon noticing that Ndii was producing the best bathing moves, Kihari exited the competition for an alternative soil dusting game.

16 August 2015

The morning was cool as the orphans left the stockade amid light showers. The clouds later cleared paving way for bright sun although the weather was still slightly cold. The orphans arrived at the middle water pool that afternoon, browsing along the way. After the milk dependent orphans drank their delicious milk bottle they joined their senior friends heading to the water pool for a drink and a bath. The orphans stood on the edge of the water debating on whether to go into the water or not. Tundani broke the silence and plunged into the water followed by his close friends Nelion and Lentili. Soon after many other orphans followed for a fantastic bath. Bada and Ndoria chose to remain out of the water lying down for an energetic dust bath. The rest of the browsing day went on close to that water pan with Ishaq B enjoying the lead of taking them back to the stockade that evening.

17 August 2015

The orphans browsed in a single file visiting the middle water pool this afternoon. After milk feeding the orphans had a lot of fun wallowing as it was a warm day. Kenia went to cheer up her friend Ndii by lying close to her in the mud wallow, with trunks gently touching. Bada and Kivuko reveled in dust bathing, a firm favourite with the elephant orphans. The rest of the browsing day went on close to that water hole before they all walked back to the stockade that evening.

18 August 2015

The orphans came out of their respective stables with great energy this morning, emptying a morning milk bottle with lightning speed. It was then time for some socializing games with Layoni lying on Mzima’s stomach. Mzima screamed for help and Lesanju, Lempaute and Sinya came running to his rescue. Mzima chased Layoni off in a revenge mission but Layoni bravely ran away and led the others towards the browsing grounds. Mzima’s anger had calmed down upon arriving in the field so the rest of the day continued with peaceful browsing.

19 August 2015

The morning’s browsing was good after some fully fledged stockade activities earlier in the morning. The orphans were scattered around the lower flat area of Msinga Hill grabbing as much greens as they could. The browsing pace was deliberate and slow today to allow for maximum feeding time. There was a slight commotion later on the day as Mudanda ran to seriously fight Ndoria soon after finishing their milk bottles. After, Ndoria moved away and watched as the little ones entered the middle water pool. Ndoria then sneaked into the water as well, closely followed by the seniors. Bada later went to console Ndoria in some dusting games away from Mudanda who took charge in the center of the water. This fight was thought to have been initiated by Ndoria’s interaction with Mudanda’s adopted mother Wasessa. All was then perfectly well for the rest of the day with Mbirikani leading the young ones back to the stockade that evening.

20 August 2015

It was a warm and sunny day today and the orphans took refuge under trees between browsing grounds to shelter from the scorching sun. The orphans then proceeded to obey their thirst and headed for the water hole at noon; the juniors first enjoying a milk bottle followed closely by their senior friends. Taveta was left browsing behind and came in his own time to join his friends in the water ten minutes later. Lesanju went down to trap little Mudanda in water games. Wasessa noticed Lesanju stretching her trunk between her legs to bravely reach Mudanda in a game. Wasessa, who has great respect for Lesanju, was not ready to fight her but blocked Lesanju from stretching that trunk between her legs by threatening to step on it! Mudanda tried to roll between Wasessa’s legs to reach Lesanju on the opposite side so in the end Wasessa resorted to taking her adopted baby up and out of the water away from Lesanju. The rest of the browsing day went on perfectly well close to that water pool.

21 August 2015

There was an amazing, one-of-a-kind bathing competition today when the orphans arrived at the water pool in the afternoon. At first proper bathing was given priority but this was followed by some unique other games. Mbirikani engaged in a different game by choosing instead to rub her belly and backside on the banks of the water pool. Layoni came in and sat right next to her and they both moved together in an amazing side-by-side buttock scratching game. On the other side of the bathing games, Kivuko came in to lie behind Naipoki on a pile of red dust, effectively pushing her out of the dust bathing competition. The rest of the browsing day continued on the northern slopes of Msinga Hill.

22 August 2015

It was a nice beginning of the day with the orphans leaving the stockade early in the morning walking towards the northern side of the park to browse. Tundani was seen taking the browsing lead of the others in an amazing slow motion pace as they filled their stomachs. They turned slowly arriving at the water hole around noon where they had a lot of fun in mud bathing games before moving out with the final browsing session of the day. A small herd of elephant that consists of a young boy, a mother and a calf visited the stockade water trough for a drink in the afternoon. This wild herd are frequent visitors to the stockade and stood comfortably to drink from the stockade water trough. They hung around the stockade compound for an hour, taking a rest under an acacia tree, before moving down the hill onto the plains.

23 August 2015

It was a wonderful morning once again with the orphans enjoying browsing in the early morning hours. They then proceeded to quench their thirst in the middle water pool where there was a highly charged bathing party. There was a lot of happy baby screams coupled with chasing one another around. The breaking of the bush whilst charging and chasing one another scared off one big wild elephant bull and he burst through the bushes running away upon hearing the noise coming from the orphans, not knowing what was wrong. Mzima and Taveta noticed him running and got extra curious so started chasing after him as well; the bull was running fast though and vanished. The two orphan boys then came running back like big time heroes to join their friends in bathing. Rombo was busy kneeling onto his front legs, digging huge chunks of soil from the water pool embankment. Dabassa was pushing him in the buttocks to try and dissuade him from destroying their nice mud bath.

24 August 2015

The morning browsing session went on peacefully with the orphans moving into the middle water pool that afternoon. Bada took a quick bath and went to sit on a raised embankment of the water pool to rub his itchy buttocks side by side. One male warthog seemed totally fixated on what Bada was doing and came up very close behind him to watch. Lempaute saw it doing so and got suspicious so chased the warthog away from Bada. Lempaute then went to engage in a huge campaign of taking Mudanda away from Wasessa and Lesanju. Lesanju, who seems to have developed a soft sport towards Mudanda today, employed all her loving techniques, showering Mudanda with affection and indeed winning over her attention. Wasessa then used a considerable amount of force to take Mudanda away by grabbing her with her trunk and pulling her by her side. They all moved out of the water to engage in the final feeding on the day. Another big wild herd of elephants came to the stockade water trough to drink at noon. This wild herd is another one frequenting the stockade with their two small wild calves. They had a wonderful time mud bathing in the stockade water hole before leaving.

25 August 2015

A lion came in today at lightning speed, missing two thirsty warthog that went to drink in the orphan’s water hole two minutes after the water truck had emptied water in the water pool. The warthogs ran like mad dogs with the lion not paying them any attention at all as she was trying to ambush an impala that was right in the middle of the water. The impala was big and heavy and the lion had to drag it out of the water which took about thirty minutes, before taking it under a tree for a feast. The Orphans noticed and smelled the lion when they approached the water hole at noon and became very nervous. They only took a brief bath and resorting to staying close and browse next to their keepers for the rest of the day, avoiding the area where the lion had taken her catch completely.

26 August 2015

It was a wonderful day today with Layoni feeling as though he has grown to be a big boy, moving alone in browsing and leaving the others behind him. Layoni, who was browsing on the southern side, visited the stockade at noon hoping to receive some preferential treatment, like an early milk bottle, but he was already too old for that. He then hung around the stockade compound for twenty minutes before moving off to browse. It appears he has also become the perfect time keeper as he re-appeared in the stockade exactly at 5pm just as his friends were arriving as well. It was probably more to do with the infrasound communication that elephants have the ability to do – they can communicate up to 4km with each other at a wavelength that humans cannot even hear. There was a happy and charged interaction with his friends who seem to have missed him for the whole day.

27 August 2015

There was a nice moment of games in the morning today with Naipoki and Taveta cornering Kihari who was lying down on her stomach and head. Naipoki moved off not wanting to cause any trouble but Taveta went forward in trying to ride on her back. Upon arriving at the foot of the Msinga Hill Mbirikani, who was leading, decided to go uphill but wasn’t followed by the others. Mbirikani went on with her plans and browsed alone there for the whole day, reaching for the best greens. She was very punctual however, coming down the hill and heading to the stockade. When the other orphans were on their way to the stockade in the evening the keepers noticed a big puff adder snake that was swallowing a rock hyrax near the orphan’s bath, hiding under the rocks. The keepers diverted the orphans away, to avoid any possible incident from the poisonous snake.

28 August 2015

Upon arriving at the middle water hole the orphans encountered a big wild elephant herd already in place having fun and games in the water hole. They all interacted with them all focused on taking the two wild babies that were swimming in water away to play with. The older sisters of the two wild calves became aggressive and protective of their siblings though and took them out of the water and away so the orphans could not play with them. The two wild sisters then stood guard on the bank even after the wild herd had left the water pool, denying the orphans a chance to join them even in browsing. After the wild herd left, the rest of the browsing day went on close to that water hole.

29 August 2015

The juniors assembled at noon for their milk bottle, followed closely by their older friends a few minutes later. When the orphans were in the middle of enjoying the water, a wild herd of elephants including one cow with huge tusks arrived. Tundani, Nelion, Ishaq B and Lentili ran out of water in fear of the wild elephant cow, but returned later to rejoin their friends when they saw the wild cow was friendly to them. The wild herd had a brief bath before moving out of the water to browse, with Lesanju and Sinya pulling the orphan herd away from them.

30 August 2015

The day started well with the orphans enjoying their morning milk bottle and a pile of supplement feed before heading off to the browsing grounds. On arriving in the field the orphans settled into single file, browsing their way and arriving at the middle water hole later that afternoon. The juniors, who had gone there first for their milk bottle, stopped in their tracks upon finding two guests of two wild, big elephant bulls in the middle of the water pool. The older ones arrived a few minutes later with Mzima moving forward and comfortably uniting the orphans for a bath with the bulls. Mzima went forward to surprise his friends by teasing one big bull in a pushing match. Mzima followed the wild bulls towards the Voi River for an hour, before coming back to rejoin his orphan crew.

31 August 2015

The orphans had a busy browsing day and visited the middle water pool where they had a very brief bath, before moving on with their usual daily routine of browsing. As soon as they arrived back at the stockade that evening, a report came in from some tourists of a wild elephant calf that was trapped in the same natural water hole in the Mzima Mombasa pipe line. Upon arriving the rescue team found a pride of six lions that had killed a zebra in the same water hole and who had abandoned their catch to try and take the trapped elephant calf as well. The mother was close by but was failing to rescue it from the hole. The rescue operation commenced but was quite difficult with the presence of the lions. Nevertheless it was successful and the elephant calf was reunited with its mother and other family members.