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This morning it was funny to watch little Esampu, who is relatively new in the nursery, leading Sana Sana, Pare and Maramoja put from the bushes near the stockades, far down to the milk feeding point and close to the orphans’ mud wallow. Before the keepers had reached them to walk them back, Esampu, upon seeing no keepers there and no milk, walked back to another bottle feeding point to see if the milk bottles were ready there either. Her clock was off time though as it was still far too early for bottle feeding time. Once again she turned her group back to where the other orphans were browsing and the keepers were left in awe of this little elephant who had the wit and intuition to lead others to other feeding places to look for milk. The fact such a young elephant was leading others such as Sana Sana and Maramoja who are older and capable of leading, proved to the keepers she is a clever little girl.

After the orphans had their 9 o’clock bottle feeds, they spent some time mingling and interacting with Tamiyoi ‘s young group who do not feature in the public viewing and who they also do not spend a full day with. Tagwa and Murit were extremely happy spending time with Tamiyoi and the other babies that when the other group began moving further into the forest leaving Tamiyoi behind, they were very reluctant to go. The keepers tried to usher Tagwa and Murit away from Tamiyoi, Esampu, Pare and Luggard but Tagwa refused and ended up bellowing in a firm tone. Eventually the keepers managed to get Tagwa and Murit back to the other group away from the more until it was time for the public viewings. During the public viewing, as the older group was about to have their feed, when Kauro suddenly decided to cause a stir. He walked out and intentionally blocked Tusuja, Mara Moja and Naseku from getting to their milk bottles. Due to Kauro preventing the others from having their bottle feeds, Naseku- who is already very greedy when it comes to milk- began yelling loudly in an attempt to scare Kauro and sneak past. Kauro paid no attention however, and warned Naseku by spreading his ears and pointing his trunk out. The keepers tried to caution Kauro and persuade him to let his friends through; eventually when Naseku managed to get through, she ran down in a crazy manner calling out in protest due to the delay. After getting her bottle the attention of the people was soon pointed towards the elephants enjoying their milk.

Friday is coconut oil day and as we have said, not all of the orphans enjoy getting this excellent moisturizer for their skin applied! Some will keep dodging the keepers trying to skip the oil – Naseku, Godoma and Rapa are the most stubborn and unwilling participants! Once these three spot the coconut oil buckets arriving they start running in all different directions. Today it was Godoma who saw the coconut oil wheelbarrow arrive and when she saw it she thought it was milk! She ran towards the wheelbarrow and when she smelt it was the oil she turned around and ran towards Naseku and together they ran into the bushes. When Rapa saw all the orphans being moved into a group together he started trying to find a way out, as he realised what was about to come. He managed to find a way out and join the other two who were standing to the side watching. The keepers brought them all back to the rest of the group however and after they had all had the oil applied they started rolling in the dust. When the orphans went to the public visit today they all enjoyed a lengthy mud bath, right up until the end of the visiting time. In the first group it was Esampu who led the others into the mud bath, and later in the older group it was Maramoja. As we know, all the elephants have their own individual characters. Tagwa is a little girl that likes to complain a lot! The other orphans know that and some enjoy teasing her because of it, even the very little ones like Tamiyoi, Jotto and Ambo. Like today the two little boys Ambo and Jotto were pushing Tagwa from the front and the other from behind and the more Tagwa shouted to complain, the more they did it!

Esampu is growing into a strong and energetic little girl, having arrived almost skeletal and in very poor condition a few weeks ago. She has continued to do well so this meant her graduation to the older herd today from the baby group. Her first ever appearance at the public visit went very well. After finishing her milk bottle she decided to join the others in the mud bath where she had a great time, before finishing up with a dust bath. By the time it came for her to leave to make way for the older group to have their milk, she didn’t want to go! During the visit, Ngilai, who has been naughty and bullying the little boy Jotto recently, behaved very badly. Ngilai kept following Jotto around the visiting time today to pick on him, and the keepers had to keep telling him off for his bad behaviour!

Esampu is joining up with the little group consisting of Naseku, Roi and Godoma who make sure that nothing stands in their way when it is milk feeding time! Just in the short time Esampu has been in the main herd, now she is leading the others for milk feeding time. She has also managed to memorize the milk feeding hours! As the time for milk draws closer, the little girl starts raising her trunk in the air to try and catch the smell of it. Lasayen, Kamok, Rapa and Galla are among those that also like to be first for milk, but given the opportunity they will stop and wait for someone else to lead them. This morning Mbegu refused to join her age mates out in the bushes, even when her keepers tried to convince her to follow the others. She wanted to stop and wait for the babies to come out to the forest as well. When it was their time and Mbegu saw Jotto, Ambo, Tamiyoi and Tagwa coming up she raised her trunk in the air and spread her ears wide to greet them with a rumble. She greeted all the babies and then the adopted babies Jotto and Ambo followed her for awhile. She didn’t worry about them very much as they followed her, but Ambo kept following as he wanted to find his adopted mother Oltaiyoni. Jotto ended up having a good time with his ostrich friend Pea, who always allows him to suckle on her feathers. Tagwa also tries to hold her neck with her trunk, and the whole time Pea just stands there patiently.

After Esampu drank her bottle of milk this morning at the public show, she began walking along the rope cordon as if she was looking for something. She then looked as if she hadn’t found it and began walking back out to the forest! She didn’t pay any attention to the keepers calling her name to come back, one of them had to run out and bring her back. It wasn’t a very easy task though as she started shouting and causing a scene. Mbegu became concerned with her shouting and ran over to where she was standing with the keeper. Mbegu comforted her and after a minute she complied and started following Mbegu and the keeper back to the mud bath area, and settled down with the rest of her family. After their session at the visit was over, Esampu led in front followed by Mbegu. There is a bit of water that the orphans need to cross which feeds into the mud bath and when Mbegu crossed over this she stopped and waited for the others to cross too. The last one to cross was Jotto and Mbegu watched his every step to make sure he did not fall into the water. After he had crossed she walked behind him with her trunk resting on his back in affection; she has so much love for this little boy.

Tagwa and Esampu are becoming very greedy and stubborn during milk feeding times. At 11am these two were the first ones to arrive for the feed. Tagwa gets the maximum of two bottles of milk but still it does not seem to be enough for the little girl! When they both finished their share they went on fighting for more and trying to snatch a bottle from whoever was being fed. Tagwa caused so many problems as she kept running back to the wheelbarrow holding the bottles and dropping them when she managed to lift them up. When she was told to stop she yelled very loudly! The clever girl Mbegu had to intervene and try and help to control her. Tagwa has tried to take Mbegu’s bottle as well so she had seen everything she had been up to. Mbegu drove her away from the wheelbarrow and kept guard over her until the end of the feeding session. Kauro is such a big boy and sometimes he browses away from the others like an older bull. This evening as the family was preparing to return home for bed we realised that Kauro was missing with Galla. It was thought he had gone with the first group but when it was confirmed he had not, we realised he was missing. The keepers had to walk back to where they had all been browsing and they found the two boys browsing happily there and not in a hurry to return home. When they were called it was Galla who came running fast towards the keepers, but a keeper had to walk all the way up to Kauro to lead him home! Galla ran but Kauro just walked back slowly with his keeper to the stockades.