Keepers' Diaries, August 2017
Nairobi Nursery Unit
There was a lot of activity centered around the warthogs this month who have cleverly based themselves in the nursery compound and browse alongside the orphans and keepers during the day so they do not fall prey to the lions in Nairobi National Park. The orphans rarely welcome their company however and like to chase them away at every given opportunity, especially when they are trying to eat their precious lucerne pellets! There is always usually one orphan on guard at mud bath time when the orphans are given piles of this nutritious snack but sometimes it takes two to drive them away completely, like the day Rapa had to come and support Tagwa to chase them off. Sometimes even the babies Musiara, Sattao and Maktao join in, chasing baby warthogs around the area, although this is more for fun than for defense of their treats. Sometimes the orphans can be a little threatened by them though; the warthogs have grown so used to the elephants that they know they are full of empty threats and, one day, not even Mbegu, Kauro, Ndotto, Lasayen and Pare could chase away one of the big females. She simply raised her head and pointed her tushes at them and none of their mock charges or threatening stances with raised ears to persuade her to move. Eventually they had to concede those few lucerne pellets to her and her young. Most animals heed the warnings the orphans give them though, including the buffalos. They have been walking around the compound at dawn looking for leftover lucerne pellets from Maxwell’s stockade. One female buffalo tried to chase some of the keepers one day but big orphans Mbegu, Maramoja, Kauro, Godoma and Lasayen, Ndotto, Pare and Rapa marched towards her with their ears spread and trumpeting. They charged towards the buffalo which ran back to her herd and the elephants stamped around until all the buffalos had run away!
01 August 2017
As the orphans were walking out into the forest this morning they encountered a large herd of buffalos who were grazing. When they spotted the keepers and the orphans they all looked up and stood watching them. They slowly started walking towards the keepers and the orphans and one female buffalo even tried to chase the keepers, but the big orphans like Mbegu, Maramoja, Kauro, Godoma and Lasayen, Ndotto, Pare and Rapa marched towards her with their ears spread and trumpeting. They charged towards the buffalo which ran back to her herd with Mbegu and the others charging after her as they fiercely bashed bushes down, causing all the buffalos to run away into the forest. The whole event caused a stir among the orphans and they were all seen trumpeting and scampering around in the bushes; even the little ones like Musiara and Sattao were seen charging about! Despite the initial circumstances it was nice to see all the orphans enjoying a playful start to the day!
02 August 2017
Godoma, the mini matriarch of the Nursery family and leader of the younger group, fully understands her role and always comes to the other babies when she is needed. At the public visit today when their time was up and they had finished their milk, the first group was on their way back to the forest. Godoma was leading the group out and across the little bridge where the water runs down the rocks and the others were following in line, all except Kuishi and Esampu who were being very playful and shoved the smaller babies to the side to get to the front. Musiara hates to be pushed around and yelled out loudly for help as he ran back to his keepers, but little Sattao was pushed into the water. Godoma was very concerned and pushed all the others out of the way to get to the little ones. When Musiara saw Godoma coming he ran towards her as she rumbled and pulled him under her neck. Sattao made his way out of the water and he and Luggard also joined Godoma as she walked out with Musiara. There was no more pushing after that as they all knew they would suffer the consequences from Godoma if they dared.
At 3pm while Enkesha was enjoying soil dusting, Ndiwa accidentally stood on her trunk and she shouted out in pain. It was Malkia who ran over to check she was okay and although it was an accident she drove Ndiwa away from the area for hurting Enkesha.
03 August 2017
As the orphans were preparing to go down for the public visit today Ndiwa, Maramoja, Ngilai, Pare and Esampu came across a gang of buffalo in the thicket. They ran towards those that were ahead of them with the keepers ready to start walking down to where their milk bottles were. This was the first group of the young ones and they made Esampu and Kuishi so nervous that they hid themselves in the middle of the group and they remained unsettled for some time. Esampu and Kuishi together with Malima came running down for their milk shouting as they ran. After they had their milk Kuishi was still in a funny mood and started causing trouble in the visiting area, running along and shoving everyone she came across. She found a bag belonging to one of the visitors by the rope cordon and mistook it for a football, and kicked it to Esampu who trumpeted and kicked it back to her but luckily a keeper got there first and removed the bag to hand it back to the owner! Kuishi ran over to the keeper and tried to snatch the bag away from him but in vain. They went on causing trouble until their time was up and they returned to the forest with the rest of the young group.
In the second group of orphans Maramoja seemed to really like the lucerne pellets today. When she arrived at the ground she ran for the pellets before going for her milk bottle! In between her two bottles she took a break for some more pellets too, before returning to finish her second bottle. She charged at Lasayen and Rapa whenever they tried to share some of the pellets in that pile too.
04 August 2017
Maktao is settling down very well into life at the nursery and has stopped his funny habit of trying to eat mud. He is very attached to the keepers and if he happens to lose sight of them for even a minute he will start yelling. Today there was a bit of a fight between him and Musiara over the keepers as Musiara is still very fond of them and he isn’t ready to relinquish all of their attention to Maktao. He has been losing to Maktao though so recently he has spent time with Luggard, Malkia and Esampu instead.
Murit has always been a peace maker amongst his younger friends and today was another good example. During the public visit Ambo and Tamiyoi started fighting in front of him over a pile of lucerne pellets. He took some time before intervening as if he wanted to see if they would settle the fight themselves. Eventually he just pushed them in opposite directions and did the same thing later on when Enkesha and Kuishi were fighting over some other pellets.
05 August 2017
A few days ago Maktao was still in a fighting mood and would push almost everyone that crossed his path. He head butted Ambo from behind and pushed him along and Ambo could not see who was doing that to him. When he had gone some meters and turned to find it was just the young boy, he was furious and came running back with his ears held high ready for revenge. To this day Ambo doesn’t want Maktao to come near him and whenever he comes close he pushes him away. Today Ambo did the same after their milk feed during the public visit and he kept pushing Maktao, not listening to the keepers at all. The keepers had to hold onto his hind legs to prevent him from head butting the little one again! It was only when Sana Sana came over to block him that he stopped trying to push the little boy.
06 August 2017
Musiara and Luggard are becoming great friends and this only grows day after day. Whilst out in the forest they follow each other and they will wait for each other and walk at the back of the herd. When going for milk Luggard tries to compete with Musiara and runs behind to try and over take. Musiara also now prefers to sleep against the wall separating them during the night, so he can be close to Luggard then as well.
Esampu has been taking care of Maktao recently but she is not yet ready for him to suckle her ears. He tried a couple of times today but eventually Esampu got tired and pushed him to the side. Maktao complained bitterly, forcing Tagwa to come over and when Esampu saw her running in their direction she took off to avoid being disciplined.
07 August 2017
The polite boy Ndotto took a bit of a break from the herd this morning and stayed away from his friends to spend time with Musiara and Luggard. Usually it’s Malkia who goes to Musiara’s door to wait for them to come out of their stockades, but today it was Ndotto. He browsed on a small bush in front of their stockades whilst he waited and the keepers tried on a couple of occasions to make him join the others in the forest but he kept dodging them and hiding behind the stockades. When Luggard and Musiara emerged from their rooms he joined them in the compound, but not without sneaking into their stockades to look for any leftover lucerne pellets. When they finally made their way to the forest they all walked at Luggard’s speed, mindful of his injury. Ndotto stayed with the baby group until the 9am milk feed when he joined Kauro, Mundusi, Pare and Lasayen deep in the forest. Pare is working very hard to try and over power Lasayen and he spent more than one hour wresting Lasayen this afternoon. Eventually Ndotto had to separate them.
During the public visiting hour it was Tagwa’s responsibility to guard the mud bath from warthogs. She made sure that no warthog came to share the much coveted lucerne pellets but there was one naughty one that did not pay attention to her threats. He was a big male and he was so determined to have some pellets that Rapa had to team up with Tagwa to drive him away. Tagwa then stood on the edge of the mud bath to keep an eye on him and any others that might try to sneak back.
08 August 2017
Nowadays, little Musiara is becoming a great friend of Luggard. When the orphans come out of their night stockades in the early morning, Musiara does not want to walk out before Luggard. If he does exit his room first, he stays alongside Luggard’s stable door and knocks on it to get Luggard’s attention and tell him it is time to get ready and join him in the forest for the day. When Luggard leaves his stable you can see little Musiara is overjoyed and they both happily walk together side by side. In the field they browse shoulder to shoulder together throughout the day and prefer each other’s company over the other orphans. The reason why Musiara is happier around Luggard is that he moves very gently, is very welcoming to the little boys and he browsers not far from the keepers which Musiara also likes to do. The other orphans opt to take their browsing activity deep into the forest and we have some bully boys like Ambo, Jotto, Ngilai and Rapa who are not always friendly and gentle when interacting with the little boys like Musiara so he prefers to keep his distance and have the keepers close by.
09 August 2017
The orphans went to the field and settled to browse quite early in the morning. The air was relaxed and calm as they were all so busy browsing. However, the situation suddenly changed when two fighting male impalas sprinted through the orphan herd sending them all scattering in fright in different directions. All the older orphans were shaken up and started stomping, bush bashing, charging and trumpeting whilst the smallest ones, Musiara, Sattao, Maktao, Jotto, and Enkesha were very frightened and started yelling as they ran everywhere looking for their keepers. Tiny Tamiyoi and Malima were wise enough to head back to the little boys and quietly lead them to their keepers. As they listened to the reaction of the big orphans in the bushes, Tamiyoi and Malima moved to join them but changed their minds and came back to join the babies. Tamiyoi did not want to leave them alone but wanted to comfort them since she sees herself as their mother, even though she is tiny herself.
10 August 2017
After the orphans had their 9am bottle feed, most went back to browsing intently in the field. However, Ndotto, Lasayen, Pare, Ngilai, Jotto and Esampu had other ideas and decided to chase the warthogs that graze alongside the orphans. The warthogs are very clever and know they have protection from the big cats in the national park when they are with the human and elephant family, but today they did not have protection from the naughty baby elephants!
Ndotto and company charged the warthogs, sending them running into the bushes, however the warthogs were not going to give up without a fight and ran around the bushes and back to the field. Ngilai, Esampu and Jotto could not let the warthogs win and continued to challenge them until eventually the warthogs took refuge in nearby burrows. Esampu, Ngilai and Jotto then enjoyed rolling on the loose soil at the entrance of the burrows, making it hard for the warthogs to leave but the warthogs were wise enough to exit at the other end of the burrow and the games started again. The keepers thoroughly enjoyed watching this game of hide and seek.
11 August 2017
Kiko had a hard time trying to join the orphans as they browsed in the forest this morning as Maramoja, Mteto, Sana Sana, Rapa, Pare, Ngilai and Tagwa ganged up against him and charged at him prompting him to run to the bushes. Mteto and some in the group kept charging after him though in an effort to drive him right away, and stamped around in the bushes trumpeting. Kiko has to watch from far away with his long neck poking out of the bushes to see.
During public visiting it was very sweet to watch little Musiara clambering over Kuishi who was enjoying her time soil dusting on the ground. As he was failing to climb over her body with his little legs he caused some laughs when he settled his little bottom against her head and decided to scratch himself there!
12 August 2017
After the orphans had finished their milk feed at the visiting time today, naughty girl Esampu was keeping the keepers on their toes as she ran around bullying her friends who were trying to enjoy the lucerne pellets provided for them there. Whilst Esampu was restless little Sattao was also scampering about in the mud wallow before spreading his ears wide and running into the visiting public whilst all nice and muddy. He then ran over to Maktao who was standing beside the wheelbarrow with the milk bottles, but Maktao was ready to fight him as he thought he was coming for the milk bottles as well. Maktao can be a little trouble maker during visiting time as he just stands close to the wheelbarrow and doesn’t like to leave it.
13 August 2017
Ngilai decided to entertain Rapa in a wrestling match in the early morning hours today. It’s not often we find Ngilai engaged in such a game with Rapa as he usually prefers to play with the more gentle bulls, even though he is also quite a rough little boy! Everyone else was busy browsing but perhaps these two boys wanted to warm themselves up on this cold morning. It is habit among the orphans that when one starts something, others will sometimes follow and after watching their game for awhile, Murit invited Godoma to a pushing game. Kuishi became jealous of Tamiyoi and Jotto who had started playing beside her and she decided to separate the two by pushing them apart, but Mbegu came over and hugged them and pushed Kuishi away from the herd.
14 August 2017
Sattao decided to hang out with Kauro, Ndotto, Ndiwa and Maramoja this morning, which is quite unusual for him as he normally doesn’t stray too far from his keepers. He spent a long time with them in the thicket under the care of Maramoja; it is very good for him to learn new social skills from his older friends.
Mactau really loves the milk formula it seems and he fights to get to the milk feeding area in the forest; he has them all marked and knows the milk feeding time too. Having given the keepers trouble around the wheelbarrow carrying the milk over the last few days, today they decided to feed him at the milk point last after all the others. That still didn’t help very much as he is a big complainer and he still fought with Lasayen who he arrived with to have their bottles. Lasayen is not overly friendly with the young ones so was happy to push him back but a strong warning from Mbegu (who was close by trying to suck up spilt milk which she enjoys) prevented this. With Mbegu around no milk will ever go to waste – she is not a greedy girl but she enjoys collecting up every drop of spilt milk and in the wheelbarrow too, but she will never steal a bottle! Malkia was with Mbegu and copying her to suck up all the spilt milk with their trunks like a vacuum.
15 August 2017
Today out in the forest the naughty girl Mteto learnt a lesson when you stray too far. She thought she would be like the older boys Ndotto and Kauro who like to browse alone sometimes and away from the others, but when Mteto tried this today she met a herd of five buffalos who scared her away! She came running out of the bushes very fast and yelling for help and she ran back to the group, but none of the group paid any attention to her as she squeezed her way into the middle. The buffalos seem to be on their way to feed on Maxwell’s leftover lucerne pellets which are discarded in the forest and they thought they were nearly there but they had not seen the older orphans. Mbegu spotted them and gave them a warning but they kept walking towards the orphans so Mbegu alerted the other members of the herd with a loud trumpet and a low rumble. Esampu, Ndotto and Godoma responded to her call for reinforcement and came charging out of the bushes from different directions. Ndotto led the group of four to drive the buffalos back into the bushes and away from the others. The family all celebrated as the four returned triumphantly trumpeting and stamping their feet.
Today on the way to the mud bath Musiara and Sattao were walking beside the keepers when Musiara saw Sattao wanting to overtake him. He stopped and blocked him from passing and although he would allow others to pass he held Sattao back. When the keepers turned to see what he was doing he pretended to browse on the bushes but when they carried on walking he went to block Sattao again and in the end, Sattao had to dodge him and go around the bushes to get past!
16 August 2017
Elephants in general love the taste of some plant roots and among the orphans there are those that know how to find them! There are those that toil away to get these roots as well and those that just stand around waiting to see if they can steal the fruits of this labour. Murit and Tagwa are a couple of these ‘scavengers’ and whilst Rapa diligently unearthed a root, before he could even have a taste, it was snatched away by Murit who then proceeded to have a fight with Tagwa over it. Rapa was annoyed with their behaviour and he gave up, moving away to browse on some nearby bushes.
A short distance away Sana Sana had identified her own special root and was toiling away in trying to unearth it, whilst be watched by Malkia. Sana Sana wasn’t ready to give up and surrender it to someone else, even when Malkia started pushing her. Mbegu was watching as well and realised the situation could develop further so she stepped over to separate them and deny either of them from getting the root.
Ambo seems to have been in a bad mood today as he pushed Esampu several times today for no reason. It is normally Esampu who is naughty but today Ambo seemed to be annoyed with her for some unprovoked reason. The first time she was just busy feeding on the pellets when Ambo head butted her and a keeper separated them. Then he went and head butted Jotto who was doing the same but Jotto didn’t let him get away with it and he engaged him in a fight to teach him a lesson.
17 August 2017
The orphans began their day in a happy and high spirited mood today. As they walked out to the forest they encountered some buffalos, some who were standing and some who were still lying down. The orphans got very excited and Godoma, Tamiyoi, Esampu, Mbegu, Ambo and Malkia charged around and trumpeted, stamping their feet in an effort to scare the buffalos away. Eventually the buffalos got bored of their charging and moved away into the forest. Once all the orphans settled down Kuishi, Ngilai, Tagwa, Malkia and Mteto proceeded to join the little ones. Sattao, Maktao and Musiara were standing quietly with their keepers when these friends of theirs came to join them and as they surrounded them it was as if they were all having a serious conversation. Eventually Rapa came over which disrupted the meeting as he went to climb on Tagwa but Ngilai pushed him away and engaged him in a wrestling game. Rapa was too strong though and was playing a rough game with Ngilai which Kuishi noticed and she joined him to help push Rapa away. Together they managed to push him and Rapa surrendered and walked off to join some other boys who were browsing nearby.
During the private visit today little Maktao got stuck in the mud bath and started screaming for help. Mbegu and the keepers ran over to help him and after he was extracted and righted he seemed to make fun of the situation and went back to lie in the middle of the pool again – making it very difficult for anyone to get to him! Later on Mbegu managed to pull him to the edge of the mud pool for the keepers to get him out.
18 August 2017
Ndiwa has mastered the keepers hand set radio communication very well now. These days she is always the first to arrive at the milk feeding point and the first to arrive back home in the evening. There was a bit of a delay for their 9am milk bottle this morning as Enkesha decided to sneak to the mud bath area in search of milk. When she found no one there she started crying for her milk, where upon she was found and escorted back to the forest to wait for the right time. As time passed the orphans became more impatient and started putting more pressure on the keepers to allow them to go for milk. Godoma, Mbegu, Pare, Malkia, Mteto, Maktao and Mundusi were all ready to stampede past the keepers and go to find their bottles. Ndiwa was busy browsing but next to a keeper so that her ears were fixed on his radio set. As soon as a conversation began she didn’t wait for any ones permission and just went, as the keepers struggled to release only a few from those that were waiting to go and have their bottles. Ndiwa was spotted running down the path and Godoma was allowed to go with a few others. Godoma tried to catch up with Ndiwa but she didn’t stand a chance.
19 August 2017
There are some babies in particular who are very attached and trusting of their human family; Jotto is one such boy. In the morning as soon as the orphans had arrived in the forest, he was hanging around the keepers when Malima joined him and he engaged her in a game. They started playing a ‘hide and seek’ sort of game, running around and hiding in the bushes. Their game went on and they went deeper into the bushes, just as the keepers moved to go and check on some of the other orphans that were browsing. When Jotto returned from his game the keepers were not where he had left them and he ran all over looking for them but in vain. He started to yell and he ran back to the stockades. Malima ran behind him as if to calm him down but he didn’t pay any attention to her and he just kept running and crying out. The keepers came to see what was happening and called his name as they saw him running far down the path. He turned and came running back to them, pretending as if nothing was wrong!
Ndiwa took Ngilai, Malkia and Sana Sana with her when she decided to sneak down early for milk today- they had their milk with the young ones and left altogether as well; sometimes when one of the orphans wants to do something naughty they will involve others as well so they do not get in trouble!
20 August 2017
The orphans had to cross a stream of water this morning whilst heading out to the forest. Sattao was ahead of the group following the keepers who were leading the way. When he got to the stream he stopped as he didn’t want to step into the water as it was cold. He watched as the rest crossed the water and Murit arrived and got stuck in the same place. They both started walking along one side to see if there was a dry place where they could cross but they didn’t manage. Murit struggled to cross but when he saw the last keeper cross the water he felt he had no other option that to walk through the water. Sattao thought there might be another option but when none came and he realized that everyone was leaving him behind he began to yell for help. Mbegu had already gone ahead but when she heard him shouting she came running back with her ears raised high, responding to the little ones yelling with a low rumble. She crossed over to him and checked him all over with her trunk, inspecting of he had been hurt. Tagwa, who is fond of Sattao, also then arrived and they seemed to have a conversation as then Tagwa started to lead in front and as the little boy was pushed from behind by Mbegu as he tried to feel the temperature of the water with his trunk. Finally they all crossed and joined the rest of the group.
Mactau decided to learn some skills with a football today and played with Sattao and his keepers. Then he decided to take a nap and Malkia came over to guard him but then ended up taking a nap too. The keepers woke them up when it was time for them to go for their 3pm milk feed.
22 August 2017
The orphans were frightened by a herd of buffalos early in the morning who ran out of the bushes having been frightened by something themselves that we were not aware of. They came to an abrupt halt where the orphans and keepers were as they backed away from the charging buffalos. The sudden commotion saw all the orphans try to stand as close to the keepers as they could and no one wanted to be at the front! Even the bigger ones like Kauro, Ndotto, Lasayen, Rapa, Maramoja, Godoma and Mbegu were all trying to stand close together and close to the keepers. The rest of the morning the orphans browsed tightly packed together, even those like Lasayen, Ndiwa, Kauro, Mundusi, Maramoja, Rapa and Ndotto who like to browse further afield, stayed close by.
23 August 2017
This morning whilst the orphans were busy browsing in the forest, it was very funny to watch Ngilai rustling about in a bush he had been browsing on and then a huge butterfly moth flew out causing him to back away quickly before going back to inspect the bush again. He had his ears held high as he followed the moth which danced above the bush in the air trying to settle back down to the place it had been resting. Ngilai tried to catch the moth in his trunk but it kept challenging by flying up again, which made him lose his temper and start to trumpet and charge around in frustration. This earned the interest of Mteto and Kuishi who joined him in trumpeting and stamping around in the bushes, which meant the moth flew up into a tree for refuge to get away from the feisty elephant babies.
In the afternoon we rescued a young male elephant baby from the Tsavo Conservation Area who was very skinny and had obviously been without its mother for some days.
24 August 2017
During the public visit today after the first group of orphans had finished their milk bottles it was quite funny watching Kuishi who was in a very playful mood and was down on her knees pushing the plastic water trough with her head and trying to spill all the water out. The keepers cautioned her and she is a clever elephant so she listened to them and walked away, but after a few minutes she walked back to the water trough as this mission was obviously firmly on her mind, and this time he was accompanied by the naughty Esampu. They both got down on their knees and before the keepers could do anything they quickly tipped over the water trough spilling the water everywhere. They happily pushed and kicked the water trough around in a fun new game they had invented. Their game came to an end though when Kuishi kicked the trough so hard it rolled into the mud pool. Kuishi tried to pull it out with her trunk but it rolled further away into the mud, making it harder for her to retrieve it. The playful Kuishi conceded defeat as she stood on the edge of the mud pool and trumpeted as she watched the water trough float around on the surface of the muddy water, out of reach.
25 August 2017
This morning the elephants were very relaxed and calm as they walked out to the forest and not in their usual active and playful mood. Playful Ndotto, Lasayen, Ngilai, Kauro and Pare who are normally the most active ones on the walk out the forest, were very calm and subdued today as well.
When it was time for the 11am milk feed the first group of orphans ran down for their milk. When Jotto and Malima reached the open area before the feeding place they started to compete who would be the first to reach their milk bottle. Neither one wanted to be last and when they reached the mud wallow Malima got ahead of Jotto but Jotto caught her by the front leg with his trunk which brought her to a walk, bellowing alongside Jotto as she fought to get free of him. Jotto did not let go and both walked up to the feeding area with Jotto still holding on tight, up until they both reached their bottles! It was a very funny first sight to behold for the visitors that day.
26 August 2017
Today when Kiko came out into the field in the early morning he was lucky enough to be welcomed by some wild giraffes who had 3 young ones around his own age. Kiko only spotted them when they were already quite close and he began to walk towards them as they walked towards him too. When the young giraffes had almost reached him however Kiko decided to turn around and walk away, but the young giraffes followed him as he walked around and around a thicket trying to avoid contact with them. Then when Kiko saw the adult giraffes approaching him he sprinted away and made for the direction where the baby elephants were browsing. He watched them approaching from there but then the wild giraffes were scared away by Rapa, Maramoja, Ndotto, Lasayen and Pare who charged at them. When the giraffes ran away Kiko ran back towards the stockades.
27 August 2017
When the orphans were coming out of their rooms this morning, Tamiyoi was very reluctant to leave hers as she has become attached to her new neighbour, the new elephant who arrived the other day who we have named Emoli. He is still building up his strength and is yet to join the others out in the forest. Tamiyoi and Emoli have been communicating when she is back in her stockade and throughout the night they touch each other with their trunks through the partition between their stockades. Thus this morning Tamiyoi seemed reluctant to leave him behind and when the keepers tried to bring her out to join the others who were already walking out to the forest, she started to yell in protest that made the new baby start yelling as well which quickly brought Mbegu running back to find out what the problem was. Before she reached the compound though she met with Tamiyoi who had finally agreed to leave her stockade and they walked back out to the forest together. Tamiyoi has a very caring and protective nature and we hope she might lead a lovely family out in the wild one day!
28 August 2017
Elephants can have best friends or particular friends that they like to play with just like humans do. Today we watched as the rest of the orphans walked into the forest to play while Kauro started a pushing game with his best pushing friend Ndotto, whilst Murit played with Luggard who he often likes to play with. Luggard has never wanted to play with any other than Murit who is gentle and calm and who he knows will not hurt his bad leg. Murit is very understanding after he too went through a rough time with his poor health and he is very kind to little Luggard with his broken leg.
Our little orphans sometimes pretend to be brave when actually they are quite nervous creatures. Today during public visiting some warthogs came after the older orphans had finished their milk, and tried to share their lucerne pellets. Mbegu, Kauro, Rapa, Ndotto, Lasayen and Pare tried to chase them away but the older female stood her ground and raised her head with her tushes pointed at them. They did not run away but confidently remained which meant Mbegu and her group eventually gave up those piles of lucerne pellets as they dare not approach the warthogs. They just stood there with their ears raised, too afraid to chase them away!
29 August 2017
Today it was the first group of orphans turn to tussle with the resident warthogs over their lucerne pellets during the public visiting time. Little Musiara, Sattao and Maktao were chasing after the warthogs babies that had accompanied their mothers to eat lucerne pellets. These three little boys kept themselves busy chasing the young warthogs around the mud wallow and taking sharp turns, but at one point Musiara miscalculated his turn and fell over! He fell over and yelled which brought Godoma, Kuishi, Tamiyoi and Malima running over kicking up a cloud of dust as they found the warthogs close to where Musiara had just fallen over. Tamiyoi and Malima checked him over as Godoma and Kuishi drove the warthogs away from the area. Sattao and Maktao had also got a fright when Musiara fell over and did not want to chase the baby warthogs any more but they stood next to their keepers instead.
30 August 2017
At dawn this morning poor Maxwell was very upset when he smelt a lone male buffalo who wandered into the compound and settled right next to his gate where his water trough and lucerne pellets are kept. It is very dry in the area which means this poor buffalo came into the compound just to collect up the lucerne pellets which had fallen on the other side of the gate! Maxwell scampered about his stockade and knocked on the metal gate to try and scare the buffalo away but the buffalo did not listen and stayed to eat every bit of lucerne it could find. Maxwell had other ideas though and had to mark his stockade as his territory so he sprayed his gate and the lucerne pellets that were left with urine, prompting the buffalo to walk away. Maxwell was restless for some time and ran around but he then quieted down around when the time when the orphans were coming out of their stockades.
31 August 2017
During the public visit today we watched Pare, Malkia and Mteto decide not to enjoy the lucerne pellets as usual after their milk bottles. Instead the others like Kauro, Maramoja, Mbegu, Sana Sana, Tagwa, Mundusi were all competing to enjoy these piles while Pare, Malkia and Mteto decide to go into the mud wallow and busy themselves spinning around, rolling and bumping against each other which really stole the attention of the visitors. They stayed there for the duration and were very reluctant to leave the mud pool even when the others had started to walk out to the forest. As they ran out of the pool trumpeting and protesting their departure, Malkia deliberately ran through to the other side of the rope cordon, intentionally muddying some of the visitors and leaving them laughing at her deliberate actions! She then happily sped off into the forest, stamping and trumpeting as she went.