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Emoli was very busy playing with his friends today. He especially enjoys playing pushing games and today he didn’t want to give his age-mates even the chance to browse. Out in the forest he kept disturbing his friends Maktao, Musiara and Sattao and at one stage Tamiyoi and Enkesha even had to intervene and send him away to give the others a chance to browse! During the public visit today it seemed as if Enkesha and Emoli were desperate for a mud bath. For the first time in a few months it was actually quite a hot day and they decided to go and have a splash around in the swampy area adjacent to where the mud bath and feeding area is, which is currently still mounds of soil as the orphans have not wanted to mud bath in the cold weather. The Keepers thought they were just going to interact with the public standing by the rope there, but actually they sneaked away and went for their own little private mud bath in the swampy area. A short while later they came running back, yelling because they had been given a fright by a herd of impala who had come to graze close by, and they wanted to rejoin their friends.

Sometimes we think that almost every kind of character we find in people we can also find in the elephants as well. With this in mind there has been one orphan who we have looked upon recently as being very generous, and that is Sana Sana. She is a very generous girl and you will never normally find her fighting with any of the others over food. Most evenings when she returns home to her stockade she is left with hardly any green browse in her room as her neighbours Sagala and Jotto always steal it through the partitions, but she never fights them or loses her temper. With Maktao and Kiasa the case is very different. These two little neighbours charge and fight each other through their partition over their food. Maktao finds it okay for Enkesha on the other side to share his food with, but for some reason not Kiasa! When Kiasa then comes across Maktao out in the forest during the day, it is like she wants to seek revenge for what has happened during the evening, very much unlike Sana Sana. It is so interesting for us to hear the orphans communicating, even if we are unsure what they are saying. When a Keeper arrived out in the forest this morning at around 8am with a radio handset, the Keepers then started communicating between those in the stockades and in the forest. Tagwa, Luggard, Enkesha and a few others were close to the Keepers. Ndiwa and Malkia also heard the radio and Malkia rumbled, and Ndiwa too. Tagwa who was closest to the Keeper with the handset must have answered whatever question might have been posed as she offered up a very strong and long low rumble. To confirm their communication even more, Enkesha and Luggard raised their trunks in the air as if they were trying to smell something. We suspect their communication was all about the fact it was nearly milk time, and this is what they had learnt from the fact the radio handsets were making noise, as the Keepers always communicate when it comes close to feeding time.

Wow, what a day for Musiara; this little boy has had a day full of fun. As of today there is a new mud bath which has been dug as we have had some warm days punctuating the cold now. After having their milk bottles, Musiara led Emoli, Maisha, Maktao and Kiasa into the new mud pool. In the first group of eight babies who came down for their milk, only Enkesha and Sattao opted to concentrate on browsing on the greens rather than go in the mud bath. Enkesha normally loves mud bathing and is usually the first one in the water, but perhaps she was just not feeling up to it today. It did not take long for Kiasa, Maisha and Maktao to come out of the mud and join them to browse, but Musiara and Emoli enjoyed climbing on Tamiyoi’s back as she rolled around in the mud. Back out in the forest, the fun for Musiara continued as he engaged Sattao in a pushing game, and then a game of hide and seek too. Their game came to an end though when Sattao took a break and went to suckle on Tagwa’s ear. Musiara approached him to try and invite him back to their game, but Tagwa thought Musiara was coming to push Sattao and she turned on him, pushing him away.

Kiasa is such a funny little girl who always shows off different characters. Sometimes she is patient and calm and other times she is a downright bully who is hard to control. Today during the 11am milk feed, she had her milk bottle very calmly, but as soon as she was done she surprised her Keeper by running off and head-butting all of those she came across still having their bottles. On the other hand, Tagwa is such a gentle and calm girl who never bullies any of the others, even when they might be picking on her. Like earlier today we saw Malkia and Kuishi poking her with their tusks to make room for them as she was busy browsing. Tagwa just quietly walked away leaving Malkia and Kuishi to browse where she had been. Tagwa just went and settled next to where Musiara, Luggard, Mapia and Enkesha were since she loves to show love and attention to the young babies.

Little Enkesha is a polite and gentle girl who is much happier these days since her trunk is not bothering her as much as it used to. She likes to play with Maisha who is another little girl with a character similar to her own. Out in the bush the two can usually be seen attached to one another, and sometimes with Sattao, Luggard and his friend Musiara too of course. Today out in the forest the two little girls were seen playing and rolling on the ground, enjoying a soil dusting game where Enkesha was allowing Maisha, Sattao and Musiara to play on her. Maisha and Musiara sat on her tummy, and little Enkesha never complained as she was enjoying the game as well. It is amazing to see how Enkesha draws water through her trunk, considering her injury and the open hole, and blows it into her mouth. To do this she has to contract the many muscles in her trunk to close the gap that exists about half way up, caused by the wire snare that almost severed her trunk completely off. She can use her trunk almost like any of the other babies now, and there is almost nothing she can’t do with it.

As the orphans arrived for their milk bottles at the noon feeding time, the visiting public were surprised at how Enkesha, Maktao and Sattao tried to out-smart each other. Each elephant wanted to be the first to the feeding area and there was a lot of pushing and jostling to get to the front. Unfortunately in the struggle, Sattao stumbled and rolled in the rocky area, which made him cry out. Sattao’s fall did not stop the others from rushing to still get their milk, but Sattao managed to get to his feet and carry on with his run towards the mud bath area for his bottle. By the time he got there the others had already finished their bottles and were browsing on the greens that had been put out by the Keepers. Musiara was the last one in the first group to come, as unlike the others he doesn’t hurry for his milk and walked along slowly beside the Keepers that accompanied him.

As well as being neighbours, Musiara and Luggard are close friends as well. Their friendship has been strengthened by surrounding circumstances too; because of Luggard’s limp he doesn’t move as fast as the others, and Musiara is a slow boy out of choice as well, so they inadvertently spend a lot of time with each other when walking from place to place. This morning after the 9am feed, Musiara and Luggard decided to leave the others and browse behind a bush away from the others. As time passed the Keepers noticed they had fallen behind and began to look for them, just as Luggard snorted to clear his nose, giving their location away. This afternoon when the orphans returned home to their night stockades, the visiting foster parents were treated to a little attention from Enkesha, who stopped to greet them on her way down to her room, before moving on to follow her Keeper to go and have her milk bottle.

As the doors were opened for the orphans to come out in the morning, Malima rushed to her old room only to find the door closed. She smelled through the spaces in the door and found that there was a new arrival inside. She decided to stay around close to the door and tried to push and pull on it make the door open but to no avail. Her struggles drew the attention of Tagwa and Malkia who came over to see what was happening as well. As they continued to try and open the door, Sana Sana complained loudly as if to alert the Keepers and the other orphans to the new arrival. Several other orphans including Kuishi, Ndiwa, Jotto, Ambo and Enkesha rushed over to the door to see what was happening, before the Keepers with their tea cups in hand walked everyone out to the forest, leaving the new baby behind as he is still too weak to join the others and has been collapsing. As the Keepers enjoyed their morning tea as the orphans browsed, Malima was browsing alongside them, when suddenly she snatched a cup from an unsuspecting Keeper, emptying its contents and throwing it in the direction of where the others were browsing. Before the Keeper could rescue his cup, it had already been turned into a toy by the elephants, who played with it and then broke it so the Keeper could not use it again! It seemed like Malima was getting her own back for losing her room and being denied to meet the new baby too.

During the 3pm milk feed today Kiasa, as usual, wanted to have an extra milk bottle and this time she tried to take it from Ambo. She pushed both Ambo and the Keeper, knocking the bottle out of his hand and spilling some of the milk onto the ground. This behaviour annoyed Tagwa who ruthlessly pushed the little girl to the ground to try and discipline her. This didn’t seem to have quite the desired effect however, and to show her defiance Kiasa turned her anger towards Maisha, prompting a serious fight between the two until Malkia stepped in and separating the fighting girls. As that drama unfolded, Enkesha and Kuishi were just quietly collecting up the milk that had spilt on the floor with their trunks, and from the wheelbarrow as well.

It was a sunny afternoon again and all the animals in the National Park seemed to be seeking shade under the trees from the sun. The elephant orphans were doing the same. Maktao is so very dependent on his Keepers and loves them dearly, and was hanging around close to them as Musiara and his best friend Luggard decided to rest under a tree nearby, spraying themselves with cool dirt and collecting some of the tasty seeds that had dropped from the tree. Three warthogs were enjoying the shade too where Maisha and Enkesha were resting, before Malima interrupted the peace. She came charging over to scare the warthogs away and they were forced to seek shelter elsewhere. Sagala, Sana Sana and Tagwa attempted to pull down branches from a tree they were resting under, whilst little Enkesha, Emoli, Maisha and Sattao scrambled for the leaves that fell as a result, collecting them up off the floor. Ambo and Jotto were very much involved in a pushing game, whilst Mapia defied the hot weather and chose to browse out in the open to fill up his tummy.

Maxwell the rhino woke up this morning in a very happy mood. He made several rounds of his bedroom and at times charged and pushed the posts, shaking the whole structure. Little did we know that a buffalo was grazing near his bedroom and that was probably what was causing his excitement. Tamiyoi and Malima took advantage of Maxwell being in his bedroom to steal some of his leftover lucerne pellets, and we watched as sometimes they resorted even to kneeling to reach further into his stockade and grab more with their trunks. Enkesha as usual sneaked behind the stockade area in search of green leaves, only to be spotted by a Keeper who had come back from the forest to have his breakfast. All the others were out in the forest enjoying the browse and the warm sunshine, and it took some effort to convince the little girl to move away from her own private browsing area and join the others out there.