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Tagwa is always thinking about little Sattao and sometimes she doesn’t like strangers around the little boy. During the morning visit she made sure than none of the visitors could touch Sattao as he walked close to the rope cordon. Whenever he approached someone she was by his side, pushing him away. During the same visiting time, Malima seemed to take a break from her usual mischievous ways and pushing games, and for once was a well-behaved girl! The orphans’ behaviour is usually affected by what mood they are in, just like people. Earlier Emoli went to play in a muddy swampy area but ended up getting stuck. He shouted for help and out of all the elephants the Keepers were surprised to see it was Ndiwa that went to help him! She managed to get him out by supporting him on one side and pushing him with her head. Eventually the little boy was back on his feet and happy to be out of the mud. Ndiwa doesn’t normally pay any attention to the little ones but she was obviously in a very good mood today.

Malima woke up this morning in a very playful and excitable mood. Everything within her reach she treated as a toy. When her door was opened in the morning she went straight to Maxwell hoping that he was awake and able to play, but Max did not pay any attention to her as she pushed on his gate trying to wake him up. He remained sound asleep and clearly didn’t want to be disturbed. This didn’t matter as soon Ambo came out of his room and invited Malima to play a pushing and hide and seek game too. Malima then soon went on to head-butt and pull on the buckets hanging on the doors of the orphans’ rooms making a lot of noise. It certainly helped to wake up those who were still in their rooms and not yet out in the compound! Ambo was trying to stop her bashing the buckets as she moved from one to the other, but she kept on going. It was only when she was driven away by one of the Keepers that she stopped, but that was no easy job.

The elephant orphans love the lucerne pellets so much and sometimes will forgo anything else first to have some. They don’t get them every day either, so they will use any opportunity to have some. Tamiyoi and Ndiwa for example will always pass by Maxwell’s stockade to grab some they might have spilled through his gate to the other side, before running into their stockades for their milk in the evening. Ambo is another one who will find any opportunity to grab some lucerne pellets. This morning he made sure he stopped by Maxwell’s stockade to see if there were any there. If any of the others orphans like Malima were to join him and he doesn’t feel like sharing, he goes to the secret place that only he knows about. He walks off very quietly and stands in a small corridor between Emoli’s stockade and the store and once he is there no one can see him unless he makes a sound. All the other orphans can leave for the forest and he is left behind enjoying his favourite snack in his special place. Musiara keeps trying to charge at Kiko whenever he sees him. When heading out to the forest he saw Kiko still in his room and he went over pulling on his door and trumpeting trying to charge at Kiko. He really doesn’t like the giraffe for some reason!

Kiko is still a naughty little giraffe and he is determined that he will never be left out and that the Keepers pay him as much attention to him as to the elephants. As the elephants gathered under a big tree to shade themselves from the sun which was out this afternoon, Kiko stormed in forcing his way between the elephants. There was a lot of rumbling, trumpeting and shouting from the elephant babies as they protested Kiko’s actions. They raised their ears and stamped their feet to scare the tall boy away, who in turn threw back kicks aimed at Sana Sana. Tagwa, in her capacity as a mother figure to the other orphans, gathered her courage and charged up towards the giraffe trumpeting, in the company of Malkia, Malima, Jotto and Mapia who followed her. They succeeded in chasing the naughty giraffe away who raced away in his long strides all the way back to the stockade compound. Eventually the elephants calmed down as well, and settled to enjoy the cool breeze under the trees.

As the orphans came running in for their milk bottles at 5pm this afternoon, they found that they had a new arrival in their midst, as we had performed a rescue of a very starved orphan earlier in the day. Malima was the first to notice, as she has been Tamiyoi’s next door neighbour but found her room had been changed. Tamiyoi had a new and much younger neighbour, and it was a boy as well! The surprised Tamiyoi smelled through the wooden partitions separating their rooms, and the newcomer raised his ears and came close as if to say hello to Tamiyoi. The two elephants entwined trunks in greetings. Tamiyoi then moved away, and a little while later decided to steal some of her new neighbours greens placed in his room, as she thought he might not object. In fact this did bother the new arrival, and even though he was weak he charged at Tamiyoi, who remained unfazed and pulled through yet another branch, until the Keepers stepped in and stopped her stealing.

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.

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.