Namalok breaking a small tree
Six wild bulls were present at the stockade compound in the morning. The orphans as usual settled for lucerne before heading south for browsing. Mundusi engaged Wanjala in a pushing game while Namalok pushed down a small tree as he tried to find out how strong he had grown. Olsekki climbed on Tusuja who appeared unbothered by Olsekki being on his back. Later Pare led the way to the mud bath but on the way he was overtaken by Kuishi. No single wild elephant showed up to the mud bath today. The weather was chilly and again the orphans only had their milk before proceeding straight to the browsing field. Enkikwe, Sapalan and Olsekki were the last to leave the mud bath. We had light showers in the afternoon and the orphans browsed calmly without any major observation. Kithaka, Barsilinga, Garzi and Lemoyian parted ways with the juniors and reported back to the stockade late in the evening.
Buchuma, Taita and Kenze were among the wild elephants who visited the stockade in the morning to drink water. Soon when the babies were let out, Buchuma, Kenze and their wild elephant friend ‘Kijana’ walked up to join the orphans to feed on lucerne. Later, Kuishi rumbled in trying to call her friends to move. Mapia and Wanjala responded and followed Kuishi to the water trough. Moments later, the rest of the group followed.
Later Ndiwa had a game of soil dusting while her friends were busy concentrating on browsing. At the noon milk feed, Rapa tried to push Malima soon after having their milk. Malima didn’t wait to be pushed a second time and so ran away from Rapa. As the other orphans were jumping into the mud bath, Siangiki boycotted the wallowing exercise and went to hide amongst the wild bulls that were standing closely. Siangiki then moved to drink water with the wild bulls when the mud bath was over. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse south west of Ithumba Hill and had a quiet time browsing until five o'clock in the evening when they returned back safely to the stockade.
The stockade compound was flooded with wild elephants this morning that were coming for water. Noticeable was a breeding herd that had two young ones. Olare and Mutara’s groups were also present. The orphans settled for their morning lucerne and were joined by the junior ex-orphans. As soon as the breeding herd had enough water, the matriarch led them away. Surprisingly, Kuishi had secretly been monitoring the herd and communicating with them without the Keeper’s knowledge, and she followed the herd out of the compound. In order to trick the keepers, Kuishi walked as if she was going for a drink but went past the water trough, following the breeding herd into the bush. By the time the Keepers realized that they had been tricked by Kuishi, Kuishi had already caught up with the herd. Fortunately the Keepers were quick enough to intercept and bring her back to her group. Kuishi was welcomed back by Mapia who tried to find out from Kuishi why she wanted to run away with the wild herd by stretching his trunk towards her.
Out in the bush, Mundusi came across a suitable rock that he used to scratch his buttocks on while Garzi had a strength testing exercise with Barsilinga. At mud bath time, it was all quiet with only the orphans and the junior ex-orphans having the place all for themselves. The orphans didn’t like the weather again and they just went around the mud bath without taking a bath. A few opted for a soil dusting exercise before heading back to the browsing field. In the afternoon, the orphaned herd settled to browse west of Ithumba Hill. In the evening, Tomboi showed up at the stockade in the company of thirty wild bulls. Tomboi had a brief pushing game with Kasigau before settling to drink water. Later, all the bulls left after taking enough water.
It was another chilly morning but with light showers today. The orphans left the stockade and settled for their morning lucerne. Three wild bulls were drinking water at the stockade water trough and one of them joined the orphans to feed on lucerne. Soon after finishing lucerne, the will bull led the orphans to the water trough where they settled for water. More bulls came to the lower and the top water troughs too. Oltaiyoni tried to join the bulls drinking of water but was turned away by one of the hostile bulls. Mapia and Kuishi stood a distance away with Kuishi holding her trunk in the air, trying to find out if she could walk away with any of the wild bulls. It appears the bulls turned her request down since Kuishi lowered her trunk and, escorted by Mapia, they walked back to join their friends. Sapalan engaged Karisa in a pushing game as Mundusi stood close by waiting to tackle the winner. Sapalan surrendered and Mundusi took over in tackling Karisa. Mundusi lost the game to Karisa and walked away hoping to come again and try his luck of winning over Karisa.
Out in the bush, Enkikwe settled to feed with Lemoyian. Later, the clouds cleared and gave way to sunshine. The orphans participated in wallowing at mud bath time and thereafter returned back to the browsing field. In the evening thirty five wild bulls were at the stockade compound coming for water. Noticeable were Dad, the father we have guessed to wild born babies Yetu and Mwende, and One Tusk. The bulls left soon after taking enough water.
It was a quiet morning with only two wild bulls showing up for water. After feeding on the lucerne, the orphans walked down to the water troughs where they joined one of the wild bulls. On the way to the browsing field, Mapia came across an anthill that he used to scratch his bottom on. Oltaiyoni had brief strength testing exercise with Enkikwe while Sapalan played with Karisa and later Rapa. Tusuja had his own game of rolling on the ground while Ambo came across a suitable rock that he used to scratch his buttocks on too. Kuishi settled to browse with Mapia while Mteto teamed up with Roi. Mundusi developed an itchy ear and decided to scratch against a nearby tree.
Shortly before mud bath time, Turkwel, Kithaka, Barsilinga, Garzi and Lemoyian parted ways with their friends. At mud bath time, fifteen wild bulls were present. The temperature was moderate and the orphans seemed uninterested in bathing due to the cold water. Eventually they reluctantly jumped into the water then came out again and headed for a soil dusting exercise. Kasigau, who had joined the orphans at mud bath, decided to give them company for the afternoon. In the evening, Kinna, her baby Kama, Lenana and Loijuk joined some wild elephants at the stockade to drink water. A family herd that showed up later had a baby the size of Kama. Kama decided to play with the baby in a strength testing exercise but her nanny Lenana intervened by stopping them from fighting.
Orwa and Bomani, who spent the night outside the stockade, joined the orphans in the morning for lucerne. Sapalan, who is very active these days, briefly engaged Tusuja in a strength testing exercise but ended up losing to Tusuja. Mteto and the quiet Siangiki settled for scratching exercise before resuming with lucerne feeding. Shortly later, Sapalan and Mapia walked down under an acacia tree to pick up acacia pods that had fallen.
Later, Sapalan picked on Namalok and they had a pushing game for quite some time while Garzi played with Kithaka. Kuishi settled to feed with Bomani while Mundusi teamed up with Enkikwe. At mud bath time, the weather was chilly and none of the orphans dared to touch the mud bathing water. Several wild bulls attended mud bath too. Olsekki, Barsilinga and Tusuja lagged behind as they engaged one of the wild bulls in a conversation; we are not sure but it appeared the three boys were asking questions and in return received satisfactory answers. Taita and the wild bull with a broken ear known as ‘Masikio’ were also present at mud bath. On the way back out to browse, Pare engaged Mundusi in a pushing game while Bomani played with Garzi. The rebels stayed with the group the whole day. In the evening when the orphans were back at the stockade, Kithaka waited until the Keepers were out of site and then opened the gate letting everyone out. The keepers intervened and after getting them back in, locked the gate using a padlock.
Kinna and her group consisting of her daughter Kama, Loijuk, Lenana and Kitirua showed up early in the morning before the orphans were let out. They teamed up with the orphans for lucerne before going separate ways with the juniors.
As the orphans were browsing, Namalok had a prolonged strength testing exercise with Karisa, while Tusuja played with Kauro. Mundusi found a suitable rock that he used to scratch his belly on. The rest of the morning was quiet as the orphans concentrated on browsing. At mud bath time, the orphans had their milk and then some water, before walking around the mud bath without stepping into the mud bathing water. The orphans dusted themselves before Sana Sana led them back to the browsing field. In the afternoon, Mapia settled to browse with Kuishi as the rest of the herd scattered in search of better vegetation to eat, and in the evening they all returned back safely to the stockade for the night.
The orphans started their well by feeding on Lucerne after having their morning milk bottles. Kuishi walked straight over to a tree and started scratching. The ex-orphans from Mutara and Olare’s herds visited and started feeding on lucerne too. A wild female came with her two babies and drank water. Three different wild bulls arrived and shared water with orphans too, before they decided to walk out to the bush to browse.
In the bush, poor little Enkikwe with his bad leg tried to stretch high into the tree to reach food for food. Mutara and Olare’s herds had followed the orphans from the compound and were browsing with them. Kandecha and Kanjoro from the two different herds started play-fighting, while Mutara was happily playing and rolling on the ground for fun. Roi was scooping and tossing chunks of soil in the air and some on her back.
The dependent orphans arrived at the mud bath area around 11am for their milk bottles and then some of them decided to go for a swim with the ex-orphans there. Kalama struggled to get out of the mud wallow because she was trying to get out at the wrong place and the sides were very steep. Kinna and her baby plus Lenana arrived and went straight to the water trough. The dependent orphans walked back to the bush to browse.
Out in the bush it was very hot and dry so the orphans decided to come back to the mud bath later in the evening to cool off. They had a very enjoyable time wallowing and then dust bathing together with Mutara’s herd. Olare’s herd came later to join them. Sities and Mutara also struggled to get out of the mud bath as they too tried to get out at the wrong side, but eventually they managed and the whole group walked back to the stockade in the evening.
This morning the orphans had their milk bottles and as they walked down from their stockades to have some lucerne, they found Mutara and Olare’s herd were already waiting for their share too. The orphans were happy to see the ex-orphan group and interacted happily with them, despite some of them being a bit pushy with the babies around the Lucerne. Mapia and Kuishi started scratching their necks separately on the wall. Siangiki patted Enkikwe when Enkikwe walked up next to her after having his treatment.
On the way out to the bush, Mundusi started play fighting with Pare while Kauro and Kamok washed and sharpened their tusks on a dead tree stump simultaneously. Enkikwe started playing in the dust and when he was done, the group decided to walk to the mud bath. Mutara and Olare’s herd did not want to be left behind and accompanied the babies to the mud bath. Some wild bulls also came to drink water and interacted with the orphans and ex-orphans a bit. Some of the wild bulls walked down to the mud wallow and started wallowing there as the orphans walked back out to browse.
It is still very dry and the babies concentrated on finding enough food to eat. They all looked very busy browsing. As they were walking along they decided to have a small mud bath in the small water pool on the side of the dirt road. Malkia concentrated on removing some mud from her foot. Mutara’s group was still with them with a wild female too. The whole herd made their way back home in the evening and the dependent babies went back into the stockades for their milk. All the orphans came back on time this evening including Kithaka’s naughty rebel group.
Only one wild bull was present at the stockade water trough when the orphans were let out this morning. A lone buffalo came to join him and left after enjoying some water. The wild bull threatened the orphans when they tried to join him to drink, but later seemed to reach some sort of understanding and allowed the babies to drink water. Kuishi and Maramoja settled to scratch on some nearby rocks as Esampu led the way to the browsing field.
Garzi came across a suitable rock that he used to scratch his belly on. The orphans browsed calmly without any major observation until eleven o'clock when Namalok led the way to the mud bath. After taking her milk, the hot tempered Ukame pushed Karisa. Karisa wasn't happy about it but hoped that a day will come when he will be strong enough to defend himself against Ukame. Wild bull ‘Dad’ and his friends were at the mud bath and stood aside to let the orphans drink when they saw them approaching with their Keepers. The sun was hot but only a handful of the orphans opted for mud bathing. Ambo led the rest of the group away who had decided to boycott the wallowing exercise. After mud bathing, Roi decided to relax under a tree before catching up with the rest of her group.
In the afternoon, Pare settled to browse with Sapalan and in the evening Kuishi led the way to the mud bath for an evening cooling-off exercise. The orphans were joined by the senior ex- orphans namely Yatta, babies Yoyo and Yetu, Kina, baby Kama, Sunyei, baby Siku, Lenana, Kenze, Challa, Vuria, Ithumbah, Naisula, Mulika, her baby Mwende, Naserian and the now heavily pregnant Loijuk and Wendi who was still without her baby Wiva. The ex-orphans then escorted the juniors back to the stockade.
Jotto left the stockade in the morning with a branch in his mouth that he continued to feed on until the lucerne was distributed. Mapia settled to scratch himself on a rock as he waited for the lucerne. It was a calm morning as the orphans enjoyed their lucerne without any disturbance from any outsider. After feeding on lucerne, Ambo and Kamok found suitable rocks that they scratched themselves on. On the way out to browse, Mundusi challenged Roi to a pushing game but ended up losing to Roi. An hour later, Yatta’s group came for water at the stockade water troughs and left immediately after they had taken enough. The orphans settled to browse south of the stockades and at eleven o'clock in the morning, Kuishi led the first group to the mud bath. The orphans were joined by Yatta’s group there too. Mundusi enjoyed a pushing game with baby Yoyo until Yetu, Yoyo's sister, came to help her brother and pushed Mundusi away.