It is still winter here in Kenya, so August began on a cold note. Even Maxwell was hesitant to wake up, preferring instead to remain snuggled in his cosy bed of hay. Out in the forest, all the orphans huddled together, drawing warmth from each other.
It was another extremely cold morning in the Nairobi National Park, as Nairobi’s winter months continued. Even Maxwell was struggling to wake up this morning, as he remained in his warm bed of hay for quite some time, not even waking up to greet the orphans as they were moving about the stockade compound. Once in the forest, none of the orphans were particularly energetic but instead chose to stick to themselves, focusing on their browse. Although they were all busy browsing, they all remained huddled together to keep warm.
Kerrio, Choka, Taabu, Latika and Sileita, couldn’t decide who to stand next to keep warm and were seen constantly moving from one orphan to the other, as if they were testing who was warmest. Naleku and some of the other girls, such as Olorien, all wanted to dote upon Kerrio and were seen following her all over the forest.
Down at the mud bath, once the orphans had downed their midday bottles of milk, none of them even dared to test the temperature of the mud bath they all just resumed their browsing activities. Mzinga, Nyambeni and Mageno, all remained with their blankets on throughout the day, ensuring that they stayed warm. Once the orphans had finished all the greens at the mud bath, they returned to the forest for a very quiet afternoon of browsing.
This morning, as the orphans were just arriving out in the forest, Bondeni, Esoit, Taabu, and Choka all came face-to-face with the resident warthogs as they were on their way to Maxwell’s stockade to share in his lucerne pellets. The playful bulls decided to chase after the warthogs this morning, playfully rumbling at them and flapping their ears. The warthogs being smaller were able to take sharp corners, avoiding the bulls, and it was amusing to see the bulls fumbling about trying to keep up.
Eventually, the bulls tried a tactic of Bondeni and Esoit chasing them in the direction of Taabu and Choka and then when the warthogs would do a 180, they would chase them back towards Bondeni and Esoit. The warthogs quickly learnt what was happening and then started running in the opposite direction, so all the bulls chased after them once more rumbling and trumpeting. Their game continued for quite some time before the bulls settled down to browse before their 9 o’clock bottles of milk.
Once the bulls settled down, the orphans had a quiet day of browsing.
As the orphans were finishing their midday bottles of milk and settling down to browse around the mud bath, Sileita was being such a troublemaker. Sileita wanted to keep all the greens for herself, and every time the other orphans would try to grab some, she would shove them away. She was being particularly stroppy with gentle Latika, Choka, and Mukutan. Every time the trio would walk in her direction, she would rumble and charge after them and then they would dash off in opposite directions through the rest of the herd. This grumpy behaviour was very out of character for Sileita, so all the Keepers were so surprised.
Funnily enough, as soon as Kerrio saw Sileita bullying Choka and Mukutan, she decided to copy her and gave Mukutan such a hard time chasing him away from his greens. Eventually, Mukutan grew tired of her and Sileita’s antics and just quietly moved away to some of the nearby bushes.
After their midday bottles of milk, the orphans were settling down once more in the forest for their afternoon of browsing. As Nairobi was still overcast and cold, the orphans were all trying to keep warm through various activities. Bondeni and Esoit, as always, engaged each other in a wrestling match. Taabu and Choka were busy playing a game of hide and seek with Latika, and every time they would catch up to her, they would try to climb on her back. As they were dashing around, Olorien was busy rolling around on the dust mound and chucking soil all over her back.
Once Taabu finished chasing after Latika, he engaged Kinyei in a strength testing match and Kindani was busy wrestling Neshashi. Sileita, Kerrio, Naleku, Mukutan and Suguroi were all busy chasing after the resident warthogs. Roho and Oldepe were busy charging around, bush bashing through the forest, rumbling and trumpeting in excitement. Amidst all the excitement, Ziwadi, Lodo, Tingai, and Rafiki were all happily browsing amongst each other.
As the orphans were settling back down in the forest after their 9 o’clock bottles of milk, they separated into two groups, much like they would have do for their midday milk feed. Naleku led the older group in a different direction, and she was followed by Neshashi, Olorien, Kindani, Kinyei, and the big boys Roho, Oldepe, Lodo, Bondeni and Esoit. The other group — Kerrio, Ziwadi, Kamili, Tingai, Latika, Mukutan, Taabu and Choka — chose to remain back with some of their Keepers. Sagateisa, Sileita, and Suguroi were floating between the two groups.
Neshashi continues her funny routine of sneaking off back to the translocation lorry to grab any leftover lucerne pellets. This morning, around 10 o’clock, she led the older group of orphans back to the younger group, and then proceeded to lead Roho and Oldepe back to the translocation lorry to enjoy their milk bottles before heading down to the mud bath to join the others. The Keepers have never seen an orphan so obsessed with the Translocation lorry as Neshashi. Whenever she gets a chance to sneak off, she will head straight there. Even in the mornings, the first place she will head is to the lorry.
As the saying goes, boys will always be boys, and this is just as true for the Nursery bulls who are constantly trying to climb on each other’s backs and the girls and are always wrestling to prove their own strength. Mukutan, who has always been the shy boy in the Nursery herd, is now starting to gain some confidence and he too is started to engage some of the other bulls in strength testing matches. This morning, as most of the herd was peacefully browsing, Mukutan and Taabu enjoyed a lengthy wrestling match with one another. These two boys spent most of their day, finding each other in the forest and then wrestling again. Taabu who normally challenges his buddy Choka, was quite happy to wrestle Mukutan today, and the Keepers were very excited to see Mukutan playing.
More and more, Naleku is trying to gain the affection of the two little girls Mzinga and Nyambeni. Throughout the day, she will walk away from the herd and try to spend time with them and Mageno. Kinyei and Olorien have also taken a liking to them, and they too have been spending more and more time with them. The little girls, however, remain closest to Mageno and their Keepers as they are not used to the bigger girls yet.
It has taken Tingai slightly longer to settle down within the Nursery herd, as he would always keep his distance from his Keepers and stick to himself. Today, however, he was being very cuddly with his Keeper, as he would constantly approach them for a cuddle and kept trying to suckle their fingers for comfort. One of his favourite habits is to walk around with his trunk in his mouth, suckling it much like a baby suckles on a dummy. Lodo, one of his best friends in the Nursery herd, saw him getting lots of cuddles from the Keepers so he too came over to join him. As soon as Lodo approached, Tingai got possessive of the Keepers and kept blocking Lodo, so eventually Lodo shoved him away. Kinyei who was close by, and saw the bulls getting annoyed with each other, so she quickly stepped in to separate them from each other.
Kerrio remains the favourite with the big girls, despite the arrival of Mzinga and Nyambeni, although the girls are growing fonder of them. This afternoon, Kerrio decided to head off on her own ahead of the rest of the herd and as soon as she arrived in one of the orphans’ favourite plains to browse, she came across a herd of impala grazing. This gave her such a fright, that she swiftly made a 180 and then went sprinting back to the rest of the Nursery herd, trumpeting, and rumbling in fear. As soon as the big girls heard her, Naleku, Kindani, Kinyei and Olorien all went running to her rescue. Once they saw that she was okay, they all settled down to browse once more.
This morning, during the orphans’ 9 o’clock milk feed, they were once again disturbed by a large hyrax that decided to run straight through the herd. Some of the orphans are so used to the hyraxes that they don’t take any notice of them, but some of the orphans really dislike them. Kinyei was the first to charge at the hyrax, which caused it to speed up a little bit and duck behind Sagateisa. Sagateisa was not impressed with the hyrax hiding behind her, that she quickly did a 180, rumbling at the little thing and chasing it away.
Kerrio on the other hand, is very relaxed with the hyrax and will often try to follow them, smelling them. This morning, she followed the hyrax all the way to the one step and then when the hyrax settled on the step, she tried to stretch her trunk out to touch it. Sadly, the hyrax was too quick and ran off.
Once back in the forest, Mukutan and Taabu engaged each other once more in a wrestling match. They bulls were having such a blast chasing each other throughout the forest, rumbling and trumpeting. Just like the other day, their game continued for a long time before they settled down to browse once more.
Bottle feeding the orphans is such an important part of their rescue and recovery, because it not only settles them down, but it also teaches them to trust their Keepers and creates that bond between orphan and Keeper. Although Rafiki settled into the Nursery herd very quickly, in that the Keepers did not have to wait very long before being let out with the orphans, in some ways he remains shy. He will sometimes try to sneak away from Nursery herd and although he is very calm amongst the Keepers, he is still getting to know the other orphans.
Today, he snuck away from the Nursery herd three times. Two times he snuck back to the stockade compound, the first time he went into his stockade to relax and the second he went to greet the Keepers and Chef at the canteen which is right near the stockades. The third time, he went down to the mud bath where he waited for the milk wheelbarrows to be brought down. Each time he snuck off, one of the Keepers was behind him, making sure he didn’t head off too far.
Taabu is another one of those orphans that has many friends. His closest buddy is Choka, but he has made friends with many of the other bulls in the Nursery herd too. Today, he had the best time engaging Bondeni and Roho in a wrestling match. The three bulls played for over twenty minutes before returning to their browsing activities.
Suguroi is the latest to join the naughty group at the 3 o’clock milk feed, as she too is now causing a lot of trouble bullying the other younger orphans and constantly chasing after them. Today, she kept charging Taabu and Mageno so the Keepers had to quickly step in and they sent her away with the other troublemakers, Neshashi, Bondeni, and Naleku. Once the milk feed was over, they were allowed back to join the herd.
The Keepers had quite a stressful morning with Ziwadi and Rafiki. As the orphans were headed out to the forest, the Keepers suddenly noticed that Ziwadi had wandered off. At first, they thought that she may have walked ahead so two Keepers set off to look for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. They spent most of the early hours calling her name and looking for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Around 9’oclock, as the orphans were running down for their milk bottles, the Keepers thought she may come back but she did not.
As the orphans were then making their way back to the forest, Rafiki wandered off too, so now the Keepers were on the lookout for both of them. The Keepers’ first instinct was correct; Ziwadi had wandered off ahead of the herd and they found her all the way near the Banda Gate to the National Park, feasting on her favourite greens. She was so oblivious to the fact that she had been without the Nursery herd for quite some time. The best news was that the Keepers then found Rafiki close to where Ziwadi was, and the herd was now all together again.
This afternoon, Suguroi was once again being naughty as she kept shoving little Kerrio away. Olorien quickly reacted and came barreling over to chase Suguroi away and as soon as Suguroi saw Olorien running over, she sprinted away. Once the naughty bunch had been ushered away, the orphans settled at the mud bath. Silieta was enjoying a peaceful moment with Nyambeni and Mzinga. Sileita enjoys spending time with the little girls on most days and it is great to see her being such a caring nanny.
Nairobi continues to be very cold in these winter months and it was another nippy morning as the orphans were waking up and starting their day. As soon as the orphans arrived in the forest, Oldepe and Roho engaged each other in a wrestling match, and Esoit joined them after a couple of minutes. They were having so much fun, until Oldepe started to play a little rough and bush them around. Roho and Esoit, quickly moved away as they didn’t want to play anymore but this then saw Oldepe target the rest of the herd. He went charging towards Ziwadi and shoved her, which knocked her over. The Keepers went sprinting over and told him off as they helped Ziwadi back to her feet and they eventually ushered him away.
Later in the day, Taabu and Choka engaged each other in a wrestling match, which then turned into a dust bath when they both climbed the dust mound and began to roll around. They were soon joined by Kerrio who came and rolled around with them. Their game was abruptly ended by Naleku who came running over and stepped in between them, not letting anyone play with her precious Kerrio. Taabu and Choka quickly ran off, getting away from Naleku.
Rafiki has a very similar temperament to Tingai, in that he is still quite shy around the other orphans and tends to keep to himself. He likes to spend time a bit distanced from the orphans, but he is more than happy to stand close to his Keepers and share a cuddle with them. This afternoon, he tried to pull another disappearing act as he ran off when the Keepers were ushering the orphans to get ready for their 3 o’clock milk feed. As he was trying to sneak off, one of the Keepers quickly spotted him and yelled out to the other Keepers who managed to stand in his way, ushering him back to the herd.
This afternoon, it was Mukutan’s turn to be naughty as he kept trying to shove little Mzinga. She wasn’t disturbing him at all, he just had a bee in his bonnet about her. Every time he saw her, he would run over and start to push her a little, which caused Mzinga to yell out in protest. Kinyei came charging over, rumbling deeply ang angrily at Mukutan and she shoved him away from the little girl. Mukutan ran off, yelling in protest that he had been told off. Kinyei spent the rest of her afternoon with Nyambeni and Mzinga.
This morning, as the whole Nursery herd was ready to head out to the forest to start their day, Neshashi decided to play a game of hide and seek with the Keepers. As the Keepers start walking with the herd, she quickly ducked away and snuck back to the stockade compound, running straight for the translocation lorry. As one of the Keepers spotted her, she then ran behind some of the stockades to hide and then tried to run back to the lorry to grab as many lucerne pellets as she could. Once the Keepers spotted her in the lorry, they let her enjoy some of the pellets before ushering her back to the Nursery herd.
Later in the day, she tried to sneak off once more but the Keepers, all spotted her and blocked her path. This made her very unhappy, as she flapped her ears and rumbled at her Keepers trying to get past them, but they weren’t budging. Eventually she ran back to the herd, still complaining as she walked, trumpeting loudly at the Keepers.
This afternoon, Neshashi was being rough with Kerrio, so both Naleku and Oldepe stepped in, chasing her away from little Kerrio.
As the orphans grow older and more confident, their characters can sometimes change too, much like people can change. Kamili, when she first arrived was very shy and gentle with everyone. Recently, however, she has been bullying some of the other orphans and not been as welcoming to the younger orphans. This morning, she kept trying to bully Mageno down at the mud bath and the Keepers kept having to step in to stop her. Every time the Keepers would tell her off, she would get upset with them and trumpet at them in protest. The Keepers had to keep an eye on her as she was being so naughty.
During every milk feed today, Mukutan was being so noisy and yelling at his Keepers for his bottle and any extra bits he could get. Every time he ran down, he could be heard throughout the forest, on his way. As he arrived at the milk feeding point, he would continue to yell until he was given his bottle and after downing his bottle, he would then try to steal milk from his friend or from the wheelbarrow. The Keepers eventually had to usher him away, which caused him to yell out once more.
Latika continues to be such a gentle and polite girl and she is always so friendly with the rest of the Nursery herd. Much like Ziwadi, she has quickly learnt where the best greens are in the forest, and she will often make her way there as soon as she gets to the forest. This morning, as the orphans were settling in the forest, Latika wandered off to one of her favourite browsing corners, and as the herd was still busy looking for their own spots to browse, she was already munching away. Despite having the shortest trunk in the Nursery, she is one of the best browsers in the Nursery after Ziwadi.
Kinyei is another orphan who likes to go off and do her own thing throughout the day and then wander back to the herd to check on the younger ones and her best friends Bondeni and Kindani, who she will often enjoy a wrestling match or two with. Today, she enjoyed a long game with Kindani. Kinyei also loves to spend time near her Keepers, as she loves to have cuddles with them and rumble at them as they scratch her chin, and she gives them trunk hugs. Each day she will spend some of her time amongst the Keepers.
Mageno, one of the newest rescues in the Nursery herd, is becoming more and more confident with his Keepers and Nursery friends. He has also quickly learned the Nursery routine. When it is time for the orphans to run down for their milk feeds, he is often at the front of the group. During the midday milk feeds, he will often lead the younger orphans down to the mud bath, staying close to his friends Nyambeni and Mzinga. He even knows when it is time to leave the mud bath, which is when he starts rounding up the rest of the younger group to head back to the forest. The Keepers are so impressed with how organized he is.
This afternoon, Rafiki decided to join Neshashi, Oldepe and Roho when they went off to continue their training on the translocation lorry. As the Keepers were there, they were happy for him to follow along and didn’t chase him back to the herd. At the lorry, however, he became a bit of a nuisance as he kept yelling out for milk, but it was not quite time for his milk feed yet, and his bottle would be with the rest of the Nursery herds. He kept yelling at his Keepers and trying to steal milk from the others, but they weren’t sharing a single ounce. He was being such a nuisance that the Keepers had to radio for his bottle to be brought to the lorry. As soon as he saw his bottle arriving her ran after the Keeper who led him back to the herd.
As soon as he finished his bottle, Rafiki joined Naleku and Tingai on the dust mound and the three had such a wonderful moment throwing dust around and rolling up and down the hill.
It was quite a beautiful morning, compared to previous days, and all the orphans woke up in a great mood, excited to start their day. As they were all appearing from their stockades and stables, they huddled together to greet each other, and deep rumbles could be heard from all the bigger orphans such as Naleku, Olorien, Kinyei and Kindani. Naleku quickly searched for her little girl Kerrio, and as soon as she found her, she gave her such a big trunk hug, and showered her in good morning rumbles before heading off to the forest.
The two playful boys, Bondeni and Esoit, immediately engaged each other in a wrestling match. They were busy charging around the stockade compound, round the corners and up and down the paths. Oldepe and Roho went over to greet their friend Maxwell who was already standing at his top gate. Bondeni and Esoit quickly came to a grinding halt when they saw Maxwell interacting with the others, and they too went running over to greet the large rhino.
As the weather had improved, all the orphans were so full of energy. Once in the forest, Taabu and Sagateisa engaged each other in a wrestling match and were having such fun testing each other’s strength. As they were chasing each other around the forest, Mukutan, Tingai, Lodo, and Rafiki all stood by watching their game. Mukutan tried to engage Rafiki in a wrestling match, but Rafiki is still too shy to play.
As mentioned earlier, Kamili has become a bit of a bully and as a result she is now spending time a bit further away from the Nursery herd. The Keepers wonder if she may be throwing a strop because she has been told off by them and the older Nursery girls for bullying the younger orphans. This morning, she was so upset that she even protested running down for her 9 o’clock bottle of milk, and the Keepers had to really baby her and usher her along. Eventually, she ran down at the very end, and once she started to down her bottle, her mood seemed to pick up and she was now happy to spend time with the herd.
It was a lovely warm afternoon, and the Keepers were so impressed to see Mageno immediately enter the mud bath once he had downed his 3 o’clock bottle of milk. The young bull had no hesitation as he walked straight up to the muddy pool and went straight in, splashing around and covering himself in mud. He was soon joined by the big boys, Oldepe, Roho, and Lodo. Oldepe and Roho enjoyed a little bit of a wrestle, but Lodo enjoyed wallowing quietly near the young bull. Once they were all down wallowing, they joined Nyambeni and Mzinga on the dust mound.
Ziwadi caused quite the alarm this morning as the orphans were arriving in the forest. She went ahead of the Nursery herd to get to her favourite browsing spot first, but as she was headed off, she suddenly did a 180 and came charging back to the herd, rumbling and trumpeting in fear. This alerted all the orphans who were now all rumbling, trying to see what scared her. The Keepers went ahead to have a look, but they couldn’t see anything, so perhaps whatever it was had already moved off. Nonetheless, the whole herd was frightened, and they all surrounded the Keepers and the Keepers had to spend a couple of minutes calming them down.
As some of the orphans were calming the down, Naleku was still on high alert and kept looking around to see what it was and checking her surroundings. She wouldn’t calm down which made the rest of the herd worry and the Keepers had to eventually usher the herd away from that area. Once the orphans had moved off to another area, Naleku finally calm down and the herd was able to browse peacefully.
It was a beautifully warm day, finally, and the orphans were all so excited about it. During their 3 o’clock milk feed, they were even able to enjoy a mud bath. The little ones were the first to get in, Mageno, Taabu, Mukutan and Choka all went straight into the mud bath, whereas Nyambeni and Mzinga stood on the edge being helped by some of the Keepers.
They were soon joined by the older orphans, Neshashi, Roho, Oldepe, Bondeni, Naleku, Olorien, Kindani, Tingai, Latika, Lodo and Kamili all joined in. All you could see were big bellies rolling around in the middle of the mud bath. As they were all wallowing, Nyambeni and Mzinga headed over to the dust mound where they began to roll around in the dust, with the Keepers throwing some dust on their backs and tummies helping them along. They were so sweet rolling around near each other.
After a long mud wallow, the bigger orphans came over to the dust mound. Esoit kept trying to jump on Roho’s back and slide off, and his friend was more than happy to enjoy this game. He then tried to climb on Kindani who was having none of it, and she quickly protested and stood up, causing him to slide down the mound. After such a fun 3 o’clock milk feed the Keepers led the orphans back to the forest for quiet hour of browsing before heading back to the stockade compound for the evening.
Roho, Oldepe and Neshashi have all started a routine of greeting Maxwell as they head out to the forest after their training. Each time, on their way out, they will stop at Max’s top gate to see if he his there and they will spend a couple of minutes with their favourite rhino. Max has also now figured out when they will be passing by and several times throughout the day, he will be waiting at his gate to greet them.
Sometimes, they are enjoying their time with Max so much that they refuse to head back to the forest. Today, was such a day because after their 10 o’clock training they just wanted to stay with the rhino and every time the Keepers would try to usher them back to the forest, they would run around them and then go back to the gate. The Keepers spent a good five minutes trying to get them to leave until they eventually stood in front on Max’s gate forcing them to go back to the forest. Once back in the forest the trio linked up with the rest of the Nursery herd and waited for their turn to run down to the mud bath for the midday milk feed.
Latika was in such a playful mood today. Out in the forest, she enjoyed a long game of hide and seek and wrestling matches with Taabu, Choka and Kerrio. They were all having a blast chasing each other around the forest and challenging one another. Once they were done running around, she engaged Choka in a lengthy strength testing match, where she showed off her full strength to the young bull, not backing down in the slightest. Choka was being so gentle with her, making sure not to hurt her as he fought back.
At one point, Taabu even came running back to the game to assist Latika in challenging Choka. They would both face up against Choka, and Choka was excited for the challenge, managing to keep them both at bay. After a lengthy wrestling match, they all settled back down to browse amongst the rest of the herd, at this point, Kerrio was already back under Naleku’s supervision as she browsed.
This morning, as the orphans were heading out to the forest, they were led by Naleku. Naleku, who is still the matriarch of the Nursery herd, is often the one to lead them out. Naleku is a good matriarch, but she continues to favour Kerrio over all the other orphans and at times she can be very overprotective of the little girl so the Keepers have to continuously monitor her, making sure she isn’t rough with the others.
The nannies of the Nursery herd, Olorien, Kindani and Kinyei have all really stepped in the last couple of weeks taking care of the rest of the Nursery herd and watching over the little girls Nyambeni and Mzinga. Much like in a wild herd, if the matriarch is not taking full responsibility of the herd, the other eldest girls will step up to watch over the rest of the herd.
The Nursery herd now has a wonderful balance with all the orphans assuming their roles.
During the orphans’ midday milk feed, they were once again able to enjoy a mud bath. Mukutan, who had finished his bottle and was yelling around for more milk, was the first to get in the muddy pool as the Keepers wouldn’t give him another bottle. Once in the water, he settled down and began to wallow in the cool water. He was soon joined by gentle Lodo, who was quite happy to just wallow by him. They both had a wonderfully relaxing time.
Ziwadi continues to not show much interest in mud bathing as she so enjoys browsing so the Keepers helped her with a mud bath today. As she was once again busy feasting on the greens, the Keepers were spraying some water on her with the hose pipe and throwing some mud on her back. With all the orphans in the mud bath, Ziwadi also doesn’t like the chaos of it and prefers to not get involved in a stressful situation. Once she had had enough of being splashed with water she walked further away to continue browsing.
Taabu and Choka were in their naughty moods again today, and were chasing each other around the forest, engaging in strength testing matches. They would dash off and then challenge each other but as they can sometimes spar like naughty siblings the Keepers kept an eye on them, making sure they didn’t annoy each other. After a long game they both settled down to browse again.
With Nairobi being slightly warmer, all the orphans were let out of their stables around 6:30 in the morning, including little Nyambeni and Mzinga and Mageno, all with their blankets on. As they were coming out of their stables, Kindani and Kinyei went over to greet them, showering them in trunk hugs and deep rumbles. Kindani and Kinyei are very fond of these little ones, especially Kinyei who will watch over them throughout the day, especially down at the mud bath.
Oldepe continues to be very boisterous and sometimes he can still be a little rough with the other orphans. As a result, Roho isn’t always so eager to wrestle him, and today, Roho had no interest in wrestling. Oldepe kept trying to challenge him, but he would keep pushing at Roho, so Roho eventually got angry and rumbled deeply at Oldepe, chasing him away.
Lodo remains the gentle uncle of the herd, just like Maktao. The younger orphans are always happy to spend time with him as he doesn’t push them and is more than happy to share his greens with them, dropping the freshest branches and leaves down for them to grab. A lot of the younger orphans will even go to him for company and will walk with him as they make their way deeper into the forest.
Tingai was in a very friendly and playful mood today. This morning, just after the orphans had their 9 o’clock milk bottles, much to the Keepers surprise, he even engaged Bondeni in a wrestling match. Bondeni, who remains the naughtiest member of the Nursery herd was happy to challenge the younger bull and he was so gentle with him. Challenging the bigger bulls is an important part of Tingai’s growth in strength and confidence as it will teach him how to stand up for himself once in the wild, especially when bigger bulls challenge him.
Neshashi was once again in her very sneaky mood, constantly trying to sneak off to the translocation lorry. This was probably because Roho and Oldepe had lots of leftover lucerne pellets as they didn’t eat that many. Every time the Keepers were preoccupied with other members of the Nursery herd, she would try to sneak away. After the 3 o’clock milk feed, as the Keepers were busy ushering all the orphans, she quickly disappeared through the bushes and ran back to the stockade compound. Sadly, for her the Keepers who were mixing the milk, spotted her as she got to the lorry and they quickly interrupted her feast, ushering her back to the forest. As she was running back to the forest, she was still munching away on pellets.
Mzinga, who is the second youngest in the Nursery herd, is being showered in love by the older girls including Kerrio. During the orphans’ midday milk feed, Kerrio was spending most of her time watching over Mzinga and Nyambeni and she was soon joined by Naleku, Olorien and Kinyei. As they were heading back to the forest, Choka came running over to walk with the younger girls, but Kerrio did not want to share any of the girls and she kept chasing Choka away. The Keepers were very amused by Kerrio chasing Choka away, and then when she would settle down again, the young bull would come running back. This continued for several minutes until Choka grew bored of Kerrio’s stubbornness.
Kinyei was being affectionate with everyone today, including the Keepers. She has always been a very sociable and friendly girl, and today she was checking on the whole Nursery herd and her Keepers making sure everyone was okay. Bondeni was in a great mood today, and he kept challenging Esoit to different games. In the afternoon, he and Esoit enjoyed a game of tug of war, over a branch Esoit had picked up. Neither of the bulls would give up the branch so they both started to munch on it as they were wrestling. Eventually, the branch broke, and they both enjoyed their piece.
Maxwell has also been enjoying the warmer weather these days. In the early hours of the morning, he is up and about enjoyed his greens and scratching up and down his stockade. Once his lucerne pellets are put out for him, he will head on over and enjoy them with some of the resident warthogs. Once full, he enjoys a short nap in the morning sun, before heading down to his mud bath where he wallows in the midday heat. His whole body is submerged in the water, and he scratches his horn up against the side, caking it in mud. Once cooled off, he will get out and scratch up against the walls, leaving a muddy line all up and down his stockade.
This afternoon, Latika was enjoying browsing on her own in all her favourite spots. At one point she was joined by Ziwadi and Lodo, but that didn’t last too long as she once again wandered off to her own corner. Despite enjoying being with the herd, she does like to have some time on her own to focus on her browse. She is very similar to Ziwadi in this sense.
Choka was very excited this morning, and he was enjoying a game of running back and forth from the herd as they were making their way out to the forest. As Naleku and Olorien were leading the herd out this morning, Choka would charge past them rumbling and trumpeting and when he got a couple of meters ahead, he would then do a 180 and then sprint back past the herd. At first the Keepers were worried he was running off and ran after him, but when they saw him running back, they realized he was just playing a game. A couple of the Keepers played with him, and he had the best time.
As the orphans were already in the forest, Ziwadi was still busy with her morning routine of stopping at every water trough and dunking her head in to enjoy some big gulps of water. One of the Keepers always stays behind with her, escorting her out to the forest. Once she had had her fill of water she hurriedly walked to the forest, to join the others in their browsing activities.
Whenever it is time for the three graduates to head down to the lorry for their training, Roho and Neshashi always race each other, whereas Oldepe just follows at his own pace. Sometimes Roho is the fastest, but today Neshashi was the winner. They were both within the stockade compartments once Oldepe arrived, which meant Neshashi got to enjoy more pellets as they waited for Oldepe.
This morning, after her normal trip to the translocation lorry, Neshashi spent a long time greeting Maxwell. She would tap at Max’s head with her trunk, greeting him and every time she would touch him the big rhino would jump as he was not expecting it. Once Neshashi joined the rest of the herd to the forest, Max walked over to his lucerne pellets where he finished the entire pile without sharing any with the resident warthogs.
Rafiki was in a naughty mood this afternoon. Just after the orphans arrived back in the forest after their 3 o’clock bottles of milk, Rafiki wandered off and hid from the Keepers. The Keepers immediately noticed he was missing and started to look for him. As the orphans were walking through the forest, they suddenly came across two big male buffaloes lying in the long grass. Just as they spotted the buffalo, they heard Rafiki yell out in a bellowing trumpet and saw him dashing towards the herd. Fortunately, he was far away from the buffalo and made it back to the herd in one piece. Once back with the herd, they moved off and left the buffalo in peace.
Kerrio was in one of her greedy moods today. She was really bothering Choka, Taabu and Mukutan at every milk field. Whenever the boys would run down for their bottles, she would push them away and the charge them as they tried to enjoy their bottles. Taabu and Choka just quietly moved away, but Mukutan, being the loudest, yelled out in protest and he caused such a scene that the Keepers constantly had to step in and chase her away.
Suguroi continues to be a very boisterous girl. She is constantly on the defense with her ears out, ready to charge at the other orphans and sometimes even her Keepers. Although she only mock charges, the Keepers have continuously had include her into the naughty group during the milk feed times as she has become so unpredictable. She certainly reminds the Keepers of naughty Kiasa, who always had to be kept back because she would bully the others for more milk. Although the Keepers must watch her, she is always obedient with them and will listen when they tell her off.
Later in the afternoon, just before the orphans made their way home for the evening, Bondeni engaged Taabu in a wrestling match. The two even raced each other back to the stockades. Bondeni, being so much bigger, was the victor this time, but Taabu was not too far behind. They were having so much fun. Once back in their stockades, they spend most of the evening stealing greens from each other.