Esoit and Mageno play fighting
It was a quiet morning. No single wild elephant or ex-orphan was present when the orphans were let out. Naleku, who had spent the night outside with Sities’ team, had not yet returned. The orphans settled for lucerne and enjoyed each moment, as there was no competition from any outsider.
Mageno settled to scratch on one of the nearby rocks, while Kitich shared a pile of lucerne with Muwingu. Lodo engaged Mukutan in a warm-up strength testing exercise as Olorien threw some lucerne on her back. After having enough of lucerne, Mageno engaged Esoit in a pushing game as the rest settled for water. Later, Suguroi led the way to the browsing field.
The orphans settled to browse at Kone area and browsed calmly throughout the morning session. At eleven o'clock in the morning, Kindani led the way to the noon bottle feeds. The weather was chilly, and the orphans had their milk but skipped the wallowing exercise. Only two wild bulls showed up for water.
Vaarti, Mayan, and Esoit held a brief meeting before settling for a soil dusting exercise. Later, Mayan played with Mageno, while Esoit played with Vaarti.
Shortly before noon, Naleku—who had left for an attachment as a nanny in Sities’ group—arrived at the stockade compound walking close to Sunni. Naleku was in the company of Sities, Turkwel, Suguta, Kuishi, Malkia, Kainuk, Mutara, Mambo, Larro, Sana Sana, and Mambo. They were later joined by the rest of the ex-orphan families. Naleku didn’t bother to check what was in the stockade but kept herself busy with Sunni.
In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse west of Ithumba Hill. Mayan teamed up with Muwingu in browsing, while Vaarti took a break from feeding to engage Lodo in a pushing game. In the evening, Loldaiga led the way back to the stockade.
Melia, Milo, Tusuja, Kandecha, and Barsilinga joined the orphans in the morning for feeding of lucerne. Choka and Loldaiga tried to gang up against Milo but were warned by Melia. The two boys walked away for fear of the repercussions if they went ahead with their mission of bullying Milo. Lodo attempted to get a pile of lucerne from Mageno. Mageno outsmarted Lodo by picking the flake of lucerne quickly and running away. Kitich settled to share his pile of lucerne with Esoit, while Roho shared his with Mayan.
Later, Kinyei walked down just to see what was happening around. Shortly after, Lodo followed Kinyei, and for some time, the two orphans had a light pushing game that ended when they saw their colleagues leaving for browsing. Olorien and Vaarti had a brief meeting with Barsilinga before leaving for browsing.
After the orphans left for browsing, Larro, Naleku, Sattao, Kuishi, Sunyei, Siku, Saba, Subiri, Sities, Sunni, Turkwel, Kainuk, Malkia, Mambo, and Mutara checked in and settled for water. The orphans settled to browse at Kone area, where they were joined by two wild teenage bulls. Mayan walked closer to them, but one of the wild teenagers turned hostile. Mayan decided to keep off by retreating and walking away. Esoit had a brief meeting with Roho that ended with a fight, while Lodo settled to browse with Kindani.
At eleven o'clock in the morning, Mageno led the first group to the noon bottle feeds. The weather was chilly, and this prompted the orphans to skip the wallowing exercise and instead settle for a soil dusting exercise. Only four wild bulls were present at the mud bath water trough, drinking water. The bulls started giving way when they saw the Keepers approaching with the orphans.
In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse at Kanziku area. Vaarti engaged Loldaiga in a pushing game that ended when Roho passed by and intervened by pushing the two boys away. In the evening, Mageno led the way back to the stockade. Naleku reported back late in the evening with the ex-orphans and decided to spend the night with her colleagues in the stockade.
Kalama, Kapuki, Esampu, Naseku, Chaimu, Barsilinga, and Siangiki joined the orphans in the morning. Naleku assigned herself the role of taking care of Kapuki. After some time, Kapuki walked over to say hi to Vaarti. Shortly after, Mageno attempted to ride on Kitich but was quickly brought down by Siangiki. Mageno was upset and moved to engage Esoit in a pushing game.
Muwingu, Mukutan, and Choka walked down to the water trough, where they had water before leaving for browsing. The orphans browsed nearby as they waited for two new babies arriving from Nairobi. A few minutes past eight in the morning, the truck carrying Weka and Shujaa arrived. Mutara, Mambo, Sities, Sunni, Turkwel, Sana Sana, Naboishu, Kainuk, Malkia, Kuishi, and Suguta were present and ready to receive the new babies.
There was trumpeting and bellowing of excitement when the babies were offloaded. Mutara and Kainuk wanted to have Weka and Shujaa for themselves but were told off by the Keepers. Muwingu, Mageno, and Kitich were brought to meet Weka and Shujaa. Muwingu recognised Weka and Shujaa instantly and slowly walked them down to the water trough. Mukutan, Choka, and Loldaiga followed and were happy to see their new friends. Naboishu attempted to ride on Shujaa, but the Keepers shouted at him to come down. Shujaa saw the little baby Sunni and walked over to say hi.
Shortly later, Naleku led the way to the browsing field. At the browsing field, Muwingu protected Shujaa and Weka from harassment by Kitich and Mageno. At around ten o’clock in the morning, Barsilinga joined the orphans in browsing and later escorted them to the mud bath. Choka held a brief meeting with Weka and Shujaa. Later, Kinyei had a brief interaction with Weka while Roho met Shujaa.
At eleven o’clock, Mageno led the way to the noon bottle feeds. The sun was hot, and this prompted all the orphans to jump into the wallowing water. Shujaa emerged as the star of the day, given that this was his first mud bath at Ithumba. Shujaa wallowed as if he were in competition with Vaarti, Mayan, Choka, and Mageno. Weka didn’t stay long in the water but left to join Naleku, Suguroi, Muwingu, and Olorien in soil dusting.
In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse east of Ithumba Hill. Shujaa and Weka followed their newfound friends and copied what they had to learn from them. In the evening, Weka and Shujaa were escorted back to the stockades by Muwingu, Mageno, and Kitich, who became their bedmates on their first night.
The orphans settled for lucerne soon after leaving the stockade. Weka and Shujaa were quick to copy what their new-found friends were doing, following Mageno, Kitich, and Muwingu. The group was joined by Mutara, Mambo, Suguta, Kainuk, Sities, Sunni, Turkwel, Malkia, Kuishi, Sana Sana, Wema, Wimbi, and Naboishu. It was unclear where Wimbi and Wema had left their mother, Wendi.
Muwingu attempted to threaten Wimbi, unaware that she was testing her limits. Wema responded by pointing her trunk at Muwingu, warning her to stop the empty threats. Sensing the danger, Muwingu retreated. Shortly afterwards, Naleku led the way to the browsing field. The orphans settled at Kone area. Mukutan teamed up with Choka in browsing, while Vaarti joined Choka in a separate interaction. Weka and Shujaa browsed alongside Kitich, Mageno, and Muwingu.
At eleven o’clock in the morning, Suguroi led the orphans to the noon bottle feeds. After drinking their milk, they jumped into the wallowing water for a cooling-off exercise, followed by a soil dusting session and water before returning to the browsing field. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse west of Ithumba Hill. Temperatures were moderate, and the orphans browsed calmly for the remainder of the day.
The orphans settled for lucerne immediately after leaving the stockade. Shujaa had carried a leftover branch which he dropped when Mukutan tried to take it from him. Chyulu, Cheka, Charli, Barsilinga, Orwa, and a wild elephant were present during the lucerne feeding time. Shortly later, Mutara and her group emerged from the eastern side running in order not to be late for the morning lucerne feeding time.
Muwingu interacted briefly with Cheka but gave up when she saw that Cheka was not responding positively to her. Muwingu then moved to join Choka in feeding on lucerne. Sunni walked close to Olorien as he wanted to use the nearby rock for scratching. Olorien pushed Sunni away as she didn't want disturbance while enjoying her lucerne. Kitich and Choka walked down to the water trough soon when they felt that they had taken enough lucerne. The two boys joined Kuishi, Sana Sana, and a wild elephant in drinking water. Sunni walked to Naleku when he felt rejected by Olorien. Naleku walked Sunni back to his mother.
On the way to the browsing field, Choka engaged Loldaiga in a brief strength testing exercise. The orphans settled to browse at Kone area. Since it's so dry, the orphans concentrated more on browsing. At eleven o'clock in the morning, Vaarti led the first group to the noon bottle feeds. Mukutan led the second group while Mageno led the third one. The sun was really hot and so the orphans jumped into the wallowing water soon after taking their milk.
After wallowing, the orphans settled for a soil dusting exercise before heading to drink water. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse at Kanziku area. Kitich teamed up with Lodo while Muwingu settled to browse with Weka and Shujaa. In the evening, Mageno led the way back to the stockade.