Keepers' Diaries, December 2011
Voi Reintegration Unit
Intermittent rain showers fell during the month bringing pleasant relief for the orphans after a very long and hot dry season when natural browse was short in the Southern section of the Park. In all it has been a very happy month for the Voi orphans, Lesanju, as the Junior Matriarch, extremely caring of weakling Dida, as is Kenia. Both females constantly watch over her and ensure that she is not hassled by the Junior boys. Wasessa’s passion and protection of Tassia continues, quick to come to his aid whenever he bellows for help during the mudbath. Siria, Taveta, and Mzima are regular sparring partners, Siria the Senior boy in the Keeper Dependent group usually the victor. This month Dida has been going into the noon mudbath more frequently, which might indicate that she is feeling a little stronger, but she definitely has a chronic condition, probably related to a heart defect, since similar symptoms have been observed in others where an eventual post-mortem after death has verified such a problem.
01 December 2011
It was a cold morning as the orphans exited the stockades and downed their milk before Taveta and Mzima engaged one another in pushing games won by Taveta. At the noon mudbath Taveta took on Shimba while Mzima took on Siria. Dida enjoyed a good scratch against a rock before the group returned to Mazinga Hill to browse for the rest of the day. Kenia led the way home in the evening.
02 December 2011
During the morning’s stockade games Siria took on Mzima while Shimba took on Taveta in pushing games. Taveta was having a hard time beating Shimba and Sinya came to his aid, while Siria took drastic measures to win by biting Mzima’s tail bringing an end to the game. The day was spent browsing.
03 December 2011
At the noon mudbath Wasessa, Shimba and Lesanju were the first to enter the water with the others following suit. Shimba was having such fun that he clamboured onto Tassia’s back, and it was not long before he was being chased around the mudbath by Wasessa who dotes on Tassia.
04 December 2011
It began raining today as the orphans headed out to the fields to browse which filled the orphans with joy. Ndii, Emsaya and Taveta immediately began rolling around in the wet soil.
05 December 2011
Emily and Edie’s groups together with a wild friend came to the mudbath after the orphans had enjoyed a wallow. Ndara went straight to Siria for strength testing games after which Siria tried to take on Eve but was prevented from doing so by Sweet Sally so he tried to take her on instead bug soon gave up as Ndara came to her defence. Siria left with Emily’s group and spent the night out with them.
06 December 2011
Siria was there to greet the rest of the orphans as they exited the stockades and was quick to lift his trunk and ask for his share of milk. Shimba engaged Taveta in strength testing games and the two were joined by Mzima who enjoyed a ride on Taveta’s back. Lesanju led the group out for a day of browsing after which Ndii led them back home.
07 December 2011
Lesanju spent the day browsing along side Dida. She led the youngest in the group to the noon milk feed and mudbath keeping Dida company in the water while Ndii, Kenia, Taveta, Kivuko and Emsaya enjoyed a dustbath.
08 December 2011
It rained last night and while out browsing Lesanju and Wasessa tried to initiate a game of lying and rolling around in the wet soil but were only joined by Mzima as the others were more interested in browsing. They all had a lovely mudbath at noon except for Sinya who opted to have a soil dusting session instead.
09 December 2011
The orphans spent the morning browsing at the foot of Mazinga Hill. Lesanju browsed next to Dida while Lempaute and Sinya enjoyed browsing together. At around 10am the youngsters were joined by Emily’s group who remained with them for a while before heading off towards the Voi River.
10 December 2011
It was a warm morning as the orphans began their stockade games Taveta and Shimba played a strength testing game while Ndii and Kenia played hide and seek. They all partook of the mudbath with Mzima being the last one to leave coming charging out as the rest of the group headed back to the browsing fields.
11 December 2011
Wasessa was busy scratching against a rock and did not see the rest of the orphans leave for the day and had to run to catch up which initiated a game of charging around and trampling bushes. The star of the wallow today was Tassia who rolled around submerging himself. He then had a scratch against a tree. In the evening Taveta and Ndii had a race to the stockades.
12 December 2011
While browsing on Mazinga Hill Mzima tried initiate a game of lying down and rolling around between the rocks, but the others were not interested as they found it to be dangerous, while Lempaute watched by Dida had fun breaking dry wood into small pieces with her trunk and feet. At the mudbath Emsaya played in the water with Kivuko who has not formed any close friendships since arriving at Voi two months ago.
13 December 2011
The orphans, led by Lesanju, headed out to the bush in single file, for a morning spent browsing. By the noon milk feeding time the orphans had split up into two groups with Kenia and the other youngster orphans arriving first followed by Lesanju and the rest of the older group. Lesanju spent most of the mudbath watching over Dida while Wasessa stuck close to Emsaya. The afternoon was spent browsing close to the waterhole.
14 December 2011
Shimba and Lesanju were intent on climbing Mazinga Hill this morning but had to turn back as the rest of the group were browsing at the foot of Mazinga. Dida, watched over by Kenia, had a lovely mudbath. They browsed their way back to the stockades. Mkuki and Aruba visited the stockade compound this evening and Aruba’s pregnancy is now showing.
15 December 2011
Shimba and Taveta were so busy with their strength testing games at the stockade this morning that they did not notice the others leave and had to make a mad dash to catch up. Ndii was the first one to plunge into the mudbath at noon. She was having so much fun, that Sinya was quick to join her. The others followed once they had finished their milk. Sinya later sat on Taveta’s head while Ndii sat on Kenia who was lying in the water. Taveta and Kenia both started crying for help and the keepers had to intervene. The rest of the day was spent browsing.
16 December 2011
Emily’s group came to the stockades after the orphans had left for the day. They had a drink at the water trough before heading back into the park. At the noon mudbath Sinya surprised everyone by being the first to jump into the water and roll around. Dida was very active today as she played, had a mudbath and a dustbath with Lesanju. Taveta and Tassia took their pushing games into the water with Taveta allowing Tassia to mount on his back. Kenia led the way home in the evening.
17 December 2011
Emily and Edie’s groups together with a wild friend joined the orphans in the fields. There was much excitement and trumpeting as the three groups met up. Icholta tried to leave with Emsaya and Kivuko. Emsaya followed them, calling to the youngsters to get them to come back, but was unsuccessful until the keepers came to her aid.
18 December 2011
Tassia was glued to Wasessa today refusing to leave her side. Kenia took Emsaya under her wing at the mudbath to show her some wallowing tricks and games and the two had a lovely time together. After the mudbath Wasessa came and got Emsaya and they spent the afternoon browsing side by side.
19 December 2011
The orphans played games at the stockades before heading out for the day. They browsed their way to the noon mudbath where all the orphans enjoyed a wallow before resuming feeding for the afternoon.
20 December 2011
Edie and Emily’s groups came to the stockades with a wild friend after the orphans had left. Lesanju’s group spent the morning browsing until noon when they arrived at the mud wallow. Lempaute was lying down in the water and Siria took this as an invitation to go over and sit on her stomach. He was so comfortable that Lempaute had to struggle to get out from under him.
21 December 2011
The orphans were greeted by a beautiful sunny day as they exited the stockades and were thus in a playful mood. Sinya had a tussle with Wasessa who prevented her from getting close to Emsaya. Lesanju kept an eye on Dida to ensure that she would not be knocked down by Mzima, Shimba and Taveta who were running around playing hide and seek. The orphans had a lovely mudbath at the big waterhole and in the evening were led home by Ndii.
22 December 2011
After the orphans had left for the day Emily and Edie’s group visited the stockades. Dida has been put on stem cell enhancing tablets and was given a total of 6 today. They did not seem to agree with her and she spent the day lying down under the watchful eye of Sinya and Lempaute who never left her side.
23 December 2011
As soon as Lesanju, Lempaute and Sinya were let out of their stockade they ran to Kenia’s stockade to check on Dida and make sure that she was ok. The orphans kept a slow pace today so that Dida could keep up and Dida once again spent most of the day lying down.
24 December 2011
As Dida continues to be weak Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick has decided that we stop giving her the stem cell tablets. Emily’s group visited the stockades this evening in the company of a wild bull. Siria played strength testing games with Burra while Mweya went to scratch against a rock near the waterhole.
25 December 2011
The keepers and the orphans were all happy to see that Dida was feeling better. Kivuko, Shimba, Lesanju, Lempaute and Wasessa all took turns scratching against rocks. The orphans spent the day feeding close to the stockades returning at noon for their milk feed.
26 December 2011
As soon as they arrived at the browsing fields Tassia and Taveta, watched by Mzima and Sinya, began pushing games in an effort to settle an old score. The game ended when Taveta hit Tassia in the ribs causing her to cry out which brought Wasessa running to find out what had happened. Emily and Edie’s groups, together with their wild friend, visited the stockades at 10am where they had a quick drink before heading to the big waterhole.
27 December 2011
After the youngsters had entered their stockades for the night there was a big congregation of Ex-Orphans at the stockades. Aruba and Mkuki were the first to arrive with Edie and Emily’s groups coming in 10 minutes later. Mpala spent his time doting on Edie’s calf while Burra had dustbath in a pile of red soil. They all left at 7pm.
28 December 2011
Dabassa, Layoni and Rombo arrived at the Voi stockades a little after 10:30. The Voi orphans had all been waiting for them to arrive and met them at the offloading ramp. Dabassa was the first to come out and was quickly engulfed by the Voi elephants who wanted to touch and greet him. Layoni and Rombo followed splitting the attention of the orphans amongst the three of them. After a bottle of milk they had a drink at the water trough and then headed to the stockade waterhole for a mudbath. The afternoon was spent browsing on Mazinga Hill where the new comers had one orphan after another come up to spend some time with them. The new arrivals were put into the same stockade as Kenia’s group.
29 December 2011
The orphans exited their stockades and had a bottle of milk and played some games before they headed out for the day. The new boys are still a little shy and did not join in the games choosing instead to stay close to Lesanju and Lempaute. Tassia browsed close to Rombo and the two spent the day in each others company. Dabassa joined Ndii in leading the group home in the evening.
30 December 2011
Siria who has been in the wild with Emily’s group for several days now came to the stockades at 8:30 and was treated to some copra cake. He stayed at the stockade for a while before heading back to the bush to rejoin Emily and her group. The juniors spent the day browsing around Mazinga hill.
31 December 2011
The new arrivals joined the rest of the boys in the morning stockade games. At the fields Dabassa, Taveta, Layoni, Mzima, Rombo and Tassia all had a spirited game of hide and seek before settling down to browse on the southern side of Mazinga Hill. At noon they retuned to the stockade for their milk. Lesanju took Kivuko for a roll in a pile of red soil. Layoni led the group back to the stockades but on the last stretch was overtaken by Taveta who was in a rush to get home.