01 December 2016

During the night Lima Lima had taken to pushing the walls of her stockade whilst rumbling loudly to get the others to join her with Zongoloni and Quanza being the first to oblige. When the keepers came out from their tent to see why Lima Lima and some of the others were making a fuss they found that there was a bull elephant around the fence line looking at the orphans through the fence. Lima Lima wanted to get out and join the wild bull. Alamaya screamed loudly when he heard Lima Lima complaining. When the keepers came out to talk to the orphans and calm them down the wild bull left towards the water springs. The babies quieted down again with Murera and Sonje getting back to their beds to rest

02 December 2016

Murera and Sonje walked the babies to the Chyulu Hills National Park in search of greener vegetation. Ngasha and Faraja together with Jasiri teamed up walking as solitary boys, before going into the thickest bushes. Some bushbuck came out of the bushes scaring all the orphans who were very confused as to where to hide. Zongoloni with Quanza ran to the keepers. Sonje was looking for Mwashoti and Alamaya and was happy to see them with Ziwa. They all came running back to the keepers wanting the older girls and the keepers to look after them. At the mudbath all the babies came running in for their milk bottles. After the feed it began to rain very heavily which meant that they avoided the waterhole and sought refuge from the rain under the trees.

03 December 2016

Monkeys were screaming as they jumped from tree to tree as the elephants were exiting their stockades in the morning. The orphans took to charging the monkeys who felt very safe in the trees where the orphans could not reach them. Heavy trumpeting from the elephants took place this morning as the younger boys were trying to blow their trunks and trumpet as loudly as the matriarchs do. Ngasha fell down on his bottom as he was trying to run and push Faraja for their morning stockade games. The ground was very slippery which caused Ngasha to fall making him an easy target for Jasiri who climbed on his back as Ngasha struggled to get up. Ziwa was quick to come and join Jasiri in mounting Ngasha. When Zongoloni saw what was happening she came to help Ngasha, chasing the other two boys away and giving Ngasha the chance to get back to his feet.

04 December 2016

After the morning bottle feed the orphans were eager to head out of their stockades. As soon as the gates were opened Sonje walked to Mwashoti’s cage to say hallo, Mwashoti was very happy to see his “mother” and snuggled up to her. The orphan herd made their way to the Kenze Hills after stopping for a drink of water at the springs. While there the crocodiles popped their head out of the water to look at the elephants. Zongoloni who was keeping an eye out saw the crocodiles and started running while calling to the rest of the group to follow her alerting them to the fact that the crocodiles were in the area. Murera was quick to run and keep up with her and the rest of the group.

05 December 2016

Ndugu came to join the orphans very early this morning and caught up with the group as they were making their way to the forest. Sonje and Zongoloni tried to push Lima Lima to join up with them but Lima Lima went straight ahead leaving Zongoloni behind who was afraid to go into the forest as she did not want to meet up with Ndugu. Murera did the same thing. As the keepers came to join the orphans, Ndugu heard them talking and took off as he is still not very comfortable around humans. At the Umani Hills the babies settled to feed on the greens that they found there. Sonje was giving a lot of attention to Mwashoti and was seen feeding him some greens. The keepers saw some buffaloes coming towards the orphans but were able to scare them away so that they would not disrupt the babies who were peacefully browsing. Lima Lima realized that it was noon and as such, time for their milk bottle; she began to lead the group to the mudbath. The keepers were calling the orphans names one by one. Ziwa and Alamaya started to run to catch up with Lima Lima and arrive at the mudbath and milk feeding area before the rest of the group.

06 December 2016

Lots of rain has brought more greens to the area which has allowed the orphans to put on more weight. When you now look at the baby boys, Alamaya and Mwashoti, you can clearly see how they have grown. They are both bigger and more energetic and are often seen trying to show their strength by playing pushing games with the others. Alamaya sometimes likes to test his strength on Zongoloni who knows that he is still very young and as such, refrains from pushing him too hard as she knows she is stronger but at the same time wants to train him so that he can play with the bigger boys.

07 December 2016

The big boy Jasiri today got told off today when he crossed the line by misbehaving with Murera by trying to mount her. She pushed him down in order to discipline him and was aided by Sonje who came and pushed him as well. The older girls both know that Jasiri likes to climb on others, but this is something that Murera does not like. Faraja and Ngasha came to look over Jasiri who was struggling to get back to his feet. Faraja and Ngasha are good friends with Jasiri and they helped him get to his feet and followed him to the bushes where Ngasha and Faraja started playing pushing games. Jasiri made sure to steer clear of the two matriarchs as he was worried about being pushed over again.

08 December 2016

Lima Lima and Quanza led the orphan group towards the Chyulu Hills this morning for a browsing session. While on their way some wild bulls came out of the bushes to greet them. Lima Lima wanted to greet the bulls while Quanza was a bit wary of them. She soon got some courage and decided to approach the bulls. Lima Lima was already right by the bulls that were pushing her, and Ziwa who was behind her, to return to their group. The bulls were very big and had lovely tusks. The orphans all appeared very small in comparison to their wild friends.

09 December 2016

The pushing boys, Ngasha and his best friend and roommate Faraja, began their normal pushing games this morning. Their games were followed with loud trumpets and the sounds of elephants charging around knocking over bushes and kicking at trees. Murera and Sonje were happy to join in on the game and started charging as well but were not as active as the boys who were charging around crazily knocking down anything that crossed their path. The older girls were sure to keep a close eye on the babies of the group so that Mwashoti, Ziwa and Alamaya would not to be knocked by the naughty boys. At the mudbath it started to rain heavily once the orphans had finished their milk feed forcing the orphans and their keepers to look for shelter. The keepers put on rain coats and got under the cover of umbrellas that they had with them. Alamaya went close to the keepers trying to put his head under the umbrella’s Murera and Sonje led the rest of the group under the big trees where they waited for it to stop raining.

10 December 2016

Buffalos came in large numbers today to graze on the hills where the elephants were also busy browsing and did not notice all the buffaloes around them. The buffaloes fed on the tall grass while the orphans fed on tree branches. Zongoloni tried to scare the buffaloes away by trumpeting and charging towards them but could not get them to move. Suddenly the buffaloes started to run towards the keepers who shouted to chase them away and were joined by Lima Lima who did not want the buffaloes browsing with them. Zongoloni thought that she had been victorious when it was in fact the presence of some big wild elephants that had scared the buffaloes away.

11 December 2016

There was a lot of rumbling at the stockades during the night as the orphans sensed the presence of some wild elephants near the fence line, after sensing that there some elephants’ near the fence line. Lima Lima and Zongoloni were quite agitated and could not settle after realising that there were wild elephants around them. When the wild elephants were leaving, all the orphans made a lot of movements and rumbled wanting to join the wild elephants. All the babies kept pushing their walls and gates causing a lot of noise which brought the keepers out to see what had got them worked up. They had missed seeing the wild elephants and as such were unable to see what had upset the orphans.

12 December 2016

It has been quite a while since Ndugu tried to join Murera and Sonje’s orphan family. Today Ndugu came to the stockade waterhole for a drink. He caught the scent of the orphans who were in their stockades and was happy to know they were around. Ziwa was the first elephant to catch Ndugu’s scent and he began trumpeting and charging to alert the others to the fact that their wild friend was close by. When Ndugu sensed people were walking around the orphans he quickly left as he is still very wary of humans. He disappeared into the bushes on Umani Hills leaving the orphans and the keepers to go about their daily activities.

13 December 2016

The rain today was very heavy and lasted up until the midday milk bottle feed. The rain made it very difficult for both the orphans and the keepers, none of whom wanted to be pelted relentlessly by the downpour. Lima Lima however was impatient and would not wait for the rain to cease for her to be fed her milk. She came out from the shelter of the trees demanding her bottle from the keepers. She was able to lift her bottles just like Zongoloni and Jasiri do and feed herself. Alamaya followed Lima Lima but was not able to lift his bottles the way she did. The keepers had to help Alamaya and feed him his milk. When Mwashoti saw the keepers coming with umbrellas so that they could feed Alamaya and the other orphans he was quick to put his head under the umbrella to get out of the rain.

14 December 2016

The orphaned boys Jasiri, Ziwa and Faraja made a decision today to walk away from the female elephants and form their own male group today. The orphan group therefore divided into two big groups, the boys on their own and the females leading their babies in a separate group. Lima Lima joined up with Zongoloni leading the boys while Sonje and Murera together with Quanza were left behind, walking slowly with their baby boy Mwashoti. Alamaya decided to join up with Lima Lima and the boys. When the elephants arrived at the bottle feeding point they drank their milk after which it started raining heavily so none of the orphans went into the mudbath. All the orphans were in a rush to get home in the evening with Mwashoti, Zongoloni and Alamaya running in an effort to get there as fast as they could and to be the first to have their evening milk bottle in their respective stockades.

15 December 2016

The keepers had a difficult time with some of the orphans during the night. They heard the gates banging very loudly as the orphans pushed them. They came out of their tents and walked around to Lima Lima and Zongoloni’s stockades thinking that they may have been scared by a leopard or another wild animal. When they got there they found that Lima Lima had managed to get her stockade door open and had walked all the way to the Lucerne store where and was busy munching away on the lucerne dropping bails of lucerne on the ground as she did so!! When she saw the keepers walking towards her, she knew that she had done wrong and ran back to her room with Zongoloni trying to keep out of her way as well as out of the keeper’s way. The rest of the orphans were rumbling at Lima Lima, seemingly reprimanding her for her bad behaviour.

16 December 2016

Some crane birds were seen flying out of the way of the oncoming her of orphan elephants that were making their way to the mudbath after their noon milk bottle. Quanza was the first to arrive followed by Ziwa and Ngasha who wanted to splash their bodies with water. They found that the water was too cold and as such none of the orphans wallowed in the mudbath today. Some bushbucks came and stood nearby waiting for the orphans to leave the waterhole so that they could come for a drink. Ngasha and Jasiri charged at them, making the bushbucks run away as fast as they could as Jasiri was right behind them.

17 December 2016

As the orphans were beginning their walk out to the forest the monkeys began shouting and running to the trees to get as high up as they could. Alamaya had seen the monkeys on the ground and had started to charge at them trumpeting loudly. Lima Lima saw what Alamaya was doing and was quick to back him up. Murera saw what was going on and blew her trumpet once which was enough to stop all the racket that was going on and bring the charging elephants to heel. Murera, Sonje and the keepers were then able to continue the trip to the browsing fields with some of the orphans kicking at the trees as they went so as to make sure that everything was ok. Some wild elephants came to try and join the orphans today but Sonje and Zongoloni were not ready to accept them. Zongoloni went and got Mwashoti and Ziwa from where they were browsing to take them to Murera and Sonje who were waiting for the orphan herd to gather together so that they could move away from the wild elephants.

18 December 2016

Today, Quanza and Jasiri began leading the orphans out for the day. Zongoloni and Faraja joined them and the naughty boys followed them by pushing each other in the bottom. Quanza wanted nothing to do with their pushing games and was quick to leave them and go to do her own thing. When the orphans came for the dust bath following their bottles, Mwashoti laid his body on Sonje’s shoulder and began rubbing his belly on Sonje’s back. Both orphans seemed very happy and content to have this interaction as they enjoyed they dustbath. Ziwa stood close by watching the two and loosening the earth so that they could all have soil to dust bathe with.

19 December 2016

Orphans began their day in a happy mood. They were all active and ready to head out to the forest to begin the days browsing activities. Sonje and Zongoloni led the babies to Umani Hills while the boys planned to head in a different direction to the girls. When Murera and Mwashoti reached the rest of the group, Murera pushed Ziwa out of the way and towards a ditch thinking that he would try and push Mwashoti when he came past Ziwa. Ziwa however had no intention to push the youngster as lately he has been getting on quite well with the younger babies. Jasiri and his team came back together with Quanza and they all rejoined Alamaya and Lima Lima, who were browsing on some lovely green vegetation.

20 December 2016

There have not been any rain showers for the past two days and the orphans have been having a lot of fun playing in the dustbath which they could not do when it was raining. Alamaya and Mwashoti enjoyed dust bathing together with Zongoloni who was showing them all of her tactics. Some bull elephants came to try and join the orphans today. Lima Lima and Sonje were very surprised to see the wild bulls who were watching the orphans as they played in the forest. Murera was in a shy mood and did not want to greet the bulls. Zongoloni and Quanza seemed to pick up their pace and move away from the wild boys as they did not want to get in amongst them, worried that they may get pushed by the big boys who had very big tusks.

21 December 2016

After the noon milk bottle all the orphans walked straight to the waterhole for a swim. On arrival they found wild elephants there wallowing and rolling around in the mud. There were also some buffaloes nearby who were waiting for the elephants to finish so that they could also enjoy the mudbath. Alamaya with Lima Lima tried to scare the buffaloes away but were not successful in their efforts. Faraja became quite brave and decided to go and join the wild elephants. Sonje prevented him from doing so by blocking his path. She was worried that he may get squashed by the bigger elephants. Alamaya was kept close to the matriarchs of the group to make sure that he didn’t go near Jasiri, Faraja and Ngasha who kept moving closer and closer to the wild elephants. The three were cautioned by the keepers and Murera and came running back when they were called.

22 December 2016

The Umani water springs was the first stop for the babies when they began their day. Quanza and Lima Lima took the lead towards the water springs where the crocodiles were enjoying the morning sun. The crocodiles heard the elephants coming and quickly entered the water, making sure to stay out of the orphan’s way. They were so quick in getting into the water that not all the elephants had seen them. The ones who did see them had started making their way back to the keepers as they are all quite scared of the crocodiles, or the noise they make getting into the water. Mwashoti did not know why everyone was changing direction but picked up on the uneasiness of the others and started running away. The elephants were all trumpeting and charging around pushing at the bushes and trees. The rest of the day was uneventful and the orphans all enjoyed browsing until it was time to return to the stockades for the night.

23 December 2016

The elephants came out of their stockades to follow the keepers to the Lucerne feeding area. It had rained last night and the ground was quite slippery which meant the orphans had a hard time getting to where they wanted to go. Ziwa began pushing his friend Ngasha who turned to face Ziwa and the two interlocked trunks ready for a pushing bout. Faraja came and joined the two fighting boys just as Ngasha fell to the ground. Faraja took the opportunity to climb on Ngasha’s back while he was trying to get up. Mwashoti and Murera together with Sonje are causing the keepers some worry as the two older girls are more than ready to begin the process of heading back to the wild and spending less time with the keepers. This worries the keepers as Mwashoti is very close to both Sonje and Murera and the keepers feel that if the two go wild Mwashoti may very well join them and he is still milk dependent and too young to do so.

24 December 2016

An acacia tree known by the name ‘yellow fever’ fell down in the bushes close to where the orphans were happily browsing in the morning. When they heard the impact of the tree hitting ground the babies all got a fright and started running away from the area, even though they did not know what they were running from. The trumpeting elephants kept trumpeting loudly as they run charged around. The keepers tried to get them to calm down but were not able to do so. When the group reached the Chyulu Hills Mwashoti and Ziwa came back to the keepers who had not stopped calling the orphans. Murera and Lima Lima came a short while later looking as they were looking for the younger boys. Jasiri walked around bravely with his ears raised ready to take on any danger that might have been around. At the bottle feeding ground the babies assembled and waited for the waiting for the vehicle carrying their milk bottles to arrive. When they saw the white pickup coming, Mwashoti and Lima Lima were led the charge to the pickup for the milk. Lima Lima started taking her bottle from the car, but was stopped by the keepers who shouted at her to wait.

25 December 2016

Today is Christmas Day and the orphans celebrated the day with the keepers who had a lovely feast in the bush under the trees where they normally have their lunch. The orphans were also given some treats which the keepers brought from the hay store. As such the orphans got to enjoy acacia pods which had been stored for them by the keepers in anticipation that they would be able to give them to the orphans on this special day. Lima Lima and Quanza were not paying attention and as such were not aware of the treats being handed out. They kept moving towards the forest unaware that their friends were enjoying the pods without them. The keepers put some pods into their jacket pockets and went to the two girls. When they smelled the pods that the keepers had they ran to rejoin the group and fed on the pods with them. When the group got to the Umani Hills they found some wild elephants friends whom they greeted in passing.

26 December 2016

Little boy Alamaya was very pushy towards Mwashoti today at the midday feeding time. Alamaya came running after Lima Lima and found Mwashoti standing in line finishing his milk. Alamaya thought that Mwashoti had finished all the bottles and that he was left without any milk. He turned to face Mwashoti then pushed him down to the ground. When Murera saw her baby boy being pushed she came and disciplined Alamaya. Lima Lima then came to see what was happening and found Murera looking very cross and as such she did made sure not to cross Murera’s path and instead got Alamaya to follow her. Murera and Sonje are the discipline masters of the misbehaving babies and that was why Lima Lima made sure not to intervene. Murera wants all babies to behave nicely as they all belong to one family and she is the boss ready to discipline any one engaging in bad behaviour.

27 December 2016

There were many wild elephants around today who were making quite a noise as they trumpeted loudly. The orphans could hear them as they made their way to the Chyulu Hills, walking along the paths which the wild elephants follow when going to the water springs. The orphan group came across droppings and broken branches as they walked along the path. All of which are signals that the wild elephants were not too far away. Zongoloni, Ziwa and Ngasha raised their ears and trunks in an effort to try and locate the wild elephants. A short while later the group heard some movements from the forest and thought that it might be Ndugu coming to Murera and her orphan group but this was not the case as, unbeknownst to the keepers, Sonje and Lima Lima had already met up with the wild elephants and were playing with them. Murera did not feel like joining the wild group and stayed close to the keepers.

28 December 2016

It was insect spraying day today as there has been an abundance of insects around after the rain. Some of the babies were prepared and others were not. Murera and Sonje were ready and did not complain at all as they know the importance of lessening the number of insects that bite and bother them. After being sprayed Murera and Sonje made their way to the dustbath where they dusted themselves with soil adding layers of dust to their bodies which also helps to keep away flies and biting insects. Lima Lima and Quanza were not happy about being sprayed and Quanza kicked out trying to keep the keepers from spraying her. The keepers decided to wait a bit and to try and spray her later. In the end they both just let the keepers do their job so that they could go back to her browsing activities. Alamaya and Mwashoti were very calm boys and stood quietly as the keepers sprayed them.

29 December 2016

The orphans made their way to the Kenze Hills today as it looked very green, with lots of fresh branches and vegetation which was a dream come true for the orphan herd. There were many soft and sweet branches for the babies to enjoy and Alamaya and Mwashoti had a lovely time browsing in the area. As the orphans were busy feeding a dik dik walked among them catching Jasiri and Ngasha unaware which startled them and they started charging around. This got the rest of the babies charging as they all tried to find what had upset their friends. Today the orphan’s wild friend Ndugu came to see the babies. When he arrived, Zongoloni was the first baby to notice him and she signalled the rest of the herd to come and greet him. He looks massive in comparison to Murera and Sonje. Alamaya was brave enough to go up and greet him. The big pull stopped him by pushing gently with his tusks before Alamaya could get close enough to touch him. The wild bull then rumbled loudly which gave the orphans and keepers a fright. They quickly moved away from the area and stopped at a distance to watch Ndugu walk into the forest. Faraja and Alamaya followed him at a safe distance with the rest of the group to see if they could find where he was going. The keepers were happy to have seen Ndugu again as it has been a while since he last visited.

30 December 2016

It began raining in the early morning before the babies got their morning bottle feeds. The keepers were prepared and donned their raincoats and carried umbrellas making sure to have everything ready for when the orphans began their day. Mwashoti did not want to leave his stockade as he did not want to get wet. Murera and Sonje came to get him but he refused to budge. Murera went into his stockade and together with Sonje they were able to get him to come out and join the orphans as they headed out for the day. At the bottle feeding time the babies were rushing to get their milk being led by Lima Lima. As they approached the milk feeding area they came across some crane birds. The crane birds seemed intent on chasing away Alamaya who had gotten too close to them. Lima Lima turned back to help her friend and charged at the birds. On closer inspection the keepers could see that the crane birds were protecting their nest which had four eggs in it. The keepers were quick to call the elephants away so that the birds would no longer feel threatened by them.

31 December 2016

The orphans exited their stockade and went to the loading bay to scratch their chins and bodies. Sonje with Murera and Ziwa teamed up leading all the young boys to the loading bay walls. As soon as Alamaya got there he turned around to scratch is bottom. While doing so Zongoloni touched his half tail. He pushed her as a warning not to touch is tail again. The other orphans rumbled at Zongoloni to leave Alamaya alone. The Orphans had very wonderful day ushering in the new year tomorrow; all were very playful walking home to wait for some treats in the night, as we all waited to usher in the new year, only Mwashoti and Alamaya were given a treat of extra bottles of milk but all the babies were given a few pods that were kept by the keepers for the new year.