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Every day when Karisa sees the other orphans walk out of their stables and out into the forest he is left very agitated and gets into a charging mood in his stockade, mock charging anyone that comes up to or walks past his gate. Murit might have been hiding in one of the stables this morning because as the others were leaving he immediately went up to Karisa's gate and started sharing his food and interacting with him through the bars. He was okay then but as soon as Murit was called by his keepers and left to go with them into the forest, Karisa became angry and charged at his gate in frustration to join the others. Compared to the other new boy there is quite a stark difference as even though he is older, Kelelari is much calmer in his stockade. Kuishi is even more settled, always looking for a keepers finger to suckle on. Lately Murit and Tamiyoi have teamed up and developed a new naughty habit - of sneaking off and returning to the stockades to find lucerne pellets to eat! They will finished their own share throughout the night, so when they return it is to raid their friends stables for any they might have left! They are so clever because whenever they hear any movement they stand very still and quiet until whatever it is (a keeper coming to find them) passes. It was so funny the first time we found Tamiyoi as she knew she had done something wrong as she left Jotto's room shouting and running back to the forest, and Murit went running after her too!

This is a happy day for Kuishi as she has been in her stockade since her arrival but today after public visiting a small group came back to the stockades and to collect her and take her out to the forest for the first time. Oltaiyoni, the herds matriarch, Roi, Ndotto, Maramoja and obviously the most caring girl Mbegu were the ones who came back to collect her. Upon their arrival Kuishi was so excited to see them and to walk out freely into the forest. Oltaiyoni kept blocking the gate with her big size but when she moved they were all happy to receive her and walk her out to join the others. Mbegu was shoving against the others so she could be closest to the new little one, as they all surrounded her. Once in the forest Kuishi immediately set about trying to find her most favourite greens to browse on. Wanjala and Maramoja were also very interested in meeting her and walked around her as she browsed. Even more interestingly Kauro also came over to meet the little one and he had been quite far away from the herd when she first came out. He patted her gently as he is such a gentle bull and it was not long before Roi, Mbegu and Dupotto came over too to confirm all was well with her. The five all stayed together until 3pm when Kuishi joined the private visit in the company of Wanjala, Esampu, Malkia and Galla - she behaved so well and her walk back to the stockades for the 5pm foster parent visit went really well too - she is truly a part of her new family herd now!

Sometimes a matriarch is a leader who rules with an iron rod; sometimes Oltaiyoni is one such leader! Sometimes it will take her some time to accept a new orphan into the herd, and other times she just looks at them once and welcomes them in! Today she was not very nice at all to little Kuishi and the keepers had to intervene and tell her off for her bad behaviour! Murit might take time to get used to things but he is a very placid young calf. Lately he has come to love mud bathing because of the prevalent hot weather, but he will always stand and wait on the edge of the mud pool until the rough ones within have left, before he gets in! Today he enjoyed the mud at length, and this was after Mbegu, Pare and Godoma had been having their fun and wrestling in the mud pool. He was showing off his football kicking skills in the mud bath, and Rapa joined in by kicking it back to him every time he kicked it out of the mud wallow. Back in the forest after visiting time, he engaged Jotto and Luggard in a gentle wrestling game. Luggard and Murit seem to be developing a strong friendship and love to engage each other in lengthy pushing games whenever they meet. Kuishi has adapted very quickly to both her human and elephant families and apart from her run in with Oltaiyoni in the morning, she has had a wonderful day out in the forest. She joined in the private visit today and was so calm, mostly enjoying the mud bath with her friends.

After arriving into the forest this morning and after a little while, Godoma dodged the keepers and sneaked back to the stockades. When she got there she went straight into Dupotto's pen to spend some time communicating with Kelelari in his stockade. She spent a good while interacting with him and whenever she heard anyone approaching, she his herself in the back of the pen in the corner. After that person had disappeared she would come out to speak with Kelelari again. When she was finally caught running to hide in the corner again she was taken back out to the forest but the keepers. Ukame normally spends most of her time with Malima but today she was led out to the forest by the grumpy girl Esampu and Wanjala too. These three slowly became separated from the rest of the herd as they browsed. Because the herd was altogether in the same thicket it was thought they were among them too but the keepers realised they had been browsing separately when they came to rejoin the herd from another direction. After the 9am feed this morning, Mbegu, Roi, Oltaiyoni, Tamiyoi and Ndotto went back to the stockades to escort Karisa out for the first time today! When he gate was opened it was Roi who went in first but when Karisa saw her coming in he raised his ears high to charge at her! Roi responded by blocking him from coming out and then Ndotto tried to get in too; it was only when a keeper went in too to lead him out that he looked very jovial and happy to be a part of the group escorting him out to the forest. He went on wanting to get to know everyone and came across Kuishi, Tamiyoi and Malima - he was very interested in them and especially Malima, but she kept running away from him! Generally he has a wonderful day out in the forest and gave no problems to the keepers - he is much better behaved outside of his stockade than within!

Kuishi is always trying to get closer to her keepers and wanting to hang around them. While trying to bond with them this morning though Tamiyoi seemed to get jealous of that, as she is always close to the keepers, and pushed her away from them as she tried to suckle their fingers. Kuishi didn’t retaliate though and this is all down to respect for older peers within the nursery hierarchy. The lorry training for the elephants moving down continues – for Oltaiyoni, Kamok, Kauro, Tusuja, Roi and Naseku this is a change to their everyday routine but they are getting used to it and all of them except Tusuja are drinking their milk in the lorry. Tusuja would still rather not have his milk than enter the lorry but we hope it is just a matter of time for him to overcome this problem. Today Kuishi, Luggard and Karisa started officially attending the public visit. Luggard and Kuishi came down in the first group with Mbegu. Luggard was very happy to attend the visit because he could spend plenty of time in his favourite mud wallow, which he enjoys so much. After he had finished his milk he went straight to the mud and played there until the end of the visit. Kuishi went all the way along the rope cordon smelling and touching the audience from one corner to the other, and after her inspection she joined Luggard and some of the others in the mud pool. Godoma and Mbegu didn’t want to leave the mud bath at the end of their visit, even after being asked by the keepers to follow them and the others! They eventually left in their own time, when the rest of their group had already reached the rocks. Karisa came in last in the company of Ukame whereupon they were fed at the same spot before Ukame led Karisa to the mud bath where he enjoyed a nice wallow – all three newcomers to the mud bath/public visiting time were very well behaved!

This morning as some of the orphans were enjoying their browse and the others were playing, Kamok was in the car park area chasing the warthogs around and flushing them out from where they were trying to hide. She was trying to block those who were endeavoring to come in through the main gate, and unfortunately for one male bush buck, he got caught up in the games as well! When the warthogs ran under one of the containers for safety, Kamok turned her attention to the male bush buck who was there as well. This caught him off guard as he wants expecting Kamok to chase him, and he ran off as Kamok turned her attention to the warthogs again. Her games didn’t last too much longer though as one of the keepers that she listens to the most called her to come back to the forest to join her peers, and she obediently obliged! Kuishi has started gaining a lot more confidence in the herd. There was a time when Malkia could be a bit of a bully towards her, but now she has started to stand her ground. Murit ha d a good time playing with Ngilai today as well; Ngilai tends to be a bit of a rough boy when it comes to playing, but whilst playing with Murit today he was very gentle. Ndotto and Rapa are also becoming close wrestling friends! These two engaged themselves in a lengthy wrestling game until Lasayen came over and wanted to play with them as well. Ndotto always likes to please others so he just gave way to Lasayen so he could enjoy a nice game with Rapa too. Instead Ndotto just went over to climb on Dupotto who was lying in the long grass close by.

Out in the bush in the early morning, Murit had a wonderful time playing with Luggard who he has been showing very strong attachment to recently and it seems the two are becoming great friends. During the public visiting today the first group of orphans were led out by Mbegu soon after finishing their bottle feeds to the mud bath, where they all cooled down their hot bodies in the midday sun. Little Malima, Jotto, Tamiyoi, Ambo, Esampu and Kuishi were all busy bumping and sliding against each other as they spun around in the mud pool. Off to the side Rapa was busy pushing Lasayen and when Lasayen tried to get out of the mud wallow he held onto his hind leg and tried to pull him back in! Lasayen was holding onto the bank of the wallow but Rapa eventually managed to pull him back in and he landed on his hind deep in the mud. Rapa’s naughty antics captured the attention of the visiting public who thought it very funny to watch such a mischievous little elephant!

When the orphans were on their way out to the forest in the morning, Kuishi, Tamiyoi, Malima and Esampu sneaked back to the stockade area under the leadership of Tamiyoi, who led them to feed on the lucerne beside Maxwell’s gate. Kuishi started rumbling and yelling when she saw the keepers cleaning out the stockades. When she saw one of them pushing a wheelbarrow containing dirty hay, she went ran after him and started pushing him, believing the wheelbarrow contained milk bottles instead and that it was mil feeding time! It was only just after 7 o’clock though, so she really was just over excited. When she realised it was not milk, she yelled in protest, a reaction that caused Tamiyoi and the others to come over to her to see what was wrong. Then the keepers led them all back into the forest to stop causing trouble in the stockade area and browse with the others as they should be.

Out in the forest this morning we watched as young Karisa enjoyed a playful pushing game with Tusuja, proving that he really is becoming truly settled into the nursery family and daily routine. Karisa is a lovely gentle boy who loves his human family, despite what humans did to his mother, and he really loves his milk bottle feeds! During public visiting this morning the first group were having their milk bottles and it was quite interesting to see tiny Tamiyoi bullying little Malima and Kuishi who were trying to approach the keeper bottle feeding Tamiyoi. She ran over very fast to encounter them before they reached her keeper. Nowadays Tamiyoi is looking pretty strong and healthy and is showing this off to all the others in the nursery so they know not to mess with her or her milk bottles! Due to the frequent presence of lions around the forest area, Kiko has been spending his days within the stockade area compound so as to avoid encountering them, equipped with greens and milk all day long. His vents his frustration at not being allowed to go out and join the other orphans on his keepers, sometimes kicking at them as he does not realize the danger posed to him out there!