Choose your region

Maxwell was full of energy this morning and was having a full on mud bath – rolling around in the muddiest patch and walking up and down his stockade. Tagwa went to Roho’s stable to look for him and to see if he was going to join them out in the forest but the bad weather wouldn’t allow it. Instead she went to look for Larro who was out with the others and starting to make her way out to the forest. When she found Larro they walked together along with Sattao, Kiasa, Enkesha and Tamiyoi. After two hours of feeding together they proceeded to the milk feeding area to have their next milk bottle, before going back to the delicious bushes and leaves that have sprung up all over the place.

Tamiyoi was leading all the orphans out to the forest today with the Keepers. When the orphans reached the forest they did not go very far before they stopped, as it was raining and they did not want to walk very far. Instead they gathered together in one place keeping warm altogether, and as the rain started to clear, one by one they walked off in search of browse. Enkesha and Nabulu decided to go one way, and the others all browsed together following Tamiyoi but going off in different directions too. When it was close to their milk feeding time they all gathered together again including Nabulu and Enkesha to have their bottles. 

It was another wet day for the orphans, with heavy rains starting through the night. As Maxwell had lots of fun in his stockade, turning it into a thick muddy pool, all the 16 elephant babies stood hiding under the shelter of their night stockades, not wanting to venture into the rain. Eventually it was time for them to walk out to the forest, so they had no other option than to walk out into the rain. Enkesha, who loves browsing, was the first out, and Tagwa watched her for a while as she stayed under the shelter in her room. Eventually she decided to join Enkesha too and they spent some time browsing on the bushes in the compound as they waited for the other orphans to join them. Only Roho and Ziwadi stayed behind due to the rain. The two babies joined the others after the public visiting time as it drizzled with rain all morning.

Larro sometimes seems to want to share her friends’ room in the evening. Today she came running in with Kiasa and went directly to Kiasa’s room – it took the Keepers some time to separate her and take her to her own room!

Maktao, the playful little chap, is always keeping the other orphans entertained with wrestling games. It’s as if each day he wants to play with someone different, and will approach them to play. Today seems to be Dololo and Enkesha’s day, and Maktao will barely leave them alone. Enkesha was not as interested in Maktao’s invitations to play than Dololo. She only spent a few minutes with him because she loves browsing and eating so much so after a short while she left him rolling on the ground and went to find some nice bushes to browse on. Dololo loves playing and especially if it is with someone that will really take a game seriously, as he can play quite rough.

After a long day of warm weather, just before 3pm as the orphans were preparing for their milk feed the weather changed and it started to rain. Roho and Ziwadi were taken back to the compound and the others went on to have their milk at the mud bath where surprisingly enough Tagwa and Sattao decided to go into the mud and have a lovely time splashing about there.

We know all our orphans for each of the unique things that make them different. Enkesha loves eating and likes to wander off on her own sometimes. She is a gentle and quiet girl who doesn’t mind being on her own and doesn’t need any company when she wants to go off and do her own thing. While out browsing during the day, Kiasa is known to go to the head of the group and likes to lead the others about the forest; everyone will always walk behind her as she moves about in different directions in the woods. 

As Dololo was escorting Roho, Luggard and Ziwadi home to bed earlier than the rest of the herd, he encountered a huge male baboon sitting in the middle of his path. He tried to chase the baboon off but he paid no attention to him, which made Dololo apprehensive. He ran back to the Keeper walking behind them for help but in the meantime little Roho managed to scare the baboon away, so taking the lead of the babies back home to their milk bottles.

If there is one thing that Enkesha gives little time to, it is indulging her friends in games. This morning while out in the forest, Luggard and Maisha invited her to a game. Maisha was digging up some loose soil which, together with Luggard, they were dusting and rolling in. Enkesha decided to join them briefly at digging at the loose soil, but she didn’t stay for long for as soon as Maktao walked over she made way for him and walked on to go and browse. If there are any elephants that love playing it must be Maktao and when it comes to climbing games especially, he is number one. As Maisha was rolling on the ground, this was the perfect opportunity for him and he walked straight up and onto Maisha’s back, before sliding down to the ground. Luggard wasn’t happy with what Maktao was doing because of his bad knee, if Maktao turned to play that kind of game with him he would not be able to take it, so he decided to drive him away and continue playing with Maisha on his own. 

Kiombo has not yet attached himself to the other bulls like Dololo, Maktao, Musiara or Sattao, or even Luggard, but is quite happy in the company of Nabulu still and is very happy to wander around with her. Today when the orphans settled out in the forest in the early morning, these two sneaked away from the others and walked far off deep into the forest where they were later found settled busily browsing from the same bush, showing no sign of wanting to turn back to join the others. Kiombo mostly only chooses to join the other bulls when they are enjoying some wrestling or pushing games, and when they are done, he parts ways and goes to find Nabulu who is always welcoming of him these days. Nabulu also does not discipline the boys when they are naughty like some of the other girls, such as Tagwa, Maisha, Enkesha, and Tamiyoi, and this is also why Kiombo enjoys spending time with her. 

It was a calm Christmas day and the orphans were able to spend their entire day out in the forest and didn’t head down to the mud bath for their midday bottles of milk. This seemed to confuse little Ziwadi, as she was eager to head down to the waterhole for her midday bottle of milk. The Keepers noticed her making her way down to the mud bath and they had to quickly follow her, with a milk bottle in hand to bring her back to milk feeding point in the forest. 

In the afternoon, the orphans were all excited charging around the forest and they even started to have a mud bath out in the puddles. Larro was the first to roll around in the mud but she was quickly joined by most of the Nursery herd. Only Ziwadi and Enkesha refused to join the others in the muddy pools, and instead chose to watch from a distance whilst enjoying some fresh greens.

This afternoon, after the orphans enjoyed their midday mud bath, there seemed to be a bit of a disagreement going on as to who would be keeping Roho company. Dololo managed to get Roho away from Tagwa and he then started leading the little away to a different browsing spot, and they were closely followed by Kiasa. This appeared to really upset Tagwa as she came charging over trying to get Roho back, but it was Tamiyoi who managed to call the little bull away. Whilst the other were busy disagreeing as to who could look after him, Tamiyoi snuck in and walked off with Roho behind her. 

Kiombo and Maktao had a long strength testing match this afternoon. They were thoroughly enjoying pushing each other around before Enkesha came running over and decided to separate the two bulls. The three then went their separate ways and carried on browsing.