We can tell all our orphans apart not just by their appearance but their quirky little characteristics as well. Maktao is a playful little chap always keeping the other orphans entertained with wrestling games. He isn’t fussy who he plays with and will choose anyone on any particular day to start a pushing game with. He does like playing with Dololo however, who takes his wrestling games very seriously, and Musiara and Maktao too, and sometimes he will try to get Enkesha to play as well. Enkesha is a very gentle-natured elephant who doesn’t usually partake in these kind of games be they wrestling or hide and seek.
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!
The orphans had lovely warm weather today. After a few days of not attending the public visit due to the rain, finally Ziwadi and Roho were able to attend the mud bath feeding today. Little Roho had a wonderful time during the visit. He enjoyed rolling on the ground surrounded by Musiara and Larro who kept watch over him the entire time. Roho’s real fun however began when a warthog made her way through the visitors to go into the mud bath. Roho sat up right away when he spotted her, and attracted everyone’s attention when he started chasing the warthog away. The whole group except Ziwadi went after the poor pig, driving her in different directions as she tried to find a way out.
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.
Maktao is always known to be the playful one, but it seems today he was not in the right mood, because when Mukkoka approached him for a game he sent him away right away. He first put him off by head-butting him, showing Mukkoka that he was not in the mood.
The orphans chose not to have a mud bath during the 11am public visiting time this morning as it was not quite the right weather for them to enjoy one, but later as the day started to warm up, Musiara led the group to play in one of the many puddles that can be found out in the forest at the moment from all the rain we have had recently. They all enjoyed swimming in the big puddle. Maisha, Dololo and Maktao particularly enjoyed playing in the water, and Roho as well who was being guarded by Tagwa as he played.
In the early morning today it started to rain just as the orphans were preparing to come out of their rooms. This meant Ziwadi and Roho stayed indoors as the others came out into the rain to carry on with their morning. Tagwa and Tamiyoi like the other youngsters tried to avoid walking through the bushes and wanted to stick mainly to feeding on the open grassy areas as it is cold, and none of them want to get wetter by walking through the bushes and brushing up against the cold, wet vegetation. By the time the first group of orphans walked down to the public visit, it was still raining. Musiara detected the dull mood in the others and decided to initiate a wrestling game to keep them warm. Kiasa, Larro and Dololo (who was in the first group because Roho was not with them and he is normally separated at the morning visit so he does not bully him) accepted Musiara’s invitation to play and keep their spirits up in the rain whilst also keeping warm!
Tagwa seems to have completely forgotten Sattao as her adopted little boy these days. Sattao is older now and Tagwa has little Roho to look after, but it seems Sattao still remembers Tagwa as his adopted mother and keeps on approaching Tagwa for company, sometimes even wanting to share food from her mouth. Tagwa keeps driving him away, recognizing that he is an older boy now and he needs to learn to become more independent. As Roho has been missing for the last few days, keeping warm in the stockade compound while it continues to rain, Larro has filled his shoes as the little baby to look after out in the forest again, which suits Larro just fine. As Tagwa pushes Sattao away, Larro quickly steps forward, even snatching food from Tagwa’s mouth. As the Keepers prepared the two groups for the 11am milk feed today, Larro stuck by Tagwa’s side, not wanting to join her usual first group for the feed.
Maxwell is known to love the rain and always enjoys playing around in it, but today was slightly different. When it started to rain this morning as the elephant orphans were coming out of their rooms, Maxwell was at the top of his stockade and when he felt the first drops, he decided to run straight down to his bedrooms and warm pile of hay, and went directly to bed. He only woke up at around noon and decided to go and feed on his greens – even Maxwell seems to have had enough of the rain!
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.
Today was a nice and warm day for the orphans and they all seemed to have a wonderful day out. The orphans began their day by having some fun with Maxwell in his stockade. Maisha, Tamiyoi, Kiasa and Musiara engaged Maxwell in a running game before heading out to the woods. The game started by them pushing and pulling on his gate which attracted Maxwell’s attention. He came running over to the gate with his head held high and his mouth open, as if he was prepared to receive some food! The touch of one of the elephant’s trunks gave our little blind boy a fright and he went running off which was great fun for him and the elephant babies too, as they eventually turned this into a real game with Maxwell inching forward, one of the elephants touching him with their trunk, which would result in the desired reaction of sending him running off again. Maxwell ran up and down his stockade until the four elephant babies needed to join their friends who had already walked out to the forest.
With the day looking bright, Roho and Ziwadi were able to spend the whole day out in the forest with the rest of their family. Kiko joined the orphans out in the forest too. This evening, Mukkoka wasn’t lucky to be one of the first home as he usually is, as he was so busy browsing he lost track of time and some of the other orphans lined up to return home before he even realized what time it was. By the time he realized, it was too late, and some of the other babies had already run down ahead of him!
Roho continues to enjoy the love, care and protection from the older females and it seems Larro is feeling slightly envious of the attention he is receiving all the time now. Tagwa, Kiasa, Sattao and Tamiyoi were all in the same group together with Roho this morning, as even Kiasa is breaking away from spending lots of time with Larro now. Larro seems to be giving up on the older females as they dote on the smallest one Roho day in and day out now. Now Larro ends up in the company of anyone who wants to spend time with her at the moment.
Musiara has been playing leader today with Luggard, and Maisha was leading with them, separate to the other group that were with Tagwa and Tamiyoi. The two groups stayed separated for awhile, only linking up for milk feeding times.
Maktao is always full of fun and games and after the public visiting time, when he saw Sattao running up to join their group, he ran towards him first and started a pushing game with him. Musiara thought it looked like a very fun game and started playing with Kiombo too, while they waited for the Keepers to finish their lunch and they would continue walking further into the forest.
Musiara, Sattao and Maktao are full-time playmates and can be seen playing every day after they felt like they have browsed for long enough. We always see them move away from browsing to start their wrestling games. It may start with Maktao and Musiara, but then Sattao will join in and all of them will be busy wrestling with each other. Sometimes Musiara and Sattao gang up against Maktao as Sattao wants to spend more time wrestling with Musiara on his own. Maktao never gives up though and continues to try and take them on both at once and the game seems endless. Maisha, who enjoys wrestling with Sattao more than the other boys, sometimes joins in when she sees their wrestling games. If Sattao doesn’t show any interest in including Maisha in their game, Maisha starts to bully all of them and that brings a swift end to their game.
Kiko is very happy doing what he likes and is happy to defy his Keepers and what they want him to do. Today he was let out of the stockade next to Maxwell and walked happily out to the forest to go and join the elephant orphans where they were busy browsing. He didn’t receive a warm welcome by Maktao and Mukkoka however who kept charging and chasing after him – it’s been awhile since he tried to join the elephant orphans to browse, as he normally prefers to browse around the stockade compound area. His long absence from being with the elephants out in the forest made Maktao and Mukkoka want to play around with him.
Little Ziwadi seems fully attached to Luggard while browsing out in the forest, who in turn is very welcoming and loving towards her, and does not bully her like the other bulls including Dololo, Maktao, Mukkoka and Sattao who take advantage of chasing Ziwadi whenever she tries to browse close to them. Luggard never tries to chase her and climb on her and that’s why Ziwadi likes to hang around with Luggard.
Mukkoka’s character of trying to run fast to get his bottle feeds, especially in the evening when he is returning to his stockade for the night, is something very endearing and funny to watch as he runs at full speed and tries to overtake his friends to get into his stable first for his milk. He yells out loudly as soon as he sees the Keeper taking his milk bottle out of the bucket next to his door, preparing to feed him, and it is this adorable greedy-character trait that endears him to all his foster parents!
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.
With all the heavy rain in Nairobi, the orphans have not been very eager to have a mud bath during the day. However, today, during their midday milk feeding time, the conditions seemed favorable as the sun was shining, and the orphans seemed excited at the prospect of a mud bath. The first group of orphans were quick to finish their bottles of milk before making their way to the waterhole. Roho was the first to get in the muddy water and this appeared to attract the attention of Kiasa, Maktao, Musiara and Ziwadi, whom were all quick to join him.
Ziwadi, who is not always a fan of wallowing in the mud, but today she was thoroughly enjoying herself. She could be seen rolling around, sitting on Musiara, and even enjoyed rolling around on top of Musiara. After enjoying her mud bath, she seemed to get so excited that she charged out of the water and ran along the side of the waterhole before making her way back to the forest.
After the orphans finished their midday bottles of milk and mud bath, they made their way back out to the forest. As they settled in the forest, most of them seemed to be seeking shelter from the hot sun and were seen resting in the shade of the trees. Most of the boys, namely Maktao, Kiombo, Mukkoka, Musiara, Dololo and Sattao, were far too busy playing wrestling games to rest in the shade and kept swapping between each other and changing partners. Maktao was first wrestling Mukkoka, then changed to wrestle Dololo, and across from them, Musiara was seen wrestling Kiombo before challenging Sattao. Kiombo, who seemed to still have energy after his game with Musiara, could be seen charging around pushing at trees and pulling branches, which are all ways of testing his strength. If he succeeded at pulling a branch down, he would then throw it over his back, as if in victory.
Once the orphans were back in their stables in the evening, Dololo appeared to still be full of energy. He was continuously grabbing at the milk bucket outside his stable, searching for more milk or any spilled milk at the bottom. When he didn’t find any milk, he just knocked his bucket away.
It was a very hot day today, and when the older group of orphans made their way down to the waterhole, they were very quick to finish their milk bottles before heading straight into the cool muddy water. Nabulu and Maisha seemed to be having lots of fun splashing around, rubbing up against one another, and rolling around in the mud, covering their entire bodies. They were having such fun that they ended up throwing mud all over their onlookers and other orphans.
Tagwa has become quite greedy when it comes to her milk and has recently been quite the troublemaker. At most feeding times, when she finishes her milk, she is quick to ask for more and refuses to move away whilst the others are finishing their bottle. She has even started chasing away some of the other orphans who are trying to finish their milk. The Keepers must become quite strict for her to listen and move away.
It was another hot day in Nairobi, and the older group of orphans enjoyed wallowing in the mud after their midday bottles of milk. Nabulu and Maisha seemed to be having so much fun that they came charging out the muddy pools and began playing with the soccer ball that was lying near the waterhole. Maisha was kicking the ball all over the place in an attempt to kick it to Nabulu, and when the ball would be kicked back to her by any onlookers, she would excitedly kick it away again. Nabulu could be seen eagerly waiting with her ears wide open for the ball to reach her.
When Ziwadi is in her quieter moods, she seems to know exactly how to make sure she gets her rest when needed. The Keepers have noticed that when she needs her rest, she will head off ahead of the Nursery herd and once she is far enough ahead she will pull off and rest in a thicket, and once it is quiet enough she will then turn back and head off to her stable. The Keepers must keep a watchful eye on her to make sure she doesn’t wonder off on her own.
This morning as Kiko was making his way out of his stable he appeared to not want to make his way to the stockade neighboring that of Maxwell’s and was more interested in making his way to the parking area. When he got to the parking and realized it was empty, he then made his way down to the waterhole where again he seemed disappointed to see it was empty. He finally decided to head out towards the forest as if in search of the orphans. He seemed to finally settle when he saw the orphans out in the forest and began to browse near them.
Some of the orphans such as Nabulu, Kiombo, Sattao and Kiasa were not too happy with Kiko getting any closer to the Nursery herd and they kept chasing him away if he tried to get any closer. Kiko remained close to the orphans all day until he finally decided to head back to his stable around 4pm.
During the orphans’ midday mud bath, they were visited by a female warthog that found her way into the waterhole. This seemed to upset Larro as she began to chase and charge at the warthog. The warthog was quite brave and ran into the waterhole and then turned to face Larro. As Larro couldn’t scare the warthog, she ran away in fear with her ears flapping and looking for assistance from her friend Kiasa.
When Kiasa saw Larro running towards her trumpeting, she seemed to immediately react and come to her aid. Kiasa then walked Larro back to the waterhole, where the warthog was enjoying her mud wallow, and Kiasa began to challenge the warthog, forcing her out of the waterhole. As the warthog ran out the water, Larro was quick to charge at her and chase her toward the surrounding bushes. It was amazing to watch the two working together and to see how Larro knew to get help from her older friend.
In the early morning when the orphans were let out to go to the forest the Keepers decided to let Roho out last, because of this all the older girls could be seen waiting outside his stable for him to come out. The young little bull was then escorted out by all the girls. Since his arrival at the Nairobi Nursery he has been spoilt by the rest of the Nursery herd especially the older girls who seem to have shifted their attention from Larro to him as he is the youngest. Roho also appears to enjoy the attention and can often be seen following Tagwa and the other girls around whilst browsing.
During the midday feeding time, Ziwadi appeared to be in a bad mood as she kept pushing Roho, and at one point she pushed him so hard that he fell over. Kiasa seemed displeased by this as she quickly came running over to help Roho and rumbled at Ziwadi to move away.
Since the arrival of Larro and Roho Kiasa’s temperament has changed significantly. She has become very caring and is always amongst the first to run to the aid of the younger orphans when they trumpet or rumble. She has really taken on the responsibilities as one of the older girls in the Nursery herd.
Maktao is growing into a very gentle and caring bull. He is always gentle with the younger orphans and will very rarely bully any of the orphans in the Nursery herd. Surprisingly, of late, he has even had a softer nature than Sattao and Musiara.
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 morning Ziwadi gave the Keepers a bit of a fright as she immediately wondered off after her 9am bottle of milk. While the Keepers were busy feeding the rest of the Nursery herd, she decided to continue back to the forest. As soon as the Keepers noticed she had wondered off they immediately went looking for her and found her in one of the usual browsing spots, enjoying herself and eating away at the fresh greens.
Luggard seems to be growing in personality and has started to show some of the usual adolescent bull characteristics, in that he is constantly testing his strength against the other orphans and pushing something of the younger orphans around. Today he seemed to be in a grumpy mood as he was pushing all the other orphans away from him and didn’t let any of them get close to him.
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.
Musiara was in a bit of a bad mood today, as he was constantly trying to bully Ziwadi and chase her around the mud bath area. As soon as she relaxed, he would come charging over and start pushing her again. He was being so bad, that the Keepers had to come and intervene and move him far away from where she was standing. Ziwadi seemed relieved to now have some peace and quiet at the mud bath.
Larro has been happily sharing the attention of Kiasa with Roho, and as of late she has even been helping Kiasa look after the little bull. During the midday mud bath Larro was protecting little Roho from some of the bigger boys such as Kiombo and Musiara who both kept trying to playfully push him.
Kiko once again refused to go into the stockade next door to Maxwell’s. He seemed to decide that he would much rather be in Maxwell’s stockade. This caused some disorder as the Keepers had to keep Maxwell in his lower stockade until they could move Kiko over. The Keepers struggled for quite some time to convince Kiko to move to the next stockade, but eventually managed to do so by bringing him his milk bottle. Once Kiko had been move over the Keepers were then able to let Maxwell up to his top stockade where he could enjoy his morning Lucerne pellets.
Today Mukkoka and Maktao were in a very playful mood and could be seen wrestling each other in the forest. They played non-stop for an hour after having their 9am bottles of milk. Musiara then came over and tried to get in between the two boys, and eventually managed to get them to stop playing completely. The three bulls then moved off in their own direction and started to browse.
During the midday mud bath, Ziwadi seemed to have had enough of being down at the waterhole as she started to make her way back out to the forest. The Keepers quickly ran over and tried to change her mind to stay at the mud bath, but she appeared very reluctant to listen to them. The Keepers decided to lay down some greens for her, which seemed to work as she settled to feed on them before coming back to join the rest of the younger group.
Sattao seems to be growing in confidence and as he grows in age, he has become far more independent. When the orphans are out browsing in the forest, he often moves off on his own to browse away from the others. When it is time for the orphans to have their milk however, he is always sure to come back.
Kiko was in a playful mood today and decided to join the orphans out in the forest. Kiko started a game of jumping in between the orphans, giving them a fright, and then charging off. He did this several times, really scaring the elephant babies, before moving off in his own direction.
This afternoon Maxwell enjoyed a long mud bath in the middle of his stockade. After a long mud wallow he enjoyed some water from his water trough before charging up and down his stockade enjoying a good scratch along the walls and gates of his enclosure.