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Soon after leaving the stockade Malima decided to go down on her knees then lie down completely to have some fun rolling around. Ndiwa and Mundusi woke her up and informed her that it was too early for such games. The orphans settled briefly for Lucerne before walking down to the water troughs have some water. Jotto and Karisa exchanged morning greetings by entwining their trunks as if they were meeting for the first time that morning, and had not actually spent the whole night together in the same stockade! Dololo decided to test his strength by tackling one of the big boys Olsekki. Olsekki tackled Dololo in a gentle manner as he knew that Dololo was just wanting to learn some pushing tactics from him. 

Out in the bush, two of our big girls Roi and Oltaiyoni had fun soil bathing as they had a private conversation between themselves. With so much water across the grasslands the orphans had done enough bathing before heading for their noon milk feed beside the main water hole, so they chose not to swim after having their bottles. The afternoon was quiet as the orphans concentrated more on browsing. 

In the evening Sapalan, Kamok, Tusuja, Kauro and Barsilinga didn't want to go back to the stockades and decided to sneak away from the Keepers so as to continue feeding and return back to the stockades later in their own time. The Keepers managed to track them down however and found then hiding along the Kalovoto River, and safely walked them back to the stockade compound. 

This morning was cloudy when the orphans left their night stockades. 

Dololo felt strong enough to face Karisa in a pushing challenge. After sometime Dololo lost the challenge to Karisa and he decided to move on and try his luck winning against Galla. Unfortunately he was no match for Galla and he left disappointed but perhaps hoping one day that he will be as strong as Galla!

Rapa settled to scratch on a nearby rock while Naseku had fun rolling on the ground. Olsekki, Tusuja and Mundusi decided to go and feed together away from the rest while Ambo paired up with Kauro. Kauro was spotted from time to time controlling Ambo and leading them in which direction to go. 

Later in the morning Karisa bumped behind Enkikwe by accident. Enkikwe thought that Karisa had done it intentionally just because he has a bad leg and perhaps wouldn’t fight back. A pushing game ensued that lasted for quite some time until Karisa decided to surrender just for the sake of peace. 

Later on the weather changed and gave way to rain. This set the orphans off in a playful mood as they all started rolling on the ground smearing themselves with red mud until it was time for their noon milk feed. They then chose to wade through the waterhole before heading to the Kone area where they settled for the afternoon. In the evening they chose to cool off in the Kone dam again before heading home for the night. 

Ambo was the first one to come out in the morning followed by Dololo. Enkikwe attended his morning clinic as usual before catching up with his friends. It was a day without much fun as the orphans concentrated on browsing. The ex-orphans and wild elephants have disappeared due to a lot of water and vegetation found everywhere now. It’s not clear when they will be coming back to say hi to the dependent orphans and their human family. At the moment the orphans are enjoying their freedom browsing without the control of their older friends telling them what to do and where to browse! But they are missing the important etiquette and social lessons they receive from their seniors too. At the moment they are putting into practice what they had learned from their teachers until next time when class resumes! 

At mud bath time the orphans had fun as they all enjoyed wallowing in the waterhole. Ambo was the first one to leave as usual and came out and decided to head north. A short while later, the rest of the group followed.

The Ithumba Hill was partly covered by mist this morning as the various songs and melodies of birds welcomed the orphans out soon after their morning milk feeding. On their way out to browse the orphans swung their trunks from side to side in expression of happiness, and appeared to be walking as if dancing to the tunes of the singing birds. 

Karisa felt that he needed someone to have a strength testing exercise with and at first he picked on Dololo who surrendered few minutes later. Karisa walked backward and bumped into Rapa who didn't waste time in retaliating. The two boys had a pushing game that lasted for quite some and ended when Barsilinga intervened by pushing them away. 

Later Olsekki and Tusuja settled for a strength testing exercise that saw Tusuja lose to Olsekki.  

At mud bath time the orphans, as usual these days, participated fully in the wallowing exercise and after returned back to browsing. Barsilinga and Roi were the last ones to leave the water as they were very involved in a discussion of some kind.

The afternoon was a quiet one and a hot one too. It is a good thing that despite the heat that there is a lot of water found all around for cooling off in whenever one feels that it gets too much. The other alternative means of escaping from the heat is by standing under trees that have nice and cool shade. 

After leaving the stockade in the morning Karisa engaged Dololo into a pushing game. Mapia, who was following the two boys, decided to climb on Dololo to teach him a lesson that there are more dominant boys in the herd. Recently Dololo has been standing his ground whenever the older boys try to intimate him so they always feel the need to put Dololo in his place! 

Ambo, as with most days, led the way out. An hour after the orphans had left for browsing some ex-orphans led by Kinna showed up briefly at the stockade compound and after headed north east of the stockade. The group consisted of Kinna, baby Kama, Nasalot, baby Nusu, Sidai, baby Sita, Narok, Vuria, Ishanga, Naserian, two wild elephants, Olare, Wendi and baby Wema. We had not seen Nasalot, Narok, Naserian and Sidai for some time and it was lovely to see them! 

The dependent orphans browsed along the upper Kalovoto area until mud bath time when Kuishi led the first group to the mud bath to have their milk bottles. In the afternoon the dependent orphans settled to browse west of Ithumba Hill up to five o'clock in the evening, when Sattao led the first group back to the stockades. 

Soon after leaving her stockade Roi remembered Dololo this morning. She hasn’t been paying too much attention to him recently and Sities, Turkwel and Suguta, who were always there for Dololo before, have also been away. Roi walked with Dololo out to the bush to browse and seemed to inquire if everything was okay with him. Tusuja and Wanjala, who for some time now have been trying to establish who between them is the dominant one, started a pushing game that ended in a draw. Sapalan enjoyed playing with Karisa while Galla handled Mapia. 

The orphans settled to browse in the Kanziku area. Maramoja stayed close to her favourite Musiara and guided him throughout the entire morning. At mud bath time all the orphans enjoyed a swim after having their milk bottles. Later, the orphans headed west of Ithumba Hill were they settled to browse for the rest of the day. 

The orphans left their stockades this morning swinging their trunks from side to side as they were happy and grateful for another day filled with browsing on lovely fresh vegetation. The temperature was moderate and the orphans settled to browse in Kone area and tended to feed in pairs. Ambo settled to browse with Tusuja while Kauro teamed up with Olsekki. Naseku browsed with Galla while Mundusi fed with Mteto. 

The orphans later walked to the mud bath where they had their milk then went swimming in the waterhole before Ambo led the way back out to browse. In the afternoon Roi took Dololo to a small mud puddle and a showed him how to mud bath nicely. Roi demonstrated how it's done and Dololo was keenly watching. Though Dololo didn't get into the mud to practice, he might have noted Roi’s techniques to use them another time. In the evening Sattao led the first group back to the stockades while Esampu led the second group.

Kauro woke up in playful mood in the morning. He walked up to Tusuja to have a pushing game but Tusuja declined and instead walked away from him and went to have his own game of sitting and stretching. Kauro didn't lose hope but followed Tusuja and tried to disrupt his sitting game in order to get his attention. Tusuja was annoyed by Kauro's persistence and had to quit his game to defend himself by having a pushing game with Kauro. Kauro was delighted that his tricks of trying to disrupt Tusuja had worked.  

Kamok decided to spend some time browsing with Ambo while Roi settled to browse with her favourite Dololo. Kuishi, Maramoja and Naseku came across some loose soil that they enjoyed rolling around in before resuming with browsing. 

After mud bath time, Sapalan engaged Namalok in a strength testing exercise that again ended in a draw. In the afternoon the ex-orphans led by Yatta showed up at the stockade then left and again and visited the stockade shortly before seven late in the evening. All the mothers and their babies were present. 

Soon after leaving the stockade, Dololo, who is one of the youngest members of the group, decided to challenge Karisa in a pushing game. Karisa, who is never shy with anyone interested in a pushing game, welcomed Dololo to what he considered would be a walk-over since he is experienced and Dololo was just an amateur. The pushing game didn't last for long as Karisa predicted, because when the going got tough, Dololo decided to quit and walk away from Karisa as he didn’t want to continue with the game. Roi met Dololo and comforted him following the tough game he had with Karisa. 

Out in the bush the boys paired in warm up exercises before resuming to browse. Sapalan teamed up with Namalok while Tusuja tackled Mundusi. Mapia decided to test his strength by tackling Jotto. The rest of the morning was quiet as the orphans mostly concentrated on browsing. 

Shortly before mud bath time, Tusuja held talks with Enkikwe as they awaited to go for their midday bottle feeds. The orphans attended their mud bath at eleven o'clock in the morning as usual. After drinking their milk, one group jumped into the water for wallowing while the others chose to head back out to browse. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse in the Kone area until five o'clock in the evening when the Keepers took the orphans back to the stockades.