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On the first day of the month, Nyambeni led the herd out to the forest. The orphans ambled along behind her in a long line, pausing to twist up clumps of dry grass. Nyambeni is one of the older girls in the herd but she has liked being first since she was a small baby. Even when she was only one year old, she was often first to pad round the corner and down to the stockades in the afternoon.

The herd browsed for a time and then had an early morning dust bath, rolling around on an area of dry dusty soil. Some, including Kipekee and Arthi, rubbed their bellies on the pile of soil while others, including Nyambeni and Mzinga, sucked up trunkfuls of dust and sprayed them along their backs.

Today was the first day of translocation training for the three oldest girls in the herd. Later in the month, Kerrio, Latika and Kamili will leave the Nursery and move to our Umani Springs Reintegration Unit on the next stage of their journeys back to wild lives. The three elephants had especially difficult starts and will benefit from the gentler environment of the Kibwezi Forest. Starting today, they are having all their daytime milk feeds in - or near! - the training truck. Predictably, all three refused to even set foot on the ramp today. They gulped their milk, whirled about and headed back to the forest.

In the morning, the herd visited the mud bath as usual for a milk feed. After drinking their milk, they spread out around the wallow to browse on lucerne. On their way back to the forest, the whole herd stopped off (as they often do) to drink from a pool of standing water. Most sucked up trunkfuls of water to drink while some chose to browse. Most drank sensibly but not Mzinga. She waved her trunk from side to side in the water and then splashed arcs of water across the pool. Mzinga may be close to four years old but is she still a playful toddler!

Eventually, the orphans continued on, wandering far in the forest in search of green browse. Newbies Daba and Alia often choose to browse at a distance from the herd. They feel safe with the Keepers and with the females but are wary of the bulls, especially Pardamat. This young bull does not yet have tusks - but this does not stop him from throwing his weight around. He is being rough at present and is on Keeper-watch. If he approaches the newbies or the babies in the herd, we intervene – unless Kerrio or Muridjo gets there first.

In the afternoon, however, Daba and Alia were standing close to Taroha. In contrast to Pardamat, Taroha is a gentle bull trusted by all the elephants in the herd. Despite Pardamat’s antics, Taroha remains the dominant bull in the herd. He does have tusks but never uses them aggressively and enjoys taking care of the babies. Today, Taroha trunk touched the two newbies regularly while they calmly pulled up clumps of grass. 

Last night, three lionesses killed a baby zebra close to the stockades. We heard them roaring for a long time. Their roars disturbed the elephants and many walked restlessly around their stockades. In the morning KWS rangers removed the carcass to encourage the lions to move away.

Because of their presence, Tytan and Notty stayed in their stockades today. Both could have been at risk of attack, in particular the little zebra. Two Keepers walked them around the stockades but not out into the bush.

The elephants headed out as usual to the forest in the early morning. Of course, we were extra vigilant but were sure that the herd was not at risk. Lions stick to known prey and, as there are no elephants living wild in Nairobi National Park, they have never hunted or eaten this animal.

In the afternoon, Kerrio was doing her independent thing while Kamili was looking after Kipekee. Kerrio lagged behind the herd, content to browse on her own, while Kamili fussed over Kipekee, sticking to her like glue. A year ago, we would have expected the opposite – Kerrio on nanny duty and Kamili by herself. How these elephants have changed!

The lionesses were nearby again in the night. We could hear them roaring and so both the Keepers and the orphans had restless nights. In a repeat of yesterday, we kept Tytan and Notty in the stockades area but shepherded the herd out as normal.

Translocation training is ongoing. Every three hours during the day, we bring Kerrio, Latika and Kamili back to the stockades for their milk feed. Latika and Kamili are reluctantly walking up the ramp and into the truck for their milk, but Kerrio is refusing even to put one foot on the ramp. Our clever mini matriarch senses what is afoot and will not be tempted into the truck, even by delicious milk and pellets and sugar cane!

Daba may be the newest member of the Nursery herd but Kipekee is still the youngest. He is eleven months old whereas she is just seven months. The older females are affectionate and protective towards the new boy but Kipekee is still at the centre of their attention. The little girl usually has three nannies in tow, showing her the best plants and checking on her every minute. Occasionally, Kipekee makes a bid for freedom and shakes off her adoring entourage! Today, she was browsing with Wamata and, two hours later, with Nyambeni (who is not one of her usual nannies). A few metres away, Daba was browsing happily with budding mini matriarch Muridjo.

During the night, the three lionesses walked through the area outside the stockades. We awoke in the middle of the night to hear them jumping onto the roof of a store, onto the path past Pardamat’s stockade and back out to the forest. Tytan was walking up and down and squeaking. Maxwell was lumbering around, kicking up clouds of dust. We checked that the lions had gone, calmed the elephants and rested until dawn.

In the morning, the herd headed out and spent a peaceful morning browsing in the bush, visiting the mud wallow, and browsing some more. Pardamat and Nyambeni were together while Taroha was with Talek and Daba. After feeding in (or next to) the truck, Kerrio, Latika and Kamili ran back to the herd, rumbling along the way while making a beeline for Kipekee – just in case anything had happened to the baby in the past half an hour! While Kipekee carried on browsing , Latika stood close with trunk draped along her back.

In the afternoon, the orphans returned to safety of their rooms for the night. They padded down the path in groups to bottles of milk held by Keepers and pellets and fresh lucerne in dry stockades. Olomunyak is a stout young bull whose belly is never full for long. Today, he scooped up pellets and lucerne in his stockade with back legs crossed (a sign of a contented elephant) and a pile of lucerne balanced on his head. There was no need for a stash as he had plenty – maybe he was thinking ahead to the middle of the night!

Last night, although we were not awoken by roaring lions, we found tracks on the edge of the forest in the morning and kept Tytan and Notty in again as a precaution. We suspected that the three lionesses may have been hunting warthogs as we did not see a single pig today - in contrast to most days.

Soon after dawn, the elephants wandered out of their stockades and up the path to the forest. This time last year, the path was muddy and the grass was lush and green. Today, the path was dusty and the grass was like hay. The orphans browsed for a long time, doing their best to fill their bellies.

Mzinga, Muridjo and Pardamat were using not just their trunks but also their front feet. The clever elephants loosened the soil and pushed down hard with their feet, shaking their heads while twisting up clumps of hay.

Latika had to lean to pull at the grass with more force while Wamata wandered around looking for rare green shoots. After a long time browsing, the two friends leant against each other and the older girl draped her trunk over the younger one’s head. Our girls still have a very close bond

Kipekee still rules the hearts of Kamili, Muridjo, Nyambeni and Mzinga! This morning, she toddled out to find Kamili and Muridjo waiting. A few metres up the path, Nyambeni and Mzinga joined her escort. They tried, without success, to block out the older girls and so agreed to share the naughty baby. The four females surrounded her all the way to a clearing in the forest where Kamili and Muridjo ambled away, leaving Nyambeni and Mzinga on nanny duty.

Luckily Arthi is a laidback chap who doesn’t mind not being the centre of attention. The older girls care for him and are always watchful but do not fuss over the young bull. This morning, he strolled out from his stable, greeted Wamata and Daba, and headed out with them to the forest. Between mouthfuls of browse, our friendly boy greeted one Keeper and then another.

The battle of the middens is ongoing! As Tytan marched along one side of Maxwell’s enclosure this morning, Max was running around in circles. The little rhino stopped exactly at the corner of the enclosure to defecate on his midden. In response, Max ran faster and shook his head and defecated on his midden on the other side of the fence just one metre from Tytan’s pile. While all this marking of territory was going on, Notty stood by waiting. At last, the two friends walked on out to the forest together. 

It is the eighth day of translocation training and still Kerrio stands stubbornly outside the truck for her milk feeds. Kamili and Latika are more accepting although Latika prefers to stand on the ramp for her bottle and then stretch her short trunk into the truck to scoop up tasty pellets.

Out in the forest, Olomunyak and Pardamat were pushing each other back and forth this morning while the others browsed around them. Olomunyak, who already has two tiny tusks, is younger and shorter than Pardamat, who has two swellings indicating tusks about to erupt. Nonetheless, the bulls are well matched and the younger stouter bull gives as good as he gets. Browsing again with Daba and Alia, Taroha kept an eye on the contest from a distance but was not tempted to join the game.

Later in the morning, the herd visited the mud wallow for another milk feed. After enjoying their milk, Olomunyak, Wamata and Pardamat had a playful time soil dusting. The three orphans clambered to the top of the mound of dry soil, slid down on their bottoms, climbed up, and slid down again. The game was brought to an end when naughty Pardamat tried to play mount both Wamata and Olomunyak. They pushed him off and walked away to drink from the trough. 

The lionesses have moved away and so Tytan and Notty are no longer confined to barracks! Their routine is back to normal and they are spending their days grazing in the forest together. They continue to choose to stay close and browse within metres of each other.

Today, we had a breakthrough thanks to Wamata and Kipekee! As we were escorting Kerrio, Kamili and Latika back from the forest to the truck for their 9 AM milk feed, we saw two small elephants jogging to catch up with us. Wamata and Kipekee had run away from the herd to follow the big girls. Rather than push them back, we gave them the chance to watch the training process. Kerrio, Kamili and Latika arrived at the truck with the two bystanders. To our great surprise, Kerrio walked straight onto the ramp for her milk feed for the very first time. Somehow, the presence of Wamata and Kipekee had changed her attitude.

Now that Kerrio is aware she will be leaving the Nursery herd soon, she seems to be handing over the role of mini matriarch to Muridjo. In the forest this morning, both Kerrio and Muridjo were with Kipekee, Arthi, Daba, Wamata, Nyambeni and Mzinga for a long time. In the afternoon, exactly the same thing happened. We believe that elephants are smart enough to know that something is going to happen and that Kerrio is handing over to Muridjo.

Nyambeni and Mzinga have grown up together at the Nursery. Both arrived in the first half of 2022 and they soon became best friends. They often choose to be together in the field and have become very good nannies, especially to newbies in the herd. These two are often the first to take rescued orphans under their care – and this morning they were browsing with Daba and Arthi.

After browsing for a time, Nyambeni and Mzinga teamed up in a wrestling match with Taroha. As the dominant bull, he is stronger than one girl but not two girls! Taroha did his best to stand his ground but admitted defeat after the girls pushed him into a bush.

Wamata is becoming more confident and often likes to play with Olomunyak or Pardamat. Today, she was playing the pushing game with Olomunyak. The two friends pushed heads and shoved each other back and forth until Wamata succeeded in pushing Olomunyak over! The victorious girl quickly climbed on top of the defeated boy before he had the chance to climb to his feet and chase her around.

Arthi is a calm friendly boy but also a competitive one! He loves being the leader whether on the way to the forest in the morning or on the path to the mud bath or on the way back to the stockades in the afternoon. This morning, when Talek overtook him as he jogged down to the wallow for his milk, Arthi protested with loud trumpets!

Soon after the orphans settled out in the field this morning, Latika and Kamili were squabbling over who should look after Kipekee. Kamili nudged Latika away from the baby and then Latika pushed her way between them and shoved Kamili away. The situation was resolved when Muridjo, Nyambeni and Mzinga wandered over, scooped up Kipekee and walked away, leaving two disappointed nannies!

Later in the morning at the mud bath, Talek was being a play cushion, having learned this trick from Kerrio. While many were busy feeding on supplementary greens. Talek, Kipekee, Wamata, Arthi and Olomunyak rolled around on the heap of red soil. Talek slapped her body down on her side, twirling her trunk in invitation. Kipekee and Arthi rubbed bellies and happily climbed on and off the older girl. Talek is a budding mini matriarch who is likely to step up when Nyambeni and Mzinga leave the Nursery. Mini nanny Wamata is already looking after Kipekee and Arthi.

In the late afternoon, we sent the orphans back to the safety of the stockades for the night. They padded into their rooms while drinking milk and settled to browse on greens and pellets. This evening, Taroha was being greedy. Rather than eat his own greens, he stretched his trunk through the bars to pinch some of neighbour Kamili’s greens. In response, Kamili yanked them back into her stockade. And then, when she turned her back, Taroha pinched them again!

In the morning as the orphans were heading out to the field, Taroha, Nyambeni and Mzinga stopped off at Maxwell’s gate as the rhino was standing on the other side. Cheeky Mzinga popped her trunk through the gaps to pull at his ears while the other two knocked on the gate with their heads. If they were trying to make him move away, their plan did not succeed. Max stood very still enjoying having his ears stroked by Mzinga. Our old rhino may be blind but he still enjoys attention from the orphans.

Tytan and Notty walked out with their Keepers after the elephants. They stayed quite close to the stockades. Two hours later, Tytan lay down for a nap in the shade of a tree while Notty rested on her feet next to him.

Later in the morning at the mud wallow, the orphans were not showing off or playing games. They kept their heads down as they browsed on supplementary greens. Green browse is hard to find in the forest at present as the rainfall in the past few weeks has been below average. Last year, the forest was awash with puddles in the middle of December - but this year it is dry and dusty.

Translocation training is going well. Latika and Kamili are walking happily into the truck for their milk and pellets and Kerrio is walking onto the ramp for her feeds.

Even though Wamata has lived at the Nursery for a long time, she is still quite shy and skittish with the Keepers. In the mornings, she tends to shoot out of her stockade like a bullet. This morning, Wamata shot through her gate and into Daba who was standing on the doorstep. Daba fell over and Wamata got such a shock that she ran for the forest. Hearing Daba scream as he tried to stay on his feet, Muridjo came running to the rescue. When she found him on the ground, Muridjo trumpeted for help. Kerrio and Latika responded immediately, arriving from different directions. Two Keepers and three elephants helped the little boy onto his feet. Muridjo, Kerrio and Latika surrounded Daba while shepherding him out to the forest.

Mzinga enjoys playing tricks on the Keepers. She likes sneaking away from the herd and the Keepers and along the passage behind the stockades to poke her trunk into the pellets store through a water outlet at the bottom of the wall. As the corridor is a dead end, her only way out is in reverse. Today, Mzinga and Arthi snuck off to the pellets store together and they got stuck. They could not reverse and they could not turn around!

Mzinga trumpeted in alarm and, of course, the herd headed for home from the forest. Rumbling and trumpeting along the way, the orphans checked on Mzinga, blocking the corridor completely and causing chaos. Eventually, we restored calm, extricated Mzinga and Arthi from the passage and shepherded the whole herd back to the forest.

Since Kamilli, Latika and Kerrio started translocation training in the truck, the three girls have become so close. Of late, they're always found browsing together, mostly with the young ones. This morning, Kipekee followed them to the truck again and, this time, Kerrio walked all the way into the truck for her milk feed. The little girl stood on the ramp – she was more interested in the pellets and sugar cane treats!

Later in the morning, Tytan had a lengthy wallow in the mud bath. He was so excited and was playing first in the muddy wallow and then on the mound of dry soil where he rolled onto his back with legs in the air. When it was time for him and Notty to return to the forest and for the elephants to take his place, Tytan refused to leave. Rhinos are stubborn animals and it took lots of persuasion to get him moving in the right direction!

It was another Kipekee swimming day – with all the kerfuffle that this entails. In the afternoon, she drank her milk and headed straight for the wallow with nannies Kamili, Mzinga, Kerrio and Latika in tow. The baby lay on her belly and wriggled around with the four older girls standing around and over her in the mud. It amazes us that no one ever stands on her! None of the older orphans were allowed into the wallow until the little princess had climbed out for a soil dusting!

With Kipekee safely out of the mud, Kerrio, Mzinga, Wamata, Taroha and Olomunyak splashed around in the wallow. They kicked the water and rubbed their bellies on the edge and submerged their bodies in the middle.

When we whistled, the herd wandered back to the forest in a long line and settled for a final browse of the day. Alia was spending time with Kerrio – the newbie feels safe with the mini matriarch and will miss her when she leaves the Nursery tomorrow.

Today was ‘graduation’ day for Kerrio, Kamili and Latika. In the very early morning, we were all up preparing to bid farewell to the three big girls – who knew that something strange was happening. Kamili was sensed this as soon as she saw many Keepers moving around in the middle of the night. She began pacing in her stockade, rumbling and trumpeting. Kerrio responded with more low rumbles as Latika walked around her room too.

We loaded Latika into the truck first and then Kamili. Both elephants needed a great deal of persuading. To our surprise, Kerrio put up the least resistance. She was hesitant but walked in by herself. With Talek, Taroha, Nyambeni and Mzinga trumpeting in the background, we loaded the milk and lucerne for the journey, closed the doors, and said goodbye to Kerrio, Kamili and Latika. They travelled with two Nursery Keepers and arrived safely at our Umani Springs Reintegration Unit at dawn to embark upon the next stage of their lives.

During the day, Wamata, Mzinga, Nyambeni and Kipekee seemed the most affected by the absence of the big girls. They were a bit unsettled and stuck close to each other in the woods. Muridjo, meanwhile, was eager to show that she was the new mini matriarch. First thing in the morning, she went round to each and every stable and stockade, as if to reassure everyone that she was now in charge.

This morning, the herd was still adjusting to the absence of Kerrio, Kamili and Latika. The elephants were disorganised and wandering around in different directions.

We gathered our herd and shepherded them out to the forest. Elephants are very adaptable and we knew that they would be fine within a day or two. Out in the bush, Taroha and Olomunyak were being their usual playful selves. They had a lovely time playing the wrestling game and chasing around after impalas and baboons while the others browsed peacefully.

Later in the morning at the mud bath, Mzinga stepped up and took control of the herd. When Pardamat moved to push Alia, she intervened and drove him into the bushes. When Wamata tried to shove Kipekee, Mzinga calmed both girls and nudged them together under her head in an elephant sign of affection. 

In the early morning, Maxwell was hanging out at his gate waiting to hear who came by. To his surprise (as neither baby has ever shown any interest in interacting with Max), the visitors today were Kipekee and Daba!

The two little orphans, with Wamata, were first out of their rooms this morning. Their gates were opened first because Kipekee was making an enormous fuss, pushing her door with her head at dawn and trumpeting loudly. Her Keeper did his best to placate her by allowing her and neighbours out of their rooms. Wamata headed straight to Mzinga’s stockade and stood outside waiting for her big sister. Kipekee and Daba, however, headed for Max’s gate.

Somehow, Max sensed that Kipekee and Daba were the very little ones of the herd. He pushes back hard when interacting with the older ones but he was gentle with the two small ones. They remained at his gate until Muridjo arrived and whisked them away to the forest.

Today, Muridjo stepped into Kerrio’s role and the herd was back to normal. She led the orphans out to the forest where everyone browsed calmly, rolled in the dust and massaged their backsides against tree stumps. Kipekee, Daba, Arthi, Alia and Olomunyak stuck close to Mzinga and Muridjo for the whole morning.

Maxwell and Tytan had a confrontation this morning. Black rhinos are territorial and stand offs between our old rhino and our new one are inevitable - especially as the old boy has not had to deal with a new boy. Neither can come to harm, however, and they will grow to accept each other. This morning, when Max heard Tytan walking out of his stockade, he ran up to the top of his enclosure and waited. Tytan walked up to Max on the other side of the fence, sprayed his dung and faced him. Max was not happy. When the two rhinos ran at each other, we quickly pushed Tytan and Notty on to the forest so that Max could calm down - which he did in a few minutes.

At the mud bath today, Kipekee enjoyed another wallow. She crawled on her belly into the water and rolled around in the mud with Mzinga, Nyambeni and Talek watching on from the sides of the pool, making sure that she did not get stuck in the mud!

Mzinga was taking charge again in the afternoon. When Pardamat gave Olomunyak a shove, he was disciplined and sent away by his no-nonsense sister. Sometimes Pardamat is slow to respond to the Keepers - but not to Mzinga. He did as he was told and headed for the naughty corner.

This morning, Nyambeni and Mzinga led the herd out to the forest with Muridjo ambling along after the others. As we expected, Muridjo is the new mini matriarch with Nyambeni and Mzinga as her deputies. Muridjo has always been a playful elephant but has become very caring in the past year.

The orphans spread out to browse either on their own or in small groups. Pardamat walked away to explore the forest, Muridjo stayed close to Kipekee, and Taroha browsed with Alia and Daba. The newbies are not as strong as the others and are wary of feisty bulls like Pardamat and Olomunyak. After filling her belly, our shy new girl played a pushing game with Wamata. Alia is usually very quiet so we were happy to see her playing with Wamata.

On a hot afternoon, several orphans cooled off in the mud wallow while others stood around dusting themselves or drinking from the trough. Today, Kipekee was enjoying a dip with an entourage of three nannies – Muridjo was in the pool and Nyambeni and Mzinga were standing on the edge. After submerging her body in the thick mud, Kipekee heaved herself onto her feet and crawled out on her belly. She toddled over to the pile of soil for a dust bath, lying on her side while a Keeper shovelled soil along her back.

The herd headed out to the forest in the early morning and spread out to browse. While most tugged on clumps of dry grasses and plants, Nyambeni and Mzinga found an easier solution to the problem. They stood tall and stretched their trunks up high to pull branches down from trees.

Tytan and Notty walked up the path a couple of hours later. Today, the young rhino did not pause on his way past Maxwell’s stockade. Instead, he marched out to the bush with Notty trotting along beside him. They spent the morning grazing, staying out of the sun and under the shade of the trees.

Daba, Wamata and Kipekee sleep in neighbouring stables with Wamata in the middle of the two younger orphans. Often, when elephants sleep next to each other, they become good friends. These three are choosing to be together more and more. This morning in the forest, Wamata browsed with Kipekee and then rolled in the dust with Daba.

In the afternoon at the mud wallow, many orphans covered their bodies in dry soil to protect their skin from the hot sun. Some sucked up trunkfuls while others lay on the ground. Wamata and Arthi remained on their feet while spraying themselves, Talek lay on her side and Muridjo squatted on her bottom with trunk waving and rubbed her belly on the mound.

Tytan and Notty were full of beans at the mud bath this morning. They drank their milk and walked to the mound of soil. With Notty standing by, Tytan lay down for a dust bath with the help of a Keeper who was shovelling soil over his body. Again, the stubborn rhino had to be persuaded to walk back to the forest! Back in the bush, Tytan lay in the shade of a tree while Notty remained on her feet, occasionally licking the rhino’s back!

Clambering to his feet an hour later, Tytan began playing with a large branch lying on the forest floor. He was sharpening his tiny horn and then pushing the branch up and down for fun. Notty, a less playful creature, grazed quietly around the frolicking rhino!

The orphans spent most of the day in the forest, breaking up browsing sessions with three visits to the mud wallow for milk and supplementary lucerne. Returning to the forest in the afternoon, the herd spread out to browse and play. Muridjo was looking after little Daba – as she splashed loose soil over herself, he lay down for a nap next to her. Half an hour later, a refreshed Daba found a tree with a bent trunk that was perfect for scratching his bottoms. He rubbed from side to side, lifting one leg and then the another!

On their way out to the forest, Mzinga and Taroha stopped off at Maxwell’s gate. They stretched their trunks through his gate to massage the back of his ears while the large rhino stood very still. When the elephants moved on up the path, Max lumbered around his stockade, kicking up clouds of dust before settling to graze on pellets. Moments later, several warthogs and three baboons joined him for breakfast while a few oxpeckers hopped around on his head and back. Later in the morning on a hot day, Max and the warthogs cooled off in his small mud bath.

The elephants often gather around a large mound of soil in the forest but quite close to the stockades. They love playing on the loose soil. This morning, a mini herd made up of Kipekee and six older elephants were first to cluster around the mound. Our very spoilt baby toddled to the top and lay on her belly. While she played on the soil, Muridjo, Nyambeni, Mzinga, Talek and Wamata stood over and around her. Kipekee was covered in elephants who somehow avoid ever stepping on her despite her wriggling. Talek and Wamata hosed themselves with soil while Muridjo, at her most playful, squatted on her backside and rolled around. On the edge of the mound, Olomunyak enjoyed a long face massage while Pardamat and Taroha pushed each other back and forth through the trees.

In the forest in the early morning, Pardamat and Olomunyak were sizing up in another contest of strength. They clashed heads, pushing one way and another before breaking apart, twisting around and clashing again. Olomunyak is still the most playful elephant in our herd – he will play with anyone, no matter their size or age.

After emptying her bottle mid-morning, rather than walking on to the wallow, Talek headed for the wheelbarrow. Talek is a reserved gentle girl who obeys the Keepers, minds her own business, and doesn’t fight back when other elephants push her. She is a good girl – until she gets close to a wheelbarrow full of bottles of milk! This morning, as the Keepers were busy feeding the next group of orphans, Talek stood quietly next to the wheelbarrow, sucking up all drops from the bottom.

In the afternoon, the herd wandered deep in the forest in search of green browse. They fed for a time, then played or rolled in the dust for a time, then fed some more. Arthi and Wamata, who have become good friends, were playing pushing games. Wamata is almost a year older than Arthi but he holds his own and she is careful not to play rough. 

Arthi knows exactly when it is time for a milk feed. He not only likes to be first in the first group sent down to the mud wallow - but he also likes trying to sneak off to the feeding area a few minutes early. We were watching him carefully this morning and headed him off when he made a bid for the mud wallow! Five minutes later, we sent him down in his favourite position with Kipekee running behind him. To our surprise (and his annoyance), she overtook him on the path and was first to be fed. Trumpeting in protest, Arthi came in second.

Arthi is usually a laidback boy but not when he loses a race! After drinking his milk, he shoved Kipekee and she fell over. Muridjo ran to the rescue. Knowing that he had behaved badly, Arthi walked away from the wallow into the bushes while Muridjo trunk touched Kipekee and checked that she was not hurt. Muridjo, Mzinga and Nyambeni did not allow the little boy close to the wallow for the rest of the session – but made him to stay in the naughty corner!

Daba is putting on weight and his cheeks are filling out. At just one year old, he still has a hairy trunk which he likes to stretch over his stable door in the evenings before he lies down on his bed of hay to rest.

Olomunyak was full of energy and excitement today. He marched out of his stockade, greeted neighbour Arthi with a rumble and a trumpet, and jogged around the stockades and up the path to the forest with trunk aloft and ears flared. The others wandered along in his wake with Muridjo, Talek and Kipekee following minutes later.

Out in the forest, Olomunyak’s energy spread through the herd and soon all the elephants were chasing each other through bushes. We stood by and watched while the orphans ignored our whistles for calm. Kipekee was running too while Muridjo pushed her from behind, making sure that she was not left out. The chaos continued until Kipekee trumpeted several times – whereupon the herd gathered around her, checking that all was fine with their baby!

The herd had their milk feeds in the bush today. We gathered them together at the right time and sent them through the trees to a line of Keepers waiting with bottles. In contrast to their visits to the wallow when they amble down the path, they often sprint through the forest for milk. In the morning, Taroha, Alia and Wamata thundered down to the wheelbarrow.

This morning in the forest, newbie Daba was browsing happily with Nyambeni and Wamata. The older girls kept the little boy sandwiched between them as they ambled around, twisting up whatever browse they could find. As the grass is not lush and green, the orphans make do with twigs and hay. When they took a break from browsing, Nyambeni held Daba protectively under her head and close to her chest.

Later in the day, Daba was with Muridjo, Talek and Mzinga. The older girls were pulling down branches with green leaves from trees as there was not much browse on the forest floor. They were happy to share their spoils with the little boy.

In the afternoon, the elephants enjoyed dust bathing and sparring games. Mzinga, Pardamat and Olomunyak played in a large area of dry soil, rubbing faces and bodies in between trunk hugging each other. Taroha scratched his backside against a tree while Wamata and Talek played the pushing game. After their game, the two girls lay down beside each other in a ditch.

Tytan and Notty were rescued around the same time, have become good friends, and do not make a step without each other in the forest. Notty often stands over Tytan and touches him affectionately. This morning, Tytan and Notty came across some warthogs and their five babies playing a pushing game. When Tytan decided to follow them, the warthogs ran away from the rhino and the zebra, and the two gave chase. An excited Tytan was running in circles. We intervened quickly to stop the game and settle Tytan and Notty.

As usual, the two friends visited the mud bath later in the morning. Tytan walked into the muddy water and lay down, covering his body with cooling mud. Once again, we had to persuade the stubborn rhino to leave the wallow so that the elephants could take his place for their milk feed.

In the afternoon, newbies Alia and Daba walked a short distance from the herd and were browsing in a clearing surrounded by several buffaloes, impalas and warthogs. We chased the buffaloes away and shepherded the wanderers back to the herd where they were welcomed by mini matriarch Muridjo.

The remainder of the day was peaceful. The orphans spread out to browse in the bush and played dust bathing games on the area of dry soil before returning to the safety of the stockades for the night.

Daba has settled into his new family very well. Although the older orphans do not fuss over him as they do Kipekee, he has been embraced by the herd and the older girls are protective towards him. This morning, he browsed with Taroha and then with Muridjo and then with Nyambeni.

Feisty Nyambeni was misbehaving at the mud wallow later in the morning. After drinking her milk, she was playing on the mound of soil with Mzinga and Talek. When some of the visitors became noisy, Nyambeni did her speedy reversing trick. Without warning, she walked backwards into the rope cordon, kicking out with her back legs. She is a caring clever elephant but can react strongly to things that annoy her – such as noisy human beings!

Arthi is still short and stout but behaves as if he is tall and copies the older orphans’ browsing tricks. In the forest this afternoon, rather than browsing on grasses and shrubs, he was standing tall to twist branches down from trees. His efforts were in vain – as he could only reach the very lowest branches - but he persevered.  

After cooling off at the mud wallow in the afternoon, Nyambeni and Arthi led the herd back to the bush. Sometimes they wander along in small groups but today they were walking in a long line. Some Keepers were with Nyambeni at the front and others with Muridjo and Alia at the end of the line.

The sky was clear again as the orphans padded out of their stockades in the early morning. Led by Muridjo, they wandered deep into the forest, browsing as they ambled along. Muridjo, Talek, Nyambeni and Kipekee were browsing together. Muridjo and Nyambeni were pulling down branches with green leaves for the younger girls. Not far away, Mzinga was with Wamata. They took a break from feeding to rub the undersides of their trunks and then their bellies on the dusty ground. Alia was on her own, Taroha was with Pardamat and Olomunyak, and Arthi was browsing with Daba.

Later in the morning, we led the herd back to the mud wallow for a milk feed. They ran down the path in groups of two or three, emptied their bottles and spread out to drink from the trough or pick up pieces of supplementary lucerne. Muridjo, Taroha and Daba paddled into the mud and splashed water over their bodies. Little Daba, a gentle friendly boy, is becoming a water baby. Today, he was first to lie in the wallow, submerging his body with just his trunk sticking out!

As usual, the orphans and their Keepers spent most of the afternoon in the forest. Having been the cosseted baby for many months, Wamata was jealous when Kipekee and then Arthi and then Daba arrived at the Nursery. But she’s accepted the babies and is even beginning to look after them. Today, she trunk touched Daba often while wandering in the forest. 

Today, it was Nyambeni’s turn to pinch pellets from the store! While some of the orphans ambled up the path, she headed round the corner and along the passage to scoop up a few pellets through the water outlet. Luckily, Nyambeni is better at walking backwards than Mzinga and so, when we called her out, she reversed her round body along the narrow gap very quickly! With a twirl of her trunk and a flap of her ears, she jogged out to the forest to join the herd.

Taroha and Olomunyak stopped on the way to greet Maxwell who was, as usual, standing by his gate. It is almost becoming a routine for one or two elephants to stop over every morning. They stretched their trunks through the gaps to touch his head and behind his ears while he stood completely still. They walked on and he turned around, completed a couple of laps of his enclosure, and settled to graze on his large pile of pellets.

In the afternoon, Talek was being a very tolerant big sister. When naughty Kipekee pushed her from behind while she was quietly browsing on lucerne at the mud bath, she hardly reacted. There was no trumpeting or pushing back. Instead, Talek took a few steps to the right and went back to browsing. We told off Kipekee - in contrast to her nannies who did nothing!

This morning in the forest, deputy mini matriarch Mzinga was trying to shepherd away Arthi and Daba, wanting to look after them by herself rather than share nanny duties with Muridjo. Ever vigilant Muridjo was not allowing this. Our new mini matriarch intercepted Mzinga and made the three elephants remain with the herd.

The bulls were wrestling each other today. First Taroha played the pushing game with Olomunyak, then Pardamat played with Olomunyak, and then Taroha with Pardamat. The bulls are evenly matched and the games were not serious, but they were very noisy!

In the afternoon at the mud wallow, the herd had a dust bathing party! Mzinga and Wamata lay on the soil with trunks twirling, Talek, Olomunyak and Arthi stood next to them spraying clouds of dust into the air, Pardamat massaged his backside against the ground, and Kipekee and Daba watched on from the sidelines.

When we whistled, the herd meandered obediently back to the forest. Along the way, they stopped to drink from a pool of standing water, standing belly to belly on the edge while sucking up trunkfuls of water. Thereafter, they browsed peacefully in the shady forest – on the very last day of the year.