Keepers' Diaries, February 2017

Umani Springs Reintegration Unit



This was certainly a milestone month, insofar as our orphans meeting and integrating with the wild elephants in the Kibwezi Forest. Due to the current dry conditions there have been numerous wild elephants in the forest enjoying the vegetation and water from the Umani Spring. The elephants aren’t the only ones taking refuge in the forest during these dry months, for many other species of wildlife have found refuge here and had come into contact with the orphans and their Keepers this month, especially buffaloes and baboons. As they forage for the acacia pods, the orphans enjoy watching the baboons in the trees for they dislodge the tasty acacia seed pods in the process which the elephants can retrieve.

01 February 2017

It was a very playful day today. As soon as the orphans exited their stockades they headed straight to the scratching rock where Faraja scratched his bottom while Sonje climbed the rock in an effort to get the keepers attention. Alamaya rumbled at Lima Lima and Zongoloni to who were moving far ahead of him. Lima Lima heard his rumbles and stopped, turned and came back to get him followed by Zongoloni. The two touched him reassuringly before escorting him to the waterhole and midday milk bottle after which they all enjoyed a dustbath.

02 February 2017

More wild elephants keep coming to the Kibwezi forest daily making their way to the water springs for fresh water and vegetation. The soft lovely branches found around the Umani springs are a treat for all the wildlife in the area. The wild elephants tend to also visit the areas around the mudbath points as they find licking salts there that have been put out for the wildlife. Last night wild elephants came down with their young babies for a drink of water at the springs. Quanza and Zongoloni walked to the springs smelling following the scent of the wild elephants to see which path they had taken, hoping to find them but all they found were dung droppings. Zongoloni tried to eat some pieces of the dung which elephants do so as to know what vegetation is good to eat. Jasiri put his trunk on the dung after which he was seen spraying the bushes with his urine to leave his scent for any visiting wild elephants.

03 February 2017

Lima Lima and Sonje walked straight to the water trough where two crocodiles were enjoying sunning themselves by the side of the trough. Sonje did not see anything but Lima Lima saw them as soon as she got there. The crocodiles were quick to retreat into the water. Jasiri came tried to push his head between the orphan group that was having a drink. Sonje and Lima Lima did not want him near them as they were worried that he would try and grab their tails as he has done in the past. Jasiri feels that he is big enough to not need to listen to the older girls in the group and it is this attitude that has the females pushing him away from them.

04 February 2017

The days are very humid and quite chilly making it difficult for the babies to want to play the same way they do when the weather is warm. The pushing boys continued with their normal morning pushing games that they use as a way of greeting each other when they exit their stockades. Ngasha began the pushing game which Jasiri responded to. Ngasha was quick to run away from Jasiri who is known to be a tail grabber and Ngasha was in no mood to have his tail grabbed as it can be quite painful. The keepers followed Ngasha to see where he had run off to and found him on the ground where we found him rubbing his belly and relaxing peacefully. Some buffaloes were seen making their way to the browsing fields and towards Ngasha. When the buffaloes arrived they found the orphans already there and decided to leave the orphans to finish with their browsing session. Ziwa, Sonje and Alamaya enjoyed a dust bath in the forest this morning.

05 February 2017

Troops of baboons were jumping through the trees this looking for some seed pods to eat as the dry seasons continues. The orphans were hoping that the baboons would drop seed pods on the ground that they could eat and as such followed the baboons as they travelled through the trees in hope of getting some tasty morsels. The Chyulu hills are quite dry due to the ongoing drought and as such more wildlife is being seen in the Kibewzi forest as the animals flock there for water and the greener vegetation that can be found around the Umani area. The orphans walked behind the noisy baboons, with Lima Lima trying her to play with baby baboon which turned away from her screaming for help from its mothers. The whole troop came down to see what was going on and Zongoloni came to help Lima Lima by charging at the baboons, trumpeting loudly and kicking at the trees. The keepers called the two orphans to get them to calm down and relax.

06 February 2017

A large number of buffaloes came out from the forests this morning heading towards where the orphans were browsing. The keepers were stunned by the amount of buffaloes they were seeing and did not know quite what to do as both they and the orphans were soon surrounded. Murera and Sonje together with Mwashoti were also the reason why the keepers were worried as they could not see them anywhere. All the orphans became quite excited and agitated and started charging at everything that was around them. The trees and rocks bore the brunt of their angst as branches were pulled down and rocks were kicked around as the orphans ran around trumpeting.

07 February 2017

Jasiri today was quite a nuisance during the night. He kept mounting Zongoloni, and when the keepers would go see what was going on they found that Jasiri was being a trouble maker preventing Zongoloni from getting any rest and relaxation. Zongoloni was not happy about Jasiri mounting her back because she knew that as a tail grabber Jasiri would try and grab her tail and chew on it. The keepers found Jasiri chasing Zongoloni around the stockade trying to mount her. They entered the stockade to get Jasiri to behave and he obliged them which meant that the rest of the night could be spent peacefully.

08 February 2017

Today the weather changed somewhat and it was very cloudy and cold which meant that the orphans were reluctant to have a mud bath. Murera walking very slowly with Mwashoti to the Umani hill circuit and climbed hill. When it was time for the orphans to make their way to the noon milk feeding area on Lima Lima and Quanza were paying attention and came to follow the keepers to their milk bottle. Sonje with Lima Lima were a little confused today as they were not in the forest the way they usually are in the morning and they went all the way back to the stockade for their noon milk feed. This meant that the keepers had to drive the milk back to the stockades for the babies.

09 February 2017

This morning the orphans went straight to the Umani springs looking for fresh water to drink before beginning their day. Sonje took the lead of the group to the Umani hills, showing the little boys where to go and browse. Sonje followed the trails taken by the wild elephants during the night. Murera made sure to keep Alamaya close to her so that he would not get hurt by the big boys who were in a boisterous mood. When the babies reached top of the hills Alamaya squeezed his trunk making a very loud and funny noise, which to the keepers sounded like a big elephant trumpeting, but found that it was Alamaya blowing his nose to get rid of some dust. As usual with Lima Lima when she feels hungry or thirsty she is quick to make her way to the keepers to see if they are watching what she is doing. She then joined up with Mwashoti and Alamaya as they made their way to the noon milk feeding area. She knows that if she is with the young boys the keepers will not stop her from getting her milk first as they will let her lead the boys to their bottles which means that she will be fed at the same time rather than being one of the last to be fed which due to her greed is something that often happens.

10 February 2017

Two bull elephants one called Ndugu and his friend today appeared in the morning before the orphans were given the opportunity to get out from their stockades. Murera and Sonje both raised their trunks in an effort to smell the wild bulls that were in the nearby bushes. One of the keepers heard some rumbling coming from the bushes and when he turned around he was surprised to see two huge bulls coming out of the bushes to the waterhole near the stockades. The orphans started running towards the wild bulls to greet them. Jasiri the big boy tried his best to push one of the bulls and did not fair so well as he was much smaller than the bull, reaching the bull’s belly and as such could not really get anywhere with pushing him. Lima Lima and Zongoloni wanted the wild elephant to calm down and play with them. Murera and Sonje were quite scared of the bulls and made sure to keep their distance from them. Murera, Alamaya and Mwashoti all ran to the keepers leaving Faraja and Zongoloni to play with them. As the orphans and the wild bulls approached the water springs they separated, each taking a different path into the forest with the orphans and their keepers walking to the Kenze Hills.

11 February 2017

A big number of wild elephants came to the stockades last night, walking around the electric fence lines to see if they could get close to Murera and Sonje who were in their stockades. They found it difficult to get through the fence and gate. Ziwa whose stockade is near the gate was busy trying to scare the wild elephants away, but was unable to do so as they are much bigger than he is. They responded to his attempts to get them to leave by trumpeting loudly warning Ziwa to behave himself. Lima Lima with her friends, Zongoloni ,Quanza and Sonje were all attempting to get out to go and join the wild elephants but were unable to do so. When the babies exited their stockades in the morning they ran out to the bushes looking for the wild elephants that had been around them during the night. Murera did not want them to find the wild group and did her best to block them from going far and after a drink at the water springs she made sure to lead them in a different direction than that which had been taken by the wild group.

12 February 2017

Today the wild elephants were becoming friendlier and made their way very close to the stockades, closer than they have ever been in broad daylight. The keepers could not believe their eyes when they met with the wild elephants walking and browsing out in the open. Instead of looking scared the wild elephants continued with their browsing activities, breaking branches from the acacia trees and feeding on them while not paying any mind to the keepers who were watching them. The wild elephants found around the Kibwezi forests are now familiar with the orphans and are more trusting of them though it must be confusing for them to find the orphans locked in the stockades at night making it difficult for them to interact with them. At the mud bath time after the noon bottle feed, Mwashoti felt hot and called to Sonje who went to him and escorted him to the waterhole where the two enjoyed splashing mud all over their bodies. Faraja was kept away from the little boys as he has been known to bully them and grab their tails and as such Faraja spent some time with Ngasha enjoying strength testing games

13 February 2017

Murera woke up this morning and enjoyed a scratching session against the wall posts of Mwashoti’s stockade as she waited for Mwashoti to exit his stockade and join her. Sonje saw Murera waiting at Mwashoti’s stockade and went to see why joining Murera in a scratching session. The keepers wanted the orphans to go towards the water springs but Lima Lima had other ideas and convinced them to go to the picnic site where they would find some sweet grass to feed on. On their way to the hill a baby bush buck, which had been hidden by its mother, snuck out from his hideout and ran to his mother causing the orphans to panic as they did not know what was running after them. Faraja with his friend Ngasha went to Ziwa and started to blow their trunks trumpeting before they began charging at the trees trying to knock them over in an attempt to show how strong they were.

14 February 2017

Today Faraja took off running into the bushes leaving the keepers wondering what was wrong. They followed him and found that he had come across Ngasha who was lying down and playing. Faraja had taken the opportunity to mount Ngasha who could not get him off and bellowed to get assistance from the keepers. Sonje saw what Faraja was doing with Ngasha and she started bumbling to Mwashoti to come and play with her, lying on the ground in invitation. The orphans had a lovely time dust bathing today making sure to blow the dust all over their bodies. When the time came for the orphans to return to the stockades in the evening, Murera saw that the albinos were suffering in the heat and made sure to stop by the water trough so that they could have a wallow to cool off. The orphans all had a cooling drink of water before making their way home for the night.

15 February 2017

Today the orphan’s wild friend Ndugu visited with some of his close friends whom he wanted to introduce to Murera, Sonje and the rest of the babies. The wild bulls were all very big in comparison to the orphans. Faraja and Ngasha tried greet them so that they could get to know them as did Jasiri and Lima Lima who got closer than the others. It was not long before Ndugu caught scent of the keepers who were nearby but keeping their distance and he raised the alarm which resulted in the wild group leaving. Sonje made sure that the orphans all stayed with the group and would not run after the wild bulls.

16 February 2017

Greedy Lima Lima ran off to the hay stores to pull down bails of lucerne so that she and the others could feast on them. The keepers called her to get her to stop but she did not listen. Zongoloni and Quanza followed her and the three of them pulled many bails down and started eating them. Alamaya and the keepers managed to get them to stop what they were doing and get them to go towards the browsing fields. Jasiri wanted to browse in a different area and kept checking to see if any of them would follow him but they were all busy dealing with Lima Lima and her two accomplices. The keepers called Jasiri to get him to follow the rest of the group as they headed out to the forest. Ziwa went over to Faraja and started to push his bottom to get him moving. Ziwa then grabbed Jasiri’s tail holding it which Jasiri didn’t like and he turned to fight Ziwa who was quick to run away.

17 February 2017

It was a cloudy and chilly day today and as such the babies were not in any rush to head out to the forest. Murera and Mwashoti are the least reluctant to leave the stockades when it is cold as their legs get very sore. As such they tend to remain behind, until the weather improves, after which they then head out to join the rest of the orphan herd. Mwashoti, Murera and Sonje stayed together today making their way slowly to the rest of the group. Lima Lima had taken Alamaya under her wing today and the two were looking for some nice branches to feed on. At the mud bath after the orphans had drank their bottles, Faraja and Ngasha tested the water to see if it was warm enough to wallow in but found that it was cold and relayed this message to the rest of the orphans. As such none of the babies had a mud bath today.

18 February 2017

Lima Lima had spent most of the night pushing her stockade walls which had ended up irritating Quanza. The keepers came to see what the problem and noise was about and found that Quanza was upset about the noise that Lima Lima was making. The naughty boys, had seen what Lima Lima was doing and had copied her which meant that it was very noisy in the stockade compound. Ngasha and Faraja pushed so much that they managed to get out of their stockades and it was very difficult for the keepers to get them back in. The keepers did not want them to spend the night out of the stockades but started closing the gates which made the two panic and they quickly came back in as they did not want to be locked out all night.

19 February 2017

It is now becoming more apparent that Murera is changing and is now starting to want to spend more time away from the stockades. She is leaving Sonje to bring Mwashoti and Alamaya back home in the evening which is a duty that in the past they both shared. Last night she made the keepers worry as they could not find where in the bush she was hiding. They kept calling her but she did not come and they could not see her. One keeper heard some twigs breaking and suspected that it was Murera. He made his way to where he had heard the sound and found Murera and was able to get her to slowly return to the stockades. When she reached the stockade water trough, she stopped, as she did not want to go further and into her stockade. Lima Lima has also changed in some ways and in the evening no longer runs for her bottle as she always has done. She now tends to wait for Murera to return to the stockades before she will go into her quarters. At midday however, she continues to escort Alamaya and Mwashoti to their milk bottle.

20 February 2017

Wild elephants came to meet the babies early in the morning when the gates were opened for the orphans to come out and begin their day. For some reason Ziwa started to scream loudly which got the others to stop in their tracks to see why he was making such a racket. It seemed that Ziwa wanted to go and greet Sonje but was blocked from doing so by Jasiri and Zongoloni who were soil dusting. When Ziwa started to scream they also quickly got up to see what the problem was which allowed Ziwa to get to Sonje and he settled down. The midday feeding time approached and as it was cloudy the orphans were not sure of the time and were thrown off a little. Lima Lima and Zongoloni knew that it was time for the noon milk feed and started to make their way there together with the young boys who were quick to follow them. The dustbath was ready for the orphan group and it was quite a big pile. Murera made sure to help Mwashoti and Alamaya to get to the top so that they could enjoy the dustbath with the others. Some buffaloes came along later in the day and seemed to want to get right between the orphan herd. The keepers saw what was happening and were able to get the buffaloes to go in a different direction so that they would not bother the babies.

21 February 2017

Many wild elephants were found waiting at the plains view point near the lodge right by the path that the orphans were going to take. The keepers saw some of the orphans raising their trunks so that they could smell the wild elephants. The matriarchs of the group made sure to keep their trunks above their heads so that they know where the wild elephants were. Faraja and Jasiri made their way to greet the wild group. The keepers are still a bit wary of the wild elephants and don’t want the orphans to get too close and as such together with Lima Lima and Quanza they were able to deter the two boys from continuing on the path they were taking. Alamaya also got involved and tried to block the path. The Keepers called the orphans names and Lima Lima made sure to round up the stragglers and bring Alamaya back to Murera and Sonje. While this was going on Mwashoti and Zongoloni were enjoying a rest in the shade. When the keepers arrived at the mudbath with their charges the babies all looked very hot and tired. They all enjoyed a wallow, with the keepers splashing mud on their backs making sure that their bodies were well covered which would help to keep them cool for the rest of the day.

22 February 2017

Lots of small little birds have migrated to the Kibwezi forest and can be seen around the Umani springs area. In the morning some of the babies tried to charge at the birds in an effort to catch them but were of course not able to even get close to doing so. Jasiri and Ngasha were trumpeting loudly as they charged at the birds and they were soon joined in their game by Zongoloni and Quanza. Despite their efforts all they managed to do was chase the birds away. In the bushes the keepers also heard some wild elephants blowing their trunks loudly and went to see what was going on. They made sure to stay hidden so that they wouldn’t be seen and found that some males were fighting over the females that they wanted to mate with. The keepers watched for a while waiting to see if the orphans would try and join the wild group but the orphan herd was not moving, making sure that they stayed by the keepers side.

23 February 2017

Today Murera decided that she did not want to stay out of the stockades and she joined Sonje as the orphans were making their way home and the two brought up the rear of the orphan herd, following behind the keepers as they made their way to the stockade compound for the night. Quanza was towards the front running behind Lima Lima. Jasiri and Zongoloni led the little boys to get their bottles which were already waiting on the ground for them to arrive. As soon as they got to the bottles Jasiri and Zongoloni picked up their bottles with ease, and downed their milk before going to browse on some of the fresh cut vegetation that the keepers had provided for them. Sonje had finished taking her bottle which she was being given by the keeper by the time Murera joined her. Murera thought that her share of milk had been give and started to complain. The keepers had kept her share for her and as soon as they showed her the milk bottle she happily went to them making sure to drink every last drop.

24 February 2017

Sonje has grown very tall and now any time she feels bored in her room, she begins putting her trunk around the roof, making a noise. Today she pulled down the water guttering that moves water from the roof to the drainage pipes, and started to kick at it throughout the night which made the keepers come out to see what was going on outside. Sonje tried to hide what she had done as she knew she had been naughty and she did not want the keepers to see! In the forest Murera was walking slowly with Mwashoti and we later heard Sonje trumpeting, signalling to Mwashoti to follow her to play on her back. Ziwa wanted to come too but Sonje only wanted the small baby Mwashoti to come and play, which he did and he enjoyed rubbing his stomach on her back.

25 February 2017

The babies were really enjoying the cool weather today. A wild bull elephant came to the mud bath after the orphans left, as they did not stay long because it was too cold to go into the water. This wild bull elephant had been staying behind the bushes waiting for hours for the keepers to leave so that he could come to wallow. Faraja and Ziwa sneaked into the forest and found the wild elephants under the big trees where they pushed each other to try and find out who was stronger than the other, but Faraja found it hard to push the wild bull elephants because they were much bigger and stronger, and had long tusks that he was very wary of!

26 February 2017

It was a lovely morning until Lima Lima decided to cause some trouble for her keepers! The greedy baby came out of her stockade in the morning and went to chat to Alamaya and wrap her trunk around him, before proceeding to the hay store where she scooped up one bale of hay and pushed it to the ground for elephants to come and eat with her. The Keepers tried to shout but Lima Lima and Alamaya did not listen, and then Zongoloni also joined them which brought all the other babies! The keepers tried to stop the damage they were causing to the hay stores. Ziwa then started blowing loud trumpets and charging around in the bushes which caused even more chaos. He started vigorously pushing the acacia tree, which had a swarm of bees looking for nectar to make honey with. When the bees realised the tree was being pushed down they all came out looking for what was disturbing them. All the keepers and elephants ran for their lives when they saw the bees were angry and looking for the culprit!

27 February 2017

Some baboons were very noisy and aggressively crying last night in the bushes close to the stockades. In the middle of the night it became too much when the little baboons started to cry slowly and the noise continued and got louder and louder and started to disturb the elephants as well. The keepers came out and looked into the tallest trees and saw two leopards sleeping on the trees branches. The keepers went back to talk with the elephant babies to be quite and be calm but no one listened and every elephant made a big noise with their trumpets, until the leopards left fearing the noise they were hearing from the stockades below.

28 February 2017

When the babies arrived for the bottle feeding and mud wallowing, the naughty boys Ngasha and Faraja turned to each other for a fight, but Faraja challenged the keeper while feeding him the bottles. Faraja scooped off the teat of his bottles and held it inside his mouth, and began crushing it using his teeth. The keeper had to plead with naughty Faraja to release the bottle teat from his mouth! At mud bath time we were surprised when we saw Jasiri rolling his tongue inside his mouth several times, and before he went to water to swim, we saw his one of his molars fall out! It was our first time even as keepers to see an elephant lose one of their molars; so Jasiri dropped his molar today and another tooth will replace it.