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Musiara has been missing his friend Luggard out in the forest. Luggard hasn’t been feeling well for a couple of days now, and although he does accompany the others out to the forest, he does not walk as far as them into the woods. Because Musiara is not around, Luggard seems to be seeking Enkesha’s company; today for example these two spent most of the day together. Maybe Maisha will become one of Musiara’s friends while Luggard is recovering. Maisha is a gentle girl and is not a bully, and Musiara does not like bullies! Kuishi isn’t very social with the other orphans and this might be why when they are having too much fun around her she will chase them away; perhaps she is envious of them! Malima and Jotto are known to be best play mates and were playing hide and seek in the bushes today, chasing each other around. They were playing right in front of Kuishi and at first she was not bothered, but as the games stepped up a level she began to warn them whenever they got close to her. Eventually she couldn’t stand it any further and when they started climbing on each other next to her she took this as an opportunity to push Jotto away to separate the two. Malima was not ready to give up the game and she went to find Jotto to continue her game.

As the orphans arrived out in the woods today there was a small commotion. As they browsed in small groups in different directions, from a distance a baboon started shouting. Shortly later two lionesses came out of the thicket and seemed to be pursuing an impala. Mteto started shouting and Sagala followed her, running out of the bushes to safety. Mundusi, Ndiwa and Kuishi ran right straight past the keepers and seemed to be making for home. All of the little ones in the group like Musiara, Maktao, Maisha, Emoli and Sattao gathered around the keepers whilst the big ones stamped their feet and trumpeted. Calm was eventually restored by the keepers, and we were glad the orphans reacted this way so that they know lions are to be feared and they should keep their distance. While walking down to the public visit today, Malkia left the forest with Mteto, Tagwa, Esampu and Mundusi but on their way, Malkia held up the group and prevented them from going any further. She knew she could get away with it as there was no keeper with them, nor anyone in the group to stop her. After the group struggled to free themselves so they could go down for their milk, she eventually let them go but blocked Esampu. We thought then that Esampu must have been her main target and she was trying to prevent her naughty behavior down at the mud bath area. Esampu kept trying to dodge Malkia all the way down to the empty space. When the keepers who were waiting for them down at the mud bath saw what was going on they went up to free Esampu. When Malkia saw the keeper coming she gave Esampu some space to pass, thus avoiding being told off!

As the morning sun filled the Nursery area, Maxwell took advantage of the nice weather and lay down with his legs out wide to get the most warmth he could. Our blind rhino continued to enjoy the sun before a group of warthogs decided to visit his stockade and share his lucerne grass pellets. Maxwell did not hear the warthogs arrive but the sound of them eating woke him up. He ran round his stockade trying to chase them out before the naughty pigs eventually left fearing their safety. The orphans had a lovely time during the public visit today as most of them decided to take a mud bath in turns. Malima stole everyone’s hearts surprisingly enough as she was sprinkling the visitors with muddy water. Little boys Maktao and Sattao opted to dust themselves after their swim, while Tamiyoi, Kuishi, Murit and Jotto waded in the mud hole. Kiasa was not interested in mud bathing and stood in the far corner dusting herself and allowing some of the visitors to touch her.

Because Luggard has not been feeling well recently, he has not been coming down to the mud bath for the pubic visit. Instead he browses in the bushes nearby in the company of some of the keepers. Maisha’s love for the milk formula grows every day and the little girl always complains that she wants some more when she finishes her bottle. During the 9am feeding today she tried to get some more from Esampu. Esampu was obviously not very happy about this and pushed the little girl away. This in turn annoyed Tagwa who engaged the naughty girl in a brief fight before Malkia stepped in to back up Tagwa to push Esampu slightly away from the scene. Malima and Tamiyoi were charging at Kiko who had joined them in the forest, and he retreated away whilst throwing several back kicks in protest. He settled to browse on some nearby tall trees. As it became hot in the afternoon, all the babies except Enkesha and Mteto sought cover under the trees. The smaller orphans like Ambo, Sattao, Emoli and Musiara took refuge near the keepers. Mapia, Kuishi, Maktao and Jotto fed on some leaves that were falling from a tree that Shukuru was eating from, where she could reach the highest branches.

When the orphans came out this morning they were all very busy greeting each other. The young bulls did so in the form of pushing games like Sattao against Emoli, Musiara against Maktao, and Luggard with one of his favourite play mates, Murit. Ndotto and Lasayen were playing together which was no surprise as they have always been best friends, and Ngilai was playing with Mundusi. Funnily enough Malima was also trying to take on Esampu! As these games went on, Malkia, Mteto, Godoma, Tamiyoi and Kuishi were all beside Maxwell’s gate trying to grab piles of lucerne from inside Maxwell’s room. We watched as Malkia and Kuishi blocked little Tamiyoi with their huge behinds, so that she could hardly stretch her trunk through to reach any of the lucerne as well. Their repeated attempts to block her saw Tamiyoi yell out with frustration, which brought Maxwell sauntering over to check out what was going on beside his gate. He was greeted by the commotion of all those elephants struggling to feed on his food. He decided to resolve the situation himself by spraying urine all over that area that quickly saw the four girls retreat at a fast pace! Tamiyoi tried to turn back again to grab a bit of lucerne but she decided against it with the strong smell of urine about now!