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It’s always fun and interesting to watch the orphans come out of their night stockades in the early morning and see the different antics they get up to in the compound before they go out to the forest. Some of them were particularly funny today, like Ambo, Kiasa, Sattao, Malima and Tamiyoi, who came running out of their rooms and immediately ran to the stockade where the bags of lucerne pellets are kept, and they were seen simultaneously reaching their trunks through and scooping up what pellets they could gather. When the Keepers came over and tried to move them away, Kiasa, Ambo and Sattao ran away first, pretending they were going out to the forest, but what they were actually doing was circling past Musiara, Luggard and Kiko’s stables to pass through the corridor and sneaking back to the same feeding spot! They settled in the same spot and started stealing pellets again from through the wooden posts, and this is not the first time they have done such a thing – the Keepers really need to keep an eye on these naughty little characters! 

The orphans seemed to be rather excited as they came scampering out into the bushes in the early hours of the morning. Tagwa, Kuishi, Sagala, Jotto, Tamiyoi and Malima appeared to be the most excited as they scampered off together, greeting each other in a playful pushing game before they went their own ways into the bushes. Jotto was the first to roll around on the ground, and he was soon joined by Kuishi, Tamiyoi and Malima. Whilst they were rolling around, Jotto decided to playfully climb onto Kuishi’s back but was quickly chased away by Tagwa.  

As a result of the lovely and much-needed rain we received last night, Maxwell was full of energy and excitement this morning as he kept running up and down in circles around his stockade. He also had some fun with Malima, Mapia and Jotto in the morning as well, as they all played a pushing game at one of his gates.

Tamiyoi is not as keen as some of the others at playing pushing games, but today she seems to have been in one of her most playful moods. She engaged both Tagwa and Ambo in a very lengthy pushing game and didn’t even concentrate that much on browsing out in the forest.

Alternatively, Maktao seems to have been in a bad mood today and at the noon milk feeding time he kept charging at Sattao and his neighbor Kiasa. He pushed past Kiasa and took the rest of his anger out in the mud bath, where he stayed until they all returned back to the forest to browse. 

At the moment when Maarifa goes out to the forest, she does not come across other creatures like her. She does not mingle with the elephants either and because she is the size of a warthog, we sometimes wonder if she thinks she is one of them! Sometimes, like today, she can spend so long playing with the friendly warthogs in the area. When they go down on their knees to eat grass, although she does not have teeth yet and cannot graze, she stands there moving her mouth without actually putting any grass in.

Yesterday, late in the afternoon, we received another new young elephant from Tsavo. This little girl has a terrible leg injury and cannot walk. This morning all of the older girls were crowded around her gate to welcome her to the Nursery. Tagwa, Tamiyoi, Malima, Maisha and Sagala were all there, even though Sagala is not very good with the new arrivals. Jotto and Musiara were also not left out of the welcoming committee.

Today Enkesha, Kiasa, Musiara, Maisha and Emoli had a lot of fun at the mud bath where they played for ages and also with a ball in the water as well. After all their fun and silly antics, they all lay down to fully submerge their bodies and they hardly moved at all until it was time to go back to the forest. While they were in the water, Mukkoka kept guard over them, making sure none of the warthogs could approach the mud pool by chasing them away.

Malima is growing from the strength to strength every day, she has a healthy appetite, loves her milk, and is a playful character apart from when she is taking her milk bottle. This was very evident today at the 11am milk feeding time when she came charging down, over taking Kuishi and Jotto in order to get to her bottle first. Once at the mud bath area she impressed everyone by holding onto her bottle by herself and not spilling a single drop.