Lima Lima enjoyed playing some games this morning after which she went to cool off at the waterhole where she rolled around in the muddy water. Once she has cooled off she returned to the bushes for another browsing session. When Ziwa and Ngasha saw that Lima Lima had left the mud wallow they decided to go and have a bath themselves. The two were happy to enjoy a private mud bath without any of the other orphans, especially the females, around them.
As Lima Lima was walking back to the hills to browse, she caught an unfamiliar scent and lifted her trunk above her head to get a better sense of what wild animal was around. She was about to head back to the Keepers to alert them that something was around when she realized that she was only smelling some baboons in the trees above her.
Today Mwashoti got separated from the rest of the group and his adopted mothers Murera and Sonje. He was so focused on peeling bark away from an acacia tree and didn’t notice that the rest of the herd had moved on ahead of him. When he realized that he had been left behind he ran to catch up following the scent of the orphans along the path they had taken. Once he found the rest of the group, he made sure to stick close to them so as not to become separated again.
Shukuru was doing her best to keep away from the rest of the orphans, especially the boisterous mischievous ones, and enjoyed browsing on her own. Further in the forest the orphans found some lovely vegetation and they enjoyed feeding on the fresh sweet branches. The problem was that they were so deep into the thick forest that the Keepers couldn’t see them and they were only able to locate them when Quanza and Alamaya became engaged in a pushing game which had them trumpeting loudly, giving their location away to the Keepers.
It rained on and off throughout the day which the orphans all enjoyed. Faraja came across a termite hill and lay down to roll around on the wet earth covering his body in mud. He then enjoyed a wallow in a rain puddle that he came across on the roadside. He then confused the Keepers when he started to make his way towards the Hills as they were unsure why he was headed in that direction. The mystery was soon solved when the Keepers saw Ziwa, who had been absent for two nights, coming from the direction that Faraja was walking. Faraja had known that his friend was coming and had gone to greet him and welcome him back into the group.
Ziwa remained with the orphan herd last night following his return yesterday and exited the stockade compound with the rest of the group this morning. The Keepers thought that he may be there to stay for a few days, but this was not to be as once the group left for the day he was seen walking off into the forest. Ngasha followed Ziwa for a short spell but soon returned to Sonje and the rest of the Umani herd.
A strength testing game broke out between Alamaya and Quanza today as Alamaya didn’t want to share the branches he was eating. Perhaps he thought that Quanza would eat all the best bits before he got a chance to have his fill.
When it was time for the milk feed Mwashoti, and Lima Lima were the first to come for their bottles. Once they were done, they moved away towards the water hole for a drink while the others enjoyed their share. Lima Lima and Mwashoti then headed off for a private browsing session. Lima Lima showing Mwashoti some lovely green leaves that they could enjoy feeding on while they waited for the rest to come and join them.
Alamaya felt like he should show off what a big boy he is becoming to all the others this morning. He wanted to make sure all the elephants knew he is a growing bull and not to take advantage of him or bully him. He walked into the middle of the road and raised up his big ears to show everyone how big he is, and that no one should underestimate him even though he is a young bull.
Faraja watched Alamaya raise his big ears but chose to ignore him and walked to the side of the road to have a dust bath, before walking off to begin the new day.
Ziwa stopped walking thinking that Faraja would join him, or perhaps Zongoloni or Ngasha, but no one was interested in walking with him towards the Chyulu Hills today. Ziwa ended up walking off alone towards the Chyulus where he browsed for the entire day on his own, leaving the others under the watchful eye of Sonje and Murera.
Zongoloni didn’t want to be with the boys group today. She decided to walk alone towards the Kenze hills, a place she is very familiar with these days since she spends a lot of time there with Ziwa, Ngasha and Faraja. She wanted to show that she could go alone and didn’t need the company of the boys. Shukuru was walking with Zongoloni and realised that she was going to walk off away from the herd, so she turned swiftly to walk back to where the Keepers were telling their stories, leaving Zongoloni to walk off to the Kenze hills alone. Shukuru found the Keepers and settled under a tree next to them to enjoy some shade.
Later in the day Ziwa, Ngasha and Faraja returned to join the Umani dependent orphans after spending the night outside the stockades.
Alamaya was quite aggressive with some of the older orphans today. Perhaps this is all part of his attempt to show off what a big bull he is becoming. Quanza was walking behind him along the road this morning and when he realised that Quanza was walking up behind him Alamaya turned and spread out his big ears as a threat to Quanza to make her stop walking. Perhaps he also thought that Quanza might touch his stump, as he lost his tail when he was a baby and he can be quite sensitive about orphans standing behind him for this reason. He only continues to show respect towards Murera and Sonje and he would never try anything with them, only when Sonje might be playing in the water does Alamaya take the opportunity to jump on her back to play around a bit.
Murera was very attentive as she made her way out to the forest. While walking out she heard Mwashoti shouting loudly from within the bushes. She hurried over there to find out what was bothering Mwashoti and to see if he was being bullied by any of the others like Ziwa, but when Murera arrived to where Mwashoti was she found nothing was wrong with him. Next to him was Lima Lima who obviously felt tired as she had found a place to have a nap and relax.
When Zongoloni saw Lima Lima lying down to relax she went to try and play with her but Lima Lima didn’t want to play and wanted to continue sleeping. Luckily for her the Keepers were standing close by to her in the shade, and this meant none of the other orphans would be able to bother her while she enjoyed her nap.
For a couple of days now Ngasha and the other boys have not returned and have been enjoying their time in the Chyulu Hills, but they came back to visit today. Ngasha looked very sleepy and rested his head on a big tree. When all the orphans appeared for mud bath time, Ngasha skipped the mud bath session and took the opportunity to have a little nap, leaving the other orphans to play and roll around in the mud bath having a lot of fun.
Lima Lima came back to where the milk vehicle was to study the empty bottles and see if she could find any milk bottles with some milk still inside them, but she found none and wandered off for a dust bath instead.
The orphans came out feeling very thirsty this morning and some of the babies walked straight to the water trough to have some water. As they were drinking a baboon came out of the bushes in front of them. When Sonje looked up and saw the baboon just in front of them she started trumpeting to scare it away.
After a long walk in the Chyulu Hills today Sonje was at the back of the herd and walked faster to catch up and look around in the forest to see if any of her friends were around. She caught up with Jasiri and then went to have a very good mud bath, rolling around inside the waterhole around and around, showing how happy she was enjoying cooling herself down. All her fun and games motivated the other babies to join her and they all got into the water too.
Murera took the lead of the orphans this morning and led them out to the forest along the main road. Quanza was busy feeding from an acacia along the roadside, but kept an eye on where Murera was leading all the orphans so she did not get left behind.
Later when the orphans came for their noon milk feed, Shukuru was very fast and arrived first to the bottle feeding point. She ran so fast she made it hard for Mwashoti and Alamaya to keep up! She is looking so strong today and better than ever.
Ziwa did not want a mud bath today but he just stood at the edge and splashed himself with mud on his body and head. When Murera came out from the waterhole after wallowing, some crane birds flew overhead and scared her and she ended up running out of the water very fast!
Murera was on her way out for a new day of browsing when she spotted some very nice and tasty branches that she wanted to eat, but the tree was high and with her bad hip and shorter leg she was having trouble reaching the tasty branches she wanted. We thought Murera wasn’t going to be able to reach, but the clever girl proved us wrong and she reached for the shorter branches below and brought down some of the others with it, which she broke off to eat and enjoy.
Quanza wanted some of the branches that Murera was pulling down as well and came rushing over, but she wasn’t lucky as Murera held her spot and wouldn’t give way to Quanza at all. Murera threatened to push her away if she tried to take even one branch of the tree. Faraja joined Quanza too, but found that they didn’t have a chance to join in on the tasty tree at all, so they just walked away and left Murera in peace.
Jasiri found nice a scratching spot which was perfect to relieve the itch that had been bothering him all morning. When he was done he joined Sonje and his other friends for the daily patrol through the forest to browse. Shukuru went to join Sonje but was called back by the Keepers to come and join them to walk along a different path, and she decided to follow them.
Quanza arrived with Lima Lima for the noon milk bottle feed. When they were done they decided to go and have some salt from the salt lick, where Lima Lima showed Quanza how to pick some up with her trunk. Sonje came to join them too for some licking salts which the Keepers put down for them and other wild animals as it contains good minerals.
Mwashoti got lost when the orphans were walking through the forest later in the afternoon. He lost the path the other orphans had taken as he was busy picking up some branches that Ziwa had pulled down and left behind. He eventually picked up the scent and ran down the path trumpeting for the others to wait for him.
Shukuru thought herself lucky when she walked out of her room in the morning and found some green shrubs outside. The orphans walked fast through the forest this morning along some paths some wild elephants had made during the night. The Keepers were cautious and anxious that wild elephant bull Osama might be among them as he can be quite aggressive.
Shukuru led the orphans along a rocky area along the Chyulu and Umani hills. Sonje stepped on a funny rock and when she looked back she found a tortoise there. Sonje saw the tortoise moving fast to avoid being stepped on again which gave her a fright and she ran away because she didn’t know what this funny moving rock was. Sonje made her way, after the tortoise incident, towards the water pipeline where she met up with the others orphans who had all grouped together fighting over the water coming out of the broken water pipe line. The orphans loved the clean fresh water and took it in turns to have some one after the other, because they could not all fit in the small space around the small hole together. Murera stretched her long trunk to reach the clean water, as the time was coming for the orphans to return to the stockades for the night.
Murera was looking for some water to drink and found the other orphans drinking from the broken water pipeline again, but Murera did not join them and instead she walked to where the water overflows which is where the technicians measure the water pressure so the pipe does not burst. A lot of water was flowing out and Murera tried to get as much as she could using her trunk. She had to leave when she heard her name being called loudly by the Keepers from the forest, and she left to find out why the Keepers were calling her name.
Later in the afternoon the orphans were really enjoying a dust bath at the piles of loose soil near the bottle feeding area. When they were done, Alamaya was walking out following the others back to the forest, and came across his own lovely fresh green shrubs to feed on. He raised his big ears up high to defend his new find and keep the others from coming to share the same sweet, tasty branches.
Alamaya found some very nice green shrubs to eat from as he walked along the road following the mini matriarch Lima Lima. Jasiri started a spirited fight with Faraja who wanted to invade his space and share the branches he was enjoying without his permission. Jasiri stood steadfast denying Faraja any of the branches and they had to square it out through fighting. Faraja luckily found some shrubs nearby just like the ones he had been fighting over with Jasiri. He pulled them out by the roots to be sure no one else could have any! He walked off carrying the shrubs in his mouth and enjoying them as he walked.
At the water hole all the milk-dependent babies arrived for their noon milk bottles. When Lima Lima had finished her share she went to the licking salts and took her time there. The rest of the herd started to walk off back to the forest and when she saw the herd walking away she ran after them to take over the lead. She led the babies to a great area of fresh greens and branches.
Yesterday a rogue wild bull elephant was darted and brought back into the Kibwezi forest by the SWT rangers and KWS on the back of one of the new SWT translocation lorries. The Keepers saw him awake and walk off in the direction of where some other wild elephants were. The Keepers did not want the little orphans to go near him as he was very big, with one very big tusk, and they called Lima Lima and Shukuru to come back to them.
This morning Alamaya was happily walking towards the Umani water springs, but when he noticed some crocodiles lying on the banks he changed his mind and walked in a different direction. The crocodiles were busy sunbathing and catching the heat from the early morning sun. Despite Alamaya changing direction and walking away from the springs, he still managed to scare the crocodiles who quickly ran into the water.
As the orphans were browsing along the hills, Murera found the perfect shady spot and appeared to be very happy with herself. She could be heard happily rumbling at Mwashoti, who decided to join her, and they were both very reluctant to leave their perfect spot to head down to the mud bath for their midday bottles of milk.
As the orphans made their way down to the mud bath for their milk bottles, Jasiri was amongst the first to arrive. He quickly downed his bottle and then began to make his way back up to the hills and had no interest in even having a drink of water before he left. The Keepers wondered if maybe he had smelt some of his wild friends.
With Jasiri leaving the rest of the Umani orphans seemed to be a little puzzled what to do next, and Mwashoti could be seen looking around for some company. He eventually spotted Sonje near the waterhole and he walked over to her and stood right by her side, suckling on her ear. He seemed happy being comforted by the older girl, and the two spent most of their afternoon together.
This morning Alamaya was on another one of his adventures could be seen wondering through the Kibwezi forest and then up the Chyulu Hills looking for the perfect green grasslands and shrubs. He was closely followed by the rest of the Umani orphans whom were also looking for nice fresh greens for breakfast. Whilst Faraja was walking he came across a baby dik dik that was hiding in the bushes. Both he and Lima Lima got a fright when they saw the dik dik and began to rumble and trumpet at it, chasing it away. The dik dik was so quick that he quickly disappeared in the bushes.
Jasiri was the first to make it to the mud bath for his midday bottle of milk, and he was so excited to get there first that he could be heard rumbling and trumpeting at his Keepers. As he arrived, he quickly picked up his bottle and then moved away to make space for Lima Lima and Alamaya who were next to arrive.
After the orphans finished their midday bottles of milk, Murera and Ngasha began to wrestle over a small branch that Murera had picked up. The two were really wrestling each other, neither of them wanting to give in and Murera especially was not going to give up her stick. Eventually, Ngasha backed off as he could see Murera was getting very annoyed with him, and he went off in his own direction.
It was a very hot day today, and all the orphans were eager for their midday bottles of milk and mud bath. They all came running in at the same time to grab their bottles quickly and then head off to the mud bath. Shukuru, however, was very cautious about rushing into the water with the others as she is often worried that the playful bulls will push her over. Ziwa, contrary to normal, was in a very calm mood today and was being very welcoming to Shukuru, rumbling at her, as if to call her to join him in the cool water. Shukuru eventually gave in and joined him in the water, and the two were happily wallowing together.
Shukuru was second to exit the muddy water to go and join Lima Lima who was standing near the Keepers whilst they enjoyed their lunch. When all the orphans were finally done wallowing, Shukuru was happy to lead them back out to the hills for a long afternoon of browsing.
This morning, the orphans were to be sprayed with their tick medicine. This was routine spraying as the Keepers like to make sure that the orphans are not being bothered by the ticks. Zongoloni however was not keen at all to get sprayed and she was really complaining and pushing at her gate to be let out. As soon as the Keepers were finished spraying her, they let her out and she quickly ran towards the forest to rub up against the trees and bushes. Quanza was quick to join and grab as many branches to munch on while she walked.
Ziwa was the first to arrive from the group that spend their evenings out in the forest, and he looked very sleepy as if he had a restless night. This morning, however, he was not joined by Faraja and the others did not join him which may mean that they did not spend the evening together. The Keepers thought that Ziwa may have been with a wild herd as he had some white scratches on his body which is often a sign of them wrestling with bigger elephants who have longer tusks. He appeared happy to be with the orphans and was all relaxed as he ate his morning pellets.
This morning, Lima Lima was so busy chasing a troop of baboons around the hills that she didn’t realise that she had wandered quite far away from the rest of the Umani orphans. When she realised she was all alone, she began to trumpet loudly looking for the other orphans. She could be heard charging through all the bushes and the Keepers began to call her name. Sonje eventually decided to walk back down the Chyulu Hills to find her, and as she too began to trumpet Lima Lima was able to quickly find her. The two then re-joined the rest of the Umani orphans.
This afternoon, after the orphans had their midday bottles of milk none of them seemed eager to have a mud bath and instead, they all walked over to the water hole to have a drink. As the orphans were leaving the waterhole, Sonje appeared to pick up a scent as she could be seen lifting her trunk smelling. The Keepers thought she may have picked up on a wild herd of elephants that was nearby. This seemed to worry her as she immediately ran to Shukuru and continued to walk near her. The orphans didn’t come across any wild herd and had a pleasant afternoon browsing on the hills.
This morning, Lima Lima seemed to want to browse on her own and because of this she wondered off deep within the palm trees. Whilst she was busy between the palm trees, she began to pull down some of the branches to eat. She was so busy eating her palm tree branches that she was last of the orphans to make her way out to the hills. As she was following the orphans, the orphans found many animals enjoying the salt rocks that were lying around. Amongst the many animals were some buffalo who didn’t seem too eager to have the orphans join them.
Whilst the orphans were walking through the forest, Sonje was heading over to one of the waterholes to have a mud bath. As she got closer, she realised that there were two crocodiles relaxing in the water. As soon as she noticed them she began to splash around to scare them off. At first they were reluctant but eventually they fled.
Murera and Alamaya were the last two to join the other orphans, but as they got closer to the others all the orphans started moving off. As it was getting closer to the time when the orphans head down for their midday bottles of milk, Murera and Alamaya also decided to leave the shade and head off with the other orphans. There was still no sign of Zongoloni, Ngasha, Faraja and Ziwa who had spent another night out with their wild friends.
This evening, when the orphans were back at the stockade compound, Alamaya seemed to be in a quiet mood as he was just standing near the wall looking out to the forest. Jasiri who appeared to want to cheer up the younger bull, came walking over and began to playfully nuzzle Alamaya with his trunk, he even playfully grabbed Alamaya’s short tail. Alamaya would normally get annoyed by this, but today he seemed to be happy to play around with Jasiri and didn’t push him away once.
This morning the partially-independent orphans arrived at the compound. As the orphans were enjoying their morning Lucerne pellets, Ngasha seemed to think that Ziwa was trying to steal his share of pellets and he started to get very annoyed. As Ziwa kept trying to approach the pellets, Ngasha began to push him away and kept rumbling at him. As Ziwa realised that there was no way he was getting near his pellets, he decided to move off.
Whilst the boys were busy pushing each other around, Zongoloni decided to move away and went over to a tree where she began to enjoy a long stretch. As she was scratching her back some of the orphans began to make their way out towards the Umani Hills.
As the orphans were busy around the mud bath later, some crane birds that usually nest in the area were busy picking up sticks and twigs to build their new nests. As they were walking back to their usual nesting area, they came across Quanza who was busy browsing. As soon as they saw her they began to shout loudly at her and she quickly ran away back to the rest of the Umani orphans.
When the orphans were out in the forest, they all went off in their own directions to browse. Murera appeared to be munching away on a very green bush and appeared to be thoroughly enjoying her greens. Alamaya seemed very interested in what Murera was eating, but she was very reluctant to share any of her greens with him and he eventually moved off on his own.
Mwashoti suddenly seemed to realise that he was on his own and that none of his friends were nearby. He appeared to be looking for the older girls, Murera and Sonje, but when he couldn’t find Murera he quickly ran over to Sonje, rumbling and trumpeting in excitement. Quanza, who had heard the little boy rumbling, came running over to see what was happening and when she saw Mwashoti with Sonje she appeared to realise everything was okay and went back to her browsing.
This morning as the orphans were making their way out to the hills, they were not joined as early by Ngasha. Ngasha has been spending most of his nights out in the forest with his wild friends and will often come back and join the Umani orphans early in the morning. Today, however, he only joined the orphan’s mid-morning and he could be seen approaching from the Kenze hills. As soon as he arrived, he was greeted by loud rumbling from the rest of the Nursery herd, all welcoming him back and happy to see him return.
This afternoon, Ziwa appeared to want to spend time with Shukuru in the waterhole and he was trying very hard to convince her that this was a good idea. Eventually Shukuru gave in and she walked over with him to the waterhole and they both began to have a mud bath. When they were in the water swimming, Shukuru was happy to be with Ziwa but she was sure not to get too close.
In the morning, Quanza was peacefully walking around the forest, breaking and munching away on some of the fresh branches. When Shukuru noticed Quanza walking nearby her, she decided to join her and walk near her as they continued to browse together. Shukuru is often apprehensive to browse near the boys as they can be very boisterous, chasing each other around and playing their pushing games, and she does not want to get caught up in their games. Quanza and Shukuru have a very nice friendship however and can often be seen spending time together.
After the orphans finished their midday bottles of milk, Faraja seemed very eager to have a mud bath and cool off. It was another very hot day, many of the orphans were eager to wallow in the waterhole but they had to wait for a wild herd to leave before they could get in. As soon as the wild herd left, Faraja quickly ran over to get into the water and he had a very long wallow and was joined by the rest of the Umani orphans.
This morning as the orphans made their way out to the field Alamaya seemed especially happy to be on the hills and immediately rushed over to the biggest, greenest bush he could find to start browsing. He appeared to be eating as fast as possible to ensure he got the most greens before the other orphans joined him.
Murera was standing the closest to Alamaya and she was just about to get to the bush he was eating when the orphans suddenly heard a loud rumble and trumpet in the forest. Murera immediately stopped eating and began to look around and when she realised that it was Mwashoti that had yelled out, she quickly went running over. Although there was nothing wrong, she chose to spend the rest of her day with the young bull and escorted him down to the milk feeding point.
Lima Lima appeared very excited today as she was able to lead the orphans out to the forest and throughout the day. She was so happy to be looking after the Umani orphans that whenever one of the Keepers would call one of the orphans, she would run over to make sure everything was okay and then reassume her role as leader. When the orphans were out in the forest, the Keepers called to Faraja to catch up to the rest of the orphans. As soon as they called for him, Lima Lima came running over to see what was happening, and when she realised, they were just calling him she went running back to the front.
Quanza appeared to be getting very eager for her midday bottle of milk and she rushed to the front to join Lima Lima and race to the milk feeding point. Quanza quickly took the lead and was the first to arrive at the milk feeding point. Once all the orphans finished their bottles of milk, Jasiri headed straight over to the mud bath to cool himself off and was happily throwing mud all over his back. The mud plays such vital role in protecting his pale skin form the sun.
This morning as the orphans were headed out to the hills, Quanza seemed to be trying to follow Zongoloni, Ngasha, Faraja and Ziwa as they made their way to the Chyulu Hills. As Zongoloni and the boys have been spending most nights away from the Umani orphans’ herd, they now know their routes well and are able to walk quickly through the thick shrubs. Quanza on the other hand is not so used to these adventures away from the orphan herd and struggled to keep up with them. It appeared that she lost them along the way and then chose to turn back and join the rest of the Umani orphans whom were walking along the Umani Hills.
At the mud bath this afternoon, Murera seemed very relaxed and was eager to have a dust bath. However, when she walked over to the dust mound it appeared as though the dust was all compacted and was not easy to dust bath with. She took her time trying to break up the soil, so that it would become soft and easy to throw over her back.
Later that day, the Keepers could feel the temperature rising and this was evident as all the orphans seemed to be looking for some shade and were flapping their ears quite a lot. Shukuru especially seemed to be struggling with the heat as she could be seen profusely flapping her ears trying to cool herself down and she eventually moved off into the shade, away from the other orphans.