Choose your region

Today, at the midday mud bath, Ziwadi seemed to have her own ideas of what she would like to do. When it was time for the younger orphans to make their way back to the forest, and allow for the older orphans to come down, Ziwadi completely refused to leave the mud bath area. The Keepers tried everything, they even tried to give her an extra bottle of milk but it was all in vain and the young girl refused to move. Ziwadi, who hadn’t yet had a much bath, seemed eager to stay down with the older orphans so that she could finally have her bath. 

After all the older orphans finished their bottles of milk, Ziwadi led Tagwa, Nabulu, Musiara, and Enkesha into the muddy water for a mud bath. She enjoyed a very long mud bath with her older friends and when it was time for the orphans to make their back to the forest was the first to lead them again. 

In the afternoon, when the orphans were back in the forest, Kiasa and Nabulu were looking after the two little babies, Naleku and Roho, who were having an afternoon nap. 

This morning, when Ziwadi woke up she did not appear to be in the best of moods. As she made her way out to the forest with the other orphans she did not seem as eager to browse as other days and just chose to eat slowly and walk peacefully through the forest with the Nursery herd. Ziwadi is very much like Enkesha, in that they both enjoy browsing on their own and away from the chaos of the other orphans. 

Kiko had great day today as he spent most of his morning out in the forest with the orphans. From 6am he followed the orphans as they made their way out to the forest and he stayed with them the whole morning. When it was time for the orphans to head down to the mud bath for their midday bottles of milk, the Keepers tried to usher Kiko back to the stockade compound, but he refused. Instead he chose to stay out in the forest with Luggard, browsing on all the fresh greens. 

When it was time for the younger orphans to make their way back to the stockades, with Mukkoka and Dololo, Kiko emerged from the bushes and led Naleku, Ziwadi, and Roho back to their stables. As Mukkoka has been accompanying the younger orphans back to their stables, Tamiyoi has now taken the lead in being the orphan that can run home the fastest for her evening bottle of milk. She is always seen charging in way before the others. 

With all the heavy rains the orphans have not been able to enjoy any dust baths as everything has been wet and muddy. After several days of sunshine, however, everything has started to dry up. This morning, as the orphans made their way to the forest, the sun was already shining, and the Keepers could already feel that I would be a hot day. When the orphans made their way down to the mud bath area, Tagwa was the first to lead the orphans over to the dust mound. She could be seen lying down on top of the heaped soil and Maisha and Nabulu were quick to join her. Roho, behaving like Mukkoka and some of the other bulls, quickly rushed over and began to climb up on Tagwa’s stomach, sliding off and then climbing back up. 

Whilst most of the Nursery herd was busy dust bathing for over half an hour, Enkesha as usual was off on her own little adventure, browsing near the mud bath area, and was not bothered at all by the others. Ziwadi was slowly making her way over to join Enkesha when she came across some guinea fowls. Poor little Ziwadi got such a fright that she immediately turned and ran back to the group. As she reached the orphans having a dust bath, she seemed to change her mind about browsing and chose to join them on the dusty mound instead. 

Dololo has taken full responsibility of clearing the way and making sure that Roho, Naleku, Luggard, Ziwadi and Larro are safe when they head back to their stables before the others. This afternoon, as they were headed back, they came across a troop of baboons that refused to move. This aggravated Dololo who began to charge at the baboons, chasing them far away. 

Enkesha has become quite the master of using her trunk despite her injuries. Although there is a permanent gap from where the snare wound did not close, she knows exactly how to use her trunk to drink water and pick up and cut her greens. In the evenings, she is always one of the first orphans to drink from her water trough and to blow bubbles in her water. It is amazing to watch her contract her muscles to close the hole and then suck up her water to drink. She could also be seen playfully blowing water out her trunk to clean it, and then blowing bubbles whilst her trunk was submerged in her water trough. 

Tamiyoi has become very protective over Naleku and is often very reluctant to share her attention with some of the other orphans. Whenever Naleku tried to walk toward the rest of the Nursery herd, Tamiyoi was quick to grab her and bring her back to her side. This continued for quite some time. 

Whilst the orphans are out in the forest, they come across many other animals, including giraffe, warthogs, baboons, impala and guinea fowl. Sometimes we spot lions as well. As some lions were spotted today the Keepers made the decision to keep Kiko in his stockade where he spent the afternoon with Maxwell. The two could be seen smelling one another and sharing greens.  

Around 10:00am this morning, Ziwadi and Enkesha got up to their usual antics and decided to head off in their own direction. They snuck off deeper into the forest, and the Keepers had to quickly rush to find them as it was almost time for their midday mud bath and bottles of milk. As the Keepers were looking for them, they noticed that there were two figures just behind where Luggard was browsing, and sure enough it was the two naughty girls. They were browsing behind thick bushes and were very difficult to spot. 

The Keepers had to quickly usher the younger group of orphans together to take them down to the mud bath area for their midday bottles of milk. Luggard remained happily browsing in the forest waiting the return of the Nursery herd. 

This morning the orphans were led out to the field by Kiasa. When they eventually made it to the forest, Kiasa led Larro, Mukkoka, Naleku, Maktao and Musiara even further into the forest, moving away from the rest of the Nursery herd. Kiasa seems to enjoy being the leader of her own little group and will often want to take some of the orphans away from the older orphans such as Tagwa, Tamiyoi, Nabulu, Enkesha, Sattao, and Dololo. 

Luggard and Ziwadi spend most of the morning together, browsing behind the rest of the orphans and taking their time whilst walking out to the forest. 

Maxwell seems to be improving day by day and he is eating more and getting a bit more energy. He is thoroughly enjoying his Lucerne pellets and greens again, finishing all his pellets after they are put down for him. He is also enjoying his mud baths and going to relax in his bedroom.