Keepers' Diaries, February 2022

Nairobi Nursery Unit



For our Nursery herd, February began on a rainy note. This really upset our ‘Kaluku Trio,’ as Kindani, Kinyei, and Bondeni hate the sound of storms. Kindani and Bondeni resorted to snuggling through their stable, while Kinyei tried to climb over her wall to join them. The Keepers remained by their sides and reassured them that everything was okay, but they only fell into a deep sleep after the rain had abated. 

01 February 2022

It was another restless night for some of the orphans, especially Roho, Olorien, Kindani, Bondeni and Kinyei as there were heavy showers throughout the evening. These five have always been particularly uneasy about the rain but as there was some thunder and lightning last night, they grew even more restless. Kindani and Bondeni were seen snuggling through the bars of their stable as Kinyei was busy trying to climb over to get to them, despite the Keepers’ efforts to comfort them all. As the rain continued throughout the night one of the Keepers remained with them trying to calm them down. Once the rain passed, they all calmed down and Bondeni, Kindani and Kinyei all fell asleep.

Tingai is growing into a very calm and gentle boy, and although he has not fully adjusted to the new routine at the Nursery, he is coming along swimmingly. As he is still getting used to the routine, he doesn’t always follow the herd down to the mud bath and the Keepers sometimes have to run after him to usher him back to the Nursery orphans. This afternoon was such an instance, when he ran off and one of the Keepers had to dash after him and then usher him back down where he had his milk and settled back down.

In the evenings, the orphans like to steal each other’s greens through their stockades and stables walls. This evening, Suguroi kept trying to grab some of Olorien’s greens, but this infuriated Olorien. Olorien came charging over and grabbed hold of Suguroi’s trunk to stop her from stealing the greens. Suguroi yelled out, trying to break free from Olorien’s hold. The Keepers quickly came running over and yelled at Olorien to let go. As soon as Olorien saw the Keepers, she released Suguroi who went back to enjoying her greens.

02 February 2022

Yesterday, the Nursery received another new rescue from Laikipia. He was found within a herd, but as there were no lactating females around, the one little calf needed to be rescued. As they always do, the orphans immediately ran over to his stockade to greet the new arrival. This young boy was full of energy and fully enjoying all the attention he was getting from the herd. Throughout the night he was even interacting with his neighbour Lodo. The two bulls seemed to be having a wonderful time, sharing greens and greeting each other.

This morning was a big day for Lodo, as it was his first day out with the Nursery herd. After the orphans finished their 9 o’clock milk feed, some of them led by Olorien, Naleku, Kindani, Suguroi, Roho, Bondeni and Kinyei were directed back to the stockade compound to greet him. As soon as his stockade door was opened, he came running out to greet the group waiting for him. He was so happy to be let out that he happily followed the herd out to the forest and was at the ready to defend himself against any of the bullies such as Suguroi, Roho, and Olorien as they kept trying to push him.

During the midday and 3 o’clock milk feeds he was also seen enjoying a long mud bath as if he had been part of the routine for months now. In the evening, he was escorted back to the stockade compound by Barnoti, Oldepe, Esoit, Ziwadi, and Mukutan. Naleku was also very welcoming to the young bull checking on him as she ran back to her stockade for the evening.

03 February 2022

Neshashi has been settling in well and the rest of the Nursery herd will always pass by her stockade in the mornings to greet her, and her neighbours Latika and Kamili can also be seen stealing her greens in the evening. This morning, she was greeted by Olorien, Suguroi, Kindani and the big boys Oldepe, Rama, Roho, Barnoti and Oldepe. They were all busy shoving each other trying to greet her and steal her greens. As they were all busy greeting Neshashi, Naleku and Kerrio were doing their rounds, greeting the other new rescues.

The newest rescue was standing by his stockade gate, eagerly wanting to follow the Nursery herd out to the forest, but he still needed some time to settle in and trust his Keepers. After a long interaction, the orphans made their way out to the forest. On their way Esoit, who has become extremely playful, started a wrestling match with Bondeni. The two bulls enjoyed a wonderful game, chasing each other around the forest and bush bashing. Bondeni would use his trunks to his advantage by poking Esoit, so he would back down and not be such an admirable opponent. Their game continued for quite some time before they settled to browse.

Bondeni continues to be the little show off during his midday and 3 o’clock milk feeds. This afternoon, as the orphans were down at the mud bath after their afternoon bottles of milk, Bondeni sought out a new companion for his mischief: Kamili. As the orphans were busy rolling around in the mud, Bondeni and Kamili snuck off back to the forest. The Keepers quickly realised they had wandered off and went after them. As soon as Bondeni saw the Keepers approaching, he knew he was in trouble and ran off to find the herd. Lodo had a wonderful day apart from a couple of run-ins with Oldepe, Barnoti, and Olorien, but each time he stood up for himself like a professional.

04 February 2022

Although not the youngest, Mukutan certainly does behave like he is the baby of the Nursery herd. He is constantly complaining to his Keepers even when there is nothing wrong. The other younger orphans seem to have realised that he complains over anything, so they have started to tease him and the Keepers constantly have to usher them away from him. Taabu, Choka, and Kerrio are the naughtiest three with him, and the Keepers are always keeping a close eye on them when they are near him.

Down at the mud bath, Kerrio kept running after him. As he would run off, he would yell out in protest, which seemed to excite Kerrio even more. At one point she even chased him into the mud bath, where he would remain for the rest of the time, enjoying some peace and quiet from her.

The newer rescues can be slightly hesitant around their new human family and they can also be slightly stand-offish towards their Keepers, especially when caught off guard. As Lodo is the newest member of the Nursery herd, he is still getting used to his Keepers and can sometimes try to defend him when he is taken by surprise. This afternoon, as one of the Keepers was walking by, Lodo came charging out of nowhere to chase the Keeper away. As soon as he ran towards the Keeper, Olorien immediately stepped in front of the Keeper and rumbled deeply. Lodo immediately knew what he had done was wrong and he ran off back to the herd.

05 February 2022

Although Lodo is settling in well, Roho still continues to be a bit of a bully towards him. Whenever they are together, Roho will greet him for a little bit and then start to push him around. Lodo manages to defend himself to a certain extent but as Roho is bigger and stronger he will often back off and just keep his distance from this older bull. The Keepers are confident that Roho will eventually stop being so hot and cold and that he is just adjusting to the new addition.

Rama continues to get along with Barnoti and Oldepe, and they are often seen together out in the forest browsing and walking around together. Still as cheeky as ever, Suguroi is quite happy to spend time with these older boys and browse with them, as opposed to with the other girls such as Kamili and Latika. This afternoon, Suguroi was seen walking in the middle of the big boys as they wandered off from the Nursery herd choosing their own quiet spot in the forest.

06 February 2022

Ziwadi continues to be such a gentle and peaceful girl, who is adored by all. It has been quite some time now since her last seizure and she continues to grow in both size and confidence. As is often the case, most of the new rescues are completely besotted with her as she is always so welcoming and gentle with them. Lodo is another one of the orphans that loves to spend time with her as she stays from all the chaos of the Nursery herd and is happy to have him accompany her as she searches for her favourite browsing spots.

Other orphans who continue to enjoy her company are Mukutan, Kindani, and Choka. Rama has also remained a close friend to Ziwadi but with so many big boys around him these days his time and attention are divided. Ziwadi is, however, always more than happy to enjoy his company or the company of her new friends.

This afternoon, Latika pulled an Oldepe as she was attempting to be the new Houdini of the Nursery herd and disappeared just after 2pm. Two of the Keepers immediately began to look for her and they were so amazed to see how far she had gotten as she was now so used to all the different browsing routes. The Keepers found her in one of the usual browsing spots just happily browsing, oblivious to the fact that she was completely alone. When she saw the Keepers approaching, she let out a deep rumble to greet them. The Keepers slowly ushered her back to the herd where she remained for the rest of the afternoon.

07 February 2022

Although Rama has developed new friendships, and is generally in a great mood, he can sometimes be a grumpy old boy — and when he is, he takes it out on the younger orphans in the Nursery herd. Today, he was in such a grump that he kept chasing after Choka, Taabu, Tingai, and his friend Oldepe. Choka and Taabu seemed to quickly realise that he was in a horrible mood and they were sure to keep their distance but sadly Tingai and Oldepe kept trying to follow him and each time they would be told off. Eventually, they all left Rama alone to browse by himself.

Bondeni was extremely naughty today during the midday milk feed. Every time the Keepers gave him the space to browse or mud bath, he would charge after the Nursery visitors and would try to push them over. The Keepers all had to step in and chase to the back but he wouldn’t listen and even tried to give them a little elephant back kick as he would naughtily run away. Together, the Keepers grouped together and ushered him to the back. Now that he no longer has Larro to protect him, Bondeni knows that if all the Keepers are telling him off he needs to listen to them. Bondeni was sent to the naughty corner for the reminder of the mud bath.

At the same time as Bondeni was misbehaving, Kerrio had started her usual game of chasing Mukutan around the entire mud bath. She seems to love scaring Mukutan and hearing him yell and rumble in protest, as she always has the naughtiest face when chasing him. Once the Keepers had finished chasing Bondeni away, they now had to chase Kerrio away, giving Mukutan some peace.

This afternoon, once again down at the mud bath the female warthogs and their piglets were not allowed anywhere near the mud bath. As soon as Choka saw them running down towards the muddy water, he charged after them, flapping his ears and rumbling. He was protecting his herd from them and didn’t want them coming anywhere near them. As soon as he would turn his back on them, the warthogs would try again. Eventually Sagateisa also got involved chasing the warthogs with Choka and together they managed to chase them away. The two then settled down to browse before heading back to the stockade compound for the evening.

08 February 2022

This morning, Naleku was the first to come out of her stockade and as soon as she was out and about she let out a loud trumpet and rumbles as if to awaken the rest of the herd and call them out of their stables and stockades. As soon as Kerrio heard her, she began to push at her stable door eager to greet her adopted big sister. Taabu who is also a light sleeper, constantly pushing at his stockade door eagerly awaiting his next milk feed, was also up and about knocking at his door to get out.

As the orphans began to slowly appear Naleku was running up and down the stockade compound trying to wake them all up. Ziwadi, however, was still fast asleep and was not paying much attention to all the commotion. When Taabu was let out, he went running looking for Naleku, who was still trying to wake Ziwadi, but he got distracted by Neshashi, who was standing by her gate. He stopped at her gate and the two enjoyed a wonderful interaction.

Once all the orphans were finally awake and out of their stables and stockades the orphans started to make their way to the forest. Naleku’s excited mood continued out in the forest when she engaged Roho in a wrestling match. These two have not had a wrestling match in a very long time so it was great to see them enjoying them once more and they were having the best time sizing up against each other and pushing each other through the forest. They were eventually joined by Esoit, who loves a wrestling match, and he took over from Naleku who finally settled to browse. Esoit and Roho continued to wrestle for quite some time before settling to browse once more.

09 February 2022

For some time, Kinyei and Esoit were very good wrestling buddies. As the orphans get older their relationships can change, and they sometimes do not remain as close. This morning as Kindani, Bondeni and Kinyei were browsing some distance from the rest of the Nursery herd, Esoit came running over to challenge Bondeni in a strength testing match. As they were busy chasing each other around the forest, Kinyei appeared to get jealous and came running over to separate the two. As soon as she ended their game, Bondeni ran off to browse and this gave her the perfect opportunity to challenge her old friend once again and rekindle the wrestling friendship.

Maxwell was not too happy this afternoon as his stockade was taken over by a troop of baboons passing through. As soon as he heard them on the trees, he went and lay on top of his Lucerne pellets to protect what was left. As he was just starting to enjoy another nap, the baboons began to jump on the branches and yell out which immediately woke him up. Max woke up in such a huff that he began to charge around his stockade compound, trying to chase them away. It was difficult for Max to chase them all as they were surrounding his stockade, but it was not long until one the Keepers came to assist him. As soon as the baboons saw the Keeper, they leapt out of Max’s stockade and disappeared back into the forest.

During the day, Latika, Mukutan and Kamili enjoy going at such a slow pace and aren’t ever in a hurry but in the evenings they are all so eager to get back to their stockades first. This evening, they were all busy racing each other and Kamili was the one to take the victory.

10 February 2022

Most of the Nursery orphans woke up with so much energy this morning. Esoit was busy running up and down the stockade compound trumpeting and rumbling in excitement, and he was soon joined by Kerrio who kept letting out sweet little trumpets and she still learns to trumpet like the others. Naleku then came running after Kerrio in excitement. Meanwhile, Kindani and Kinyei were busy going door to door trying to wake all the orphans up, especially Ziwadi who loves to sleep in. The entire stockade was filled with rumbles and trumpets as all the orphans were starting their day, even Maxwell was by his stockade gate wondering what was going on.

Suguroi, much like Roho, is a lover of a good bath. This afternoon, the duo could be seen enjoying a lengthy mud bath after their 3 o’clock bottles of milk. As soon as they had finished downing their bottles, Suguroi went dashing over to the mud bath and jumped straight in only to be joined by Roho later on. They were both submerged in the mud with only their trunks sticking out the top of the water. After a long wallow they went back into the forest to browse before heading home for the evening.

11 February 2022

It was another scorching day. As the orphans were finishing their midday bottles of milk, some of the orphans started to make their way to the muddy pool. Kindani, Kinyei, Olorien and Naleku all downed their milk and then submerged themselves in the muddy water. This seemed to attract the attention of all the orphans apart from Ziwadi, as the mud bath was now full to the brim with small and medium sized elephants. Rama was as always on the edge of the mud bath splashing mud all over his back, legs and tummy. Naleku and Kindani were having such fun splashing mud around with their trunks and legs, mud droplets were flying everywhere.

As it was such a hot day, the Keepers did decide to help Ziwadi with her own private mud bath as she was too busy browsing to mud bathe. As she was munching away on the branches, the Keepers would splash mud and water on her back, cooling her off nicely. Once she had had enough she walked away from the reach of the hose pipe. By the time the orphans were leaving the mud bath back to the forest, it was just a row of red muddy elephants.

Once back in the forest, the orphans enjoyed scratching up against some of the barks and then dust bathing in between their lovely afternoon of browsing.

12 February 2022

With so many new arrivals, Esoit has now graduated to being one of the big boys. As the girls, such as Naleku, Kindani and Kinyei are still very protective of Kerrio and the younger orphans, they continue to spend time with the younger group and Kinyei and Naleku follow Kerrio wherever she goes. Kinyei also loves to spend time with Olorien and Ziwadi, but when she is moving around with them she always makes sure that Kerrio is not far behind.

After the midday mud bath, as they were making their way back to the forest, Ziwadi and Mukutan decided to go at their own pace and head off in their own direction. Mukutan really enjoys Ziwadi’s company, and as all the orphans were just quietly browsing, the Keepers were happy to let the duo wander some distance away from the herd, as long as they could still be seen. They spent the remainder of the day together and even accompanied each other back to the stockade compound in the evening.

13 February 2022

All the orphans were once again in a great mood this morning. As the herd was quickly making their way out to the forest, Ziwadi was continuing with her normal morning routine of drinking from all the water troughs as she made her way out. Bondeni was greeting Maxwell, who was already up and about pacing around his stockade compound. Latika and Kamili were browsing on the greens around the stockade compound before heading off with the rest of the herd.

Today was a big day for Lorigon, the new rescue from Laikipia, as it was his first day out with the Nursery herd. After the orphans finished their 9 o’clock bottles of milk, Naleku, Rama, Kindani, Kinyei and Roho were brought back to the stockade compound to greet the new addition. Lorigon is certainly a feisty character, as soon as the Keepers let him out he started fighting the other orphans and chasing after his Keepers. The Keepers had to be very firm with him constantly telling him no and ushering him away from the other orphans. At one point he was being so naughty chasing all the Keepers, that the Keepers decided to stand amongst the Nursery herd and once Lorigon saw them with the other orphans, he calmed down. As he is so new to the Nursery, he will take some time to adjust to his new human family.

He eventually settled down with Kinyei and Olorien until 4 o’clock, when he was led back to his stockade, as he is still learning his new routine.

14 February 2022

All the orphans were let out at the same time today. Lorigon, however, continued to be apprehensive of his new family and immediately started running away from the other orphans. He is still being very defensive towards his Keepers so they are proceeding with caution and remaining within the herd when trying to usher him or tell him no.

Once he was done chasing after the Keepers and some of the orphans, he finally settled to browse near Mukutan, Suguroi, Rama and Ziwadi. Ziwadi, who always remains so gentle with the new arrivals, was completely oblivious to Lorigon’s naughty ways and she kept the new little guy company throughout the day. Suguroi, who was also a little feisty when she arrived, has also been enjoying spending time with him and is happy to challenge him when he becomes a little pushy towards her. Suguroi continues to have her funny habit of flapping her ears whenever she is taken by surprise or sees someone approaching.

The orphans had a quiet day of browsing enjoying their milk feeds every three hours.

15 February 2022

The orphans were once again full of energy as they were being let out of their stables and stockades this morning. Esoit was busy trying to wrestle with Bondeni and Roho, and he managed to entice Bondeni to play as they were walking out to the forest. Rama was seen walking with Barnoti and Oldepe and Kamili, Suguroi, Kinyei and Kindani were leading the herd out to the forest as they were the first to head out. Once in the forest, all the orphans spent most of their morning peacefully browsing together.

The orphans enjoyed their 3 o’clock bottles of milk down at the mud bath. All of them charged down to have their bottles of milk, and Kerrio as always was accompanied by Naleku and her entire entourage. Latika and Kamili came down quietly together with the big boys behind them. Lorigon has quickly started to love his milk feeds and he and Lodo being the newest are just as greedy as the others. Lodo is, however, much gentler and more trusting of his Keepers so once he finishes his milk he peacefully walks off whereas Lorigon tries to charge his Keepers for more.

After their milk and a short mud bath, the orphans walked back to the forest where they enjoyed a short browsing session before heading home for the evening.

16 February 2022

Nairobi has been so hot lately that even Maxwell has been enjoying regular mud baths. After he finishes his lucerne pellets these days instead of napping he will head down to his mud bath, wallow in the cool water and cover himself in mud before heading to the shady parts of his stockade. Once in the shade he enjoys a long nap, where he remains nice and cool for the most part of the day. As he is now napping on the other side of his stockade, the warthogs have been sneaking in and out of his stockade to enjoy his leftover Lucerne pellets.

In the evenings, Maxwell is more energetic as the day cools off and then he will enjoy a walk around his stockade compound kicking up the soil and scratching up and down his stockade walls. As soon as the Keepers bring in his fresh greens, he then routinely will start to organise them, moving away his least favourite branches and devouring his fresh acacia branches. Once he’s finished his acacia branches he will then nibble on the other greens before heading to his bedroom for the night.

17 February 2022

Although settling in well, Lodo can still be quite a shy boy who likes to do his own thing. This morning as the orphans were leaving the mud bath after their midday bottles of milk, Lodo decided to wander off in his own direction. Much like Ziwadi, he seems to enjoy some quiet time browsing on his own. One of the Keepers kept a very close eye on him as he was heading in the complete opposite direction to the rest of the herd.

When he settled to browse, the Keeper checked where the rest of the herd was and he noticed that Mukutan, Choka, Bondeni and Suguroi had also wandered off in their own direction and had settled not too far from Lodo. Lodo slowly made his way to where they were browsing and then settled amongst them.

The orphans had a lovely afternoon browsing together and in their smaller groups.

18 February 2022

This morning as all the orphans were waking up, Maxwell was already up and about eating his greens. The orphans were full of energy, and as soon as Choka, Suguroi, Kamili, Bondeni, Kinyei and Kindani they immediately started browsing around Max’s stockade. As they were pulling at the branches, they immediately caught Max’s attention and he now started pacing up and down his stockade wall. As he was pacing he kept kicking up the soil as if to mark his territory and chase them off.

Choka, who is very sweet in nature, wasn’t too happy with Max kicking about so he decided to move on and went to keep Ziwadi company as she was going from water trough to water trough. Choka is also one of the orphans that moves around between the Nursery orphans and doesn’t have one particular group he spends time with but being Kerrio’s neighbour he does spend quite a bit of time with her. Once in the forest he will settle with Ziwadi and some of the bigger boys at times.

19 February 2022

Tingai continues to be a very independent orphan and he has not fully adjusted to following the herd when he wants to do something. This morning, as the orphans were coming out of their stockades and stables, instead of waiting for the Nursery orphans to be awake and ready to head off, he just walked straight out to the forest. One of the Keepers had to quickly run after him and stop him before he wandered off too far from the rest of the herd.

The Keepers always have to take their time with the newer orphans as they learn their characters and different personality traits. Unlike Tingai, Choka and Kamili do not like to wander off on their own, as they prefer to remain amongst the herd. Kamili will often spend time with Latika as they are of very similar temperaments and arrived very close to one another so they have always had a bond from their early days in the Nursery.

20 February 2022

This morning, Oldepe and Rama enjoyed a leisurely walk out to the forest with each other. As they are the oldest bulls in the Nursery they don’t seem to have any worries at all and as they are two of the biggest in the herd they do feel untouchable, so they didn’t see any need in waiting for the rest of the orphans. Unfortunately for them, this morning they came across a large buffalo that was running straight in their direction. The buffalo had been frightened by the rest of the orphans that were making a lot of noise.

As soon as Rama and Oldepe saw the buffalo they immediately did a 180 and ran back towards the Nursery herd, rumbling and trumpeting. They were causing such a commotion that they even got the rest of the herd worked up and soon all the orphans were running in every direction rumbling and trumpeting. The Keepers quickly stepped in and started to calm them all down and as the buffalo could no longer be seen, the orphans settled down and then all browsed peacefully together.

21 February 2022

Since Mukkoka and Naboishu’s graduation, Roho has become extremely boisterous and cocky. He has even become a bit of a bully towards some of the newer rescues. He often tries to push the bigger boys around such as Barnoti and Oldepe. They do stand up for themselves, but they are sometimes timid and do not always challenge him. His new playmate is Esoit and he really enjoys teaching this young bull how to wrestle and be a worthy opponent. The Keepers hope that with so many younger bulls around that he will start playing with them too.

Sagateisa, who was a drought victim, is looking much better these days as she is gaining condition and confidence amongst the Nursery herd. Unlike before, she can be seen happily running around the forest and down for her milk bottles with the rest of the Nursery orphans. She has even been standing up for herself when some of the other orphans try to steal her milk by head butting them and pushing them aside. Olorien, Suguroi and even Esoit used to be guilty of trying to push her around especially during the milk feeding times but now they know not to mess with her.

In the evenings, she is even strong enough to lie down and get up on her own without the assistance of the Keepers. She is also another one who enjoys spending time with Latika as Latika is always so gentle and welcoming to her. She is certainly earning her place amongst the Nursery herd.

22 February 2022

Naleku continues to excel in her role as the new matriarch in the Nursery herd. She favours little Kerrio and is always at the ready to protect her from any of the bulls, notably Esoit, Mukutan, Bondeni and Choka. However, all the bulls have quickly learnt that she is protected and not to mess with her when Naleku, Kinyei and Kindani are close by. Esoit still occasionally tries to play mount Kerrio when she is rolling around on the dust mound, but Naleku has lost her trust in him, so now she remains right next to Kerrio.

Rama is another orphan who has become a lot tougher, defending himself against the likes of Olorien, Naleku and Roho. He has even been challenging Roho in strength testing matches. This morning, just after the orphans finished their 9 o’clock bottles of milk, Olorien kept trying to push and shove Rama, but she was very taken aback when he turned to challenge him. Olorien quickly ran off. In the mud bath, Roho kept trying to climb on his back as he tried to wallow, but Rama quickly retaliated, chasing him away.

23 February 2022

Although protected by all the older girls, Kerrio has also been standing up for herself recently especially during her milk feeds. During their midday milk feed, Kerrio ran down for her milk with Ziwadi, Naleku and some of the others. When she finishes her bottle, she will often stay very close to the milk wheelbarrow and this is just so she can try to steal milk from Mukutan, bothering him and chasing him around the mud bath. The Keepers have worked out that Kerrio really enjoys bothering Mukutan, so they are constantly chasing her away from the wheelbarrow. Once she is ushered away she will head over to one of the water troughs to splash around and have a drink.

Latika continues to have the shortest trunk amongst the Nursery herd. She is a lovely girl — gentle, calm, and always minding her own business, not causing any issues with the other orphans. She is another one who loves mud bathing, and despite her shorter trunk she has no problem rolling around in the muddy water. In the forest, she will often go down on her knees to reach the lower branches and grass blades. Much like Ziwadi, her favourite activity is to browse.

24 February 2022

Barnoti and Oldepe are very gentle big bulls, much as Maktao was. They are the gentle uncles of the Nursery herd, who are always comforting the younger orphans. Out in the field, they are often seen accompanying Esoit, Mukutan, Choka, Bondeni, Olorien, Suguroi, Taabu, Latika and Kamili. These younger orphans all enjoy browsing underneath these big boys as they can easily grab the freshest branches from the top of the bushes. These big boys are always so happy to share their greens.

Tingai has also developed a very funny but peculiar habit of running away when it is almost time for the orphans to head back to the stockade compound for the evening. Every night as the Keepers are grouping the orphans together, suddenly he will disappear and then one of them has to run after him to usher back to the herd. As he gets back to the stockade compound, he then starts charging around the compound trying to find a route back to the forest, so the Keepers have to quickly usher him into his stockade so he doesn’t head off back to the forest. The Keepers are now aware of his cunning ways and are able to control him.

25 February 2022

Although shy, Suguroi is a bit of a troublemaker. Like many of the others, this is especially during her milk feeding times. The Keepers compare her to naughty Kiasa. She has a new friend to cause trouble with — and this is none other than Esoit. Today, as soon as they downed their milk bottles, they were very restless and kept chasing after the orphans who were just arriving to enjoy their share. They were giving the Keepers such a difficult time that they sent them to the naughty corner. The Keepers have decided that just like Kiasa, Suguroi and Esoit will now be the last two to get their milk.

The Keepers wonder if Ziwadi’s past seizures are the reason why she has been slower with learning how to use her trunk to drink water and throw mud over her body. Despite not having full use of her trunk, she is still able to drink plenty of water by dunking her head in the water and slurping away. Although she has never been too fond of her mud bath, when she does choose to wallow, she easily rolls around and funnily throws mud all over the place. All in all, this gentle girl is doing well.

26 February 2022

As the orphans settled in the forest this morning, Olorien, Taabu, Bondeni, Kinyei and Suguroi had a very playful moment of charging and chasing after a herd of impala that were busy grazing. Taabu was the first to lead the charge as he does enjoy a good game and he was quickly followed by the rest. The orphans tried with all their might to keep up with the impala but they were all too fast so the orphans just enjoyed trumpeting and bush bashing.

During the midday milk feed, none of the orphans seemed interested in wallowing, as it was an overcast day. Kamili, Taabu, Choka, and Kerrio all enjoyed a nice dust bath on the dust mound. The older group, made up of some of the mud bath lovers such as Rama, Roho, Olorien, Suguroi, Kinyei, Esoit and Barnoti, all appeared bored because they couldn’t partake in their favourite activity. Rama was the only one to attempt to mud bath, but he quickly realised that it was too cold and gave up. As they could not mud bathe, they soon returned to the forest.

27 February 2022

Maxwell was up and about very early this morning, and seemed to be waiting for the orphans to emerge from their stables and stockades. He stood by his bottom gate, waiting for his buddy Bondeni to come over. As the orphans were slowly appearing, playful Bondeni came running over to greet him. As always, Bondeni had a fun moment of pulling at Max’s ears and then charging off, which got Max all excited as he was running around his stockade.

As Max was running back and forth from the gate, Bondeni was also charging back and forth. When they both settled down again, Bondeni tried to grab Max’s tail. This really upset Max, and to show his displeasure, he kicked up his back feet and sprayed dust in Bondeni’s direction. This gave Bondeni the biggest fright and he quickly ran off. Once the orphans had left for the forest, Max went to enjoy his lucerne pellets.

28 February 2022

As the orphans were making their way out to the forest, the Keepers were laughing at Kerrio walking with her entire escort of Kindani, Kinyei, Olorien and Naleku. None of the other orphans could get anywhere near her, as she was surrounded on all sides. This is the normal routine for little Kerrio, as all the girls wait for her to wake up and then follow her every footstep. 

This afternoon, Tingai, Suguroi, Kamili, Roho, and Esoit all wandered off to browse away from the rest of the Nursery herd. They were led by Suguroi and Kamili, who wanted to show off their independence and leadership skills. They were really proud to have Roho and the boys following them. They settled down deep into the forest, but when it was time for their 3 o’clock milk feeds, they all came running back, trumpeting and rumbling in excitement.