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It felt like a very peaceful morning today. Naleku, Sagateisa and Suguroi are now fully acclimatised to life at Ithumba and the daily routine. All three looked very relaxed this morning as they settled for a scratch on the nearby rocks before going back to feeding on lucerne. Half an hour later, the ex-orphans started trickling in. Among them we were delighted to see Sities, Suguta, Kalama, Chemi Chemi, Namalok, Turkwel, Kilaguni, and Lemoyian, who we hadn’t seen for some time. Mutara, Mambo and Kainuk were missing from the group but perhaps they might show up in the next few days. With the peaceful morning disrupted, the dependent orphans started to leave and walk out towards the bush, opting to respect their seniors and give them some space in the lucerne feeding area and to avoid any competition. Neshashi, who had started playing with Noah, pushed him hard as if to have the last say and bring an end to the game, before running to join her friends. 

Out in the bush the orphans were joined by Mundusi. Mundusi, Sapalan, Enkikwe, Mteto, Esampu and Maramoja have teamed up with the ex-orphans and have not been coming back at night to the stockade compound for the past two weeks or so. We felt sure that Mundusi was on a mission to try and recruit Rapa, Pare, Kauro and Kamok to get them to join him on his journey back to the wild. Only Pare agreed to follow Mundusi however, and the two walked off into the bush together. Jotto settled to browse with Ambo while Kuishi teamed up with Sagateisa. 

At the midday feed beside the mud bath, naughty Naleku ran off with her second bottle and tried to jump into the water with it. She dropped the bottle just as she was about to get into the water. A Keeper ran to pick it up quickly before it could be kicked into the water. Only Sagateisa, Nabulu, Suguroi, Naleku, Ndiwa, Kamok, Mapia, Roho, Ambo, Jotto and Musiara decided to go for a cool dip in the waterhole after finishing their milk bottles. After having enough of wallowing, Ambo, Mapia, Musiara, Ndiwa and Kamok left to go and dry off on the loose soil. Mapia then had a pushing game with Musiara. 

In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse west of Ithumba Hill. Kamok, Malkia, Ndiwa and Sana Sana split from the main herd and left to browse a short distance away. In the evening, the ex-orphans were back at the stockade compound and had some water before heading off into the night.

Jotto left his night stockade with a branch in his mouth. Close to the exit point of the stockades he met with Kauro and in the process of entwining their trunks in morning greetings, the branch fell to the ground where it was quickly picked up by Dololo. The ex-orphans started arriving to join the orphans for lucerne. The girls Mteto, Esampu and Maramoja, who left the stockade-dependent life recently to become nannies for Naisula’s little baby Nyx, arrived with them. These three girls have always adored little babies and when Naisula had Nyx it was as though the ex-orphans didn’t have quite enough nannies within their herd to help, and so Esampu, Mteto and Maramoja seized the opportunity to join them and help with all the little babies, particularly Nyx. After having some lucerne, Kauro had a brief conversation with Roi while Mukkoka played with Sattao. Malima engaged wild-born baby Sita in a light pushing game which was only meant socially, but Sita didn’t seem very willing to play with Malima and walked back hastily to join his mother.

Nabulu chose to browse with Malkia this morning while Naboishu played with little Roho. Sattao quit playing with Mukkoka to have a strength testing exercise with the more experienced Ambo. The rest of the morning was quiet. Just like yesterday afternoon, Pare decided to stay with the ex-orphans while the dependent orphans continued with their morning of browsing.

While the orphans were at the mud bath today none of them felt like wallowing. Neshashi led the way back out to the bush after everyone had finished their milk bottles and taken a drink of fresh water, and they settled to browse west of Ithumba Hill.

In the evening, Kithaka, who left late last year after staying with us for several months as he recovered from injuring his leg, showed up close to the stockade compound. He stood a distance away from the wild elephants and the ex-orphans who were there. We felt sure that was because he didn’t want to be pushed by anyone which would result in him hurting his leg again. Kithaka is still limping slightly, but his swelling has massively reduced, which is a great sign. It is very sensible for him to stay a bit further away from the other boisterous elephants for now, to avoid any setback in his recovery!

Nusu and Noah were sleeping comfortably outside the stockade compound as their mum Nasalot kept watch over them. The two babies woke up when they heard footsteps of orphans leaving their night stockades. Ishanga, Tumaren, Olare, Sidai, Silas and Sita were also present in the morning. Two bulls were busy drinking water from the stockade water troughs. Naleku had the courage to walk down next to the bulls to share water with them and they were happy to oblige the little girl. Suguroi had a warmup exercise playing on the ground and later tackled Noah in a strength testing exercise. Nusu, Noah’s older brother, was standing close by to provide back up for Noah in case things escalated! Noah decided to surrender after Suguroi proved to be too strong for him.

Ambo played with Dololo and after their game ended in a draw, Ambo moved to join Mapia who was browsing. Jotto teamed up with Kuishi to share some leaves from the same bushes, while Kamok settled to browse with Musiara. She seemed to be in a good mood today!

At around ten o'clock in the morning, a buffalo walked by the orphans, minding his own business. Ambo managed to get wind of the buffalo and alerted his friends that there was an intruder nearby. Never ones to miss the opportunity to scare off or chase another creature, Dololo, Mukkoka, Naboishu and Mapia teamed up with Ambo and started trumpeting in an effort to scare away the poor buffalo. The buffalo understands the orphans and has encountered them many times, and he decided to disappear peacefully instead of waiting for the rascals to start charging and stamping everywhere.

At mud bath time the orphans teamed up with the ex-orphans who had arrived earlier in the morning to join them. Esampu, who has become part of the ex-orphan herd, joined the juniors briefly and tried to request for some milk at the feeding time, before going back to join her new friends. Rapa engaged Nusu in a strength testing exercise that ended in a draw as they are similar in age and size.

It was another hot afternoon as the orphans browsed to the west of the hill again, prompting Kamok and Sagateisa to share the same tree to hide from the scorching sun. In the evening, Neshashi led the way back to the stockades for the night.