All the smaller orphans have clocked onto the fact that Chamboi goes to the mud bath at 11 o’clock. As the hour approaches, a motley crew of various animals gathers around the wallow to spend time with the rhino. One afternoon, Bibi the buffalo walked right up to Chamboi and planted a muddy kiss on his nose. Chamboi took the public display of affection in stride and even allowed her to circle back a second time.

Bam and Boozle often follow Chamboi to the mud bath. Once upon a time, the twin ostriches stood barely a beak above his shoulder height, but now they tower above him. It is quite a sight to see the big birds stoop to greet their old friend, as Chamboi lifts his stub nose up to see them — perhaps marveling where the time has flown by!

Our favourite Chamboi interaction of the month unfolded with our resident busybody, Mr Bean. The warthog trotted over, found Chamboi already napping in the mud, and promptly lay down next to him. Rhino and warthog rested side by side, enjoying a cool break from the afternoon heat.

Our little elephant herd — Mzinzi, Toto, Natibu, and Korbessa — are doing well. As is typical of young elephants, they are very food-motivated and constantly scheming new and complicated ways to steal from their friends. 

Korbessa may be the youngest elephant at Kaluku, but she is also the cleverest. She is a very self-sufficient little girl and doesn’t wait for help — instead, she tries to solve problems herself. She recently figured out how to hold her own milk bottle, which is quite unusual for an orphan of her age. We always remark that she behaves more like a big elephant than a young baby.

Back to stealing food — we see Korbessa’s intelligence shine when something yummy is at stake. One afternoon, she saw her ‘big brother’, Toto, hard at work uprooting a tasty looking plant. It was not a plant Korbessa was familiar with, which only increased her desire to have it for herself. Realising Toto would not give it up willingly, she devised a clever plan: The stout girl lay down in her signature frog squat, trying to hide the plant from Toto‘s view. When this didn’t work, she allowed him to continue uprooting it — until it was just loose enough for her to surreptitiously pop it into her own mouth! 

Fortunately for Korbessa, Toto has endless amounts of patience. This seems to be a common trait among many of our Kaluku bulls — Mayan, Vaarti, and Thamana come to mind — but Toto takes it to the next level. He rarely, if ever, gets angry. While he is emotionally mature, Toto is still quite clingy to his Keepers. This isn’t unusual for orphans rescued at a very young age, as he was. Besides, Toto has grown leaps and bounds from this time last year, when he would sneak back to the stockades to spend time with his favourite Keeper! 

In contrast to Korbessa’s machinations, Natibu takes a more direct approach when it comes to stealing food — he simply reaches his trunk inside his friends’ bedrooms and helps himself to their food, right before their eyes! This is perfectly in keeping with Natibu’s rather undiplomatic character.

Natibu has cottoned on to the fact that Chamboi likes an early bedtime and has little time for nocturnal snacking. One evening, he strolled over to the rhino’s bedroom, reached his trunk over the stable door, and started cherry picking the tastiest snacks. Chamboi, who was laying down in the opposite corner, watched him without protest — but when a Keeper came over, the rhino emitted a series of squeaks, as if to say, ‘Can you believe this brazen thievery?!’

And then there is Mwinzi. True to his independent, cool-as-can-be character, Kaluku’s eldest elephant rarely bothers stealing others’ food — he would rather work for his own! A big, strong elephant, Mwinzi knows how to use his size to his advantage. One afternoon, we watched him tackle a hefty branch that was nearly as long as his body. It took time, but with lots of whirling and twirling, he finally managed to break it free and enjoyed the spoils.

Thankfully, the wild lion who was such a presence last month has ventured further afield from Kaluku. During his residence in the area, Twiggy chose to remain close to the stockade compound. While she has never had a face-off with a lion, she inherently knows that they are a dangerous predator who should be given a wide berth. It is remarkable how strong wild instincts are in our orphans, even those who must have little memory of life before they were rescued. 

Now that the lion is gone, Twiggy is back to her usual wanderings. She is a busybody in the best possible way: Strolling down the sandy riverbed with Chamboi, linking up with the orphaned elephants for their midday mud bath, shepherding the eclectic orphans for a group browsing session — this is all in a day’s work for Twiggy! 

One afternoon, a Keeper rounded a corner and was surprised to find Twiggy napping beneath a tree, her long legs folded elegantly beneath her. It is unusual to see a giraffe in repose — and even more unusual to see Twiggy without her usual band of followers!  

Apollo the Orphaned Rhino

It has been blistering hot in Tsavo, as is typical of this time of year. Apollo always appreciates a fairly sedentary pace of life, but given the heat, he is even more lazy than usual. We created an elevated platform for his Keepers in the middle of Apollo’s roaming grounds, so they could better monitor his daily roamings. This has become Apollo’s favourite nap place; he rests in the shade beneath the platform, while his Keepers sit above. 

Ever the temperamental juvenile, Apollo runs hot and cold when it comes to his Keepers. Some days, he follows them like a shadow; others, he has little interest in socialising and goes out of his way to give them the runaround. 

There have been wild elephants and, more intriguingly, lions in the area. They present no danger to Apollo — for now, he remains within his 50-acre roaming grounds, which are encircled by a lion-proof fence — but he is certainly aware of their presence.

Apollo has a funny night time trick. Sometimes, as Apollo’s Keepers are drifting off to sleep, they feel a light tap-tap-tap on their bunk — it’s Apollo, mischievously poking the wooden frame with his horn! The beds are positioned high up in his stockade, so he has to stretch as high as he can to pull off this little prank.

Apollo is now at Rhino Base, in Tsavo East National Park.