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This evening, all the babies got ready to come back home. The Keepers called Murera, and Murera responded very fast, with her baby Mwana by her side. Lima Lima then followed with Lenny, because Lenny had moved to be with Murera and Mwana. However, the boys failed to come on time. Mwashoti, Maktao, and Kapei didn’t show up when Keepers called them.

The Keepers tried to call the boys one last time, but it was getting late. At last, Latika, Kerrio, and Kamili decided to lead the herd home, leaving Kapei, Mwashoti, and Maktao behind. As the journey progressed, Maktao peeked his head out by the road, but Kapei remained hidden. He was with Mwashoti and Sonje, so we knew he would be okay.

Today, Amali also failed to come home, choosing to remain outside with Sonje and Sulwe. Enkesha, who is newly sleeping out in the forest, persuaded little Amali to remain with Sulwe so she could show Amali how they go about night-time activities. Amali was assured that if she spent the night out today, very early in the morning she would be taken back to the stockades to get her milk bottle and pellets.

Late at night, the Keepers heard some elephants drinking water outside the stockades. One elephant was making noise just next to the fence line. When Keepers went outside to check, they found Kapei and Mwashoti together with wild friends drinking water. Kapei did not want to go into his room; he was having fun with his new friends. After a drink, the boys went back into the Kibwezi Forest with their associates. 

Kapei and Amali teamed up with Sonje and Zongoloni’s team, who misled the young orphans. Both missed the last evening bottles and slept away from home. This morning, they made their appearance very early, demanding their milk bottles, but again found nothing because they were not on time.

The Nairobi girls, on the other hand, slept in their rooms and therefore got their milk bottles. Since coming from the Nursery just a month and a half ago, Kerrio, Latika, and Kamili have shown how lovely the Kibwezi Forest is for them. Again, the bullying that had been directed at them by the other babies has now slowed down, and all three girls are now fully accepted into the Umani herd. Kerrio is still the boss of Kamili and Latika, and they remain under her command.

Murera stopped a few metres away after hearing screaming and trumpeting from wild elephants within the bushes. This made Murera feel unsafe. She called Mwana to be with her and the two walked back to their Keepers for guaranteed safety. When Murera feels unsafe, she goes to where the Keepers are or walks away and takes Mwana with her.

Mwashoti and Kapei disagreed with a wild bull who joined the orphans when Enkesha was on her honeymoon. Ever since then, he has not left Lima Lima and her team. This afternoon, he came and tried to bully Mwashoti, which Maktao did not like to see. His friend Mwashoti was being pushed by a non-resident, and he decided to join hands with Kapei and take the wild bull head-on to help Mwashoti. Zongoloni whispered to her friend Lima Lima after seeing the little boys trying to fight the wild bull. Then Lima Lima went to broker peace. Later, Mwashoti, Kapei, and Maktao stopped fighting and went to the waterhole to splash water on their bellies as a way of cooling off after the strong fight with the wild bull.

This afternoon, many wild elephant herds moved into the orphans’ group and tried to attract little Sulwe and Lenny. Zongoloni and her baby Zigi intervened after seeing that Sulwe and Lenny were getting lost among the wild herd without their mothers near them. It took Zongoloni some time to move them back towards the orphans. As soon as Kiasa, Enkesha, and Amali realised the situation, they moved very fast into the wild herd. Enkesha used all her tricks and brought both Sulwe and Lenny back.

Murera brought Mwana and Lenny to their own private area, away from the other orphans. Kerrio, Kamili, and Latika decided to walk back to Mwana. Unable to resist, Mwana tried to push Kamili from behind as she used to do when the girls were still new at Umani. However, she was swiftly put in her place: Kamili gave her a stern warning, making it clear that Mwana may have gotten away with this before, but now she is a full resident and must be respected. Mwana did not expect such a reaction and stopped.

Kerrio is fast becoming the Umani swimming star, together with Lenny. Immediately after Kerrio finishes her bottles, she looks for the pool and lowers herself into the water, covering her belly to keep away ticks and flies. When Latika and Kamili saw her, they also joined her with Lenny. Soon, the whole group was swimming. 

Enkesha arrived with Kiasa, and as soon as they approached Mwana and Zigi, tension arose between the two nannies, leaving the Keepers wondering what had caused the disagreement. Shortly afterwards, Quanza joined them and attempted to calm the situation. Enkesha, who is normally a very gentle girl, stepped back once Quanza intervened. Kiasa had taken offence because Enkesha was holding a stick that Zigi had picked up from her, which made Kiasa think Enkesha was trying to bond too closely with him. In reality, Enkesha was simply giving Zigi attention and had no intention of pushing Kiasa aside.

Zongoloni soon arrived and led Zigi away to avoid further nanny disputes. He settled beneath his mother to breastfeed. While he was nursing, Mwana passed by and touched his tail, which he strongly disliked. Being disturbed while feeding was poor “table manners” in Zigi’s view, and he protested loudly, prompting Mwana to move away to stand beside her mother, Murera.

Later, Kerrio and Kamili went down to the mud bath, where they were soon joined by Latika, giving the Nairobi girls an enjoyable time in the pool. The trio briefly blocked other orphans from entering. Amali chose instead to take Sulwe and Lenny to a nearby waterhole for quieter space until their mothers arrived. Once the mothers collected their babies, Sonje walked alongside Sulwe and then left with her calf, while Murera, Kerrio, and the others moved into the shade so the babies could rest comfortably during the hot afternoon.

Lenny had been bonding with Murera with plans he had for breastfeeding, but Murera did not allow it. Lenny turned to play with Sulwe and Zigi. The moment he meets Zigi, they must play-fight as boys trying to prove themselves. Lenny’s agemate, Sulwe, does not like pushing games.

Enkesha now lost interest in demanding her bottle. She only targets the midday feed, but when she comes home in the evening she no longer demands a bottle. Since her honeymoon ended, Enkesha has changed; she is more calm and a happy girl. Kerrio is now taking the position that Enkesha was playing, with support from Latika and Kamili.

Today, Kapei found a wild friend who sneaked his way into the orphans’ herd. The young bull did not want to play with them because they were very junior to him, and instead chose to play around with Mwashoti, who was closer to his size. Mwashoti then welcomed his other friends Kapei and Maktao back. All three boys surrounded the bull in a friendly way, but the bull had enough and left.

The nightclubbers didn’t report today on time when we expected them. Only Quanza, Kiasa, and Enkesha came along this early morning and found Amali with friends already having pellets. They were welcomed by Kerrio and Kamili, who caught their smell from within shrubs and walked out to bring them into the herd. Mwana and Murera were having their own special time, which they set aside to be only for mother and daughter eating table.

Later, Mwana walked over to her good friend Amali to say hello. Murera followed, and Kerrio was spotted in a hurry running away from her, worried that she was going to get in trouble. Many of the babies don’t trust her, because of her ever-changing moods. Some days Murera behaves so sweet and jovial, other days she doesn’t have time for anyone. Her changing moods never affect her baby Mwana, who she always favours.

While the orphans were browsing inside the Kibwezi Forest, buffaloes came out from the bushes and surprised them. Kerrio brought Amali and little Mwana away from the buffaloes. Some minutes later, the Keepers heard trumpeting elephants and breaking branches. Now, it was Lima Lima and her team returning to join the orphans.

Amali stopped what she was doing and rushed to join them as a way of welcoming them into the herd. The Keepers waited from a distance to see if there was a wild elephant amongst them and, finding one, joined the group.

Quanza and Enkesha arrived, then Lenny and Sulwe were competing to reach Murera first. Lenny won the race.

The rain just started after a dry spell. During the dry season, we experienced many wild elephants mixing up with the orphans. This sometimes made Murera very worried, because she doesn’t trust an unknown group of elephants around her.

But when it rains, the wild elephants travel far. They move to places now with lots of water and go look for new green pastures away from our babies. They will only come back again in large numbers when the rain stops.

Mwana would not leave her mother far away, even while playing around with other little brothers and sisters in the company of nannies. Lenny miscalculated his movement and slipped on the wet earth, taking him down. He screamed for help, but none of the nannies or big girls were bothered. He had to get up and walk away as a strong boy. He went to his mother Lima Lima, but he was ignored; he found his mother too busy pulling down some food for him.

When Sulwe came along with Sonje, Lenny thought it was not wise for Sulwe to enjoy the food that was dropped by Lima Lima. He tried to push her, but Sulwe stood firm and challenged him. Then Lenny had to stop after seeing Sonje walking towards them.

Amali and Enkesha went to perform their duties as nannies, where Zigi welcomed Amali. He then jumped on top of Amali at the dust bath to play, before Kerrio joined them to play together.

Lima Lima with her team never showed up this morning, but everyone was hopeful that before the midday feeding time all would be around. We kept our faith in Amali, who is always very accurate. When Amali sneaked into the bushes and raised her trunk up to get the accurate direction so that she would go and find them, we trusted her judgment.

By midday, the nightclubbers remained absent, but then the Keepers noticed that Amali was very restless and rumbling. We knew she was making a plan and followed her. When Kiasa and Enkesha came out from the woods, there was big trumpeting around the babies and rumbling. Everyone was overjoyed to be reunited. Kerrio and Latika even joined the party.

Murera walked to greet her best friend, Sonje. Then Murera placed her trunk on Sonje’s mouth, smelling what she ate and seeing if she would share with her, but she found nothing to celebrate. Kamili and Kerrio, accompanied by Mwana and Enkesha, led the way back to the waterhole.

The Keepers never expected that the orphans would do the mud bath because of the morning rains, but they surprised us. In a very wonderful moment, little Sulwe and Zigi jumped into the waterhole, then all babies big and small joined them, making the mud bath today very fantastic.