01 January 2016

It was a very nice day for the babies when they came out of their stockades to begin their day, walking in the forest looking for vegetation. Lima Lima came over to take full responsibility of leading the big herd, even the matriarchs were respecting her leadership role. After a long day’s walk with the keepers all the way into the Chyulu hills and back, Ngasha followed Lima Lima very keenly knowing that it was almost time for milk bottles and wallowing too. When the orphans saw Lima Lima running fast trying to overtake the keepers in front, they also knew it was time for bottle feeding and they knew Lima Lima would certainly try to grab more than her fair share; so all the orphans were trying to keep pace with Lima Lima so she could not grab their bottles on the ground. As for the keepers, they were trying hard to keep the greedy Lima Lima behind but obviously she was getting through or going a different way to them so as to get around them. After having their bottles it was a good time for all the babies to splash their chests in the water hole due to the very warm conditions.

02 January 2016

As soon as Sonje left the stockade this morning she felt very itchy and decided to go and rub her itchy behind before going down on the ground for her friend Ziwa to climb all over her back. Ziwa went rubbing his bottom on Sonje like she had on the rock and the other boys Ngasha and Faraja also wanted to join Ziwa; Sonje accepted to carry them all on her back and they all had a lot of fun, even when the other orphans left, Ziwa seemed to be Sonje’s favourite of all the babies who went for a ride. The orphans were busy foraging very silently and some buffaloes were also very silently hiding in the forest along the path they were walking along. Zongoloni, Ngasha and Jasiri were the first to see then the keepers with Murera behind them. The buffaloes came out defiantly to the babies, and then decided to disperse, running away scattered in all directions, leaving Sonje and Murera going backwards with their keepers and trying to keep up with the speed of the other orphans who left running away from the big crowd of buffaloes. The orphans walked very far fearing the buffaloes they had seen earlier and they crossed over onto the wild elephants paths. There were some wild elephants around not very far away and Murera turned back to her keepers to avoid the wild elephants so they would not take her babies away from her orphan herd.

03 January 2016

Murera took her baby boy Ziwa, with whom she shares with Sonje the responsibility of taking care of during the day. At night the responsibility remains with Ngasha and Faraja because they are neigbours. Murera walked Ziwa to the scratching rock and on the other side she found a small hole which was dug by wild elephants and started doing some exercises, trying to stretch her hind legs to get strong and ready for the long walk. In the early morning hours the muscles in her legs get stiff and stretching them makes it easier for Murera to walk freely and faster. Upon arriving at the dust bath point all the young orphans rolled on the ground very happily, until Ziwa was pushed by the unpredictable baby girl Zongoloni who is sometimes good and at other times can be naughty and a bully to her friends who have smaller tusks than her and are less willing to push back. Ziwa screamed so loudly that made Murera and Sonje went to go and help him from being squeezed amongst the elephants.

04 January 2016

Ngasha and Sonje were very active this morning, waiting for the new day to begin. Ngasha climbed over the elephants loading bay while Sonje remained down on the other side waiting for Ngasha to begin playing with her from the wall above. They held each other’s trunks which is a nice morning greeting and a way of knowing how each one of them spent the night. Lima Lima came cross to a log lying on the ground blocking their way out and started rubbing her chest on it and scratching her bottom too. When the herd went looking for dusting soil, they found their wild friends had been there during the night as well. Ziwa got the smell of wild elephant dung and put some of it in his mouth so as to learn more about what the wild elephants are eating in that area and gain some important probiotics and nutrients as well.

05 January 2016

Jasiri could not wait until it was time for mud bath to scratch the insects off his body so began scratching himself on the post that was near him. Jasiri knew that the weather was going to change later and become cloudy so he resisted a mudbath. Murera and Ziwa took off in another direction while the keepers were still busy eating their lunch. Murera chose to walk off with Ziwa and Sonje to a new place for fresh foraging. The other orphans started to communicate with their friends using their low tone skills of communication, trying to tell Murera to come back instead of going off on a long walk to the Chyulu Hills. When they returned all the orphans walked harmoniously following their humans families who were walking and calling them names, and other sweet things that babies liked to hear from their keepers. They walked for the whole day looking for fresh vegetation. Suddenly some bushbucks appeared from the thickest bushes, running away which scared even the keepers for a moment as they thought some wild cats might be following them, but all was well.

06 January 2016

Zongoloni was playing this morning and decided to take advantage of Ziwa who is younger and smaller than her. Ziwa was playing, rolling on the ground and throwing dust on his body. Zongoloni saw Ziwa playing on the ground and approached him to mount on his back. Ziwa struggled hard to get away from Zongoloni but she overpowered him and was very heavy. The keepers went to help Ziwa together with Murera; the keepers managed to separate them and then get all ten orphans to continue with their patrols to the Umani hills. After awhile the babies seemed tired and took a break to have a rest under the trees to cool their hot bodies from the hot weather.

07 January 2016

When the babies reached the browsing field for fresh greens, Murera was left behind and she complained by rumbling to the orphans who were walking so fast ahead of her. The keepers realised Murera was asking Sonje and Lima Lima not to go any further in the direction they were walking in and also to stop walking to fast. All the babies stopped to listen to what Murera was complaining about. Zongoloni with a few friends stopped to gather some acacia to entertain them whilst they waited for Murera to arrive and lead them where she wanted to go. After this journey to the correct browsing place, Lima Lima stopped abruptly when she heard the vehicle carrying their bottles. They then all changed direction to run towards the bottles with Lima Lima, Zongoloni and Jasiri leading the group. The hot weather continued and after their milk it was time again for the babies to walk to the waterhole to cool down their bodies, and after dust themselves in the loose soil.

08 January 2016

Ngasha joined his friends in the early morning, rolling on the dusting soil before they all walked to the forest. After a dust bath all the babies rushed towards the Chyulu hills, following the footprints and smell of the wild elephants which visited their stockades during the night. After mud bathing around midday, the elephants were very jovial playing in the dusting soil. Lima Lima was enjoying the dust bath while sitting on her bottom and twisting her head around happily, looking at her keepers and attracting more attention from the guests at Umani who were enjoying watching how Lima Lima twists her neck whilst sitting in such a funny position.

09 January 2016

Sonje came out from the stockades to begin her day but suddenly her neck was very itchy and she went to the elephants loading bay wall to scratch her neck. Ziwa came out from the stockades but immediately crossed paths with the naughty Faraja, Ngasha and Jasiri, who stopped him and began pushing him so he could not join his adopted mothers Murera and Sonje. The boys are very jealous of Ziwa and the special attention he receives so when none of the matriarchs are around they push him until he runs away or to one of his mums for help. He ran towards Sonje who welcomed him and patted his head making Ziwa calm and happy again, safe from the pushing boys!

10 January 2016

This morning as Murera went to scratch her bottom on the rocks around, Sonje went to the waterhole to drink some water but she found none there. All the water had been finished by the wild elephants in the night and they had drunk everything in the tank. The keepers were struggling to release more for the orphans to drink so she went into the water trough and put all of her four legs into it! At the bottle feeding ground the bushbucks stepped aside for the elephants to drink water and give them a chance, and when the orphans left again the thirsty antelopes rushed back to the waterhole to resume drinking. The naughty Ngasha caught Lima Lima unaware while playing on the dusting soil; Ngasha started climbing on Lima Lima’s back and she struggled to push Ngasha off. Ngasha continued disturbing her so much that the Keepers eventually stepped in and showed him the accusing fingers so he stopped, and went to join Faraja foraging in the bushes.

11 January 2016

In the morning after a chilly night for the babies, Murera took the responsibility of leading the orphans out but Lima Lima made it very clear that she wanted to be responsible for that; leading the babies out to the forest is her duty, a responsibility and one she remains happy with. The first stop for Murera was to scratch her body when she found a good scratching post. Jasiri, Ngasha and Faraja had some fun running and charging in the forest making heavy rumbling noises and breaking down trees. Jasiri came and found Sonje relaxing on the ground with the other babies jumping on her back. Sonje loves entertaining the young babies and in turn they always feel loved by her.

12 January 2016

It was a very busy morning for all the elephants. When they came out every baby walked directly to go and scratch their bodies as they felt they could not go anywhere until they had done that. Ziwa started to scratch, followed by Lima Lima who later decided to walk away with the other elephants to the bush lands around the Kenze hills looking for greener vegetation. Quanza found some very soft grass to eat and then all the elephants began walking to the wallowing water ground to look for some more lush water plants. Ngasha and Faraja came across very a big tortoise struggling to walk through forest, which was also blocking their way. The tortoise then stopped in order not to be stepped on the elephants and Ngasha stopped to touch it with his trunk. The keepers shouted at him so that he would not disturb it; the tortoise just relaxed and waited inside his shell hiding his head so that Ngasha would not cause him any injury.

13 January 2016

The long day of browsing began when the babies came out of their stockades and the keepers waited to see which way they wanted to go that day. There were very many butterflies flying around in the direction that Lima Lima and her friends wanted to walk too. Zongoloni started playing with the butterflies, while all the other orphans charged around breaking lots of trees and scaring away some of the other smaller wildlife. Lima Lima was blowing her trunk very loudly with Sonje and Ziwa running behind her and Murera. They babies looked very tired when they came for their bottle feeding. They still opted to go swimming though and they started in style, with Sonje floating with her trunk raised high above her head. As soon as they came out of the swimming pool Faraja went for a dust bath, rubbing his bottom to dry up after swimming.

14 January 2016

The playful babies came to the elephants’ loading bay, some attempting to climb on top. Murera walked to the other side because she could not jump like the other young orphans such as Ziwa who did it so fast and easily. Ngasha and his friend Faraja were waiting on a different side, getting ready to their normal pushing game. When Ngasha found Faraja to play they interlocked their trunks and began pushing each other back and forth into the forest. Two wild elephants bulls forced their way in to the waterhole while the babies were still drinking and a few of them still wallowing. Ziwa noticed them and raised his trunk over his head to smell them from far away, before the keepers had even sensed anything. Sonje started to walk towards her baby boy Ziwa protectively and Lima Lima and Zongoloni also walked away to avoid meeting the wild bulls. When the bulls smelt the keepers around them, they left to hide in the forest again, still slightly fearing the smell of humans.

15 January 2016

Sonje came out running quickly this morning to a corner looking for any scratching tree or rock available to her to help scratch her hind legs. Lima Lima saw her going very fast and followed Sonje because she was also being disturbed by the same insects on her bottom. When all the elephants stopped scratching and began walking to the forests for the days foraging, it started to rain heavily and almost interrupt the day’s plan. It was very big and heavy rain and it lasted for longer than expected. The rain disturbed some of the younger ones and Ziwa looked for where he could hide his head; the only option was to look for Sonje and Murera to go and hide his head under their big ears. The Keepers had big umbrellas and raincoats to cover themselves as they kept monitoring all the babies and be sure all was well with Murera and Sonje.

16 January 2016

Sonje started her day by eating as much vegetation as she could in an effort to fill her stomach before making her way to join the rest of the orphans who had started to make their way out to the bush. Ziwa and Ngasha came across some very big logs that had fallen and were perfect for some scratching activities. Ziwa and Sonje began scratching straight away and it was not long before Lima Lima joined them scratching her bottom vigorously against the log. The rest of the orphan group joined in a few minutes later and it was quite a site to see them all scratching away. Murera was busy scratching on the rocks as she did not want to have to vie for space or a good spot and was able to scratch away to her heart’s content. When she was done she gathered Sonje, Ziwa and the rest of the group and they started making their way to the wallowing waterhole where they would be able to cool off in the muddy waters. On arrival they found some buffaloes were already at the waterhole busily enjoying a mudbath. The arrival of the orphans and the keepers brought an end to their fun and the buffaloes ran into the bushes leaving the waterhole to the elephants who were quick to have their milk and dive into the water.

17 January 2016

As soon as Sonje exited her stockade she headed to Ziwa’s quarters where she waited for the keepers to open his gate and let him out. She then sat on the ground waiting for Ziwa and the other younger orphans to come and play with her. Ziwa came running out of his stockade and made a beeline for Sonje rumbling as they interlocked their trunks in greeting. Jasiri was next to join the two but was prevented from climbing on to Sonje by Ziwa who made sure to quickly make his way to Sonje’s back, clamouring on to her and effectively preventing Jasiri from playing with Sonje. Ziwa sees Sonje as his “mother” and can sometimes be very possessive of her wanting her all to himself.

18 January 2016

Last night some wild elephant families came to visit the orphans at the stockades. Among them were a few babies. The wild groups spent their time at the entrance to the stockade smelling the air and getting the scent of the orphans. Ziwa was the closest to them as his stockade is near the gate and he enjoyed rumbling to them in greeting. Ngasha and Faraja were also raising their trunks to catch the scent of the wild elephants as well as trying to reach out and touch the wild elephants who were putting their trunks through the wire fence. Sadly one of the wild elephants got shocked by the electric fence and they all ran off leaving the orphans behind who started shouting and trying to get out of their stockades in an effort to follow their wild friends. In the morning the orphans picked up the wild group scent and tried to follow them. Murera and Sonje did not want the wild elephants near the orphan group as they were worried that they might try and snatch away some of the younger orphans. As such they made sure to steer the orphan group well away from the direction taken by the wild herds.

19 January 2016

As the orphans made their way to the bush this morning Sonje was careful to keep a close eye on Ziwa who was happy to stay by her side and under her protection. The rest of the group followed behind and kept pushing Ziwa in an effort to get him to move faster as the milk feeding time was coming closer with each passing minute. Quanza was leading part of the group and in the browsing fields came across Sonje, Ziwa and Lima Lima who were playfully rolling around in the grass scratching and drying their wet bodies to remove the water that they had earlier splashed over themselves. Lima Lima fought hard to keep the naughtier orphans like Faraja and Zongoloni from climbing onto her back. Ngasha intervened helping her by pulling Faraja off her back to give her some peace. She lay down and raised her trunk in an effort to signal that she was not in the mood from their games. Lima Lima also came to her assistance signalling Zongoloni to leave her alone. He obliged and turned away to browse on some nearby vegetation.

20 January 2016

The orphans started their day with a very long distance walk towards the Chyulu hills followed by their keepers who were waiting to see where the orphans would decide to spend the morning browsing. As the group approached the Chyulu hills some antelopes jumped out of the bushes scaring the orphans who quickly ran to their keepers who did their best to calm them down, not knowing what had scared them as the forest was quite thick and they had not seen the antelopes. As such the keepers were also a little scared as they did not know what had frightened their charges. Faraja and Lima Lima were particularly scared and raised their ears flapping them in an effort to try and keep cool and calm. It took a while but the keepers were able to get everyone together and once they were all calm they led them to some natural waterholes which were nearby so that the orphans could cool off as it was a rather warm day. Ziwa and Zongoloni were the first to jump into the mudbath and were quickly joined by the others. Murera had in the meantime separated herself from the group forcing the keepers to bring an end to the mudbath games so that they could all go and look for Murera. Sonje was the first to spot her friend who was hiding in the bushes happily browsing not far from where the group had been wallowing.

21 January 2016

Today the orphans encountered some Buffaloes who were busy foraging in the thick bushes around the Umani hills. Lima Lima with the help of Zongoloni hid behind some nearby bushes before Zongoloni signaled Lima Lima to start running toward Murera was browsing a little further away. Zongoloni and Lima Lima arrived to find their friends breaking some branches to enjoy fresh greens. Quanza then came into the open fields where she could easily see and smell the keepers. Ziwa on the other hand was bush scratching his bottom with his tail in the air like a warthog. As the orphans continued walking around browsing Faraja took some time to lie on the ground, rolling on his belly and onto his side in an effort to get rid of some of the ticks that were on him. Quanza joined Faraja on the ground and started to do the same thing. They both lay on a pile of dry leaves their legs touching each other as they rolled around getting ticks off their bodies. They seemed very happy and content with each other’s company.

22 January 2016

Sonje kept on showing her funny sitting styles this morning. Once she exited her stockade she went towards Ziwa’s stockade rumbling to him a greeting to which he responded as he waited to be let out. She then sat down so that once Ziwa got out he would come and play with her. She then rolled around enticing Ziwa to climb onto her back which he was happy to do as he scratched his belly against her. Ngasha saw the fun the two were having and tried to join in but Ziwa pushed him away wanting to keep Sonje to himself. Murera led the group away from the stockades and to the forest this morning so that they could browse for a while until it was time to head towards the waterhole where they would have their noon milk bottle. On arrival at the bathing point they all had their share before heading to the water. Sonje did not want to swim and chose instead to heads across the water crossing to the other side where she enjoyed browsing until the others were done bathing. The others flapped their ears as they wallowed all in an effort to cool themselves down.

23 January 2016

Ngasha was in a hungry mood this morning and was quick to head to the acacia trees to feed on the fresh leaves while the rest of the orphans had a scratch against the elephant loading bay before enjoying some mounting and pushing games around the stockade compound. Sonje was busy strength testing by trying to push down a tree. She pushed with all her strength but was not able to get the tree to move. Upon realizing she was not going to win she went and found Ziwa and proceeded to make her way to the waterhole where the rest of Murera’s group was already having a lot of fun. Some of the orphans were rolling around in the water while others were splashing themselves. Sonje and Ziwa went and sat in the mud on the banks of the waterhole moving her tail from side to side in an effort to dislodge some ticks. A trumpeting sound from the nearby hills sent the elephants into a panic and they all ran out of the waterhole toward the keepers. It was not long after the trumpet that a wild bull was seen heading towards the waterhole. Sonje, Ziwa and Zongoloni waited to greet him but as he got closer Zongoloini got scared and ran off trumpeting leaving Ziwa and Sonje to meet their wild friend. The wild bull, Sonje and Ziwa greeted one another with their trunks. Sadly as the wild bull smelt the keepers he became wary and started to push Sonje away forcing both her and Ziwa to head off and rejoin the orphan group.

24 January 2016

Today Murera decided to lie on the ground and roll around in the grass together with the other orphans. Unfortunately she was not able to get up and started to panic screaming for the keepers and the other orphans to come and help her. Sonje teamed up with some of the other babies and ran to Murera calming her down and then pushing her to get her back onto her feet. At the mudbath Sonje had a very vigorous wallowing session and managed to get stuck in the mud. She ended up rubbing her bottom in the mud while she waited for help to come be it from the keepers or one of her orphan friends. Ziwa came and was struggling to help Sonje out of the mud while the rest of the herd headed off the browsing fields oblivious to Sonje’s problem. Thankfully the keepers were on hand to help, getting into the mud themselves to push her free.

25 January 2016

Quanza and Ngasha separated themselves from the rest of the group this morning choosing to browse in a different are close to the matriarchs of the group Murera and Sonje. Zongoloni had some fun blowing her trunk loudly making the butterflies in the vicinity take to flight. Zongoloni then started to play with all the white butterflies which were fluttering around her as she moved the grass and continued to blow her trumpet. Today the wild elephant bull that has been seen near the orphans before made his way once again to the babies but seemed less wary and very eager to interact with them. Sadly however Murera and Zongoloni are still somewhat scared of the big bull and kept their distance moving away taking Zongoloni who was in the process of having her milk and as such ran off with her milk bottle to ensure that the bull would not get any of her share.

26 January 2016

After the birds stopped welcoming the dawn Ngasha and the other orphans exited their respective stockades. Ngasha was in such a rush to get out that he pushed his roommate Faraja out of the way and ran up to Zongoloni who was making his way to the elephant loading area to join up with the rest of the orphan herd who were having a scratch there before heading out to the browsing fields. Murera and Sonje spent some time browsing near Ziwa while Lima Lima started rounding up her favourite babies, including Zongoloni, in an effort to get them to join her and move them away from the two Matriarchs. When Sonje realised that Lima Lima was trying to divide the group into two she was quick to bring an end her antics by pushing her to the ground to discipline her. After having done this Sonje realised that all Lima Lima was doing was getting the orphans ready for the milk feeding time which was nearly upon them. Lima Lima is a good time keeper and Sonje apologized for being so hard on her. After the noon milk feed Ngasha and Faraja walked straight to the waterhole for a wallow as the temperatures were soaring. The orphans stood in the water splashing themselves while Sonje and Ziwa dove in and had a swim. Once everyone was done wallowing Murera then entered the water to cool off without the worry of being pushed and bumped by the others.

27 January 2016

This morning is started to rain before the orphans exited their stockades. Zongoloni was quick to raise her trunk so as to ascertain the direction that the rain was coming from in order to head in the opposite direction when they headed out for the day. The rain however was just a very quick shower and was over by the time the orphans began to make their way to the mudbath for the noon milk feed. Lima Lima was leading the group as she is the greediest. She had both Ngasha and Ziwa with her as she made her way to the feeding area. The orphans had a fabulous time mudbathing today. Sonje and Ziwa lay in the water and rubbed their bottoms against the bottom of the mudbath. It was not long however before Ziwa had enough of the mudbath and exited the water to join Muerea who was browsing nearby. Zongoloni was climbing over the other orphans as she wallowed and as such was falling all over the place rolling around in the water. This resulted in her getting a little stuck and unable to get up thus needing some assistance from the other orphans who were happy to help.

28 January 2016

During the night a few wild elephants came to the stockades and had a drink water from the water trough leaving their dung droppings in the area. When Ziwa and Faraja caught the scent of the wild elephants dung in the morning they decided to try and see if they could catch up with their wild friends who were headed towards the Chyulu hills National Park. Murera and Sonje with the rest of the babies were left behind and it was not long before Faraja started to rumble when he realized that the two of them were on their own and that if they went too far afield they risked missing their milk feed. Murera also started to rumble and called the two youngsters to return to the group as she was worried that the wild elephants may manage to draw the two boys into their group taking them away from the Nursery herd. When the babies arrived at the mudbath Lima Lima spotted two turtles floating and swimming in the water and it was not long before Sonje and Zongoloni also saw this and made a bee line for the mudbath. Zongoloni stepped into the water and started kicking her feet in an effort to chase the turtles away. Her actions were all in vain as the turtles were happy where they were and had no intention of leaving the water before they were ready to do so.

29 January 2016

Last night as the keepers were busy around their quarters the orphans started making a lot of noise, banging the gates to their stockades tying to get out. The keepers could hear them rumbling loudly before Ziwa started screaming which upset Sonje who started trying even harder to get out of her stockade to see what was upsetting Ziwa so and comfort him. The keepers were quick to come and see what the entire racket was about. Lima Lima raised her trunk into the air showing the keepers where to look and as the keepers looked around they saw a leopard in the tree near Lima Lima’s stockade. The leopard seemed to be very relaxed and not fussed about all the upset that it had caused. The keepers could also hear Hyenas calling around the springs. All in all this made for a very noisy and stressful night keeping the keepers and the orphans on alert until dawn. Hyenas are always lazy to hunt, waiting for other bog cats to hunt for them.

30 January 2016

In the evening two wild bulls came to visit the orphans at the stockades. They had a long drink at the water trough before walking close to the fence line until one of the bulls got shocked by the electric wire after which they took to breaking some tree branches near the fence. They then started to communicate with the orphans in low rumbles greeting the babies who were happy to rumble back a salutation. Jasiri was fast asleep through all of this and as such missed the opportunity to make friends with the wild bulls. Zongoloni shares a stockade with Jasiri and took the opportunity given by his sleeping friend to eat all the greens that they had been given. He woke to find all the food gone and Zongoloni busy interacting with Lima Lima through the bars between their stockades.

31 January 2016

Today the orphans at Umani were visited by one of the cabinet secretaries for environment and wildlife who had come to see the orphans as well as the water springs. Ngasha was on fantastic form today and was very friendly with the cabinet secretary staying close to her so that she could touch and play with her. Ngasha kept sniffing at the cabinet secretary’s shoes touching them all over and trying to undo the laces. She was so attentive that the cabinet secretary could not help but fall in love with Ngasha and got some pods to feed him which he loved. The other orphans saw how much fun Ngasha was having and the special treatment he was getting and tried to move in on the action. They also tried to grab the cabinet secretary’s shoe laces but were prevented from doing so by Lima Lima who decided to keep order and tried to get Ngasha to move away by pushing him gently on the backside but he was not prepared to budge and just pushed back.