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During the orphans’ mud bath at 11am, it was very hot and the babies quickly drank from their milk bottles and ran into the mud bath to cool down. When Luggard, Malima, Tamiyoi, Ambo and Jotto arrived at the mud bath area, it was all they could do to finish their milk as fast as possible before going to suck up mud and spray it behind their ears to cool down. Luggard especially, who loves his mud baths, happily wallowed in the thick mud accompanied by Tamiyoi, Malima and Jotto, though their happy games took a turn when Esampu, Murit, Godoma and Ngilai arrived at the mud bath too. They rolled and bumped and slid against each other, which was a bit too rough for the smaller ones, so they got out to enjoy soil dusting with the help of their keepers instead. Ngilai ran out of the mud bath and started trying to play with the younger ones and bumping into them as well, but the keepers warned him away. Instead of going back into the mud bath though naughty Ngilai decided to run along the rope cordon where the visitors were standing and enjoyed bumping into them, getting them all nice and muddy before running back into the mud bath; a clever move to avoid being told off by the keepers – although they enjoyed it and applauded Ngilai’s naughty behaviour!

Mbegu has been used to leading the young group out into the bush in the morning and down for public visiting and feeding time, but today she officially became the leader of the whole herd when she had to take responsibility of leading the older group down to visiting time. Although she has been used to being close to the young ones, at the public visit today she didn’t show any sign of missing them too much and was happy, continuing with the feeding time as normal. Godoma is now the oldest girl in the first group of young orphans. She is the leader and caretaker of all the little babies like Tamiyoi, Jotto, Malima, Esampu and Ambo. Having learnt all the lessons of caring and protecting youngsters from Mbegu she is beginning to show she has what it takes to lead this little group. Today at public visiting when Esampu tried to bully Malima from her milk bottle and Malima shouted in protest, Godoma ran over to them to see what the problem was, proving that she is a good caretaker. Perhaps she will even be a matriarch herself one day!

Out in the field this morning all the orphans were busy enjoying their morning browse with no major activities observed. During public visiting and because of the continued high temperatures, the little orphans did not waste any time in getting into the mud pool after having their milk bottles. They all enjoyed a playful wallowing session getting mud all over the place, with playful Esampu and Maramoja being particularly mischievous. Little Esampu was rushing out of the mud hole and running into the water trough tub, sloshing water over the sides and onto the feet of the visiting public, before running back into the mud hole again. Maramoja also came out of the mud hole and went running up to one of the water trough tubs, but she instead used it to scratch her hind which the visitors thought was really funny; she enjoyed a good scratch there for some time.

Esampu’s greedy character is well known amongst her little friends. Today during the public visit when Malima was having her milk in the open space, she saw Esampu running towards her with her ears raised but before she could reach her, Malima started shouting and sheltered herself behind the keeper. Godoma responded immediately and started charging towards Malima to help, but just a wagging finger from the keepers pointed at Esampu saw her change her intension, and instead she just went to the water troughs to have a drink and Godoma just watched her from nearby to make sure she didn’t do anything else naughty. Day after day Karisa, Ukame and Malima are moulding their relationship – becoming firm friends and going everywhere together, even though Malima is so much younger. If the keepers cannot find one of them in the main herd, soon they will realise none of the three are there and they will always be found browsing separately together. Today after the 3pm private visit it was noticed that Ukame was missing from the herd. As the search for her began, it was Karisa who came out of the thicket first, followed by Wanjala leading Ukame. When Karisa saw the keepers he walked towards them, but when Ukame and Wanjala saw the keepers they ran away at first. Then they decided to follow behind Karisa who was walking with the keepers to re-join the rest of the herd in the forest.

Mbegu is being such a responsible matriarch and she seems to understand her group so well. Early in the morning as all the orphans were walking out deep into the forest, some of the very young ones were crowded under one of the tall trees. They were busy feeding on the leaves that had fallen to the ground there – Ambo, Jotto, Esampu, Ngilai and Godoma were all there but Ngilai and Esampu were shoving the others to try and get most of the leave for themselves. Godoma and Ambo kept pushing back and when Mbegu saw the group having their differences she stepped in to resolve the problem. She stepped in and pulled down a branch of the tree for the babies so that everyone had something to enjoy, and everyone was happy. Dupotto followed suit and soon almost the whole herd were there enjoying the leaves. Missing from the scene again were Ukame, Karisa and Wanjala again but this time the little girl Malima too. They were browsing separately together to the side and had found their own nice branches to chew on. At around 2pm, big boy Kelelari finally got to leave his stockade and join the others out in the forest. We decided after 2 months he was finally ready and trusted the keepers enough too. His walk out to the forest was very slow and it took him a long time to join the others who had come back to pick up him. He was so much older when he came to the nursery and thus that bit more traumatized after losing his family. Everyone who approached him regardless of their age or size was charged at and pushed away. Mbegu tried to reach out to him too whilst he drank water from a water trough, but she was pushed away too. When he finally reached the forest he was still pushing the others away, even Rapa who is known for not being very friendly to young ones was not spared and he stayed away from Kelelari for the rest of the day. It was the courageous short little boy Ndotto who tried to stop this behaviour. Ndotto walked straight up to him as Kelelari tried to warn him away with his long tusks and big body, but Ndotto just pushed him away. Kelelari tried to charge at him and Ndotto just charged back and pushed him into the bushes! Ndotto’s wrestling practise with Kauro and the other big boys before they left must have successfully taught him some good lessons and from then on, Kelelari started behaving! He even stayed with the herd for the private visit in the afternoon and behaved without causing any problems – he really enjoyed the mud bath! At 4.30pm before the others come back to their stockades at 5pm, he was escorted back with Mbegu, Ndotto, Dupotto and Karisa and he had no problem going back into his pen. What a fun and successful first day out for this big boy we are so thankful we managed to save, and thank goodness for Ndotto too!

Esampu still doesn’t really get on with the other babies and continues to be told off by some of the older ones for her naughty behaviour. Whilst having her share of milk at the 11am feeding session, she saw Jotto passing by and without warning she decided to push him into the mud pool, before going back to drink her milk bottle. As a way of disciplining her she was denied the rest of her share and sent away by the keepers. She fought against them pretending she had done nothing wrong, but in the end she opted to run away for a drink at the water trough instead. Ambo and Sana Sana were drinking water from the same trough and she went ahead to push the younger Ambo out of the way for some space to drink. Sana Sana wasn’t happy about that and defended Ambo by putting the cheeky Esampu in her place. Sana Sana forced her into the mud bath to play and she stayed there right until the end of visiting time. Malima, Godoma and Murit on the other hand had a wonderful time during the visit. Malima is one fan of the mud bath and loves to play in it when she is in her best mood. It was because of her that Godoma and Murit also got into the pool as well and there they played a pushing and mounting game. Malima looked almost as if she was swimming in the water! Completely submerged and moving from one end to the other; the three has lots of fun before walking to dry themselves in the dust. On their way out they were met by some warthogs who were also coming to cool themselves but they were not spared by the playful trio. Godoma took them on driving them back into the bushes and chasing them in different directions, before joining the others who were already on their way back to the forest.

Pare seemed half asleep still this morning out in the forest. As they all walked out and dispersed in different directions, Pare realised after awhile he had been left behind with the young baby group that tend to hang around the keepers. He couldn’t seem to trace where the others had gone and after a short while he managed to trumpet and see if any of the others in the older group would respond. No matter how much he trumpeted and shouted though, no one responded. He started running up and down and he tripped over in the bushes as he frantically ran around. Still there was no response as to which direction the older orphans had walked. He decided to abandon his search and this was when Murit, who was also in the younger orphan herd, decided to challenge him to a pushing game. This game went on for some time and then he started trying to climb on Sana Sana but she wasn’t interested in that game and ran away to continue browsing with the others. Murit ended up wrestling with Jotto who he likes wrestling with so much. Esampu emerged from the group to chase away the warthogs but there was one that was as naughty and persistent as her! All the others disappeared as soon as she charged at them but one kept charging back at Esampu! Esampu was furious and pushed her all the way away from the babies for about 200m. She ran back to the group very happy and pleased with herself and Murit welcomed her back with a trumpet of appreciation.

There seems to be something bothering Maxwell this morning. When the babies were coming out of their pens and going to the forest, Max was looking agitated and just walking around his stockade with his head and tail raised in the air. When he was called to his gate he started to walk towards it and then turned around and charged off in the other direction. Esampu and Ngilai tried to invite Max in their usual running up and down game but today he wasn’t interested – we think there was another wild rhino nearby and that came close to his stockade this morning and he was nervous about his territory. He stayed alert for some time before settling down later in the morning. Mbegu and Godoma were so excited this morning and this was when they met up with Musiara, the little orphan rescued from the Masai Mara earlier in the month. He is improving day after day and today he came out of his stable a bit earlier than other days today and the other orphans were still in the buses near the stockades. Mbegu and Godoma were hanging around with the group of Ambo, Tamiyoi, Jotto, Murit and Luggard and from a distance Mbegu saw the little one walking behind her keeper. She ran to meet him and as soon as she got there she hugged and pulled the baby close to her under her neck, rumbling affectionately. Godoma was attracted to the sound of the rumbling and ran over to Mbegu as well, and together they walked the baby over to the others. Jotto was very interested in Musiara and tried to entice him to a pushing game. The two bigger girls never left his side until milk feeding time when they had to go and have their breakfast bottles.

Esampu and Ambo remain estranged neighbours and unlike the other orphans who always form close bonds with the stockade neighbours, these two who sleep next to each other have never got on. We can say that the problem isn’t so much Ambo, although he does sometimes initiate arguments, but it seems to be Esampu that does not like Ambo so much. In the morning Ambo came out and was walking behind his keeper and it was as if she already had a grudge against him. She ran up and pushed him and despite the keeper trying to separate them it some peace. The fight went on all the way back to their stables and there was nothing the keeper could do but to try and leave them to work out their differences. They are of almost the same strength and the fight went on until Ambo surrendered and walked out of the stable. Goodness! The twin-like brothers Wanjala and Galla have been hanging out together today, separately from the rest of the herd. They look alike in so many ways and in their character too.

She is such a special one our little Mbegu and we are sure that many will agree. Musiara was with his keeper some distance away from the rest of the herd and we are not sure how she is able to tell when babies arrive in the forest but it must be something to do with their good sense of smell. Accompanied by Luggard, Jotto and Murit she headed over to where the baby Musiara was with his keepers. She will always abandon anything she is doing for the sake of a little one. She decided to give some time for the other three to interact with the baby; Luggard said hello to the baby then made space for Jotto and Murit to play with him for some minutes then Mbegu stepped in. She took Musiara under her neck with her trunk folded around him and he was very content and comfortable within a very short time. He started trying to move around to find Mbegu’s ears to suckle on which Mbegu didn’t mind at all. Just like a mother when she felt he had enough and wanted to do something else she began to dig some soft soil with her front feet for him to play with. She lay down on the ground in the soft soil inviting the baby to play and Jotto joined them too although not for long as Mbegu and the small group had to join the rest of the main herd for their bottle feeding. After the public visit and once they were in the forest again, the group met with the little one once again. It was interesting to watch Tamiyoi, Jotto and Esampu take care of little Musiara too. They were very protective and not allowing the warthogs to come too close. Tamiyoi and Jotto were also a little nervous of the warthogs but fearless Esampu never gave them a chance to come close to the baby and charged at them chasing them into the thicket.

The two girls who don’t really play too many games with the others are Malkia and Sana Sana. Sana Sana keeps herself busy browsing most of the time whilst the orphans are out but today was different. Today the herd looked quite dull and these two girls took it upon themselves to entertain everyone. They had some fun playing a pushing game at length and making the others in the herd perk up a bit. Generally it was quite a cool day today compared to the other very hot days we have been having, and on such days you will find it quite hard to find many of the orphans in the mud bath. Today none of them decided to enter the mud during any of the sessions when they visited the area. Malima and Esampu who love the mud just kept dipping their trunks into it to feel the temperature and both of them decided not to enter. Esampu seems to have extended her dislike for the warthogs. The warthogs have a long history with the orphans as they know that if they follow them and feed close to them they will have protection from any lions around as well. But since Musiara has started visiting the main herd Esampu has been very protective and have not let them anywhere close to the baby. Today she has made it her mission to drive them back into the thicket where they should be and she got friend to help her on this mission in the form of Pare. Since morning these two have been driving the warthogs into the bushes and not letting them anywhere near the herd. Today after the 3pm visit Wanjala went back into the forest with the others but then decided to go a different way. Because he normally wonders off with Ukame and Karisa and they were in the herd still, the keepers assumed he was there too. The keepers realised though just before it was bed time and found him browsing some distance away from the others. He was walked to join the last ones that were returning home and we hope he does not decide to browse on his own again soon!