Keepers' Diaries, January 2017
Voi Reintegration Unit
The junior dependent orphans of Voi welcomed the New Year along side Emily’s herd of Ex Orphans, who were with 3 wild bulls, all of whom converged at the Voi stockades in the early morning, as though aware that this was an auspicious day. Ex Orphan bull Laikipia was missing from this group, but was spotted later during the day ambling along to join a group of wild friends. As the month wore on, his presence with the Ex Orphans was intermittent and he took to making a nuisance of himself around the compound, breaking fences to access fresh grass. We realised that this was probably due to the presence of the older wild bulls trailing Emily’s herd, and that Mweya was attracting their interest. Fellow 17 year old, Lolokwe also was spotted amongst Emily’s herd, appearing amongst them sporadically throughout this month and probably due to the same reason. The Ex Orphans weathered the last dry season by making their way to better pasture on neighbouring ranches, it being extremely arid in the greater Tsavo area. They have probably decided to remain around the Stockades for the time being in order to benefit from the supplement feeds of Lucerne hay as well as lucerne pellets, plus, of course, the presence of water. One day Emily, Icholta and Edie, along with their respective babies, Emma, Inca and Eden turned up at the Stockades ahead of any of the other Ex Orphan herd, gulping down water from the stockade water trough. Icholta, who had previously been looking a bit tired and thin due to the drought and breast feeding now one year old baby Inca, appeared plumper now thanks to these extra supplements, which have obviously also helped ensure that Inca had adequate milk as well.
01 January 2017
Today is the beginning of a new year and the stockade dependant orphan elephants, Ex Orphans and three wild bulls all convened at the stockade compound in the morning. Last year was difficult for them all as it was very dry and they were provided with several different supplement feeds, copra cake, Lucerne, and special Lucerne pellets.
Kenia and Ndii settled with the Ex Orphans for the supplement feeding but left about fifteen minutes later with the stockade dependant group as they headed out to the park for the day. The Ex Orphans remained at the stockade compound for another 15 minutes or so before also making their way back to the park.
Laikipia was missing from the Ex Orphan group but was later seen along the staff fence line enjoying some green vegetation. He was later walked towards the main park where he could rejoin his friends.
02 January 2017
It was a beautiful beginning to the day with all the stockade dependant orphan elephants assembling for their delicious milk bottle before settling to feed on copra cake and dairy cube supplements. There were then brief games in the stockade compound before Kihari and Ishaq-B led the group to the browsing grounds.
Soon after they left the stockade Emily’s herd in the company of three wild bulls arrived.
One wild bull was very close to Emma, Inca and Safi, joining them for a drink at the stockade water trough.
Lolokwe was present today but Laikipia was once again absent from the group. The Ex Orphan herd left the stockade after about half an hour and made their way to the browsing fields.
In the evening Ishaq-B enjoyed a dusting game in an erosion trench and it was not long before Mudanda joined her. Araba was busy watching and cheering them on and trumpeted loudly in excitement. Ndii took Ndoria to a private browsing place before joining the others as they headed back to the stockades.
There was an orphan female Zebra brought in by the KWS rangers from Galana today. Ngulia was jealous of the new arrival and seemed to want to attack her but was prevented from doing so by the keepers. Sadly, despite all our efforts, the zebra died a week later.
03 January 2017
The day began with the stockade dependant orphans emptying their morning milk bottle and proceeding for the supplement feeding before engaging each other in a game of hide and seek as they chased one another around the compound.
They later went to start their busy browsing day on the northern side of the stockade.
Lolokwe arrived alone at the compound and had a drink of water from the stockade trough and relaxing for half an hour before the other members of the Emily’s herd arrived to join him at which point he took off to the browsing fields. It seems that he is avoiding the wild bulls who often accompany Emily and her group.
Layoni engaged Eden for a wonderful wrestling match on arrival at the browsing grounds, with Emma enjoying milk feeding from her mother Emily.
The stockade dependant orphans browsed in single file throughout the day, with Embu, who has finished her course of treatment, putting on weight and condition and looking much better. Embu led the orphan herd back to the safety of the stockades in the evening.
04 January 2017
The morning was perfect with the earliest caller this morning being Mweya who came alone and waited in front of Kenia and Ndii’s stockade. Kenia and Ndii thought she wanted to take their baby Araba and charged past her to have their milk bottle before leaving the stockade in a hurry so as to prevent Mweya from interacting with Araba or any of the other babies. Mweya could see what they were up to and decided not to follow them and as such left the group alone to enjoy the mornings browsing session. Mweya headed back to the park in search of Emily’s herd.
The stockade dependant orphans spent the morning browsing half way up the western side of Msinga Hill before making their way to the middle water pan where they had a lot of fun in mud bathing games.
05 January 2017
This morning Kenia took charge of the orphan herd and led them to the browsing field as soon as they had finished their milk and supplement feeding. Twenty minutes after they had left the Ex Orphans arrived at the stockades. It seems that Kenia had an inkling that they would be coming and wanted to be gone before they arrived so as to ensure that no one tried to steal Araba away from her.
Emily, Icholta and Edie with their respective babies Emma, Inca and Eden arrived first, gulping down water from the stockade trough. Icholta who had previously been looking a bit tired and thin due to the drought was looking plumper, thanks to the Lucerne pellets and the straw Lucerne grass, which means that Inca is getting enough milk.
Laikipia was happy to be among the Ex Orphan females today as the big wild elephant bull that is usually with Emily’s herd was missing today. There was a teenage wild elephant bull present, but he did not seem to pose any threat to Laikipia. The Ex Orphan herd with their wild friend left after drinking water.
06 January 2017
The morning was filled with fun as the stockade dependant orphans enjoyed some wonderful dusting and chasing games after the milk and supplement feeding. They then left the stockade heading to the northern side of Msinga Hill for the morning browsing session.
After an hour of serious browsing, Emily’s herd was seen in company of the same teenage wild elephant bull as yesterday, as well as the bull with the chopped trunk. The teenage wild bull seems to have had a soft spot for Sweet Sally and her calf Safi and browsed near them, following all of their movements. Emily’s herd didn’t interact with the stockade dependant orphans due to the distance between them.
At 10am, the big wild elephant bull that is usually with the Ex Orphan herd paid an impromptu visit to the stockade dependant orphans, browsing for a short spell before heading of to find Emily’s group. While with the babies he came to Nelion’s rescue when Tundani sat on Nelion’s head as Nelion was in playing dusting games.
07 January 2017
The morning was good with the milk dependant orphan elephants enjoying their share of milk before settling for the supplement feeding. There were some brief games before the orphans marched out of the compound to the browsing grounds. They browsed on Msinga Hill under the leadership of Mbirikani and Mashariki, before coming down and heading to the middle water hole for milk and water.
Laikipia who had broken into the staff fence line for the second time this month in order to browse on the green bushes was driven out into the main park by the keepers. Thankfully he did not put up much resistance.
Emily’s herd arrived at the stockade in the company of the big wild elephant bull and the two teenage bulls. We feel that the big bull could be the reason that Laikipia breaks through the staff fence line. After drinking water at the stockade water trough, Layoni went to tackle Taveta who had climbed on his back earlier in the day in a mimic mating encounter which annoyed her.
08 January 2017
It was a nice beginning of the day with the orphans happily coming out of their respective stockades and downing their morning milk bottle in a hurry before enjoying their sweet special Lucerne grass pellets and copra cake. Kenia saw Emily’s herd approaching and took off with the rest of her herd following blindly, without knowing why Kenia had so suddenly decided to lead them out.
The big wild elephant bull was with the Ex Orphan herd together with the two teenage wild bulls. Lolokwe and Laikipia were missing today. Thoma, Thor and Wasessa had a wonderful drinking moment after which Thor had fun playing on the walls of the water trough. Emily’s herd did not spend much time at the stockades as they had seen Kenia leaving and wanted to try and follow the babies and catch up with them. They were, however, not able to meet up with the stockade dependent group who were browsing on the eastern side of Msinga Hill.
09 January 2017
It was a beautiful beginning to the day as the stockade dependant orphans came out of their night quarters in groups of five, emptying their morning milk bottles before settling for supplement feeding.
Today’s game was chasing the baboons that were coming down Msinga Hill before the group headed to the park for a busy day of browsing in the field. Kenia settled to browse with her adopted baby Araba making sure that Ndii who was heading their way would not take Araba from her. Lentili and Mashariki took the lead of the browsing activities today.
Later in the morning, Laikipia was seen chasing Mweya for some mating advances. A teenage bull was had the same idea as Laikipia and followed the two around.
10 January 2017
It was a sunny morning as the stockade dependant orphans lined up one behind another as they made their way out of the stockade compound and to the browsing fields. Kihari, Naipoki and Ishaq-B took the lead of the group and they settled to browse halfway up Msinga Hill.
Emily’s herd was seen browsing and moving around the base of the hill as before making their way to the middle water hole for a drink. Taveta was seen approaching Layoni for a pushing game. Layoni did not engage Taveta but instead was seen taking Eve for a wrestling match.
Laikipia was with the Ex Orphan group today, following them slowly from behind as another big wild bull had joined Emily’s herd and seemed to have come to try and mate with Mweya who did not seem at all interested in his advances.
11 January 2017
The morning was good with the stockade dependant orphan elephants happily playing at the stockade compound after their milk and supplement feeding after which they followed Kihari and Rorogoi to the browsing grounds.
Rorogoi, Embu and Bada had their own private browsing session for half an hour before joining the rest of the herd. After feeding for more than half an hour, Emily’s herd was spotted browsing four hundred meters from the stockade dependant orphans. The wild elephant bull that approached them three days ago, once again separated from the Ex Orphan herd to join the babies and spend some time browsing with them. He later rejoining Emily’s herd escorted for a short distance by Embu and Rorogoi.
In another wonderful encounter, Tundani came to the water to join the babies and made a beeline for Ishaq-B as he wanted to ride on Ishaq-B’s back. The rest of the days browsing activities took place close to the waterhole.
12 January 2017
This morning the stockade dependant orphan elephants kept busy with their morning activities of milk and supplement feeding heading to the browsing grounds. Soon after they arrived at the base of Msinga Hill, Mbirikani, Bada and Rorogoi tried to get the group to go up the hill but Kihari and Naipoki who had taken leadership this morning did not want to lead the group up there.
After browsing peacefully for more than three hours, Ndii managed to steal little Araba for some private browsing time. Kenia was quick to notice that Araba was gone and followed suit. Kenia didn’t react to Ndii but instead gave Araba so much love and attention that Araba forgot all about Ndii.
Emily’s herd came to the stockades after the babies had left. Three wild elephant bulls and Laikipia were with them. Laikipia was the last to drink from the water trough as he wanted to avoid any controversy with the wild bulls. Twenty minutes later the entire group headed back to the park.
13 January 2017
The day was good with some cloud cover sheltering the orphans from the sun. The babies concentrated on their milk and supplement feeding before engaging in wonderful socializing games in the stockade compound after which they headed to the browsing grounds. They went up Msinga Hill under the stewardship of Bada and Nelion and settled to browse close to the peak.
In the afternoon, the orphan herd came half an hour late to meet the pick-up carrying their milk. They downed their milk bottle and visited the water hole for some water. They bypassed the mudbath and browsed their way to the big waterhole before turning around to browse their way to the stockades under the leadership of Lentili and Mashariki.
14 January 2017
The day started well with the feeding activities getting priority after which the babies enjoyed some games of hide and seek coupled with some amazing dusting games at the stockade before Rorogoi led the others towards the browsing grounds. They browsed in single file to the western and northern sides of Msinga Hill, turning slowly and arriving at the water hole in the afternoon. They had a lot of fun in the mudbath with Embu, Mudanda and Ndii showing the best performance.
The orphans then browsed towards the Voi River, before turning and ending the day browsing on the northern side of the stockade. Tundani and Ndoria explored the area which resulted in them being left behind by the others as they headed to the stockade. The keepers called them alerting the two that they needed to rejoin the group. They caught up with them a few meters from the stockade compound.
15 January 2017
It was a calm morning with the stockade milk dependant orphans assembling in groups of five for their morning milk bottle. Nguvu, Araba, Rorogoi, Mudanda and Embu were the first to come out of the stockade followed by Mashariki and the rest. Nguvu abandoned his milk when the second group came running for their share. He is still quite a shy elephant and although will freely interact with the rest when browsing he gets a bit skittish at the milk feeding times as some of the greedier elephants finish their milk quickly and then try to grab bottles from the other orphans.
Emily’s herd was seen on the far northern side of Msinga Hill where there were in some nice thick green bushes and tall grass. They didn’t link up with the stockade dependant orphan elephants today.
16 January 2017
Today a big wild elephant bull, that we believe mated with Edie and fathered Eden came with Emily’s herd and showed interest in Mweya wanting to mate with her. The other dominant big wild elephant bull usually seen with Emily’s group kept his distance from the bull that was bigger than him and had massive tusks. Laikipia was nowhere to be seen.
This big bull kept following Mweya, chasing her towards the field and the main park in an effort to mate with her. The keepers tracked the two in an effort to document them mating but were not able to find them.
17 January 2017
It was a perfect beginning to the day with the stockade dependant orphan elephants coming out of their stockades full of energy, emptying a morning milk bottle before enjoying some copra cake after which they played around the stockades for a few minutes then headed to the browsing grounds.
On arrival at the northern side of Msinga Hill, Tundani, Nelion and Panda led the group half way up the hill where they all scattered to browse around the rock boulders. Kenia made sure to keep Araba by her side.
At noon Ndii started to head downhill followed by the rest of the orphans. The group made their way to the middle water hole where they had a lot of fun mud bathing before continuing with their browsing activities close to the waterhole.
Rorogoi enjoyed leading the orphan group back to the safety of the stockades in the evening, followed closely by Lentili and Mashariki.
18 January 2017
The morning was good with the orphan elephants assembling for the delicious milk bottle and some very green and fresh Lucerne grass before enjoying some dusting games. Panda tried to engage the others in a rock scratching game but had started this too late as the group had already started to make their way towards the browsing grounds. Arruba and Mudanda took the lead of the group with the others lining up behind them as they headed to the fields.
Soon after they left the stockade, Lolokwe arrived alone without any of the other members of Emily’s herd. He drank water from the stockade trough and enjoyed feeding on some Lucerne grass before taking the same route that the babies had gone. He sadly did not meet up with the orphan group today as he went to the water hole way before the babies did.
19 January 2017
It was another nice morning with the stockade dependant orphan elephants briefly playing at the stockade compound after the milk and supplement feeding, before leaving for the browsing grounds.
Tundani had a bad beginning to the day, when Nelion engaged him in a friendly pushing game, with Nelion becoming aggressive as he did not want to lose and hit Tundani hard with his long sharp tusks, puncturing his ear. Tundani who has a calm character by nature didn’t become vengeful but instead went to seek out the keepers for some medical attention which he quickly received.
Soon after they left the compound, Emily’s herd arrived. Sweet Sally, Edie, Layoni, Eden, Safi and a teenage wild elephant bull arrived first and had a drink from the water trough before the rest of the group arrived. Laikipia was with them today and had fun playing with Eden who seemed to enjoy the attention she was getting. They left the stockade after twenty minutes but didn’t link up with the stockade dependant orphans.
20 January 2017
The morning was perfect today with Tundani watching Bada and Nelion engage one another in pushing games before the orphans all headed to the browsing fields where they remained until it was time to go to the noon mudbath and milk feed.
They all had a lot of fun playing in the mudbath before leaving for the eastern slopes of Msinga Hill for the rest of the days browsing activities.
At 3.30pm, Thoma, baby Thor, Seraa, Mzima and Layoni were seen visiting the middle water hole for a drink and mudbath. They later made their way towards the northern bushy area of Msinga Hill where the rest of the Ex Orphan herd was believed to be browsing.
21 January 2017
The morning was good as Emily’s herd, in the company of the three wild elephant bulls, came to the stockades soon after the milk dependant orphan elephants had left for the fields. Mweya was with them today but the wild elephant bull that had been mating with her was absent. Inca had a wonderful moment playing a wrestling pushing game with Emma before the Ex Orphans left the stockades to go back to the park.
The stockade dependant orphans had a wonderful time browsing in the morning and thoroughly enjoyed playing in the mudbath after the noon milk bottle. Ndii, Bada, Mashariki and Suswa took each other head on in the bathing competition with Ishaq-B and Rorogoi watching from the sidelines.
In the evening Ndoria took the lead of the orphans as they made their way back to the stockades in the evening. The other orphans were following from behind when Arruba pushed Embu to get her to move faster and overtake Ndoria, while at the same time wanting to keep distance from Ndoria who tends to like biting the other orphans tails.
22 January 2017
It was another wonderful beginning of the day when the stockade dependant orphans elephants engaged Ajali in a chasing game. Today was the first day that Ajali had come out of his stockade where he had been recovering over the past few months from the injuries he sustained when he got him by a vehicle. Rorogoi tried to bully Ajali and engage him in a strength testing game but was prevented from doing so by the keepers who intervened and gave him a stern warning regarding his behaviour.
The orphans spent the day browsing close to the stockades with Ishaq-B attempting to block Ajali from drinking from the stockade water trough, a situation that was quickly corrected by the keepers. Ndoria was quite bold and went to engage Ajali in a pushing game. Nelion and Tundani stayed back as they were unsure of Ajali’s strength as he was both taller and bigger than them. As such the two boys engaged each other in a wrestling game in an effort to show Ajali they were the dominant bulls in the group and needed their position to be respected.
Ajali stayed close to Mudanda throughout the day and they browsed together and even played a few friendly soft pushing games with her.
23 January 2017
It was a bright morning with the stockade dependant orphan elephants coming out of their stockades and running for the delicious milk bottle. Ajali, who doesn’t drink milk as he was already weaned, came out of his stockade after the rest had drank their milk and joined the group at the Lucerne feeding area.
The orphans spent the morning browsing on the southern side of the stockades before coming for their noon milk feed and mudbath at the stockades. Today Ajali was more settled and enjoyed interacting with the others, especially with Mudanda for whom he seems to have a soft spot.
A teenage wild elephant bull came to drink water from the stockade water trough in the afternoon before joining the stockade dependant orphans in the bush around 4.20pm. The wild elephant bull tried to get Panda and Rorogoi to leave with him half an hour later but the two managed to get away from him and ran to rejoin their friends who were heading to the stockades.
24 January 2017
It was a beautiful beginning to the day with the stockade dependant orphan elephants concentrating on their usual milk and supplement feeding before heading to the southern side of the stockade browsing grounds.
Emily’s herd came from the eastern side of the stockade and were followed a short while later by Siria, who seems to have not been with them the previous night as he came in from the western side all alone.
Ajali charged at Siria when he saw him walking down the hill but didn’t go to join him. Lesanju, who once again has started splitting her herd from Emily’s, came in ten minutes later with Lempaute, Sinya, Kivuko, Dabassa and Mzima. While Wasessa, Rombo and Layoni were seen with Emily’s herd.
The stockade dependant orphans enjoyed their afternoon milk bottle at the stockade compound. After the milk feed Kenia engaged Ajali in a friendly pushing game. Nelion and Lentili had a wonderful scratching moment against a rock while Arruba enjoyed a scratching session on a rock next to them.
25 January 2017
This morning the stockade dependant orphan elephants emptied their morning milk bottle in groups of five before settling to enjoy dairy cubes and Lucerne grass before following Naipoki and Kihari to the browsing grounds.
After browsing for four hours Siria, who has now independent from Emily’s herd, arrived alone and joined the stockade dependant orphan elephants briefly before taking Ajali and Rorogoi towards the Voi River to browse. Upon seeing that they were being separated from the orphan group Rorogoi turned and ran back to her friends, followed by Ajali.
Emily’s herd arrived at the stockade in the morning together with Mzima, Layoni, Dabassa, Rombo, Taveta and Wasessa. Lesanju, Lempaute, Sinya, Kivuko and Tassia were missing from the group. Emma and Eden enjoyed some wonderful wrestling matches as well as Mzima and Dabassa. Later Mzima engaged Emma while Rombo played with Dabassa.
26 January 2017
The day was good with the stockade dependant orphan elephants enjoying their morning milk bottle after which they fed on copra cake before leaving for the browsing grounds.
Today Emily’s herd arrived at the stockades with the Big wild bull that had been mating with Mweya. The Ex Orphans stopped for a quick drink at the stockade before making their way to the browsing grounds in hopes of joining up with the babies. Emma and Eden had a wonderful pushing game at the stockade compound before leaving with their mothers.
The stockade dependant orphan elephants enjoyed browsing before going to the mudbath. Panda and Ishaq-B had a joint scratching session against a tree trunk.
27 January 2017
It was a wonderful morning with the stockade dependant orphans leaving the stockade after their morning feeding activities. Soon after they left, Lesanju and the other members that she had separated from Emily’s herd arrived, and went straight to the water trough to quench their thirst.
The stockade dependant orphans passed Siria and two wild elephants that are usually with Emily’s herd who were making their way to the stockades. A few meters behind them, the third wild bull that is normally with the Ex Orphans, was also making his way to the stockade. Rorogoi fell in love with the big wild elephant bull and attempted to follow him back to the stockade but soon changed her mind and rejoined her group.
Later in the day, the three wild bulls, Siria and Lesanju’s herd met up with and interacted with Emily’s herd that were browsing on the northern side of Msinga Hill. One teenage wild elephant bull tried to mate with Mweya, scaring baby Thor away who was with Mweya at that time.
28 January 2017
Emily’s herd arrived at the stockade this morning soon after the stockade dependant orphan elephants had left. Today was a wonderful day for all of them as the three wild elephant bulls, Laikipia and Lolokwe were among their group. After drinking water, Rombo, Dabassa and Kivuko engaged Emma in some wonderful rolling on the ground ‘dusting games’. For an unknown reason Wasessa seemed suspicious and uncomfortable of Kivuko, Rombo and Dabassa’s engagement with little Emma and intervened.
While in the browsing fields Kenia went between Ndii and Araba in a bid to block Ndii from interacting with ‘her baby’. There was a lot of action at the mudbath with Panda and Ndoria shining in bathing events. Kihari felt jealous and came to sit on Panda, impairing her movement in the mud and preventing her from being the winner of the mudbath activities.
The rest of the afternoon was spent browsing close to the waterhole until it was time to return to the stockades for the night.
29 January 2017
The morning started well with the stockade dependent orphans getting their milk and supplement feeding over with before engaging in some wonderful dusting socializing games. When it was time to head to the fields for the day Naipoki took the lead and the others followed behind her.
The orphans browsed in single file before going in groups of five to their afternoon milk bottle. While the orphans were browsing, Siria and his wild elephant bull friend joined the stockade dependant orphans for some clean water from the half drum barrels before proceeding for a wonderful bath. Mbirikani had a wonderful bathing moment with Siria but moved away when the wild bull friend came to join them. Nelion was confident enough to plunge into the water with them while Mbirikani rode onto Lentili’s back. Bada and Kihari competed in some dusting games, before joining the others for the afternoon browsing session.
Siria, his wild bull friend and Nelion took a lot more time bathing before joining the rest of the group. The two boys eventually left the stockade dependant orphans and made their way towards the Voi River area.
30 January 2017
It was a nice beginning of the day with the stockade dependant orphan elephants assembling for their morning milk bottle before settling for the supplement foods. They later took off to the browsing grounds where they browsed quietly for about 5 hours.
Emily’s herd was seen walking towards the Mzima- Mombasa water pipe line area. Among the group were Eve, Emma, Ndara, Icholta, Inca, Rombo and Mzima. A big wild elephant bull walking with his teenage bull friends was seen following Emily’s herd.
Ndoria and Tundani who were browsing half way up Msinga Hill stopped browsing to watch the wild bulls. The few members of Emily’s herd together with the big wild bull visited the stockade at 6.30pm for a drink. They arrived when the orphans were already in their night stockades.
31 January 2017
It was a beautiful beginning of the day with the stockade dependant orphan elephants enjoying their morning ritual of milk and supplement feeding before heading to the park for the day. Panda and Mudanda who were leading the group all the way took them up Msinga Hill. Lentili and Ishaq-B tried to push past them to take over the lead. Arruba, Embu and Rorogoi noticed the tussle that was about to happen and intervened ensuring that the peace was kept. Panda and Mudanda moved further up the hill than the rest where they found some lush green grass which they enjoyed browsing on for two hours before coming down to join the rest who were preparing to make their way to the mudbath for their noon milk bottle.