01 January 2018

It was a happy new year to all orphans celebrating with their keepers in the forests. At midday bottle feeding Lima Lima brought in Alamaya and Mwashoti for their bottles and the lovely keepers gave them some tasty acacia pods to eat as well; their favourite! The orphans were so happy to receive the pods but greedy Lima Lima kept asking for more for herself, forgetting the young babies Mwashoti with Alamaya who were just waiting patiently to be given some by the keepers. Murera and Sonje stopped all babies questioning where they wanted to visit that day, but there were some rumbles of complaint from the boys who were not convinced with their opinion. Murera wanted to have the final say, and she and Sonje made the decision on which direction they were going to take. In the end, naughty mini matriarch Lima Lima and Zongoloni decided to take another route with the other boys as well, leaving Murera and Sonje with Mwashoti alone under the tree. The others wanted to walk further you see but these three have bad legs and did not want to take the route they took.

02 January 2018

Wild elephant bulls came visiting and joined the orphans in the bushes. Faraja and Ziwa received the bulls and Zongoloni and Lima Lima tried to introduce themselves. They ignored Zongoloni and then Lima Lima brought Quanza over as well, but all in vein. The bulls still chased the babies away leaving them alone with their keepers. It seemed the wild elephants came up to the herd with the intention of finding out which females might be in season, but none of the female orphans were interested. When they approached Murera she ran away from the wild bulls into the bushes, and Mwashoti began to scream for help from the keepers. Lima Lima ran looking for the keepers and other babies to be sure everyone was safe. The wild bulls then also noticed the keepers and ran off to find their other wild friends in the forest.

03 January 2018

Lima Lima plays such a good role to all humans and orphans by caring for them and making sure they are okay. When all the babies were going out to the forest, some crane birds with their chicks crossed to the grassy fields while Lima Lima was looking for the keepers with Mwashoti. Lima Lima blew her trunk chasing the crane birds away so they would leave the keepers and orphans alone. The keepers called Lima Lima to reassure her so the chicks could follow the adults. They were still very young and could not fly, so they hid in the tall grass at the bottom. Murera stopped with Mwashoti and was watching the keepers while Lima Lima stood with Alamaya and Zongoloni gazing at the baby crane birds. The elephants then all proceeded to look for more branches to feed on along the Umani Hills. Along the way some buffalos appeared, blocking their path. The alternative route was not easy for Murera and Sonje to manoeuvre so we had to wait for the buffaloes to move.

04 January 2018

At the morning feeding time, Zongoloni and Jasiri were jumping around in their rooms as they watched Murera and Sonje being fed and thought that the keepers had forgotten them. When funny Lima Lima saw Murera and Sonje getting their bottles, she pushed her gate and came out to the place where the keepers prepare the bottles under a tree. The keepers were shocked to see Lima Lima in the mixing area, grabbing some empty bottles and putting them in her mouth. It was a struggle to get Lima Lima out of the milk mixing area, and she left with an empty bottle hanging out of her mouth! Jasiri and Zongoloni were now being well behaved and gave the keepers time to feed all the other orphans. When Ziwa finished his bottles he came running out of his room at top speed. He ran into the bushes looking for fresh branches to eat. Sonje kept up with her best friend Murera and Mwashoti too, walking very slowly because of the stiff legs they experience in the morning when the weather is cold. After a slow walk out to the forest it always gets better and their bad legs loosen up to allow them to walk okay. Pushing boy Alamaya came to push Zongoloni and Lima Lima. Alamaya knows very well he could try to push the big boys like Faraja and Ngasha but they would push him down to the ground, but only when matriarchs are not around!

05 January 2018

The elephants walked to the bushes following the wild paths of their wild friends along to the water springs area. At the springs the orphans found some crocodiles enjoying the sunshine, but before the orphans reached the water the crocs jumped into the water to hide themselves. Some male bush bucks who were fighting over some females came running through the area where the orphans were standing, still deciding which way to go. Quanza and Ziwa raised their heads and looked at them running into the bushes. The fighting went on the bushes and it was quite unsettling for the orphans who were trying to browse, so they decided to move away and leave the fighting antelopes to it! i

06 January 2018

The boys in the herd are growing up and becoming more belligerent these days, assuming that they do not have to listen to the older females. Ziwa tries to lead all the time, trying to show Murera he is not able to tell him what to do. Today Murera rumbled, telling the speedy Ziwa to stop and wait for the rest of the herd, and he did abide. Murera called Sonje to help her come and care for Mwashoti, who knocked his knee on a log, forcing him to stop walking and for the matriarchs to come and see what was wrong with him. Alamaya took his pushing game to Zongoloni after wrongfully deciding to push Ziwa. Of course Ziwa pushed and knocked him to the ground but then he turned to Mwashoti and did the same. Murera came over to discipline the naughty Ziwa for pushing Mwashoti for no reason, and Ziwa deserved this punishment from the older girl!

07 January 2018

All orphans headed to the forests walking slowly towards the Chyulu Hills National Park. On the way they smelt some wild elephant dung. Lima Lima put her trunk to the ground and tried to smell hard which way their wild friends had gone. The keepers could hear some young elephants shouting and Zongoloni wanted to investigate with Lima Lima. They found a young baby but with a very large and caring mother who was heavily protecting her baby. Lima Lima and her friend could not take the baby away to play with it which they really wanted to! The keepers stayed at a distance watching from afar, careful not to get too close to the wild herd with bulls and a young baby as well. The wild bulls ganged up and started pushing Zongoloni and Lima Lima away from the herd. Faraja and Ngasha went over to see which of their friends were being pushed but Murera and Sonje blew some terrifying loud trumpets to call the boys back from the wild pushy friends.

08 January 2018

Very many wild herds came up to the stockades to visit the babies before they came out to begin their new day. They had some lovely tiny babies as well. The keepers tried to keep away from them by avoiding the direction the wind was blowing so they would not pick up their scent. These elephants turned out to be very friendly towards the orphans, and took their own special time greeting and happily rumbling at them. Jasiri, Ngasha and Faraja were interested in the females and climbing on them but they are still baby boys. Jasiri thought he was big enough to be able to mate with females but it is still too early for him! The keepers kept watching and laughing at how Jasiri was put down by a female elephant after trying to climb on her back.

09 January 2018

At the midday feed some antelopes came looking for water to drink along with some crane birds who were also walking beside the waterhole. Sonje spotted them walking towards the waterhole and all she could think was that the orphans had not had their water yet. She called Quanza and Ziwa to come and help chase them away with stamping and trumpeting. The crane birds flew up to the tops of trees so they could not get them, while Ziwa chased the antelopes in another direction. He made a lot of noise trumpeting and charging at anything he found; even the trees were in trouble as many were knocked down by Sonje. It was a hectic moment for Mwashoti and Murera who could not run at the same pace as the other babies who were charging around in the trees looking for the antelopes, and crane birds that were hiding at the top of the trees above their heads. The orphans were very confused as to where they had gone! When the running came to an end all the babies looking very tired after all the activity and it was suddenly very hot as well, making all the orphans walk towards the waterhole for a swim.

10 January 2018

When the orphans came out of their rooms to begin their new day, two huge wild bulls walked along to the stockade water trough for water. Then the bulls made their way to Sonje and Lima Lima but they avoided where Ziwa and Jasiri were breaking some branches. When Alamaya caught the smell of these wild bulls, he ran first to give the information to Zongoloni and Quanza, because they were deep inside the forest and were not aware. Lima Lima was quick to run to the keepers to give more information and to make sure they were aware of the presence of the wild elephants. The keepers moved away quickly because whenever they see Lima Lima running to tell them something they know they must move quickly! They stepped aside with Mwashoti and hid from the wild bulls where they could still see the orphans. The wild bull friends followed the orphans through the bushes, again mostly following Murera and Sonje, but the two girls kept away, still not interested in the wild bulls. In the end they ran away from the bulls to keep safe behind the keepers who kept called Alamaya and Mwashoti to come as well, to make sure the two young boys were safe and okay.

11 January 2018

The cloudy morning made it hard for Murera and Sonje to walk out easily today as it was very cold and their legs were stiff. Murera walked slowly to the bushes and as she got warmer her walking improved and she carried on with her daily activities. At the waterhole at the midday day bottle feeding time, all the orphans were very happy wallowing and having fun in the muddy water. They all turned dark like buffaloes and it was hard to identify who was who as their bodies were all covered with dark mud up to their faces. The keepers just had to call names out randomly to see who would respond and come to them! Lima Lima showed up very quickly when she heard her name being called; probably because she thought she would get another milk bottle! After the keepers had their lunch, the patrol continued so the orphans could find more branches until it was the time to return home. Lima Lima and Zongoloni lead the others back home.

12 January 2018

Many wild elephants showed up with their wild born tiny babies to visit the orphans in the early morning hours today. Ziwa saw them first and blew a trumpet trying to tell them that he is among the big boys around and they should be careful! Sonje went to see why Ziwa was trumpeting and if he might be in need of more support from boys like Jasiri and Ngasha who are the dominant boys in the Umani family. Lima Lima walked behind Ziwa and Faraja following the tiny wild born babies with their mothers and sisters. The keepers were able to walk together with the wild elephants and the orphans up to where Zongoloni, Quanza and Lima Lima wanted to stop for the day. The wild elephants walked away the moment the keepers began calling the orphans to come back to the stockades for the night. A wild bull elephant was trying to follow the keepers and orphans back, so when the keepers got to the stockades and were feeding babies, the huge bull just stood at the stockade gate watching what the keepers and the orphans were doing – he probably could not believe his eyes!

13 January 2018

Murera showed the keepers she is a fully adult elephant now and was rude to a keeper who was trying to control which direction the elephants should walk in. She turned her back and looked at the keeper but ignored him and moved in her own direction with Mwashoti and Sonje, leaving Lima Lima to go her own way with Jasiri, Faraja, Ngasha, Ziwa and Quanza. Hidada ibis and horn bills were flying and shouting through the trees. Alamaya stopped to try and see what was above but he could not raise his head high enough. He thought the sound was very strange so he ran to Zongoloni and then carried on going. Zongoloni called Quanza and then we saw the two elephants running after Alamaya to stop him from going very far.

14 January 2018

Ziwa got a rough time this morning while all the orphans were busy feeding on the lucerne pellets given to them by the keepers. Ziwa pushed Mwashoti by mistake but this did not go well with the other orphans. Zongoloni, who was browsing close by, went to Murera and after communicating with her for a few minutes we saw her look for where Ziwa was and she pushed him then and there. Even Jasiri pushed him to keep away from where he was eating pellets. Lima Lima came back to see if Alamaya had also been pushed by Ziwa, but she found Alamaya actively playing with Zongoloni. It was a little cold today and many of the orphans were not in a playful mood like they might be if the weather is warmer. The orphans just moved away from the waterhole and browsed on some tree bark found around the mud bath areas, as the keepers ate their lunches under the trees. Lima Lima walked to her favourite keeper and moved around him. Some of the keepers thought some wild elephants might be close which is why Lima Lima was coming up to them, but it turns out she just wanted to be close to them and wait for them to finish their food.

15 January 2018

Two bull elephants made their way to the orphans while they were browsing in the bushes. Some of the orphans were unaware that the bulls were there while Zongoloni and Faraja realized saw them and were busy socializing with their wild friends. Faraja played pushing games with the wild bulls that were kind enough not to use their full strength with Faraja who is tiny in comparison to them. Ziwa teamed up with Faraja in an effort to try and defeat the wild bulls but they were unsuccessful. Today Lima Lima managed to surprise her favourite keeper, Amos, as he was sitting on a rock watching the orphans. Lima Lima came up behind him and started touching his head before going through his dustcoat pockets pleading with him to get up and walk with her. Zongoloni was in the lead as the orphans made their way back to the grazing fields in the afternoon. They were stopped from going further by some buffaloes that were blocking the path and as such were forced to change direction. Murera, Sonje and Mwashoti stayed at the back of the group to make sure that the rest of the orphan herd remained safe.

16 January 2018

While the orphans were browsing in the morning they could hear the trumpeting of wild elephants. The babies raised their ears to try and ascertain from which direction the trumpeting was coming. Alamaya and Zongoloni started charging around through the trees kicking at everything around them and generally giving the keepers a hard time as the tried to calm them down and prevent them from running off to wherever the wild elephants were. The orphans were in a very charged and in a playful mood wanting to follow the wild elephants. Murera and Sonje were now tired and were having difficulty keeping up. The keepers could see that they were struggling and Mwashoti kept stopping and waiting for the two to catch up with the rest of the group until they reached the waterhole. They all had a lovely time in the mudbath wallowing and rolling around. Jasiri and Ziwa walked to the dusting point to get dry by tossing dust onto their bodies. Sonje lay down and allowed Alamaya to mount her back and it was not long before Mwashoti came and joined the fun, rubbing his belly over her back.

17 January 2018

Ziwa and Ngasha were in a mischievous mood today and kept trying to trick the keepers as to which direction they were going to take. When they saw the keepers following them they would turn around, and rejoin the group led by Lima Lima and Murera towards the springs. As the orphans made their way to the browsing hills they came across two Rock Springers who jumped away upon seeing the orphans and the keepers. In the forest along the Umani Hills we found wild elephant dung on the path that the orphans were taking. Quanza stopped to smell the stool while Zongoloni grabbed some and put it into her mouth to taste as this is a way that they can find out what vegetation is good to eat. Jasiri came and did the same thing. Murera, Sonje and Mwashoti walked right past the dung wanting to get to the browsing fields so that they could fill their bellies.

18 January 2018

Today Murera decided to head off on her own and walked out in a different direction to that taken by the rest of the orphan herd. Mwashoti followed Sonje and the rest of the group as Murera seemed to be on her own mission and would not even respond to the keepers who were calling her and trying to get her to rejoin the group. Lima Lima and Zongoloni then thought it best to follow Murera and managed to get her to follow them as it was coming on to time for the noon milk feed. On the way to the mudbath the orphan’s path was blocked by some buffaloes and they all had a different idea of which direction to take to avoid the buffaloes. This caused a lot of confusion and the keepers were left with the task of getting the orphans all back together. This resulted in the orphans arriving at the bottle feeding area in broken groups, coming in one or two at a time. Lima Lima was the first to arrive with Mawshoti, then came Zongoloni and Alamaya with Jasiri and Quanza being the last to arrive. The orphans then walked to the waterhole where they all enjoyed a cooling mudbath.

19 January 2018

Sonje took the lead of the babies out to the forest today as Murera, Alamaya and Lima Lima headed to water springs point. Some crocodiles were basking in the sunshine and quickly moved into the water upon hearing the elephants who were headed their way. In the forest, once the elephants and keepers had settled to browse moving as they fed a python came slithering down the path that the orphans were on. Lima Lima saw the python and stopped making sure that the keepers kept away from it. The keepers could see that the python had recently eaten something and made sure to keep away. The orphans became quite excited on seeing the orphan and began trumpeting before charging away, followed by the keepers who did not want to lose sight of their charges.

20 January 2018

Murera exited her stockade quite quickly this morning and made a bee line for the water trough where she had a clean drink of water and waited for Sonje and Mwashoti to join her. The keepers are a little puzzled by Murera’s behaviour of late as it seems she wasn’t to be on her own, without any of the other orphans, including Mwashoti who is one of her favourite babies. We feel that Murera may be feeling that it is time for her to join a wild group and begin living life as a wild elephant. It seems that the rest of the orphans are aware of what she wants to do and keep their distance from her leaving her to her own devices. She doesn’t really respond to the keepers calls and seems to not want to return to the stockades in the evening. We are all very proud of her but a little scared for her at the same time as Murera will be the first orphan to reintegrate into the wild at Umani. At the midday bottle feeding and mudbath Lima Lima arrived with the orphan herd but Murera was absent. She came a little while later, moving slowly as if she did not want to be there and was in no rush to join the rest of the orphans who had all come running in for their milk bottle.

21 January 2018

Ziwa and Ngasha began a strength testing and pushing game this morning as the orphans were preparing to head to the forest for the morning browsing session. Quanza came up and tried to get the two boys to stop fighting and then got them to join the rest of the group for the journey to the browsing fields. On the way out they found a buffalo feeding on grass close to the stockades. Alamaya and Lima Lima stopped while Ziwa and Ngasha let the others know to be careful as buffalos’ were around. Alamaya somehow managed to get amongst the buffalo herd but thanks to Zongoloni was able to get away from them without any problems. The orphans continued their walk all the way to the Kenze base area where Murera and Sonje found some very soft branches to feed on. Murera stayed behind when the rest of the orphans headed off and browsed there until the evening when she returned to the stockades after the rest of the orphan herd had finished their evening bottle of milk. She was welcomed by the babies with loud trumpeting as they celebrated her return.

22 January 2018

There seemed to have been a running battle amongst the orphans this morning with lots of trumpeting from the little boys, Alamaya and Mwashoti who were doing their best to trumpet loudly but being smaller than the rest were not quite getting heard. Ngasha joined the two youngsters and started trumpeting loudly which made the keepers jump and wonder what was going on and were happy to find that nothing was amiss and that the babies were just being playful and chasing butterflies around. Sonje and Lima Lima were left looking for the boys and managed to get everyone together in one group thus assuring everyone’s safety. When the orphans arrived at the water hole they found a tractor pouring water into the hole. When Murera arrived she went and drank straight from the water tank where the water was clean. As the tractor was leaving the orphans had a lot of fun running and chasing after the tractor before returning the waterhole for a mudbath. hen tractor was leaving it again turned to be fun, all orphans turned running against tractor to stop not to leave they thought tractor was going with more clean water, but all had been released to the waterhole.

23 January 2018

Today some wild bulls seemed to be on a constant look out for the orphan herd and came looking for them in the browsing fields as they wanted to interact with the older girls, Murera and Sonje. They seem to be especially fond of Sonje who always welcomes and greets them when the cross paths. Jasiri and the other boys are also always happy to interact with their wild friends but today after receiving a signal from Murera they kept their distance and stuck to Murera and Mwashoti while Sonje, Zongoloni and Lima Lima played with the wild elephants. One of the females in the group had a tiny baby with it which got a little scared on seeing Lima Lima and took refuge under its mother’s belly. The keepers were happy to see Lima Lima interacting with the wild baby and saw that Sonje was getting quite a lot of attention from a wild bull who may want to mate with her.

24 January 2018

The Elephants left the stockades to being the day out in the forest with the activities being watched from a distance by a sweet wild bull that seemed to want to come and join the girls. Before the keepers even knew that the bull was around Lima Lima and Faraja had made their way into the bushes and towards the bull where they were followed by Sonje who welcomed him to join the orphan herd. Murera and Quanza did not want him to be among them and moved away together with Mwashoti. Murera was smart enough to walk back to the keepers where she felt safe and let them know that a wild bull was around and playing with Sonje who was enjoying all the attention that she was getting from him. In the evening the wild bull escorted the orphans back to the stockades and stopped by the water trough for a drink when he saw Sonje entering the electric fence line. He waited a while to see if Sonje would come back out to join him and when this didn’t happen he returned to the forest.

25 January 2018

When the orphans exited their stockades this morning they went to the pellet feeding area for some supplements before making their way to the bushes. Sonje first walked to the other side of the stockade looking for her boyfriend, the wild bull who had escorted the orphan’s home last night, but all she found was some dung on the path. She headed into the forest to see if she would find where he had gone, hoping to meet up with him and was happy when she did. The two crossed paths, seeming looking for one another, and the keepers were happy to see Sonje had found her boyfriend and was interacting with him. The bull placed his trunk over Sonje holding her close and stayed with her for several hours before leaving and making his way to the Chyulu Hills. Murera kept moving away from Sonje and her wild friend, not wanting to be mounted by him or any other wild bull as she worries that her bad him and legs could be hurt should they do so. The wild bull did not mount Sonje as she is not yet ready to be mated, choosing to keep her company before rejoining his wild friends.

26 January 2018

It was very cold and foggy in the morning making it very hard for Mwashoti and Murera to walk thus delaying their departure from the stockades to the fence line to feed on pellets. At the corner posts Murera pushed Jasiri out of the way to let Mwashoti, who was behind her, get by. Jasiri was forced to the fence line and his body touched the wire, which shocked him and made him scream as he ran away. Alamaya was together with the rest of the orphans enjoying pellets when some Ibis birds started making a lot of noise up in the trees. Alamaya and Zongoloni stopped eating to try and find the birds so that they could chase them away and enjoy their pellets in peace and quiet. Ngasha led the orphans towards the Umani Hill so that they could browse until it was time for the midday milk feed and mudbath. At the waterhole all the babies had a lovely time wallowing and splashing everyone, everybody including the keepers, forcing them to move away and leave the babies to wallow freely. When the orphans were done with the mudbath they then whet to have a dustbath where they blew flames of dust into the air as they dried off.

27 January 2018

Today the wild bull that has become Sonje’s boyfriend came and paid a visit at the Umani lodge where the visitors staying there say him having a drink at the water trough near the lodge. Jasiri and Faraja together with Ziwa moved away from the girls today. Lima Lima tried to follow them but Ziwa got Ngasha and the two of them walked away at high speed not wanting to join up her. Lima Lima did not let this bother her and instead joined up with Alamaya, Zongoloni and the keepers. Sonje seemed to be on her own walking mission as she was looking for her boyfriend. Quanza decided to keep Sonje company and when they saw the wild bull coming towards them Quanza made a hasty retreat. The wild bull came to the dustbath but decided to stay away the keepers by standing at the bushes. The keepers were taking photos and talking loudly in an effort to keep him at bay so that Murera and Mwashoti, who had fallen behind, could rejoin the group and enjoy a mudbath.

28 January 2018

Ziwa has become a naughty boy of late and does not want to stay with the rest of the orphan herd. He has taken to making his own decisions without consulting with the others or following the decisions made by Lima Lima and Murera. He seems to feel that he is a big boy and does not need to be guided by the girls. Today he teamed up with Ngasha and Faraja as the group made their way out for the day. However Faraja soon changed his mind and rejoined Jasiri and Sonje who were walking towards the Hill circuit looking for vegetation to feed on. When Ziwa returned he was reprimanded by Murera from ignoring the girls the way that he did. There were some Buffaloes and antelopes in the bushes today when Quanza made her way there while following wild elephant dung. There was some distance between them and as such neither party was disturbed by the presence of the other. Today Mwashoti and Alamaya enjoyed a pushing game while walking through the forest as they competed to see who would be the one to be at Sonje’s side. The keepers had to intervene to prevent Alamaya from pushing Mwashoti too hard as they did not want his bad leg getting hurt.

29 January 2018

Today some wild elephants came out of the bushes and joined the boys who were browsing on their own away from the rest of the orphan herd. Upon seeing the two bulls, Faraja and Ngasha left while Ziwa and Jasiri moved closer to the bulls to meet and greet them. Ziwa was very proud of himself for going and joining the bulls as he went and touched their tails and bellies without any fear whatsoever. The keepers thought the wild bulls may have pushed the orphans away but they didn’t which made Sonje and Lima Lima comfortable enough to go and join them and be in their company. All the way to mudbath Murera and Mwashoti seemed to be looking for a somewhere that they could wallow in before going to the dustbath. On arrival at the dustbath they found Sonje was already there and dusting up while the wild bull waited in the bushes watching her. He rejoined the orphan herd as they headed back to the browsing fields for the afternoon. The keepers joined them a short while later and upon seeing them the wild bull ran off not wanting to have any contact with humans. Looking for mudbath to wallow little bit before headed to dust bath again and found only

30 January 2018

In the evening, once night had fallen, and a while after the orphans had returned, many wild elephants came with tiny babes to the stockades to say jambo to the orphans who were already in their night quarters and were settling down for the night. Alamaya and Lima Lima were aware of the wild elephants drinking from the water trough. Alamaya rumbled at Lima Lima and it was not long before the whole orphan herd was rumbling loudly which caught the attention of the keepers who came to see why they were making so much noise. The keepers then saw the big herd of wild elephants having a drink of water and were happy to see the orphans communicating with them first in loud rumbled greetings and then in low tones. Once the wild group had their fill of water they left and returned to the forest. Murera and Sonje stayed in their stockade for the night hoping that in the morning they would be able to meet up with their wild friends when they headed to the forest for the day.

31 January 2018

There was a lot of rumbling and unrest coming from the orphans during the night. It seemed as if the babies were trying to push down the walls of the stockades so that they could join the wild elephants that were having a drink outside the stockade gates. Zongoloni was the worst wall pusher with Jasiri then Quanza following suit. Zongoloni managed to knock down the piece of wood that is attached to the stockade door and has her name and details and broke it out of anger. One the wild herd left the orphans quickly settled down. When the orphan herd left the stockades in the morning they headed straight to the forest checking all the bushes in the hope that they would meet up with their wild friends but only found dung droppings on the path that they were following. Mwashoti picked up some dung and put it into his mouth, chewing on it in order to find what vegetation the wild elephants were eating so that he could eat the same thing.