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After they had finished their milk bottles today it was all pushing games amongst the orphans during the public visit! It was a game mostly dominated by the young bulls like Jotto, Ambo, Murit and Luggard who were busy chasing the young girls like Esampu, Kiasa, Malima, Tamiyoi and Kuishi. Just like with humans the boy elephants are always the most rough and playful! It was so lovely to watch Luggard play with the other boys despite his broken leg and the keepers watched on as he tried to climb on Kiasa! He struggled because of his compromised back leg, but it was so lovely to see how determined and active he was. Kiasa also presented a bit of a challenge as she kept turning to face him to tell him to go away! For three days now Kiasa has been challenging her keepers in the afternoon by not wanting to go into her stockade. Once she gets close to the compound she starts shouting and starts a game of hide and seek with her keepers around the stables. Today she started shouting when the keepers approached her to coax her into her stockade and she ran towards where a group of foster parents were standing for the visit. The keepers decided to leave her until the visitors had gone and then try again. We are not sure why she has started being afraid of her stable but perhaps she had a nightmare or saw a big spider! Once she is inside her stable she is fine; she has her milk and enjoys being with her keeper before going to sleep – but the entering has become the problem! We will see what happens over the next few days.

The very small babies walked out of their stockades a bit later in the morning today to join the other orphans out in the forest. It was so sweet as when they picked up the scent of the other orphans and the path they had taken, they started yelling with delight. Their calls were heard by Tagwa, the adopted mother of the babies, Godoma, Mbegu, Malima, Sana Sana, Esampu and Tamiyoi who all walked towards where the babies were to escort them back to where all the orphans were busy browsing. The babies were most concerned and captivated by Tagwa, who they love very much. Before it was time to go to the public visit today, Shukuru, Sagala, Ndiwa, Ndotto and Lasayen sneaked away from the group to browse deep in the forest. Sagala, Ndiwa and Lasayen turned back before the public visit began and returned to the group so they could go down for their milk, leaving Shukuru and Ndotto in the forest. Ndotto was clever enough to find his own way to the mud bath before the visiting time ended however. Shukuru never made it to the public visit in time as she took her time browsing, but she appeared at the mud wallow a bit later when all of the orphans had already gone back into the forest. She is wise enough to be able to follow the path they took, and soon joined up with them again in the bush.

When one of the elephants is naughty, and we have had a few who are just inherently mischievous over the years, like Wendi, Kithaka and Kamok, they are not necessarily naughty for only one reason or at any one time. For example we have the naughty resident Esampu at the moment. Today the naughty girl gave way to Ambo as they both returned home to the stockades at 5pm. At least this is what we thought! She stopped to let him pass but then all of a sudden she pushed him and he stumbled to the side. Some of the visiting foster parents had to stand back to avoid Ambo who was staggering to stay upright! Her antics did not end there. The cheeky girl went into her stockade for her milk and after her gate was closed she reached through the bars to try and steal some of Sana Sana’s milk which was still hanging in the bucket as well! She managed to spill some of it whilst the keepers were busy feeding the other orphans and could not reach her to prevent her from taking Sana Sana’s milk. Would you believe her bad behaviour did not even end there though. She successfully managed to steal some of Sana Sana’s browse, the green branches in the orphans rooms, by pulling it through the bars separating their stockades. A mini-fight ensued as each girl sought to defend her own branches and stop the other from being able to steal them!

Sattao decided not to attend the public visit today in the first group. He was left behind after he had accompanied Mbegu and Lasayen, Ndotto, Mundusi, Ndiwa and Mteto who decided to walk deep into the forest in the morning. Ndotto and Lasayen are growing up now and showing more signs of independence all the time. They often choose to browse separately from the others and walk deep into the forest. When it was time for the second group to come down for their milk, as usual Esampu was looking for an extra milk bottle. She attempted several times to get one but all in vain. She decided to take her frustration out on poor Sattao, pushing him hard onto the ground before Mbegu and the keepers came to his rescue. The matriarch disciplined the naughty girl so hard she fell on the ground, yelling out before she got up and moved far away from Mbegu. The playful bull Ngilai emerged from the water hole thick with mud and walked along the rope cordon giving the visitors the option of touching him as he passed, or to choose not to because he was so covered in mud!

The babies woke up early as usual to begin their walk out to the forest for the day. As all the orphans walked out deep into the forest, the keeper’s didn’t realise that Malkia had sneaked into Luggard’s room to look for leftover pellets. When she was done she came running out of his room trumpeting and shouting as she tried to trace which way her friends had gone. Her shouting drew Mbegu’s attention and she responded so the little girl knew which way the herd had gone, and Malkia finally joined up with the rest of the herd. During the 3pm milk feed today, as usual Esampu was a naughty little girl, and decided that she really did want some extra milk after she had finished hers. She went up to Ndotto and tried to get some of his bottle whilst he was drinking. The mellow boy made several turns to block the naughty girl from having some of his bottle, as he wanted every last drop. As this scramble for milk was going on, Mundusi pushed the unsuspecting Mteto whilst trying to get some of her share of milk, and Kiasa and Luggard were busy sucking up milk from the empty milk bottles as Sana Sana drank the spilt milk from the wheelbarrow. Lasayen was walking off whilst sucking and chewing on a rubber teat he had removed from one of the bottles; all in all it was mayhem and the keepers had their work cut out for them today.

When the door to her stockade was opened in the morning, Sana Sana came running out and headed straight to Maxwell’s gate to see if there was any leftover lucerne. She managed to get quite a lot by pulling some through the bars of Maxwell’s gate. Mapia and Sattao joined her to have some of the tasty grass which they don’t get much of as they get the pellets. Enkesha, Emoli and Maktao tried their luck and as they all scrambled for some grass, Esampu came running over to get her share as well. A small fight ensued between Sana Sana and the naughty girl and as their push and pull fight gained momentum, Kiasa also joined to have some of the leftovers. Unfortunately she ended up being pinned against the posts of Maxwell’s stockade as Sana Sana tried to outwit her opponent and she shouted out loudly for help. Godoma came swiftly to her rescue, as well as Maxwell who came over to his gate to see what all the commotion was about! Maxwell knocked on his gate with his horn to separate all the orphans and they ran off trumpeting, following their keepers out into the forest.

Since arriving in the forest this morning, Musiara has been hooked on Mbegu, so Sattao had to look for alternative company and settled on Tagwa. Musiara didn’t want to share Mbegu and kept charging at Sattao to chase him away. With all her years and experience of leadership, Mbegu opted to walk away to break up the rivalry between them. Later when the little babies joined the herd, Musiara was just fine with them joining him and Mbegu! Ndotto and Ngilai have been spending a lot of time with Shukuru out in the forest and this is what Shukuru needs most, some friends who can lift and boost her energy and confidence all the time. The three have been browsing away from the others and only rejoining the group when it comes to milk feeding times. Shukuru is still showing signs of improvement and is demanding more milk at feeding times now, which is a good sign. She is also having lots of fun in the mud pool. Just before the private visit today it started pouring with rain, which meant Luggard and the babies were taken back to their stockades. Esampu was a naughty girl during the visit today. Kiasa had been standing by the milk wheelbarrow for some time, not doing anything bad but just standing there. Esampu came over and put Kiasa’s trunk in her mouth. She struggled to get her trunk free but didn’t manage and just as a keeper came over to assist her it was Ambo who came to rescue Kiasa by head-butting the naughty girl, sending her running off and setting Kiasa free!

Maxwell has been in an excited mood since last night and this might be because of all the rain we had yesterday. It has been some kind of celebration for him the whole night and through the morning, running up and down from his bedroom to the far end of his upper stockade. All he wanted was to play this morning. He started with the warthogs who came into his stockade to have some of his lucerne pellets for their breakfast. The warthogs didn’t seem interested in playing with him and they would dodge him, wait for him to run to the other end of his stockade, and then resume eating from his pellet trough. When Ambo and Malima came up to his gate he heard them and came over, pushing and head butting the gate to invite them to a game. This worked for the two playful elephant orphans and they enjoyed a pushing game between the bars of his gate. Then the two orphans started running and trumpeting on one side as Maxwell ran on the inside of his pen. The game came to and end when the orphans decided to run out to the forest to join their friends. Kiko was on his way to join the elephants in the forest with his keepers when just after passing Maxwell’s stockade he saw a lioness who seemed to have spotted him before Kiko or his keepers. He stopped and watched her and the keeper shouted at the lion who disappeared into the thicket, but Kiko didn’t want to move an inch, either forwards or backwards! It wasn’t until some other keepers came that they managed to convince Kiko to go back to the stockades. He didn’t leave for the rest of the day! Esampu does have two sides to her. On the one hand she can be the naughty, feisty elephants the other orphans and keepers have to put up with, but sometimes she can be caring and calm as well. Today she has been especially concerned with one of the babies, taking care of him and accompanying him whilst he walked around with Ndiwa as well.