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Whilst the majority of orphans this morning were enjoying the leaves and grass in the forest this morning, the little ones like Maktao, Sattao, Musiara and Kiasa were seen scampering around the bushes. They were charging at and hiding from each other, the picture of happiness. Their happy game eventually attracted the attention of Jotto, Ambo, Malima, Maisha and Enkesha who joined in with full force. The game did not last too much longer as Jotto and Ambo bumped hard into Sattao and Musiara who fell down yelling, which drew the attention herd who then came running over to find out what was wrong! Mbegu, Godoma and Shukuru led the party who came over to find out if everyone was okay. As the big girls milled around Musiara and Sattao, Maktao, Jotto and Ambo were spotted playfully enjoying their own game in the corner, avoiding being warned off by the keepers and the matriarchal figures!

During the public visit today, most of the orphans showed no interest in mud bathing as they had already had so much fun in puddles and small mud holes they had found out in the forest that morning. Big boys like Ndotto, Murit and Lasayen and some of the big girls like Mbegu, Godoma, Sana Sana, Tagwa, Mteto, Sagala and Ndiwa had all rolled around in the mud that morning, a joyful event which also saw youngsters like Malima, Emoli, Tamiyoi, Jotto, Ambo, Musiara, Sattao, Kiasa, Mapia and Enkesha all join in too and take their time getting nice and muddy before it was time for their 9 o’clock bottle feeding. By the time it was the public visit, none of the orphans bothered mud bathing and some like Maktao and Sattao were enjoying pushing games. Maktao was chasing Sattao along the rope cordon trying to climb on him, a game he is always fond of just like our big boy Ndotto! Sattao was trying to resist him by turning to head butt him, but Maktao persisted! Jotto and Ambo decided to start a similar game with Malima and chased her next to the rope cordon trying to climb on her, but Malima was wise to their ways and went and sought refuge by standing next to Godoma. The two boys were left with no option other than to turn to each other and start a wrestling game of their own!

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.

Kiasa’s desire to have extra milk by all means possible is growing day by day! The ‘sassy’ girl as the keepers refer to her will try and use any manoeuvre possible to get closer to the milk wheel-barrow which is very funny to watch. She seems to have learnt these tactics from the playful girl Malima. She was being naughty at the 9am milk feed this morning, dodging the keepers as they tried to feed her friends and trying to get as close as possible to the wheelbarrow to steal another bottle. Her antics continued up to the public visiting time and the 11am feeding but this time she kept pushing trying to get another bottle from her friends. At one stage she made off with an empty bottle and carried it away, walking round and around as the keepers tried to take it back. Eventually she dropped it into the muddy water hole which the visiting public thought was very funny. Her behaviour however was annoying the mini matriarch Godoma who slowly approached the errant girl and gave her a hard corrective push that left poor Kiasa half submerged in the mud hole. Meanwhile there was small push and pull game going on between arch-foes Musiara and Maktao as the boys boys determinedly fought over who would win the attention of Kuishi; they kept their game well away from Godoma as they could tell she was in a disciplinary mood!

The babies woke up happy today as the morning sun shone on them. The smaller babies woke up early this morning as well, as the weather was nice and favourable for them to join the other orphans. As usual Mbegu played her role of ‘mother’ to the tiny infants and the young babies and they chose to stand next to her and under her belly for the whole morning. Sometimes the young babies would lift their trunk up to Mbegu’s teats to see if she had any milk there, just as they would to sisters and aunties in the wild. Mbegu in return just touched the babies all over their little bodies and gently patted them reassuringly with her trunk. The little babies flapped their ears with joy. The happy mood of the orphans continued up until the mud bath and public visit at 11am. They took advantage of the hot weather and chose to play in the mud bath in turns. Maktao and Enkesha were the most playful babies and they pulled on each others trunks and rolled several times around in the mud. Kuishi decided to run along the rope cordon to both the delight an disappointment of some of the visitors as she was very muddy as well! Some chose to touch her as she playfully walked along the cordon and others decided to back away from the very muddy baby. Malima was also playing some funny games as she rolled on the soil, spreading her legs in a very funny pose and throwing dust all over herself.

As the sun rose slowly over the horizon at the Nursery, the orphans were so enjoying the warmth of its rays. Some were engaged in some pushing games, some were stamping around the bushes in happiness and some continued browsing as if nothing was going on around them. Maktao’s playmate Musiara decided to take on Sattao instead as Malima enjoyed a pushing game with Tamiyoi. Ndotto and Lasayen were browsing deep in the bushes as the playful bulls Ngilai and Murit rolled on the ground enjoying the morning warmth. Kiasa decided to hang around the keepers as they drank their morning tea. One of the tiny babies was suckling on Tagwa’s ear as Mbegu and Ambo browsed just to the side of them. Mteto ran after two warthogs who were browsing close by and Godoma joined her, so the two pigs ran off into the bushes to get away from the playful elephant babies. Shukuru, whose health seems to be improving more and more, was pulling leaves from the top of some of the nearby trees, as sweet Luggard waited below to collect some of the leaves that fell to the ground in the process.

Despite Mbegu’s love and care for all the elephants, her relationship with Ambo is still strong. The ‘bigger’ baby boy is always close to his adopted mother these days, browsing by her side and sometimes even touching her teats with his trunk. Mbegu has a great task in caring of all the little babies as well, and letting them suckle on her ears whenever they need to be comforted. During the public visiting time today, Jotto was the first one to get into the water hole to enjoy his mud bath and cool down in the heat of the day. Jotto carefully got into the water and gently lowered his whole body in without causing any splashes. Malima and Maisha followed suit but Mapia and Tamiyoi decided to spray themselves by standing on the edge and collecting muddy water with their trunks to throw on their bodies. The ended up not only spraying themselves but the keepers and the visitors in the process as well! Luggard also got into the water and submerged his whole body, lifting his trunk out and swinging it around with joy. Kiasa and Murit opted to hang out with their keepers along the rope cordon and avoid any interaction with their mud covered friends!

Tagwa is showing strong signs of becoming a matriarch in the future. She loves taking care of little ones and today spent a lot of time with the tiny babies. She offered her ears to be suckled and even gently patted the baby and helped to dust her tiny body with her trunk. After awhile the baby moved to join Mbegu who was busy browsing close to Tagwa. Luggard and Murit were having a small play fight but Malima interrupted them. This annoyed the usually forgiving Luggard and he pressed his short tusks into her side to move her away. This didn’t stop the determined Malima however and she managed to grab Murit’s tail and Murit couldn’t run away from the disruptive girl. Due to the hot weather at the moment, all the orphans enjoyed the mud bath today with Sattao, Musiara, Maisha, Ambo, Emoli, Jotto and Godoma enjoying it the most. Tamiyoi managed to spray the visitors with mud as they enjoyed watching the orphans mud bathing!

Maktao is still so attached to his human family and is never happy if they are not around. It is because of this that sometimes his friends will ignore him now if he starts to complain, because they know it is just something small. This morning he was in the company of Luggard, Shukuru, Maisha and Jotto in the woods when suddenly, just because he couldn’t see a keeper, he started screaming very loudly. None of the other babies paid any attention to him though! When he became too loud Jotto stepped in to make him quiet, as there were other ones present even younger than him and he was making such a fuss. Receiving no help from his friends Maktao started running back towards the stockades crying out, and the keepers came over to stop him. When he heard them call his name he ran towards them and everything was fine again. We know the others are just bored of his cries because if any of the other little ones cry, others like Mbegu, Tagwa, Malima and Godoma will go charging over to see what is wrong. It was the same case for Musiara during the public visit today. He was playing in the mud bath and Godoma joined him there too. He moved slightly to make way for Godoma and played in the muddy area behind. He submerged himself in the mud and took a light nap, and when he awoke he found he was now stuck in the thick mud! He couldn’t get up and started shouting for help, and immediately Godoma was there with Malima, Tamiyoi and Jotto standing on the side to offer help. In the end it was the keepers and Godoma who helped him out – but nonetheless it was a very different scenario to when Maktao calls for help, as he always cries wolf!

Malima is a clever little girl. Today she saw one of the babies coming out to the forest to join the rest of the group. From a distance she watched as one picked up a piece of rubbish and put it in his mouth. She swiftly ran over to meet him and snatched out the piece before escorting him to join the herd. Tamiyoi and Jotto then stepped up and led the little one away from the group. One of the other little babies loves Tagwa and Mbegu the most and whenever she joins the orphans in the forest she will raise her trunk in the air trying to find one or both of these females. Sattao has come to accept the presence of the babies around Mbegu as well. Before it was difficult to share her attention, just after he had won her affection from Ambo, but now he does not mind as much. Mbegu still dedicates lots of special time to Ambo too, even though he is older than these babies and Sattao now. Musiara and Luggard are still special friends but when they are browsing they do tend to separate these days, as Musiara likes to walk deep into the forest now with Ndotto, Mundusi, Sagala and Ngilai. Luggard prefers to stay close to the keepers. But when it comes time to milk feeding times they will always want to accompany each other. They both walk slowly because of Luggard’s bad leg, but they also like to dawdle and often get distracted. Today when a keeper walked back to check on them as they had not arrived for their milk bottle during the public visit, they were found enjoying a dust bath half way down the path! Maisha has her special place to stand during the public visit. When everyone else in enjoying a mud bath, she is far in the corner standing in the shade cooling herself and dosing whilst the others play.

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.