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Just as the orphan elephants were settling out in the forest this morning, suddenly they became very hyper and started running about to and fro. They were trumpeting, charging and bashing into the bushes, with big girls like Tagwa, Tamiyoi, Sagala, Kuishi, Tamiyoi and Maisha taking control of the busy event. The Keepers were not sure what started them off, but they decided to let them enjoy rushing about in the happy moment they were having. They went on like that for over 20 minutes, performing all kinds of funny stunts. Tagwa, Sagala and Kuishi were seen at one point rolling and posing on the ground for the youngsters like Musiara, Sattao, Maktao, Emoli, and even some of the older ones like Jotto, Mapia and Ambo to come and climb on them. From their experience, the Keepers always say that when the orphans behave in such a restless and excitable mood like this, a rescue is about to occur. Sure enough, we were called to rescue a young orphan from the Masai Mara this very afternoon. We rescued a young little calf who had been alone without her mother for some time as she was very skinny and dehydrated. She is about 10 months old, and we have called her Larro. She was put into a stable next to Enkesha after arriving late at night, and soon settled down to have a bottle of much needed milk.

Little Luggard is so loved by the other members of the herd, who seem to have an understanding that he is compromised in some way. This morning Kiasa and Maisha gave all the orphans a fright when they were browsing, by running and trumpeting out of the bushes, causing a commotion for an unknown reason. Their sudden performance caused the other orphans to run out away from the bushes as well, trumpeting and stamping their feet. Luggard could not run as fast as the others, and tried his best to keep up trumpeting like the others. The orphans reached a point where they gathered around their Keepers with their ears held high, listening to see if there was any danger around. When they heard Luggard trumpeting trying to run up to them too, caring and protective Tagwa as well as Kuishi, Sagala and Tamiyoi all quickly guided the group to run towards him and collect him up too, to escort him to were the Keepers were watching. Obviously there was no danger at all and something had just startled Maisha and Kiasa, but it was so lovely to see how caring they all were of Luggard. Sagala, Kuishi, Jotto and Tamiyoi all continued to stamp their feet and cause a commotion, as elephants are so protective of one another in the herd.

Having not had enough time out in the forest yesterday because of the lions, Kiko was adamant that he would go out today. When the Keepers were walking him between his stable and the stockade where he would be contained whilst the Keepers established there were no lions about, he decided to run off directly into the forest. He wouldn’t listen to the Keepers at all and instead ran towards the elephants. Tagwa, Kuishi, Jotto and Musiara helped the Keepers by charging at Kiko to direct him back towards the stockades and in the end the Keepers probably only succeeded because of their help. 

There are three elephants that always yell really loudly and enough to make you jump when you first hear them. Mapia always shouts as he runs up for his milk bottle and before he starts to drink from it, and we always think he is shouting with appreciation and love of his milk formula. Sagala does the same thing, but Emoli is a naughty little boy who just seems to shout for no reason at all sometimes, which scares the other orphans and makes them run to their Keepers.

Kiasa is still known as the naughty girl, because when she has set her mind to something and means business, then there is no stopping her. At the 9am milk feed she came in with the second last group to have their milk bottles. She was with Ambo, Maisha, Kuishi and Sagala. Ambo had arrived first and was moved to one side by one of the Keepers with his bottles to make way for the others running in behind him. Kiasa was third to arrive at the milk bottle wheelbarrow and she was taken to the side as well to have her milk, but just half way through her bottle she abandoned it and ran charging over to Ambo who had just finished one of two bottles. She began fighting for Ambo’s share of milk but Ambo and his Keeper kept turning in circles to avoid her. She kept pushing and head butting them but Ambo was very good and didn’t retaliate, that was until she got hold of the Keeper feeding him and then everything changed. Ambo abandoned his bottle to deal with her and Kuishi joined in as well. Together they pushed Kiasa away out towards the forest as they were tired of her antics! The Keepers stood back to allow the orphans to solve their own issues. Out in the forest, Kiasa settled down and concentrated on looking after Larro, who has been spending a lot of time with Luggard.

The sky was clear today and there was no sign of any rain ahead. The sun had just started to rise and displace the morning cold as the orphans began their morning routine of leaving their stockades and walking out towards the dew covered bushes in the forest. They followed under the leadership of the current Nairobi matriarch Tagwa and moved slowly amongst the bushes, browsing as they walked. Musiara and Luggard trailed behind, as Malima and Maisha were at the front alongside Kuishi and Sagala who were apparently more interested in playing than browsing. The Keepers walked on either side of the orphans, making them feel secure and protected. Maktao with his funny antics was putting his trunk into one of the Keepers’ pockets, pulling out his handkerchief. The Keeper pleaded with him to give him his handkerchief back, but Maktao was in a mischievous mood and threw the handkerchief into the top of a nearby bush!

Today it felt as if the temperature was rising as every minute passed. The morning dew quickly dried up and the baby elephants prepared for another hot day of browsing out in the forest. Dololo and Mukkoka chose to browse under the trees while some of the others braved the hot sun to browse elsewhere. Maktao and Maisha decided to join Dololo as they started to find the heat too much. The bigger girls like Kuishi, Sagala and Tamiyoi took cover under one large tree, with Kuishi pulling down big branches to ensure they could all still browse while standing in the shade. Tagwa, Sattao and Larro browsed under nearby shrubs before they got a fright by some impalas running past. Larro took cover next to the Nursery matriarch Tagwa, who trumpeted loudly to protect the baby. This attracted the attention of the other elephants, who also came running over to chase off the impalas who had interrupted their browsing.