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Soon after leaving the stockades this morning Karisa engaged Dololo in a pushing game. Sapalan, who was standing close by, didn’t understand why Karisa had picked on Dololo who is smaller and younger than him. According to Sapalan, Karisa ought to have picked on a boy his own size and strength. Sapalan then decided to confront Karisa and the confrontation ended up turning into a fight. Dololo tried to talk to his adopted elder brothers to try and make peace and stop the fight as he was not forced to play with Karisa and actually he didn’t mind. Sapalan understood what Dololo was saying and decided to bring the pushing to an end. It was sweet to notice that Sapalan obviously considered himself a protector of Dololo and that he could always call him if he needed him. 

Ambo settled to browse with Naseku and later with Siangiki. The orphans were briefly joined by ex-orphans Yatta, Yetu, Yoyo, Kinna, Kama, Sunyei, Siku, Lenana, Lapa, Kitirua, Vuria, Wendi, Wiva, Wema, Naserian, Orwa and a wild bull. The ever-playful and charging Siku engaged Sana Sana in a pushing game but unfortunately lost the game to Sana Sana. The ex-orphans then left and walked off in a different location. 

At mud bath time the orphans participated fully in the wallowing exercise soon after taking their milk bottles, and in the afternoon settled to browse along the slopes west of Ithumba Hill.

After the orphans left the stockade, Barsilinga, who had a slightly swollen foot, was checked over. Underneath the foot where he had previously suffered from a wound had completely sealed over, and we decided to wait for a few days to see if the swelling might go down. 

The six, nearly seven, year old Ukame, who left with the ex-orphans yesterday, didn't come back and appears to have made her decision to become one of the many nannies to the wild born babies. The hot-tempered Ukame, who leads a quiet life and has never really had a close permanent friend, has made the decision to graduate to the ex-orphan herd. It will be interesting to see when she comes back with the ex-orphan herd, whether this is a temporary test to experience life outside the stockades, or if she has made a permanent decision of becoming wild again. 

This morning the orphans enjoyed the cool weather and concentrated on browsing up to mud bath time when Sattao led the first group to the mud bath. The weather was still chilly and no orphans dared to step into the mud bath water. The boys kept themselves busy with pushing games as they waited for the Keepers to finish their lunch. Enkikwe played with Tusuja while Sattao settled on Jotto. Sapalan, who protected Dololo the other day from Karisa, decided to spar with him before being challenged by Namalok. Namalok dared Sapalan to engage him in such a tough pushing match but Sapalan didn't accept the offer and quietly slipped away, considering how he might take Namalok on later in the day. 

In the afternoon the orphans settled to browse east of Ithumba Hill. The rest of the day was quiet as the orphans concentrated more on browsing. 

Soon after leaving the stockade Barsilinga engaged Bomani in a morning strength testing exercise again. Rapa settled to feed close to Kuishi and was seen engaging her in a serious conversation that was not revealed to anyone else. Shortly later, the two parted ways. Tusuja was back after another night out and joined his friends in browsing. Sapalan engaged his friend Namalok in a pushing game while Karisa and Mundusi had fun rolling on the ground. 

At might bath time the weather was chilly and the orphans only had their milk bottles, some water and thereafter resumed browsing. 

Gentle Jotto engaged Dololo in warm up exercise that was done in the form of a pushing game while Sana Sana did the same with Sattao. The afternoon was quiet and cold as everyone wondered how the weather has changed so much to be so chilly when normally this is a very hot time of year; right now it resembles the highlands around Ithumba Hill here! The orphans browsed calmly throughout the remaining part of the day.  

In the evening Tusuja decided that he had enough of spending the night out when the rest of his friends are lying comfortably in their stockades, so tonight he decided to join them and left Bomani on his own outside. 

The orphans left the stockade early as usual. It was a quiet morning and the orphans settled to browse in Kone area. Naseku decided to have fun by rolling on the ground while Mapia and Jotto tried to settle their differences through a pushing game. Bomani joined the orphans and later escorted them to the mud bath. Just as the orphans were finishing their milk bottles, Zurura emerged from the western side of the mud bath and settled for water. Tusuja spotted him and walked over to join him to drink water and have a talk before Zurura left him and joined the rest of the group. Shortly later, the entire herd of ex-orphans in Yatta’s herd, and their babies, showed up at the mud bath in the company of some wild elephants. Mteto, Naseku, Roi, Maramoja and Sana Sana decided to go and play with the wild born babies. 

When it was time for them to leave, the ex-orphans left with Mteto, Namalok and Tusuja. The Keepers tried to call Mteto but Mteto would hear none of it as she was busy babysitting Cheka. What complicated matters more was the presence of the wild bulls who made it difficult for the Keepers to get close to Yatta’s herd and retrieve Mteto. Tusuja and Namalok, who have spent several nights out, were comfortable being with the ex-orphans, but Mteto had never spent the night out before and this made the Keepers a little worried about her. The Keepers hoped that the ex-orphans would drop her at the stockade compound later in the evening. 

In the afternoon the orphans settled to browse along the western slopes of Ithumba Hill. As the temperature skyrocketed, the orphans returned back to the mud bath for a cool-off before resuming browsing. In the evening Siangiki, Sapalan, Dololo, Roi, Kauro and Wanjala dodged the Keepers on the way back to the stockades. The Keepers realized this when they were separating the group to get them back to the stockade in an orderly manner. A search was mounted and the missing six were located an hour later as they headed two kilometres north away from the stockades. 

Later, as we all hoped, the ex-orphans passed by the stockade compound shortly before nine o'clock at night and Mteto was able to leave their company and rejoin her friends who were comfortably enjoying their night inside their stockade. After safely depositing Mteto home, the ex-orphans walked off into the night. 

The orphans headed straight out to browse soon after leaving the stockade compound. Shortly later, the ex-orphans showed up with several bulls among them. After drinking enough water the ex-orphans left again. 

The dependent orphans settled to browse north east of the stockades as they slowly headed for mud bath. The vegetation is now changing colour from green to yellow which is an indication that we are slowly easing our way into the dry season. This coming dry season is the shortest one in the year as it lasts for about two months or so, before the rains come in late March or April. We hope that it will be less than two months this year as well, as we have experienced good rains these last couple of years and we hope that 2021 will be the same! This is a blessing for Ithumba as it hasn’t become extremely dry for a couple of years now. 

Towards mud bath time the weather changed to be slightly colder and we had a very short rain shower. The orphans didn't dare to step into the mud bathing water though. Malima and Dololo had fun pushing one another.  

Siangiki, Olsekki, Rapa, Barsilinga and Oltaiyoni didn't even come for mud bath as they saw it as a waste of time and decided to stay back to continue browsing, given that it was the perfect weather for it. They later joined their friends on the way back to the stockades in the evening. It remains to be seen what will be their next step because this particular group with Kauro and Galla always display reluctance to come back to the stockades in the evenings. 

Mulika and her youngest baby Mkuu in the company of nine wild bulls showed up at the stockades today. One of the bulls was in musth and was in hot pursuit of Mulika, evidently in season, as the eight other bulls hung around to try their luck too. The eight bulls couldn’t get close to Mulika as the bull in musth was so aggressive and kept on chasing them away. When Mulika and her baby left, the bulls followed and it’s not clear if they managed to succeed with Mulika, who already has two babies, or not. We will just have to wait and see if a new baby comes along in about 23 months! 

Mutara, Sities, Suguta, Kainuk, Turkwel, Lemoyian, Kithaka, Garzi, Kilaguni and Kibo arrived early before dawn and waited for day break to join the juniors. The arrival of Mutara’s herd, who have been away for nearly two months now, meant the Keepers had to be extra careful because this is the group that can easily leave with Dololo and other young babies if they wished to! They are so besotted with them and are expert baby-snatchers. 

When the orphans were let out of their stockades in the morning there was so much excitement - trumpeting, bellowing and even urination as the big girls searched for Dololo, Sattao and Musiara. As soon as they found them the excitement subsided as they concentrated on getting reports from the babies about how life has been since they have been away. The ex-orphans then led the way out to the browsing field where they spent most of their time browsing with Dololo. 

Bomani decided to play with Garzi while Enkikwe settled to play with Lemoyian. A wild bull joined the orphans before mud bath time but left immediately after seeing the Keepers. The orphans had their noon milk feed before the ex-orphans from Yatta’s herd and some wild elephants started streaming in. It was as if they had decided to meet up at the mud bath today. There was so much excitement as all the groups met but there was also angst amongst the Keepers as they feared losing some of the youngsters in the foray. It’s always difficult for them to retrieve the babies from the ex-orphans once they have absconded with them! 

There was a startling total of one hundred and twenty elephants present at the mud bath before the Keepers started calling the dependent orphans to continue browsing for the rest of the afternoon. Mutara and her group split from the senior ex-orphans and wild elephants and opted to follow the dependent orphans. Later in the evening, Mutara and her group escorted the orphans back to the stockades for the night. 

It was a chilly morning today. Mutara’s group was waiting outside the stockades to whisk Dololo and his friends away but the Keepers remained vigilant and wouldn't allow that to happen. The Keepers led the orphans towards the Kone area as Mutara and her group followed. 

Bomani and Barsilinga had a warm up exercise that was done through a pushing game. Their warm up exercise attracted Karisa and Sapalan who started their own game. Suguta made sure that she walked beside Dololo so as not to lose him to the other girls, all lining up to keep Dololo company. Later Rapa had brief chat with Malima which resulted in a pushing game due to a disagreement that seemed to arise during their conversation. Sapalan disrupted the pushing game as he wanted to wrestle with Rapa himself. Rapa didn't respond but turned to attack Sapalan who was fully prepared for any eventualities since he expected Rapa to protest by retaliating. 

When the orphans reached the mud bath around 11am the temperature was moderate and the orphans decided to boycott the wallowing exercise. Barsilinga and Bomani came later but this is when the drama started. Despite not having milk for some time now, Bomani protested to the Keepers for failing to offer him any milk, yet he had accompanied Barsilinga to the mud bath who was getting some, and they are almost the same age and size (Barsilinga is still on milk in order to receive treatment for his foot injury). When Bomani realised that the Keepers were not going to give him any milk he protested by turning and trying to take away a bottle of milk that Barsilinga was guzzling down. Barsilinga certainly wouldn’t allow Bomani to take any of his milk and asked the Keepers to keep away his troublesome friend away until he finished. The Keepers acted quickly by trying to keep Bomani away from Barsilinga until he finished. 

The afternoon was quiet as the Keepers kept a keen eye on Mutara’s herd whose mission was almost certainly to try and snatch some of the dependent babies as they love them so much. The day ended well with all orphans accounted for back at the stockade compound in the evening.