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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.