As we welcomed the first day of a brand-new year, the Keepers found the nightclubbers already outside the stockade compound, waiting for their friends. Faraja brought a wild bull along, who happily browsed alongside the herd. Sonje and Quanza thought it would be a good idea to introduce the little ones to the wild bull, but they went about it with great care. First, they went up to greet him individually, before escorting Kiombo and Kiasa over. Unfortunately, the babies were a bit forward with their greeting and touched the bull’s tail, which caused him to trumpet very loudly. Kiombo and Kiasa learned an important lesson about elephant etiquette to begin the new year!
As we welcomed the first day of a brand-new year, the Keepers found the nightclubbers already waiting outside the stockade compound for their friends. Faraja who hasn’t been spending time with the orphans, arrived today, with a wild bull friend. The wild bull seemed to of a similar age to Ngasha and Jasiri and was happy to browse alongside them. Sonje and Quanza thought it would be a good idea to introduce the little ones to the wild bull, so first they went up to the wild bull to greet him and then returned to main herd to bring Kiombo and Kiasa to greet the wild bull. Unfortunately for the two babies, the wild bull did not take too kindly to having his tail touched. This calm bull turned around and trumpeted very loudly at the babies, sending them running back to the main herd. Sonje and Quanza also made a quick getaway and after that the wild bull stayed away from the orphans and chose instead to browse a bit further away with Jasiri, Ngasha and Faraja for the rest of the day.
Zongoloni was one of the first orphans to break away from the Umani herd, Jasiri, Ngasha, Ziwa and Faraja followed suit. Zongoloni soon became the matriarch of the nightclubbers herd and whilst some of the boys come and go and others have joined, the re-integration process of our orphans continue. With Lima Lima joining Zongoloni as second in charge, Zongoloni with her no-nonsense attitude and Lima Lima with her gentle and fun ways, these two girls keep the boys in line.
The Keepers woke up this morning to see Faraja’s bull friend waiting outside the stockade gates. Ngasha and Faraja arrived shortly after and waited for the Keepers to open the gates. Whilst Faraja and Ngasha joined the Umani herd at the pellets corner, our guest bull waited by the side-lines, watching his friends.
Alamaya and Mwashoti were engaged in quite a boisterous pushing game, they made sure to move away from their friends, but they got so carried away that they did not notice Murera browsing peacefully. Mwashoti bumped into the older girl causing Murera to get very annoyed with the boys and chased them off.
At the waterhole, the orphans contemplated on whether to swim or not, the water looked inviting so Kiasa tested the water temperature by placing her trunk in the water. The water was not warm enough, so the orphans decided against playing in the water, but by that time, Kiasa had already noticed a crocodile walking up to the waterhole, so the Umani herd backed away and made their way towards the Chyulu Hills for the rest of the afternoon.
For a third day in a row, Faraja’s bull friend joined the Umani herd today. He has started to be friendlier towards the younger girls. Today he managed to convince Enkesha and Kiasa to follow him towards the Chyulu Hills. When it was time for the herd to move and the Keepers called out to all the orphans and soon realized that Kiasa and Enkesha were not with them. The Keepers broke off into two groups, one to stay with the main herd and the other to look for Kiasa and Enkesha. Zongoloni must have heard the Keepers calling out, because after a few minutes, the wild bull, Enkesha and Kiasa emerged from the bushes with Zongoloni. Relieved to see the girls Sonje and Quanza quickly ensconced them into the centre of the herd.
Faraja and the rest of the bulls must have sensed that the Keepers were not too happy with their wild bull friend, so they decided to leave the Umani herd and as predicted, the wild bull followed them. It was late afternoon and seeing the orphans tired, they Keepers started to lead the orphans’ home. They had to take a detour and a slightly longer route as their way home was blocked by a large herd of buffaloes. The orphans got home later than usual, hot and thirsty, they all gulped down their bottles of milk and retired to their quarters quite early.
A disagreement broke out between Alamaya and Mwashoti. Alamaya had found a juicy branch to chew on dropped it by accident and Mwashoti was quick to scoop it up, Alamaya tried to grab it back from him and Mwashoti would not let go, and so ensued a pushing and pulling game that got quite heated very quickly. Murera who has a soft spot for her boy Mwashoti, intervened and put a stop to the fight. With a gentle nudge, she pushed Mwashoti to walk away, leaving Alamaya no choice but also abandon his fight to reclaim his juicy branch.
A small herd of wild elephant cows, with two small babies joined the Umani herd today. Kiombo saw the little babies and wanted to play with them, but the mothers of the babies gave him a stern warning to stay away, and an older female gave Kiombo quite a hard push. Quanza who was nearby, quickly came to Kiombo’s aid, ushering the little boy away, rumbling as they left, as though telling Kiombo that he needs to respect the females of wild herds. This interaction with wild herds is a very important aspect of the re-integration process. Learning the dynamics of how a herd works is a much-needed survival skill, so it makes the Keepers very proud to see how quickly their babies are learning.
A wild bull whom we haven’t seen for many years, appeared where the Umani orphans were browsing. He is a huge bull, almost 40yrs old with one very large tusk and one broken tusk. The Keepers have nicknamed him One Tusker. This bull is not very friendly, and the Keepers think he must have heard their voices and sought them out. As soon as he was spotted, the Keepers quickly gathered the orphans and moved away to avoid any altercations. Kiasa, curious as always, started to walk towards the big bull, but Sonje and Quanza put a stop to this right away.
Zongoloni, Alamaya and Faraja had joined the orphans earlier, but when the wild bull started to walk towards the Chyulu Hill, these three nightclubbers decided to follow him. Sonje and Quanza guided the orphans towards the stockades as it was almost time to go home. Maktao and his friend Enkesha took lead and were the first ones to reach the stockades, have their milk bottles and retire to their rooms. Murera as always made her rounds of all the pens before settling down into her now quarters. She walked past Enkesha and saw the young girl resting her trunk on the wooden planks taking a quick nap before continuing to browse on the greens the Keepers had laid out for her.
As soon as the orphans were done with their morning routine, Sonje gathered them all around to discuss what direction they would browse in today. Kiombo was the first out of the gate and raced ahead of everyone. Sonje preferred the younger babies to walk between the older orphans as it was always safer this way. Kiombo continued to run ahead, but a troop of screaming baboons in the overhead trees scared him and sent him running back to Sonje, where she was walking with Kiasa.
Lima Lima and Mwashoti joined the orphans and accompanied them to the Kibwezi Forest. Mwashoti was happy to see his friends Murera and as always stayed close to her. The orphans were enjoying the lush green grass, grabbing trunkful’s and stuffing their mouths. Troublemaker Ngasha also decided to join them. He saw Alamaya had found a stick and was holding it in his mouth and grabbed it from Alamaya. Alamaya wanted it back, but he knew it was futile. A scream from a bushbuck averted everyone’s attention. Lima Lima who likes to be well informed of her surroundings, quickly sought out where the sound was coming from. The Keepers followed Lima Lima to find a baboon had killed a baby bushbuck. It was too late to save the baby, so the Keepers and orphans moved on.
The stockade orphans were eager to exit their pens today and meet their friends to start their day. Alamaya and Zongoloni were already there, waiting patiently. Lima Lima arrived a short while later and as soon as Kiasa caught their scent, she ran out of the gates to greet them. The Umani orphans and their friends headed towards the Chyulu Hills along the Kithasyo Airstrip. On arrival, the found a large herd of female elephants had already taken over quite a bit of the area. Murera was very hesitant and wanted to turn back but she saw that Zongoloni, and Quanza had already walked up the oldest female of the herd and after a while all the orphans were browsing peacefully with the wild herd. Murera decided to stay but browsed away from them, keeping Mwashoti close to her.
Since Faraja’s wild bull friend tried to sneak off with Enkesha and Kiasa, the nightclubbers boys have been keeping to themselves, the Keepers have spotted them with various wild herds, but they have not been to visit the Umani herd yet. Ngasha remains on his own. He sometimes visits the stockades after the orphans have left, but he has not been spotted with any wild herds yet. It could be because of this bullish nature.
Lima Lima is the social butterfly of the herd. She’s always the first to welcome a wild bull, make friends with the females of wild herds, always keen to seek out where the best browse is, and her keen sense of smell and hearing means the Keepers can rely on her in case of any lurking danger. Today there was no danger. Lima Lima was making her usual rounds, scouting the area when she found a pair of crane birds guarding a nest with eggs. Lima Lima backed away alerting the Keepers to take a detour, but not naughty Alamaya, he found his way to the nest and decided to investigate the contents of the nest, but the crane birds outwitted him but flew off thereby luring him away from the test. By the time Alamaya grew tired of his game, the crane birds’ nest was far behind him. Murera and Mwashoti were not interested in joining Alamaya, they carried on browsing peacefully away from the rest of their friends. Zongoloni arrived later in the afternoon with a male bull in tow. The bull stayed close to Zongoloni and was very gentle and peaceful, he was curious of the Keepers, but did not bother them, or try to mount any of the girls. Once it was time to go home in the evening, the wild bull followed Zongoloni until the stockades and then disappeared towards the Umani Springs leaving Zongoloni at the water trough.
It has now become a common sight to see Faraja and Ziwa, in the company of wild bulls. Ever since Ngasha had his disagreement with the nightclubber boys, Faraja and Ziwa have chosen to join wild bull herds. Jasiri still spends time with his friends in the Umani herd, but sometimes he too is seen with other wild bulls. These boys seem happier in the company of wild bulls, enjoying the adventures of now what seems like another step towards their re-integration. The Keepers also noticed how much bigger Ziwa and Faraja were looking, their tusks seem bigger and both bulls look healthy and strong. Jasiri has tried to reconcile with Ngasha, but Ngasha chooses not to mend his ways, and because of this the Umani herd have made it clear his bullying ways are not welcome. Sometimes Ngasha visits the stockades, on his own, after the Umani orphans have left, he walks around the stockade picking up leftover pellets.
Today Ziwa and Faraja arrived with four wild bulls, the bulls were very curious of the Keepers and when one of them tried to charge at the Keepers, Ziwa stopped him, by stepping in front of the wild bull. After that, Zongoloni rumbled at Ziwa, and Faraja and Ziwa left with their friends. Zongoloni and Quanza decided to follow the wild bulls but returned a short while later to join Kiasa and her friends. Kiasa and Kiombo were engaged in a tug of war over a branch. In the end Kiasa gave up and joined Maktao and Enkesha where they were browsing.
Lima Lima has finally been weaned off her milk bottle, for an elephant who loved her milk, she has accepted her transition quite gracefully. Today she watched as Enkesha and Maktao enjoyed their bottles of milk, without causing a fuss. Mwashoti not so much, this little bull still demands his milk bottle, the Keepers have been trying to wean him off too, but their efforts have been futile. Today, again they tried, but Mwashoti screamed in protest so much that the Keepers felt sorry for him and gave him a bottle to keep him happy.
All the orphans were getting ready to wallow, Kiasa was the first one at the mud-bath, but Lima Lima noticed there was a water buffalo also making his way to the mud-bath, she trumpeted loudly at the Keepers to alert them, but before the Keepers could get to Kiasa, Lima Lima had already ushered Kiasa away from the mud-bath towards Murera and went on to chase off the buffalo, after which everyone enjoyed a leisurely mud-bath.
Zongoloni and Lima Lima are usually the first ones at the stockades every morning. They wait for Sonje and Murera to get the babies ready and then they all leave together to start their browsing activities. Today Mwashoti and Ngasha arrived, but not Zongoloni and Lima Lima. The Keepers called out them as they set out towards the Umani Hills, but no sign of them. Murera was walking slowly hoping to also spot them, but after while the older girls decided to pick up the pace and move on.
Kiasa and Kiombo found themselves surrounded by a kaleidoscope of butterflies. As the butterflies fluttered and tickled their faces, Kiasa and Kiombo started to chase them, but younger elephants can be quite clumsy. Kiasa feet got tangled and she toppled over and Kiombo who was right behind her, toppled over on top of her. The Keepers couldn’t stop laughing, the two looked so funny lying in a heap. Kiombo was the first one up on his feet and ran immediately towards Sonje to be comforted. A little further inside the Kibwezi Forest Mwashoti came across a small gathering of bushbucks, grazing peacefully, Mwashoti wanted to chase them, but his game was cut short when a wild bull who must have been browsing deeper in the bush caught sight of the Keepers and decided to charge. The Keepers quickly jumped into action, gathering Sonje, Murera and the rest of the herd, one of the Keepers threw his dustcoat in the opposite direction to confuse the bull. This quick thinking bought the Umani orphans more time for a quick getaway.
Spending time with the nightclubber boys has given Zongoloni and Lima Lima the much-needed insight on how to socialize with wild bulls, all of these are essential skills for our orphans when they start to venture out in to the wild. We had hoped the same for Ngasha, but his ill-temper isolates him from the Umani herd and from other wild herds too. He still depends on the Umani herd for company and has to be reprimanded sometimes when he plays a bit rough with the little ones. Today he knocked over little Maktao and the Keepers had to step in and tell him off. At this rate, perhaps Ngasha’s re-integration will take longer than the other orphans.
Ziwa and Faraja are doing very well with their progress, they are spending more time with wild herds, and this makes the Keepers very proud. These boys, who came to Umani as little bulls, have been nurtured by the Keepers and it is very fulfilling for them to see them starting to live their lives as free elephants.
Lima Lima and Zongoloni were late reporting to the Stockades this morning, the Umani orphans waited around for a while, but eventually Quanza took charge and led the orphans towards the Umani Hills. As the orphans approached the Hills, they could hear loud elephant trumpets, thinking it was the nightclubbers, Sonje urged the Keepers and orphans to pick up speed, when she saw Murera lagging behind, Sonje walked over to her friend and the two exchanged some rumbles, after which Sonje slowed down. Eventually the Keepers saw that the trumpeting was coming from a herd of wild elephants and not the nightclubbers. It is possible that, that Murera already knew this and communicated the same to Sonje. The older girls decided to avoid the wild herd and found another spot at which to browse.
After a few hours the wild elephant herd made their way to where our orphans were browsing peacefully. They were quite curious and approached Quanza and Sonje looking to make friends, these girls eagerly welcomed them, but Murera left with Mwashoti not wanting to socialize with this herd. Kiombo and Kiasa who were with Sonje got lost amongst the wild herd, but Quanza sought them out and after that the two little ones stayed in between Sonje and Quanza.
Zongoloni and the other nightclubbers can sometimes go for days without visiting the Umani orphans, but not Ngasha and Mwashoti. Ngasha visits because he has yet to find a wild herd that would accept him or form one of his own. Mwashoti’s relationship with Murera and the lure of his one milk bottle a day is what keeps him returning to his friends. He can be late for the morning bottles, but he always manages to make it for the midday or evening bottle, he knows if he doesn’t, then the Keepers will stop making a bottle for him. Eventually, just like his nightclubber friends he too, will be weaned off the bottle.
A few months ago, Kiasa and Quanza discovered a lovely mud-bath with thick and loose mud, up in the Chyulu Hills. Today was the ideal weather for this kind of wallowing. They led the orphans towards this mud-hole. The rest of the orphans opted out of wallowing and settled into their afternoon browsing session. Kiasa and Quanza waded into the mud. As they were settling into the mud, a wild buffalo who was submerged in the mud, up to his eyes, got up suddenly startling the two girls. Not stopping to see what it was, the girls ran out of the mud-bath trumpeting and causing a panic, hence startling the rest of the herd who then charged blindly into the bush. It took the Keepers a few minutes to settle them, but once they saw there was no danger, all the orphans returned to their browsing but now a bit further away from the mud-hole.
We have a total of fifteen orphans at Umani, out of that seven are members of the nightclubbers, none of whom visited the stockades this morning. As always, the Keepers kept watching out for them but after a while, Keepers and babies all set out towards the Kibwezi Forest. Earlier the Keepers could hear trumpeting coming from the Hills and they hoped this was their beloved nightclubbers. Once everyone got the to forest, the Keepers heard some rustling in the bushes, they thought Zongoloni had arrived with her troop, instead it was a herd of wild bulls. They had caught scent of Murera and Sonje, but on catching scent of the Keepers, they were a bit hesitant, so the Keepers backed away and let the bulls socialize with Sonje and Murera. Sonje was enjoying the company of the wild bulls, but not Murera, after a while she disappeared into the forest. Kiasa and Enkesha were very curious of the wild bulls, so they followed Sonje and stayed with the bulls for quite a while, until it was time for their midday feed. The orphans and wild bulls parted ways, the orphans went down to the mud-bath to wait for the milk van and the bulls stayed in the Kibwezi forest.
After being away for a few days, Alamaya reported early this morning to the stockades. With him was Ngasha, Mwashoti and Lima Lima. There was no sign of Zongoloni, Faraja, Jasiri and Ziwa. The Keepers were happy to see them looking well. The three nightclubbers stayed with the orphans and even followed them to the midday milk feed. Alamaya was looking quite sleepy and kept rubbing his eyes with his trunk. He found a nice cool shaded spot where he lay down to nap and Ngasha who was looking equally tired, joined Alamaya. It was quite evident that these night clubbers had had quite a few adventurous days and nights and needed their rest.
Kiasa was at the water-trough when Quanza rumbled at her. Quanza was at the dust point and wanted Kiasa to join her, she was also picking up minerals from near the dusting point and wanted to show Kiasa. The little girl joined Quanza as did Sonje and Lima Lima. After some time, Murera rumbled and all the orphans thought this was their signal to move to a different location to browse, but she was signalling Mwashoti to join her. Murera and Mwashoti remain very close, when Mwashoti first arrived at Umani, he was under Murera’s care, and they shared a pen until Mwashoti left to join the nightclubber. The young bulls arrive every day to join Murera and two always browse together, they only part ways in the evening when Murera retires to the stockades and Mwashoti goes on to join the nightclubbers and his other wild friends.
Zongoloni and her boys were visibly absent today – only Alamaya, Mwashoti and Ngasha turned up at the Umani stockades this morning. Murera was already at the pellet corner and then was joined by Sonje, Quanza and all their little babies. Once they were done with their morning routine, all the orphans and their friends set out towards the Umani Springs. Alamaya spotted a few wild bulls and walked over to introduce himself. The wild bulls were also interested in the girls in the Umani herd but stayed on the outskirts of Umani Springs. Sonje and Kiombo were close to where Alamaya was socializing with the wild bulls and Kiombo wanted to join them, but Sonje heard some trumpeting coming from the top of the Hills, she urged the herd to move towards the Hills hoping that they would find Lima Lima and the rest of the nightclubbers. Mwashoti and Murera were browsing away from the rest of the herd, so they had to be gathered and all walked towards the Hills. Before they got to the top of the Hill, they spotted Lima Lima standing by herself, as soon as she saw the Keepers, she walked towards as though wanting to show them something. One Keeper followed her, and Lima Lima showed him a crane birds’ nest. The crane birds were trying to distract the elephants from trampling their nest, so the Keeper returned and turned the herd to a different direction. Here they came across another wild herd, but the Umani orphans did not approach them.
Last night, the heavy rain falling on the roof proved to be too much for Kiombo. The sound scared him, and Sonje could see he was not comfortable, she rumbled at him gently to reassure him and coaxed him to stand under her belly. Kiombo settled down after that. Next door to him were Maktao and Enkesha, unperturbed by the rain and enjoying the greens the Keepers had left out for them. What finally scared everyone was the big clap of thunder, but the Keepers were at hand to reassure them, and soon after the babies had fallen asleep.
The next morning, by the time Lima Lima and Mwashoti arrived the orphans had already left the stockades. These two elephants took their time walking around the stockades, feasting on left over pellets and inspecting their old rooms. Mwashoti heard Murera call out for him, the orphans had already reached the slopes of Umani Hill, so Mwashoti and Lima Lima quickly made their way to Umani Hill to join their friends. As both friends were making their way to Murera a lone buffalo came out of the bushes startling and scaring Mwashoti, Mwashoti trumpeted so loudly at the buffalo, that the buffalo ran away, leaving the friends to carry on.
The dynamics of the Umani orphans has started to change somewhat. Initially it was the older boys who started to spend their nights outside of the stockades. Zongoloni followed next, to look after the boys, Lima Lima was the next female and Mwashoti is the latest addition. After Ngasha’s disagreement with Faraja and Ziwa, they made their own group and have now joined a wild bull herd. These two bulls seem to be very happy living their lives as wild and free elephants. After Jasiri’s numerous attempts at reconciling with Ngasha were thwarted, this bull has remained within the nightclubber click of Zongoloni, Alamaya, Lima Lima and Mwashoti. Though Mwashoti seems somewhat undecided. He spends his days with Murera and the stockade-dependent orphans, but at night he stays with his nightclubber friends. He is taking his time transitioning fully into the nightclubbers herd.
The stockade-dependent herd remains under the care of Murera and Sonje, with the help of Quanza. Enkesha is our mini matriarch in the making and all our babies Kiombo, Kiasa and Maktao. Ngasha is the only one who remains on the outskirts of each herd. It will be a while before he finds his place.
There were a few buffaloes, lying in the tall grass and although their heads were slightly visible, but not so much from a distance, so when Lima Lima set out on her usual mission of scouring the area for any danger, she spotted them and immediately returned to the Keepers to alert them. Anytime the Keepers see Lima Lima returning they know something must be amiss, so one of the Keepers walked ahead with Lima Lima and as soon as he too spotted the buffaloes, he signalled our Head Keepers to change direction. Luckily all the babies were far behind and so there was no encounter with the buffaloes today, thanks to Lima Lima’s vigilance. This girl is invaluable to the Keepers, and they applauded her. Alamaya decided he still wanted to have a look for himself, so he turned back to look at the buffaloes who were dozing in the sun. He let out a loud trumpet that startled the buffaloes and sent them running off, down the hill.
Murera decided to move further uphill where they would have a good vantage point. Just as the orphans were settling into their browsing, a disagreement broke out between Enkesha and Kiombo. Kiombo dropped a branch that he had been chewing on and Enkesha was quick to scoop it up. Kiombo grabbed on to it with this trunk, pulling it out of Enkesha but Enkesha held on to it and a tug-of-war broke out between the two orphans. Maktao wanting to help his friend Enkesha started to walk towards her but before these little ones could take the fight further, Sonje stepping in putting an end to the tussle. Zongoloni took advantage of this distraction to try and sneak off with Kiasa, but Quanza was watching them and alerted the Keepers, who were able to coax Kiasa to return to the herd.
Our nightclubbers continue to change their tactics. Before they all used to visit the Umani orphans together, but now they visit in smaller clusters. Yesterday only Zongoloni and Lima Lima visited. Today Ngasha and Alamaya were the first to arrive and Mwashoti arrived later with Lima Lima. It is possible that our orphans are now testing different herds to socialize with, again this an important part of their re-integration, mingling with other wild herds will help them survive better in the wild, learning all the necessary skills. The Keepers were surprised when Murera did not come down from the Umani Hills for her midday bottle. One of the Keepers had seen her with two wild bulls, and this clearly took precedence over her milk bottle. Mwashoti who never likes to be away from Murera for too long, quickly downed his milk bottle and rushed up Umani Hill to meet with Murera and her wild bull friends.
Zongoloni, Jasiri, Alamaya and Lima Lima arrived at the stockades this morning, crashing through the bushes and trees making quite a noise; the Keepers came out to see what the commotion was. Lima Lima was accompanied by a large bull who seemed to be one of Lima Lima’s many male suitors. The Keepers had seen this bull often in Lima Lima’s company, and they could see why Lima Lima had brought him to the stockades, she wanted the Keepers to see that she had found a suitable male companion who was big and strong. Jasiri and Alamaya stayed with the Umani orphans for a very short time, as soon as they heard the calls of wild elephants from the forest, they left to join them. Zongoloni started to lead Kiasa in the same direction, Kiasa, always eager for an adventure started to follow her, but Murera stopped the little girl.
Mwashoti heard his friend Murera rumbling, he walked over to enquire after, but the older girl just wanted Mwashoti close to her and Kiasa. In the afternoon, Murera decided to take a break from the heat and found a cool shady spot under some trees to nap, Mwashoti and rest joined her, until it was time to go home. Mwashoti left as usual to meet his wild friends and the Umani orphans retired to their respective pens.
Lima Lima and Zongoloni have divided the responsibility for the nightclubber boys between them. Lima Lima has taken responsibility for Ngasha, Alamaya and Mwashoti, whereas Zongoloni has decided to look out for Faraja, Ziwa and Jasiri. The two girls have tried to bring the albino bulls together, but Ngasha remains a stubborn bull. Today when Lima Lima arrived, with her were Ngasha, Alamaya and Mwashoti. Zongoloni was nowhere to be seen, perhaps they agreed to keep Ngasha, and Faraja separate.
After their midday bottles, the orphans were taking their time wallowing and dusting, waiting for the Keepers to finish their lunch. Lima Lima caught scent of a wild bull and was off to welcome him, after a while we saw her return, her ears spread and tail upright. The Keepers new something was amiss. She rumbled at her friends and the Keepers spotted a large wild bull, with one broken slowly making his way toward the orphans. As Lima Lima rushed her friends to move, so did the Keepers, this bull was not a friendly one and looked like he wanted to charge at them. Sonje and Murera gathered their babies, left the mud-bath area, and browsed closer to home.
The Keepers opened the gates to the orphans’ pens, and everyone spilled out, and as soon as they were done with their morning routine the Keepers opened the gates to the stockade compound. Without hesitation Lima Lima and Ngasha made a beeline for the lucerne store and grabbed a bale each and hightailed it out of the compound. Lima Lima is a repeat offender so has perfected her skill, this was Ngasha’s first time, and he made quite a mess of his bale, it came undone and all the lucerne went flying everywhere, leaving him with very little to eat. The Keepers chased after them, shouting at the two naughty orphans. Poor Kiombo thought they were shouting at him, so he hid under Sonje’s belly.
This morning a large wild herd arrived at the stockades. There was a matriarch, many young mothers, a few bulls the same age as Faraja and Ziwa and few tiny babies. Zongoloni, Faraja, Ziwa and Jasiri were part of this herd. They walked over to the water-trough but there wasn’t enough water for everyone. The water level was quite low for the tiny babies to reach with their tiny trunks so the herd decided to move towards the Umani Springs area where they know they would find plenty of water. Faraja and Ziwa decided to stay with them, but Zongoloni decided to stay back with the Keepers and her friends.
On the Umani Hills the orphans were busy browsing but their afternoon peace was interrupted by a minor incident. A strong wind knocked a chameleon off a branch and onto Sonje’s back. Sonje reached back behind her ears with her trunk and the chameleon crawled on to Sonje’s trunk. This gave Sonje such a fright that she ran blindly through the bushes not knowing what was on her trunk but in her blind panic she scared the other orphans too. Soon all the orphans were running helter-skelter, and it took Lima Lima and the Keepers to finally settle them. Once settled the Keepers took a break and laughed at how silly Sonje’s antics were.
Zongoloni arrived with her three boys today, Ziwa, Faraja and Jasiri. They hadn’t spent time with their friends for a while and wanted to enquire after them. They arrived to find that Mwashoti had now joined Lima Lima, Alamaya and Ngasha during their nightly adventures and the Keepers had managed to wean Mwashoti off his milk. They replaced the milk with water. The Keepers thought Mwashoti would refuse it, but to their surprise Mwashoti drank the bottle, the Keepers guessed if it was coming in a bottle Mwashoti would drink it.
Murera and Sonje let out a low rumble and as soon Lima Lima heard it, she ran towards her two friends to find that they had spotted a lone buffalo resting under a tree. Lima Lima didn’t want her friends running into the buffalo, so she started to charge at it, the buffalo got scared and sprinted away from Lima Lima. Mwashoti joined in the chase, ran the buffalo out of the Kibwezi forest so that their friends could browse in peace. Satisfied that their plan worked, they returned to where Sonje and rest of the herd was browsing.
The Kibwezi forest was filled with sounds of a big wild elephant herd. The Keepers thought it best to stay away from the herd and started to call out to their wards. They started to call out to the younger babies first, but Kiasa had already started walking towards the wild herd. Not wanting to lose her in the middle of this big herd, Lima Lima had to chase little Kiasa and bring her back. Later on, we saw Lima Lima rumbling at Kiasa, and we hope she was cautioning Kiasa on being more vigilante and not joining the wrong herd as it would be difficult to extract her from the middle of a wild herd. Maktao and Kiombo stayed close to Quanza and Sonje. Once all the orphans were accounted for, the Keepers led them away from the Kibwezi Forest towards the Chyulu’s.
By the time the orphans reached the top of the Chyulu’s, they were all quite hot. Zongoloni knew of a few waterholes in the area, as they patrol these places during the night with their wild friends. She led them to a wonderful waterhole, where the wallowed and cooled off and the Keepers also took a break by resting under the trees.
Last night was very noisy. The sounds of trumpeting and screaming of wild elephants coming from the forest near the stockades made Murera and her herd quite restless. The Keepers came out to check and on them and around midnight Alamaya, Lima Lima and Ngasha appeared from the bushes and came up to the stockade gates. With Lima Lima was a very large bull and as the Keepers looked around, they realised it was mating season for the elephants. Murera, Sonje and Kiombo caught Lima Lima’s scent right away as they raised their trunks. The bull stayed with Lima Lima for the rest of the night, but Ngasha left with Alamaya as they did not want to be with Lima Lima’s friend.
After last night Maktao and Enkesha stayed close to the Keepers and Sonje. They know that a surprise encounter with a wild elephants could result in an unwanted altercation. Wherever Sonje and Murera went, Maktao and Enkesha followed them. Even when the older girls went to nap under some trees, the two little ones followed them.
The Umani orphans have tried to accept Ngasha into their mix, but this bull with his domineering ways makes it very difficult to be included. When the little ones are playing in the mud-bath, Ngasha is a little rough with them, so whenever any of the younger orphans see him approaching, the exit they waterhole. Murera too is very wary of Ngasha, he likes to practice his mounting skills on her and Murera is not very keen on this behaviour. She too avoids him when he joins the Umani herd for their browsing activities. The only friend Ngasha has now is Alamaya who keeps him company and occasionally Mwashoti, though Mwashoti is smaller than Ngasha so tries not to cross paths with Ngasha. When Lima Lima, Zongoloni, Faraja and Jasiri arrived today, they saw that Ngasha was already with the Umani herd, and so they left shortly after having their fill of water, from the man-made water troughs at stockade.
A very large bull arrived at the mud-bath just before the orphan’s midday bottle feed. At first glance the Keepers thought it might be Osama, a wild bull who hasn’t been seen for quite a while, one that Sonje is very fond off. Once closer inspection they deduced it was not Osama. The Keepers thought perhaps Sonje or Murera would be interested in this wild bull, so they encouraged the girls to interact with him but turned out that this bull was a bit unpredictable. He was not very friendly with the Keepers or the little ones. He tried to mock charge at the Keepers, but Lima Lima immediately stood between her Keepers and the wild bull, signalling that it was time for him to leave. Once he left, Zongoloni and Alamaya left too, as they were the ones who invited their wild friend to join the Umani herd.
Yesterday after Zongoloni left with the wild bull, we did not see her again. She did not return this morning, when Alamaya and Mwashoti came to the stockades. Murera and Sonje were in deep discussions, when Kiasa bumped into Murera, whilst Enkesha was chasing her. The older girl turned to Kiasa and placed her trunk around Kiasa in an affectionate manner. The girls decided to take the Umani herd towards the Kenze area today. Mwashoti was a bit jealous of the attention Murera was giving Kiasa and so he decided to go his separate way with Quanza, but this did not last long. Both these orphans missed their friends and eventually caught up with them. As they were walking through the forest, a troop baboons began screaming in the trees, little Maktao who is the youngest, got scared and ran to hide under Sonje’s belly. Enkesha ran up to Sonje to see why Maktao was scared and then she pacified Maktao with a trunk hug.