For our Nursery herd, the new year began on a very jovial note. As soon as they got to the forest, Mukkoka, Naboishu, Larro, Barnoti, Bondeni, Roho, Suguroi, Olorien and Kinyei began charging around the trees, bush bashing and trumpeting in excitement.
As the New Year started, all the Keepers and orphans were excited to commence their day out in the forest. As soon as they got to the forest, Mukkoka, Naboishu, Larro, Barnoti, Bondeni, Roho, Suguroi, Olorien and Kinyei all began charging around the forest, bush bashing and trumpeting in excitement. Kinyei and Roho’s friendship continues to grow day by day and they can almost always be seen enjoying a playful moment together whilst in the forest. After dashing around together, they enjoyed a playful dust bath together, where they would slide against one another and climb on each other’s backs.
On the other hand, Naleku, Olorien, Kindani and Larro were all busy carrying out their daily routine of checking on little Kerrio as she walked through the herd. Naleku continues to be absolutely besotted by Kerrio, and Kerrio continues to melt everyone’s hearts as she is just the gentlest and sweetest girl. Olorien, Kindani and Larro although they too dote upon Kerrio, they will not spend all day with her as they will move around checking on the other orphans in the herd.
Naleku continues to be such an independent girl, but as Larro is getting closer to graduating, the Keepers believe that Naleku will take over the role of matriarch of the Nursery herd as she continues to show such a caring and protective side to her. When she is by Kerrio’s side, you can see her constantly giving Kerrio small trunk hugs to make sure she is okay.
In the early hours of the morning, as the orphans were settling out in the forest, Olorien and Esoit engaged each other in a wrestling match. They are of similar heights so these two are pretty evenly matched in their games and their games continue for quite some time. This morning, as they were wrestling, Esoit would challenge her and then quickly dash off through the bushes before turning back to face her once again.
As Esoit was running back and forth he suddenly came across a big male impala which leapt out of the bushes towards him. As Esoit got such a fright, he sprinted back towards to Olorien and the rest of the herd, trumpeting and yelling. He was running so fast that he gave Olorien a fright and she too sprinted back to the herd. Larro was quick to spring into action and run after them and as soon as she caught up with them, they both calmed down.
During their midday milk feed, the orphans were so hot that they quickly downed their milk to enjoy a mud bath. Roho, the mud bath lover, was certainly the most entertaining today as he began his mud wallow by rolling around on the muddy banks and slowly slithering his way up the bank and into the mud bath. Once submerged in the mud, all you could see was his trunk and limb flopping around as he rolled over covering his whole body in mud.
It was another playful morning for the orphans as they all excitedly started their days. As soon as the Keepers started open their gates, Naboishu, Mukkoka and Roho all started engaging each other in a wrestling match as soon as they saw each other. Their game continued well into the forest, when Mukkoka and Roho decided to tag team challenge Naboishu. Facing two opponents, Naboishu was having a hard time challenging them both. In order to evade their challenges and take them by surprise, Naboishu ran off and hid in the bushes.
As he was hiding in the bushes, whenever Mukkoka would appear he would start bush bashing and trumpeting and rumbling as if to warn Mukkoka away. However, if Roho would show up, Naboishu would try to catch him by surprise by jumping out the bushes to challenge him.
As their game was continuing, Bondeni, Kindani, Kinyei, and Naleku were enjoying their own wrestling match. Contrary to the big boys, the girls were enjoying rolling around on the ground pushing against each other and allowing Bondeni to climb on their backs as they charge around. Bondeni loves to climb on his friends backs and he kept climbing on Kinyei and Naleku’s backs specifically. Their game was abruptly ended when Mukutan pushed Kerrio, this saw Naleku spring into action as she ran off angrily rumbling at Mukutan chasing him away.
As of late the naughtier orphans amongst the Nursery herd have been spending more and more time together. As the older orphans, Larro, Naboishu, Mukkoka, Rama, Oldepe and Barnoti have all been spending more time together watching over the herd, orphans such as Bondeni, Olorien and Suguroi have all had to step up and behave a little better. Since Naboishu, Mukkoka, and Larro started their graduation process Larro has been disciplining them a bit more, perhaps as she knows they will need to assume their roles of taking care of the rest of the herd. Olorien and Suguroi have always been slightly stand offish, whereas Bondeni remains the naughtiest down at the midday mud bath.
Bondeni continues to be the little troublemaker down at the mud bath. Whilst most the herd is busy browsing on the greens or wallowing in the mud bath, Bondeni is wandering along the cordon trying to shove or pull at the visitors, and showing off all his different yoga poses as he tries to sneak under the rope. Unlike orphans such as Naleku, Taabu, Kinyei, Kamili, Suguroi, Olorien, and Kindani, Bondeni isn’t always fond of mud bathing.
Kamili has come such a long way since her arrival, and she is now looking so healthy and happy. She has also grown in confidence, happily playing amongst the other girls in the mud bath and not needing her Keepers to assist her to get out the muddy water. The Keepers are always so happy to see the new recues grow from stride to stride.
Unlike other mornings, the orphans were quite quiet as they were getting up and moving about the stockade compound. This may have been due to the fact that it was an overcast day so the temperatures had dropped quite drastically from the last couple of days. Even whilst down at the mud bath Bondeni and Naboishu were so quiet and were not causing any trouble. The Keepers kept checking over but they had no reason to keep an eye out on them today.
Olorien’s personality can most likened to that of Kiasa who was both gentle but also such a troublemaker at the same time. This afternoon as the orphans were settling back in the forest, Olorien kept trying to shove Naleku away from Kerrio. She spent the whole afternoon chasing Naleku away and trying to keep Kerrio all to herself. Naleku, however, refused to move away. Unlike with some of the other orphans, Olorien is always extremely gentle with Kerrio, much like Kiasa used to be with the younger orphans.
Naboishu was a real troublemaker today out in the forest. He spent most of his day charging after Naleku, Olorien, Suguroi and Kinyei. Each time he would charge after them, the Keepers would tell him off and try to get him to move away but since he is such a big boy now, he can be quite stubborn with his Keepers, ignoring their commands.
He was being so unruly that the Keepers had to eventually usher him away from the Nursery herd. As the Keepers were ushering him away to the naughty corner, he was putting up such a fight that he started rumbling, trumpeting and bush bashing all through the forest. As soon as he yelled out, he caught Mukkoka’s attention that saw him come charging over. As soon as the bulls saw each other they completely forgot about their Keepers and just started wrestling each other in the forest. With the big boys now busy playing the Keepers turned their attention back to the rest of the Nursery herd.
They were having such a great time wrestling and charging through the forest that even Roho and Larro came running over to join them. What was meant to be the naughty corner was now the wrestling corner. With Larro now trumpeting and charging through the forest, the rest of the herd followed suit and they were dashing all over the place with the Keepers trying to keep an eye on all of them. The only orphan that was unbothered by all this excitement was Ziwadi, who happily continued to browse throughout the whole event. Once they all calmed down, they settled to browse once more.
As Mukkoka, Naboishu and Larro continue their training on the translocation lorry, they seem to have realized that their graduation day is fast approaching and as a result have been spending less and less time with the rest of the Nursery herd. With their training going so well the Keepers are confident that they will have a comfortable move. Although most of the Nursery herd has adjusted well to them spending less time around, Bondeni remains very close to Larro and he will often follow her around and follow the trio away from the rest of the Nursery herd.
Even though Larro is leaving, the Keepers are confident that Bondeni will settle back down as all his other friends, especially Kindani and Kinyei, remain at the Nursery with him. Naleku has enjoyed taking care of all the orphans especially Kerrio. Rama has also been very peaceful amongst the new bulls, Choka, Barnoti and Oldepe and they all seem to have settled in so well. Although Naboishu, Mukkoka and Larro will be missed the new Nursery herd seems to be already taking shape.
In the early hours of the morning, Larro, Mukkoka, and Naboishu were woken up to start their journey to the Ithumba Reintegration Unit, in Tsavo East. They all stepped onto the translocation lorry without any hesitation and as soon as they were safely aboard, the lorry commenced its journey. After several hours, the trio had safely arrived at the Ithumba stockades, and within a couple of minutes they were warmly greeted by Nabulu, Maramoja, Malkia and Ndiwa. Mukkoka was the most excited of the three and jumped out to greet everyone, whereas Larro and Naboishu were a bit shyer. As soon as they had been greeted by the whole Ithumba herd, they began their new day in the Tsavo National Park.
Back at the Nursery, Kindani and Naleku slotted right in to being the new leaders of the herd and they were happily watching over all the orphans throughout the day. Whilst they were busy watching over everyone, Roho was looking for new wrestling buddies. Roho used to often wrestle Mukkoka and Naboishu; he was now trying to challenge Oldepe and Barnoti. Roho has been trying to assert his dominance as the longer standing bull in the Nursery, and he doesn’t want them thinking they can push him around. As Barnoti and Oldepe are still settling, they haven’t been too eager to challenge him.
It was quite funny this morning as the orphans were heading off to the forest to start their day of browsing; Kindani and Naleku kept competing against each other as to which direction they should lead the herd. Naleku wanted to lead them further into the park, whereas Kindani wanted to lead them further into the forest. They were both getting annoyed with each other and would keep rumbling at one another in protest. The herd was then divided as to which direction to head off in.
All the dramatics were quickly ended when little Kerrio was accidently knocked down by Mukutan who was running after Kindani to follow her. As soon as Kerrio went down, she yelled out in protest as she got such a fright, this saw Kindani and Naleku come charging back to check on the little girl. Once they had determined that she was okay, the three then led the whole herd out to the forest together in the same direction.
Maxwell continues to enjoy his daily routine of greens and Lucerne pellets before enjoying the morning sunshine in different corners of his stockade. This afternoon, however, it was so hot that the large boy decided to go and wallow in his mud bath. The shape of his mud bath looks similar to that of a bath tub, so when Max rests his head on the side to have a nap it looks like he is napping in the bath. As he was resting in the cool mud, the resident warthogs walked over and started to roll around on the muddy banks. This immediately caught Max’s attention and as he was not in a sharing mood he got up and started chasing them around the mud bath, the warthogs had already cooled off enough that they just exited his stockade, leaving him in peace.
Shortly after the orphans were let out of their stables and stockades, they were all busy greeting each other and drinking from the water troughs. As the herd was busy with their morning routines, Roho came bouncing out of his room and ran straight over to the big girls, Olorien, Kindani, Naleku, Kinyei, Suguroi and Kamili. As the girls were busy greeting each other and the rest of the orphans, Roho kept bugging all of them, trying to get them to engage him in a wrestling match. Sadly for Roho, none of the girls were interested in playing so he ran off back to the join the big boys, Rama, Oldepe and Barnoti. Rama and Roho enjoyed a short game before heading off to the forest.
Since Larro’s departure, Bondeni seems to have adjusted well and he is still bouncing around the Nursery as the naughtiest member of the herd and remains close to Kindani, Kinyei, Olorien, Taabu and Suguroi. Suguroi has taken over from Naboishu and Kiasa as the greediest member of the Nursery herd, and she has recently started to cause trouble during the milk feeding times. As a result, the Keepers have had to make sure that she is amongst one of the last orphans in the herd to have their bottle, exactly like Kiasa. The Keepers are continuing to learn all the new dynamics of the Nursery herd.
Rama and Barnoti have a budding friendship as they have been spending more and more time together, keeping each other keeping both within the forest and during their milk feeds. Since the oldest boys, Naboishu and Mukkoka, graduated to Ithumba, Rama and Barnoti have been spending less and less time with the younger members of the Nursery herd and more time with each other.
Since Naboishu and Mukkoka’s departure, Roho has been lacking appropriate wrestling partners as the younger and newer orphans are not as strong or as tough as him. As a result, Rama and Barnoti have also been avoiding him, as he has tended to play a little rough with them when he is trying to get them to wrestle. Rama and Barnoti are both very calm and gentle bulls so neither of them are particularly interested in wrestling these days.
Latika and Mukutan also have a growing friendship as they are also of very similar temperaments and are quite shy compared to the rest of the herd. They spend most of their days browsing in each other’s company and following each other around the forest.
Although the sun was out for most of the day and the temperature was quite warm, Nairobi National Park was still very windy and as a result none of the orphans were particularly interested in mud bathing as they would be too cold. Even the mud bath lovers, Roho, Suguroi, Naleku and Olorien weren’t interested in getting into the muddy water and just focused on the fresh greens around the mud bath.
After browsing on the greens, all the orphans apart from Bondeni and Ziwadi, went over to the dust mound to enjoy a short dust bath. Just like the mud, the dust protects them from insects and the sun. They were having such a great time rolling around and throwing soil over the heads and backs. Little Kerrio could be seen rolling around right next to Naleku, and as Naleku was happily throwing dust over her head, Kerrio was playing with the soil in her small trunk.
Whilst they were busy dust bathing and Ziwadi was still browsing, Bondeni was naughtily trying to sneak under the rope to greet all of the supporters visiting. Every time, the Keepers would look away for just a second, Bondeni would kneel down and try to crawl under, this saw the Keepers dashing back to chase him away. He continued to show off for the remainder of the midday mud bath.
In the afternoon, Ziwadi enjoyed a lovely moment browsing next to Latika, Mukutan, and Taabu. Although Ziwadi is a very gentle girl, she doesn’t enjoy browsing next to any one of the other orphans as some of them can be a bit rough and she prefers to browse quietly away from the games. As Latika, Mukutan, and Taabu are all very gentle, she enjoys browsing quietly near them.
In the forest as the orphans were enjoying their 9 o’clock bottles of milk, Esoti and Suguroi were being very naughty. Both of them were being so greedy, demanding more milk from their Keepers as they kept trying to steal from the wheelbarrow or their fellow herd members. The duo has recently graduated from one bottle of milk to two bottles, and this has results in them becoming extremely greedy at feeding times. They keep trying to steal milk from orphans such as Taabu, Latika and Kamili, and the Keepers constantly have to chase them away and put them in the naughty corner.
Kerrio continues to be such a confident young girl and she is not troubled by most things. As the orphans had settled on one of the dust mounds in the forest in the afternoon, Kerrio was off on her own chasing after one of the resident piglets. The Keepers were so impressed to see her running around with such confidence and following after the little piglet. She was also very calm running after him or her as all she did was flap her ears about and rumble at the warthog. After several minutes she came back to join the herd.
Early this morning, the orphans were being led out to the forest by Suguroi, Kinyei, and Kamili. These three girls love to wander further into the forest and this morning they were so happy to lead the whole herd to one of their favourite browsing spots this morning. Although Kamili and Suguroi are amongst the newer rescues in the Nursery herd, they have fully mastered all the different browsing routes within the National Park.
Olorien remains a peculiar character in the Nursery herd and with her hot and cold temperament, some of the other orphans can be very cautious of her. Despite being hot and cold, she has always enjoyed play climbing on Roho, Esoit, and Bondeni’s back, a game that these bulls love too. This afternoon as the orphans settled back in the forest, Olorien was enjoying a fun moment with Roho. As Roho was rolling around on the dust mound, Olorien was busy climbing on his back and then sliding off. They played for quite a few minutes, before settling back to browse.
Each day the Keepers get to see different sides of the orphans’ personalities. Today, Barnoti showed off a different side of his personality when he became impatient waiting to run down for all his bottles of milk. Barnoti who is normally calm and peaceful waiting for his bottles, was today constantly trying to push to the front of the herd and run down for his bottles. The Keepers were so busy trying to keep him back and stop him from pushing the other orphans. When they finally let him run down, he didn’t even wait for his friend Rama and just sprinted ahead almost at Mukkoka’s speed.
Unlike other days, when Roho has been disturbing the older girls such as Kinyei, Olorien, Naleku and Kindani, constantly trying to climb on their backs and chase them. Today, he was calmly accompanying them back to the forest and when they were in the forest, he could be seen sharing trunk hugs with Kinyei and even allowing her to climb on his back as he would roll around.
Suguroi can be rather hot and cold, much like Olorien and she can also be known to push and shove some of the other orphans namely Taabu, Choka, Mukutan and Latika. This afternoon, however, they were all peacefully browsing around one another and they even later enjoyed a dust bath together. She was seen happily lying amongst Taabu, Mukutan and Latika before making their way back to the stockade compound for the evening.
Tingai is a rather shy character still as he is sometimes really happy and confident amongst the Nursery herd but then suddenly isolates himself and is very quiet. As he is still one of the newer rescues in the Nursery, he is still also cautious of his Keepers and if they try to usher him back to the herd, he can become quite panicked and then run off, so the Keepers always have to approach him very slowly.
This morning, as the orphans were running down to the mud bath for their midday bottles of milk, Tingai suddenly grew shy and immediately did a 180 back to the forest. One of the Keepers approached him slowly and calmed him down before slowly escorting him down to the mud bath.
Down at the mud bath, Suguroi was in one of her bully moods again and kept trying to bug the younger orphans and push them around as she was drinking her milk and once she settled to browse. She kept trying to push Sagateisa, Mukutan and Choka. The Keepers and Naleku quickly stepped in and chased her off to the naughty corner. Sagateisa is still gaining her strength in the Nursery, and she is still quite weak so the Keepers and older orphans remain very protective of her. As all this commotion continued, Esoit and Roho were busy enjoying a long wrestling match which was abruptly ended by Rama, who stepped in the middle of them. The orphans were then led back to the forest for the afternoon.
Although Suguroi keeps the title as the greediest in the Nursery, Rama has now taken over as the loudest in the herd. As soon as he starts running down for his bottle of milk, he starts yelling out in excitement and even once he has started gulping down his milk he continues to yell out but in a garbled way. Unlike, Naboishu, as soon as he has finished his bottle of milk, he becomes quiet once more. It is almost as if he is thanking his Keepers for his milk.
Sagateisa knows that she has not fully recovered as of yet and she seems to know her limits when out in the forest. When all the orphans are charging down for their bottles of milk, she will walk calmly down so as not to over exert herself. As a result the Keepers have now let her go down ahead of the rest of the Nursery herd, so that she can take her time and not be left behind. All the orphans will run straight past her, and she will happily step aside giving them space.
This afternoon, however, as she was walking down for her 3 o’clock bottle of milk, she was sweetly followed by Ziwadi. Unlike the others, when she would step aside to let them past Ziwadi would step aside with her and wait. This was a sweet interaction between the two as Sagateisa was so happy to walk down with Ziwadi by her side.
Suguroi is amongst the fastest in the Nursery herd. This evening as the orphans were heading back to the stockade compound, Suguroi was the last to be ushered home. With all the other orphans ahead she came barreling down the path and even managed to overtake Kindani, Kinyei, Roho, Naleku, Taabu and Bondeni.
When Kamili first arrived in the Nursery she used to hang out with Ziwadi, Latika, Kinyei, and on the odd occasion with Naleku. Lately, however, she has grown in confidence and strength and has been spending more and more time with orphans such as Bondeni, Suguroi and Roho. She has been accompanying them further into the forest and enjoying her independence a lot more than when she first arrived.
Latika has been spending a lot of time with Sagateisa and the two have become very close friends, spending their days browsing together and following each other throughout the forest, sometimes away from the rest of the Nursery herd. This afternoon, however, Sagateisa went off walking on her own and when the Keepers were getting the orphans ready for their 3 o’clock bottles of milk, they could not find her. Two of the Keepers quickly went to look for her and found her not too far from where the orphans were browsing, just quietly eating on her own much like Ziwadi used to do.
This afternoon, around 3:30 in the afternoon, there were heavy showers and the Keepers took Kerrio and Sagateisa back to their stables and stockades so that they could keep warm. The rest of the herd huddled together under the trees, not too happy about this downpour, whereas Maxwell was happily bouncing around his room, rolling in the mud and scratching himself up and down his stockade wall.
The Nursery received a new rescue last night from Loisaba Conservancy, a young male of two and a half years who was found on his own. Upon his arrival there was a huge reaction from the Nursery orphans, Kindani, Kinyei, Bondeni and Olorien were all awake rumbling and trumpeting, pushing at their doors to see what was happening. Perhaps they remembered the sound of the translocation lorry when Mukkoka, Larro, and Naboishu graduated.
Early this morning as the Keepers were letting the orphans out of their stables and stockades, Kindani came rushing out to check what may have happened the night before. She walked from stable to stockade to check what or who may have arrived. As she passed Latika’s stockade she realized that there was someone new in Oldepe’s old stockade. She was so excited to greet this new boy that she let out a very deep rumble to greet him. The young bull moved closer to greet her.
As they were greeting each other for so long, Naleku, Kinyei, Roho, Bondeni, and Olorien came over to join them. They were all pushing and shoving each other trying to get closer to the new rescue, each wanting their turn with him. After they all had a chance to greet him, they made their way out to the forest for a lovely day of browsing.
This morning, Naleku woke up in such an excited mood. As soon as the Keepers opened her stockade door, she came running out and ran all over the stockade compound, she ran from Ziwadi’s stable all the way up to Roho’s and back down. On her way up and down, she stopped to greet the new rescue who was settling in well, he has been named Lodo.
Roho joined her in her fun little run up and down, and he too was greeting the new rescue. They were busy running and greeting all the Nursery orphans, but their fun was abruptly ended when Roho kept trying to climb on Naleku’s back. This was something that Naleku really didn’t like so she grumbled at him then walked off.
Rama and Barnoti continue to have a growing friendship and Barnoti has become Rama’s big shadow. Whenever Rama would move around the forest, Barnoti would be right behind him following. The two have also been spending some time with Ziwadi as she and Rama continue to be close friends.
This morning, Olorien was the first to greet Lodo when she came out of her stockade. She kept trying to push at his gate to get inside but as he was still settling in the Keepers ushered her away. Naleku and Kindani were the next to arrive to greet him, and Lodo loved all the attention as he would come right up to his gate to greet them all, rumbling deeply at them. They had a short interaction before the girls made their way out to the forest with the rest of the Nursery herd.
This afternoon, as the orphans were charging down for their midday bottles of milk, the Keepers were surprised to see Naleku run down without her little girl Kerrio. Perhaps she got overly excited and ran off without her because as soon as she had finished her bottles, she immediately noticed that Kerrio was not by her side. She even started running back towards the forest but the Keepers stopped her as just after them, Esoit and Kerrio were running down together. Esoit continues to be such a gentle bull that Naleku was not worried to see her favourite girl running down with him. Once down at the mud bath Esoit and Kerrio finished their milk bottles before settling amongst the herd.
All the orphans were in a very quiet mood this morning, and none of them apart from Bondeni and Roho were that sociable as they came out of their stockades. Bondeni and Roho walked over to greet Lodo, whereas Kindani, Kinyei, Olorien, Suguroi and Rama just stopped shortly before carrying one. It was nice to see Bondeni and Roho greeting Lodo as being bulls they don’t always spend time with the newer rescues.
The orphans continued to be very quiet up until when Kerrio shook things up a bit. As the orphans were browsing in the forest, some young impala started running towards them, and they were immediately spotted by Kerrio. As soon as Kerrio saw them, she began to chase after them, with her ears raised and letting out sweet little trumpets in excitement. As soon as the herd heard her, she was first joined by Naleku, Kinyei and Bondeni but it wasn’t long before the whole herd was running around with her.
Their game was abruptly ended when the adult impalas appeared from the bushes to protect their young. Interestingly enough, the only one to stand her ground was Ziwadi, who went bush bashing and let out small trumpets and big rumbles to chase them off. She was soon joined by Esoit, Tingai, Latika and some of the others. Once all the impala had run off, they settled to browse together.
Kindani seems to be the most alert amongst the Nursery herd, often picking up when something has changed. Last night the Nursery received another rescue from the Loisaba Conservancy, another young male. As soon as the translocation lorry entered the Nursery to park, Kindani began to rumble awakening all the other orphans, Naleku and her neighbour Kinyei. This poor boy had been attacked by some hyenas so he did have some wounds which the Keepers would attend to in the morning as they wanted him to settle through the night. In the morning, the Nursery herd seemed to know that he was injured as they all let him rest and didn’t bother him at this stockade door.
There was a bit of drama during the orphans’ midday milk feed today. Kerrio who is loved and adored by the whole herd seemed to take advantage of her status this afternoon. As the orphan were down at the mud bath having their midday bottles of milk, Kerrio kept trying to steal from some of the other guys. She caught Mukutan by such surprise when she pushed him, that he fell over and then she made a b-line for Choka who quickly ran off to get out her way. Throughout this entire ordeal Naleku was just stood by the little girls so Mukutan and Choka wouldn’t have been able to stand up for themselves. They were, however, defended by their Keepers who ushered Naleku and Kerrio away and then blocked their path so they couldn’t disturb anyone else.
Today has been a day full of mud bathing for the orphans. As soon as the first group of orphans had made it down to the mud bath for their midday bottles of milk, they quickly downed their milk and then ran off to the muddy pool, including little Kerrio. As soon as she got into the pool, she started to roll around just like the rest of the herd, the Keepers keeping a watchful eye on her. As soon as Naleku realized that her little adopted girl was in the mud bath she came rushing over to her side. As soon as Kamili and Latika jumped in, Naleku jumped in and blocked them from getting near her so the two girls moved off and had a blast rolling around near each other.
Eventually it was only Ziwadi and Tingai whom were not in the mud bath. Like always Ziwadi was too focused on her greens to mud bath, but it was such a hot day that the Keepers helped her along for a little bit, throwing mud and water on her. Tingai was quite happily mud bathing on his own at one of the water troughs. He didn’t seem eager to get into the mud whilst Naleku and Kerrio were there so he just enjoyed himself on the side.
As the mud bath was quite crowded now, Naleku ushered Kerrio out and walked her over to the dust bath. As soon as they were out, Tingai went rushing in to join his friends, Taabu, Suguroi, Latika, Kamili and others.
Later in the afternoon, as Bondeni was sent off for another time out for being so naughty, he came across a warthog behind one of the bushes. As soon as he approached the tortoise, it hissed at him and this gave him such a fright that he came rushing back to the herd rumbling and trumpeting. The Keepers and Kindani and Kinyei quickly calmed him down and then they all settled to browse until it was time to head back to the stockade compound for the evening.
In the early morning, as the orphans were rushing out to the forest, Olorien was playing hide and seek with her Keepers as she wanted to stay near Lodo and Ndadpo’s stockades, the two new rescues, to steal their yummy greens. In order for the new rescues to gain their strength the Keepers give them a huge variety of greens and as a result some of the older orphans like to come over and steal some, even though they get their pick within the forest. Ndadpo, our newest of rescue, is doing well and his injuries seem to be healing but his condition will of course continue to be monitored. As Olorien was stealing some of his greens, she was spotted by the Keepers and as they were coming over to her, she quickly stole a branch and then ran off to the forest.
As the rest of the herd was settling down to browse, Esoit and Roho engaged each other in a wrestling match. They were having so much fun that Rama even tried to step and engage Roho, but after a short game Roho went rushing back to Esoit. Roho and Esoit wrestled each other right up until it was time for them to run for their 9 o’clock bottles of milk, and despite Esoit being smaller than Roho he is certainly a tough opponent always holding his own.
Bondeni continues to be mischievous and this afternoon, he was being particularly naughty as he was shoving some of the younger orphans around. At one point, he even head butted Kerrio but unfortunately for him, Barnoti was standing by her side and he quickly stepped in chasing Bondeni away before Naleku could even get there. Later on, his new target was little Choka, and after he bothered Choka the Keepers came rushing over and sent him to the naughty corner once more. The Keepers hope that if the older orphans continue to discipline him, he may stop his bully ways.
Unlike yesterday afternoon, Bondeni was in a nice and friendly mood this morning. As soon as the orphans were being let out of their stables and stockades, Bondeni and Kindani went over to Lodo and Ndadpo’s stockades to greet the two bulls. It is always an important part for the new rescues to meet the Nursery orphans like this because not only does it help them settle into their new life at the Nursery but it is also the start of new friendships.
Esoit continues to be such a gentle and playful young bull. This morning, as soon as he was let out of his stockade he went rushing down to Kinyei’s stable, but Kinyei had still not been let out so he waited patiently by her door. As soon as her stable door was opened, Esoit engaged her in a wrestling match. They were having the best time running after each other throughout the stockade compound, kicking the milk buckets, and hiding from each other around each corner, dashing off in excitement when one would spot the other. As the rest of the herd was making their way out to the forest, the two came barreling past continuing their game for quite some time.
The excitement for the Nursery herd continued down at the mud bath during the orphans’ midday milk feeding time. Kerrio continues to be such a spoilt girl amongst the Nursery herd, and lately she seems to know that she can get away with just about anything. The other orphans also seem to now know that it is best to steer clear of her than face the wrath of Naleku, Kindani or Kinyei.
This afternoon, Kerrio and Mukutan got down to the mud bath at the same time and Mukutan quickly downed his milk bottles and then rushed away from the little girl. Sadly for Mukutan, Kerrio came running after him and she kept head butting him, trying to push him around. Instead of challenging her, Mukutan just tried to speed off, yelling in protest, as if he knew he would get into trouble for facing her. Lucky for Mukutan, the Keepers quickly stepped in and ushered her to the naughty corner this time, leaving the others in peace.
It has been quite some time since Ziwadi snuck off from the herd and she only seems to do this when she is feeling a little shaky with her epilepsy. This morning, as the orphans were settling down to browse, Ziwadi was keeping to herself and not really mingling with the herd. When she noticed that all the Keepers were distracted checking on the herd, she quickly snuck off. The Keepers immediately went looking for her, and they found her just peacefully walking around the forest. As soon as she saw her Keepers she came walking back and followed them back to the herd, where she settled to browse. For the remainder of the day, she stayed with the herd just browsing quietly.
Olorien continues to be very hot and cold with the Nursery herd, and she isn’t the most playful of the girls as she rarely likes to engage in wrestling matches. This afternoon, playful Esoit wanted to engage her in a wrestling match but she showed no interest, just shoving him to the ground. Esoit yelled out in protest, and Roho quickly came running over to check on him and chase Olorien away.
Barnoti and Rama continue to be such close friends and they have also been joined by Oldepe who is also close to Barnoti as they arrived around similar times. The three bulls often enjoy browsing near one another and following each other throughout the forest. This afternoon, they were joined by Suguroi who came to browse near them as these big boys could reach some of the fresher greens up high. Although Suguroi can be very mischievous, always trying to steal more milk, today she was happily enjoying being amongst the boys.
The Nursery had another new rescue arrive in the night from the Olmalo Ranch, a young girl of three years found on her own. She was very emaciated upon her arrival, so the Keepers quickly got her into her stockade with fresh greens and water and let her settle in for the evening. She is a very timid girl so as the rest of the Nursery herd was waking up and heading off to start their day of browsing, she just remained at the back of her stockade, so Naleku, Kindani, Olorien and the others were quick to greet her and then carry on towards the forest. Ltingai is her neighbour and hopefully as she becomes more settled they will keep each other company.
Rama continues to be the master of mud baths as he is able to perfectly cover himself in mud without even entering the muddy waters. This afternoon, down at the mud bath, Suguroi and Rama were the only two to enjoy a mud bath. As Suguroi was rolling around in the middle of the bath, Rama was spraying mud all over his body just on the edge. A little while later, Rama joined Suguroi in the middle of the mud bath but he would not wallow as he just stood near her spraying mud everywhere. After their mud bath the orphans enjoyed a quiet afternoon of browsing in the forest.
This morning, as the orphans were waking up and coming out of their stables and stockades, Maxwell was already waiting by his lower stockade gate, which is right by Bondeni’s stable. As soon as Bondeni came out of his stable, he went running over to the gate to greet the big rhino. The two were having a great time pushing and pulling at Max’s gate and at one point Bondeni even grabbed hold of Max’s horn with his trunk.
As they were busy enjoying their game, the resident warthogs and their piglets snuck into Max’s stockade trying to get to his Lucerne pellets. Unfortunately for the warthogs, Max picked up in their scent and immediately turned around to chase them out. As he was chasing them out, Bondeni was waiting on the other side of the fence for them ready to chase them back in, the poor warthogs were stuck between Bondeni and Max, who were enjoying chasing them all over. Eventually Bondeni had to follow the herd out to the forest which then gave the warthogs the chance to escape. Once all the orphans and warthogs had left, Max went off to enjoy his morning nap.
It was so hot at midday again, that the orphans were all enjoying a mud bath. Taabu, Tingai, Latika, Kamili, Choka, and others were all enjoying themselves at the centre of the mud bath, rolling around and covering their bodies in muddy water. They were all so relaxed and all seem to be getting along so well. Unfortunately for them, their fun was once again ended by Naleku being overprotective of her young girls Kerrio. As soon as Kerrio entered the muddy waters, Naleku chased the others away and they were all not interested in getting into trouble so they all rushed off to the dust mound where they continued to have a great time.
This morning, Kerrio was having a fun time dashing around with some of the baby impalas, as she would chase them around, the impala would be busy jumping over and under the bushes around her. She could be seen, rumbling and flapping her ears at them in excitement, trying to let out little trumpets. They all seemed to be having the best time and the impala didn’t seem to mind Kerrio.
Her game was abruptly ended by Roho who scared all the impala off when he came running over. Roho, however, was confronted by the big male impala who barked at him, giving him such a fright that he went running back to the Nursery herd. As Roho is one of the older bulls in the Nursery, the herd didn’t pay much attention to him and he quickly settled back down.
This afternoon at the mud bath, it was so hot once more that Ziwadi decided to get into the mud bath. Much to the Keepers surprise, after she finished her bottle of milk, she walked straight to the middle of muddy pool and began to kick up the water covering her back and belly in mud. She then began to roll around, even before some of the other orphans such as Naleku, Bondeni and Kindani who were all still on the edge testing the temperature of the water. After a long mud wallow, the orphans were then led back to the forest by none other than Ziwadi.
Once back in the forest, Tingai, Latika and Mukutan tried to sneak back to the stockade compound but they were quickly spotted by the Keepers and ushered back to the forest until it was time for them to head home for the evening.
This morning, as soon as Kindani and Kinyei were up and about, they went over to greet the newest of the rescues, Neshashi. She is still quite weak but settling in to her new life at the Nursery. As Kindani and Kinyei were greeting her, they were soon joined by Naleku, Kerrio and Olorien. The big girls were having a long interaction with the new girl, all warmly rumbling and greeting each other. They interacted for a couple of minutes before Kerrio started to make her way to the forest and they all followed her.
It was another busy morning for the Keepers because unlike most days where Latika settles to browse near Sagateisa and the two spend their morning following each other around the forest. This morning, Latika decided to wander off on her own and this meant that the Keepers had to spend a couple of minutes looking for her when it came time for the orphans to have their 9 o’clock bottles of milk. With Latika having the shortest trunk in the Nursery herd, her and Sagateisa will often wander off to look for the long grassy areas as they both seem to enjoy munching away on it. So it was quick for the Keepers to find Latika as she was in one of her favourite spots for long grass.
This afternoon, down at the mud bath, Kinyei was having a wonderful time rolling around at the top of the dust mound. As she was lying down the whole time, she appeared to be an attractive scratching post for Kamili. As Kinyei was rolling around, Kamili was busy rolling on top of her, enjoying a great scratch before sliding off. Their game continued right up until the Keepers called them to head back to the forest for their afternoon of browsing.