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This morning the rain interrupted the normal routine. Once the rain had stopped the orphan herd moved to the Umani Hills. They found lots of ant hills to scratch on, and places to roll in the mud. Mwashoti, Kiasa and Kiombo were very playful this morning, they were all very happy about the rain. 

The rain started again later in the day. The Keepers were worried that Kapei and Amali would be upset with the rain, but they found them both enjoying the mud. Kapei pushes Amali around, so she found a muddy patch to play in, separate to where Kapei was wallowing.

Lima Lima raised her trunk up, smelling the air, then she moved to protect Kapei, warning the Keepers that something was coming. Then a herd of wild elephants, with tiny babies, appeared from the bushes. Murera, Mwashoti and Amali moved away from the herd, while the others were happy to go and greet the wild elephants. Lima Lima and Enkesha were welcomed into the wild herd. They were so focused on the tiny babies they almost walked away with wild herd. Luckily Maktao went and got his friend Enkesha to come back with him.

Amali stayed in her stockade this morning, even when the Keepers had opened her door. The Keepers had to coax her out, because she wanted to stay sleeping in her stockade. Eventually she charged at the Keepers, making them laugh, and ran out to join Mwashoti. Mwashoti received her very warmly and shielded Amali from Maktao and Kiombo, while she ate pellets in peace.

Kapei decided to walk deeper into the Kibwezi Forest. This forced Sonje, Enkesha, and Kiasa to follow him, all wanting to protect their favourite little boy. Sonje and Murera have taken over leadership of the Umani herd, now that Lima Lima is now spending more time away. However, Kapei took over leading the Umani herd for today. Kapei was happy to see that the whole herd was now following him, it gave him confidence to keep going deeper into the forest. 

Quanza usually leads the orphan herd back to the stockades in the evening, but today she didn’t want to leave her new friend. A wild bull followed Lima Lima and Zongoloni back to the orphan herd. They introduced him to Quanza, who welcomed him warmly. Quanza separated herself from the herd to be with Zongoloni and the bull. Lima Lima stayed with the herd to spend time with Kapei. 

When the orphans got back to the stockades, and they were going into their rooms for the night, Quanza was nowhere to be found. Enkesha, Kiasa, Sonje and Lima Lima made sure all the other orphans were home and happy. Mwashoti was also there to make sure Amali was safely in her room. 

Later in the evening the Keepers heard loud trumpeting from the bushes, they concluded that it was Quanza coming back from her adventure. The Keepers walked out to open the gate but Quanza went back into the bush, letting the Keepers know that she was ready to be a nightclubber. 

This morning, there were two big wild bulls that were waiting by the stockade gates as the orphans were having their milk bottles. Murera froze when she saw the bulls by the gate and stood firm, waiting for them to move away. Sonje walked straight out with no hesitation, which was not a good idea. One of the bulls spun round to face her, ready for a chase. Sonje ran off trumpeting. Little Kapei got upset that Sonje was leaving him, so he tried to follow. Kiasa, Enkesha, Kiombo and Maktao also ran after them. They were all running after Sonje, charging at the bushes and causing chaos. When the Keepers walked out, it was clear that the wild bulls were afraid of people, as they retreated back to the bushes. 

Ziwa appeared with his wild family; they joined the orphan herd heading towards the Umani hills. Ziwa’s herd did not stay for long. When he left, Lima Lima and Alamaya went with him. 

When the orphans arrived at the waterhole for their milk feed Murera was in a bad mood, she did not come for her bottle. 

As they were drinking their milk Amali and Kapei saw many butterflies around them. Amali started to chase them, Kapei and Kiasa joined in on her game. They had a lot of fun running around and sliding about in the mud. 

It was very hot today. After their midday bottle feed the orphans got into the mud bath, nobody missed the chance to cool off. Murera waited for the crowd to move away so that she could enjoy the mud bath without being pushed around. After chasing the warthogs out of the eater, Murera had the whole mud bath to herself. 

Kiombo and Enkesha had a disagreement over a stick. Enkesha found the stick first and was enjoying stripping the bark off it, when Kiombo started a tug of war. Kiombo thought it would be easy to take the stick off Enkesha, but she was determined to keep her stick. Lima Lima and Quanza saw the tug of war and went over to separate them. Quanza was very smart and she took the stick from both of them, ending the tug of war. Enkesha joined Sonje and the other nightclubbers around the Chyulu Hills area.

Amali and Mwashoti spent the day together. Amali was very happy to have her friend and protector back. Kapei tried to join them but Mwashoti chased Kapei away; he knows that Kapei bullies little Amali. Kapei reverted to his usual trick of screaming for the older girls. Sonje, Quanza, Kiasa, and Enkesha all rushed to his side, they put their trunks over him trying to find out what had happened. Eventually they all disbanded and Kapei walked away with Sonje and Quanza. Murera didn’t get involved in any of this; she watched quietly from a distance.

Kapei is very greedy, always demanding more milk. He has decided that two bottles are not enough. The Keepers cannot allow him to have more milk, because he needs to eat more greens instead.

Zongoloni, Faraja and Jasiri joined the orphan herd in the Chyulu area. The Keepers were happy to see the Zongoloni and the big boys as they been away for some time. Lima Lima had helped Sonje find Zongoloni; she knew where Zongoloni was and directed Sonje to her. The Keepers were very impressed that Lima Lima knew where to find her friends.

Kiombo and Maktao had their usual pushing match. Maktao started by pushing Kiombo, then Kiombo retaliated, he tried to climb on Maktao, who quickly turned to face him. Then Kiombo pulled Maktao’s tail, so Maktao pulled Kiombo’s trunk. Then the play fighting got a little too serious and Enkesha stepped in to separate them. Unfortunately, the two boys didn’t listen to her so she called in Quanza, who was successful in stopping the fight. Quanza was happy when she restored peace between the two boys.

On the way back to the stockades from the Kibwezi area, Sonje took the orphans via the mud bath to cool off. She splashed around in the mud bath and a baby crocodile escaped, not wanting to get stood on. Luckily Sonje and the other orphans didn’t see the crocodile and happily carried on wallowing. The Keepers knew that the orphans would have skipped the mud bath if they had seen the crocodile, which would have been unfortunate as it was so hot. 

This morning Kapei was the one leading all the orphans to the midday bottle feed. The Keepers saw Kapei appear from the bushes first, then the big girls were close behind him, followed by the rest of the orphan herd. Lima Lima used to be the first one to arrive at the midday feed, however, since she has joined the nightclubbers she has no need to rush, as she no longer gets a bottle. It appears Lima Lima has handed the baton to Kapei.

Kapei finished his two bottles so fast, then as usual he stood demanding more milk. The Keepers refused to give him any more, so he reluctantly moved away. Kiasa, Quanza, Sonje and Lima Lima all moved to where Kapei was standing. Maktao and Enkesha rumbled to Kapei, trying to convince him to go to the salt lick. The older girls didn’t like this idea and surrounded him, creating a wall. The Keepers were only able to see Kapei’s little trunk through the wall of bodies.

Amali was left with Mwashoti, who takes his carer role very seriously. Murera is the only older girl who does not dote on Kapei. She prefers the quiet Amali to the demanding Kapei.

After the orphans had finished their milk bottles, Lima Lima, Quanza and Enkesha led the orphans over to the mud bath. When they arrived at the mud bath, they found a herd of buffalos already wallowing. The buffaloes were very happy in the mud and they did not want to leave.

Amali did not seem to realize that there were buffaloes in the water; she must have thought they were dark rocks. Amali kept getting closer, wanting to go in the water, with no fear of the buffaloes, so the Keepers had to intervene. The Keepers pushed Amali away from the mud bath, which made her start screaming. Amali’s screams brought all the herd out of the bushes, wondering what had happened.

All the ruckus scared the buffaloes out of the mud bath, leaving it free for the orphans to cool off. Kapei was the first one into the water this morning, followed by the older girls. They took up all the space leaving Amali outside the mud bath. The orphans were really enjoying playing in the mud, they wallowed and had swimming competitions. Amali was upset that she couldn’t find any space in the water so she moved over to the water trough, where Mwashoti was drinking.