January was a month of courtship, as many females were in season and bulls behaved accordingly.
The first was Wendi’s firstborn, Wiva. One day, Wendi, Wema, Wimbi, Musiara, Sunyei, Siku, Saba, and Subiri joined the orphans for the morning lucerne feeding. Shortly later Wiva arrived in the company of eight bulls. She appeared to be in season and the competition was high. The orphans watched the courtship unfold, transfixed.
Although she is still stockade-dependent, Suguroi is starting to show a lot of interest in nannying — we wonder how long it will be before she joins her wild colleagues. One day, Nasalot’s group, consisting of Nasalot, Nusu, Noah, Nala, Naleku, Musiara, and Mundusi, joined the orphans in the morning for feeding of lucerne. After the orphans had enough of lucerne, Suguroi remained behind to assist Naleku in taking care of Nala. At eleven o’clock in the morning, Nasalot’s group joined the dependent herd. They were delivering Suguroi back to the Keepers, after spending the morning looking after Nala.
Kitich is a brave young bull — but sometimes his bravery is misplaced. One day, shortly before the orphans left the mud bath, Olare, Ola, Sagateisa, Nabulu, and Maramoja arrived and joined the group. The brave Kitich mistakenly pushed Nabulu, thinking she was one he usually challenged. Nabulu became upset and punished Kitich by pushing him hard until he screamed and ran away.
By contrast, Vaarti is always polite and respectful. Perhaps he is a good influence on Kitich! One day, when the orphans had enough lucerne, Vaarti engaged Kitich in a strength-testing exercise as they headed towards the browsing field. 22-year-old Rapsu met the orphans as he was heading towards the stockade compound. Vaarti and Kitich stopped fighting as a show of respect to their senior. The two boys raised their trunks in greeting to Rapsu, who responded by waving his trunk back at them.
He may be a gentleman, but Vaarti forgets himself when milk is involved. One day, after the orphans had their milk, Vaarti sneaked into the milk van and pulled out a bottle, thinking it had milk. Vaarti was disappointed when he realised he had picked an empty bottle. As he returned to try his luck again, Vaarti found the Keepers alert and was told to go back and enjoy the mud bath. Vaarti walked a few metres away, waited in hope, and finally joined his colleagues in wallowing.
Loldaiga is our wallowing king. He always leads the team into a cooling-off exercise and then proceeds to steal the show, out-splashing and swimming everyone else.
Muwingu, meanwhile, is becoming a bit of a truant. One day, she convinced Weka, Shujaa, and Loldaiga to dodge the Keepers and take a different direction. Unfortunately, the Keepers caught her in the act and shouted at her to return. Muwingu looked embarrassed, having thought she had succeeded after getting about fifty metres away. Shujaa and Weka turned quickly and returned to join their colleagues, with Muwingu following slowly, perhaps sulking becaue her plan had failed.
This month, we treated both Basrilinga and Garzi for arrow wounds. They showed up around the stockades, as if asking for help. The treatments were successful, the arrows removed, and their subsequent visits showed their wounds healing nicely. Then, a few days later, Tomboi — who had been absent for nearly three months — showed up at the stockade with an arrow wound on the left side of his belly. He calmly remained at the stockade compound until the vet arrived to treat him.
January was a month marked by many ex-orphan visitors, including regular faces and long-lost friends. One of our happiest surprise visitors was Mukkoka, who had been away for over seven months. Vaarti and Mayan decided to interrogate him about his long absence from the area, although it was not clear what answers he gave the two boys. Mukkoka came again in the evening — and again, Mayan and Vaarti had questions. The boys held a meeting with their elder as they fed from the same shrub. The meeting ended with Mayan and Mukkoka entwining their trunks.
Another morning of courtship brought more drama to Ithumba. It started peacefully enough, as Mukkoka, Nabulu, Makireti, Kilabasi, Kofi, Ukame, Mteto, Ndiwa, Kanika, Loijuk, Lili, Lisha, Olare, Ola, Sagateisa, and Neshashi joined the orphans for lucerne. Then, a massive wild bull emerged from the western side and honed in on Loijuk. Loijuk ran away, with the bull in pursuit. They soon disappeared from sight, and what happened afterwards remains unknown. Lili stayed behind with the orphans and ex-orphans, as she is old enough to understand why her mother was singled out by the bull.
January featured a kidnapping attempt — but rather than the ex-orphans trying to snatch a stockade-dependent orphan, as is often the case, it was the dependents trying to make off with a wild-born baby! It started when Lualeni and her family joined the orphans for breakfast. Suguroi, Kindani, Kinyei, and Olorien enjoyed interacting with baby Luki. They were having such a nice time that they decided to push their luck. The four girls tried to shepherd the little boy to join them out in the browsing field — and they might have succeeded, were it not for his big sister Lexi, who raised the alarm. Lualeni and Lulu reacted immediately, running towards the kidnappers. On seeing his mother and sisters, Luki changed his mind and rejoined his family.
The month ended with yet another courtship that unfolded in our midst. Mteto dashed towards the compound, with a wild bull in musth in pursuit. Trying to find a place to hide, she entered a stockade — as did her suitor! The Keepers quickly grouped together, stamping their feet on the ground and shouting at the bull. He retreated, giving the Keepers space to drive Mteto out of the compound.
Before long, the bull returned in full force. Fortunately, a younger bull also singled out Mteto and the two ran eastwards. The original bull gave chase, to teach his junior a lesson for interfering with his chosen female. The orphans did like all this commotion and trumpeted loudly in displeasure. Some even attempted to wait it out inside the stockades.
By day’s end, however, all the drama was over and normality had resumed. Mutara, Mango, Mambo, and Kainuk arrived while the orphans were taking their milk. Mutara, forgetting that she is a mature matriarch and mother of two, went as far as begging the Keepers for some milk. She is shameless!