This month, Kaikai was all about her beloved tyre. Her round-the-clock sidekick saw her from day to night. By day, she likes to chase it around, roll it up and down, and, most enjoyably, frame her plump body inside it and watch the world from her cushy throne.
Nighttime brings a whole other use for the tyre. Kaikai's Keepers put it inside her stable, and she settles her little head atop it like a pillow. Bed setup complete, she sleeps deeply until her nighttime milk feed.
Korbessa is also not immune to the tyre’s charms. One afternoon, she and Keeper Joseph had a great game of football — he wheeled the tyre one way, she intercepted it and merrily kicked it in the other direction; off he dashed, and so it continued for the better part of an hour. Korbessa may look ungainly, but she is quite the athlete!
It’s incredibly hot in Tsavo at the moment, so much of January was spent resting on the shady banks of the Mtito River. During the dry season, all action tends to take place in the early morning and evening — in the heat of the day, orphans and Keepers alike are just trying to stay cool.
Korbessa, Toto, Mwinzi, and Natibu have been very diligent on the browsing front, and their round tummies bear testament to this fact. All four are in excellent condition. Mwinzi is shaping up to be a particularly impressive bull. Natibu, while the tallest and leggiest, still has the shortest tusks. Toto is no longer the tiny woolly mammoth we rescued nearly four years ago. The fuzz is gone, replaced by two tusks and an increasingly burly appearance. He remains as gentle and friendly as ever.
Musumbi, Kaluku’s resident hippo, logged a solid 306 kilograms at his latest weighing. He is gaining an average of 10 kilograms a week. He’s a very clever chap and has figured out how to twist the spigot by his pool, creating a personal fountain that he dashes through with great delight.
Chamboi finally moved from a stable to an open-air stockade. The transition to a “big boy room” was no small undertaking — rhinos are creatures of habit and extremely resistant to change. He would have happily remained in his baby stockade until he was quite literally bursting at the seams. Now that he’s settled into his new accommodations, he seems very content.
Chamboi spends most of the day enjoying his own company, as black rhinos are wont to do. Of course, his Keepers are always with him, too — and at the mud bath, everything becomes a much more social affair. Gruff and Bibi, our orphaned buffaloes, often join Chamboi for a convivial wallow. Chamboi and Gruff are particularly close. They may be different species, but they have a strong connection — we often see them standing nose to nose at the water trough or in the mud bath.
Picking up where Twiggy left off, Pips also likes to swing by the mud bath. As a giraffe, she doesn’t join the communal wallow, but she still enjoys being part of the action. Also like Twiggy, Pips can usually be found surrounded by a motley crew of smaller orphans, including Bombi the zebra and her new “little brother,” Brutus the zebra.
Pips also has two new neighbours. Our Kaluku elephant herd welcomed two new orphans this month. Both had fraught rescues and are still healing from their ordeals, but we hope to introduce them soon.
Apollo had a good month. He is becoming very independent — in fact, he often forgoes returning to his stockade for bed, preferring to remain out in the “wild” of his roaming grounds. He is becoming less and less interested in his Keepers’ movements, which is natural and a sign of his increasing maturity. However, he is rarely alone — several zebras and impala have found their way into his roaming grounds, and they often spend the day in a haphazard group.
