01 July 2010

Following a peaceful night in the stockades the orphans greeted each other with jovial trumpeting in the early morning. Suguta and Olare spent the early hours competing for Sities attention. Kibo and Kandecha have become good playmates and enjoyed strength testing games while Kalama and Chemi Chemi did the same. Melia and Mawenzi kept to themselves browsing away from the rest near Melia’s stockade. Mutara and Turkwel decided to search the stockades inspecting each one to find where Kibo, their old neighbour, was now spending the nights having outgrown the smaller stables.

02 July 2010

As usual Sities, Shukuru and Mutara amused themselves running around the stockades in chasing game watched over closely by Suguta. Tumaren invited Kibo for a pushing contest who was happy to accept the challenge. Turkwel and Chemi Chemi seem to get along well although this morning Turkwel was intent on stealing a branch that Chemi Chemi was happily munching on. The keepers had to intervene to prevent a fallout between the two orphans.

03 July 2010

The youngest at the orphanage, Sities, is looking healthy and happily spends her mornings charging around with her ears spread wide and her trunk curled upwards. Suguta and Olare watch over her closely both behaving like “mummy’s” often pushing thorough the other orphans in an effort to stay close to her. Kibo is now the oldest male in the group and is enjoying the privileges that come with being the dominant bull. His favourite pushing playmate is Kalama as they are of similar size and thus a challenge to each other. Although Kalama enjoys the pushing games she is not happy when Kibo decides to mount her and quickly runs away when she thinks he is about to do this.

04 July 2010

Shida, who is reintegrating into the wild, made an appearance at the mudbath during the visiting hour which true to form interrupted the visit as both the orphans the guests had to move back. Olare noticed his presence and bravely charged towards him. The keepers quickly intervened leading the orphans away. However Olare kept looking back looking towards Shida which drew Suguta’s attention and the two teamed up showing their matriarchal instincts as they protected their “herd”.

05 July 2010

Suguta has found a new game that she loves and which she engages in during the public visiting hour. After having drunk her milk she quickly moves to the water troughs and kneels down using her head to tip the trough over. Mutara, Chemi Chemi and Shukuru idolize Suguta and quickly move to push the empty water drum around. Tumaren has taken to copying the naughty matriarch and pushes the next drum over. Kalama took the opportunity to roll around in the freshly poured water covering herself in mud while Olare flings her trunk around at the guests. This is highly entertaining for the guests who clap and laugh as they watch the events unfold.

06 July 2010

As the orphans headed out to browse Suguta began searching for Sities who appeared to be missing. Kandecha who is still mourning for his family chooses to distance himself from the rest and in effort to befriend and comfort him Sities remained with him as they lagged behind the rest of the group. Suguta combed the nearby bushes in search of her “baby” eventually heading back to the stockades to find her. The keepers seeing her distress quickly brought Kandecha and Sities to the rest of the group. Upon seeing Sities Suguta let out a loud rumble and rushed to embrace her.

07 July 2010

Today we received a call about a baby elephant found alone near the Ziwani area. A rescue team was quickly assembled and on its way to collect its precious cargo. The baby was in poor condition after having been without a mother for some time. The rescue team arrived at the Nursery before 6pm. She has been named Makireti which means “lost in the wilderness” in the Taita dialect.

08 July 2010

There was a great deal of excitement as the sun rose and the orphans left their stockades to find the new arrival among them. Kalama and Kudup were especially interested in the young calf who was feeling weak and tired following her ordeal. As the orphans headed out for the morning we received news of another orphan who had endured a horrendous attack from the Community members near the Murka mines and suffered from multiple spear wounds and an axe wound. The rescue team met with Dr. Poghon from the Tsavo Mobile Veterinary Unit who had treated the orphans’ wounds. Upon arrival in the nursery the calf was put in the stockade next door to Kandecha. The orphan was named Murka after the area in which she was found.

09 July 2010

The orphans were in a jovial mood when exiting the stockades. They played nearby for sometime before heading to the forest to browse. Murka was too wild and aggressive with the keepers to be able to join the others and had to be kept in her stockade as nobody could go near her for fear of being charged at. While out in the park Makireti, who is mourning the loss of her family, kept trying to distance herself from the other orphans. Kandecha took to looking after her and stayed by her side offering his support.

10 July 2010

Makireti saw a family of warthogs near the stockades and charged after them. The warthogs scattered in all directions leaving her confused as to which one to chase. She eventually honed in on a little piglet only to be surprised when the mother came charging at her so that her piglet could get away. Kandecha has become a good friend to Makireti and is always with her.

11 July 2010

Melia who prefers not to interact with the younger babies surprised the keepers when she allowed Sities, who had mistaken for Olare or Suguta, to suck on her ears. This moment of mothering was cut short when Shukuru ran past pushing Sities. Melia quickly turned to punish naughty Shukuru who had cleverly made a quick retreat.

12 July 2010

Another beautiful morning greeted the orphans as they congregated outside the stockades. Playtime was the order of the day for all the youngsters who charged around happily. Since Kilaguni’s departure Kibo has turned to Tumaren for friendship and boisterous games. Suguta and Olare spend every moment watching over their precious little “baby” Sities who ran towards Makireti in an effort to cheer her up. Mutara went over to greet Maxwell and much to his delight reached in to his stockade stroking him with her trunk. Kalama tried to climb on the bench where foster parents sit to in an attempt to reach some green leaves above her head. Suguta saw what she was doing and came to her aid, reaching up and breaking a branch off for the youngsters to share.

13 July 2010

As soon as the stable doors were opened Kalama and Chemi Chemi engaged each other in a pushing game. The two continued strength testing until Kudup and Turkwel came to join them. Upon seeing Turkwel, Chemi Chemi turned his attention to her while Kalama went and played with Mutara. Sities took her usual position between Olare and Suguta while Kandecha went and feed close to Makireti. After about half an hour of play the orphans paid a visit to Murka who, due to her unpredictability, is still in her stockade.

14 July 2010

During the 9am milk feed the orphans had to be split into two groups with Kalama at the head of the baby group and Suguta with her own smaller group of older orphans. As the baby group rushed over to have their milk Sities abruptly came to a halt causing a domino effect as the other orphans behind her pushed and shoved one another to avoid trampling her. The keepers came over to find out what had caused her to come to such a quick stop and found there was a giant dung beetle in her way.

15 July 2010

As Murka had been in her stockade for a week and was more relaxed the keepers felt she was ready to go out with the other orphans. Murka’s ordeal was still very fresh in her mind and soon after being let out she ran off into the bush obviously afraid of the keepers having already endured such violence at the hands of man. The keepers ran after her and tried to coax Murka back to the group but she would have none of it. There was such commotion and excitement among the rest of the orphans that they all followed in the chase. After nearly two hours Murka was returned to her stockade and the keepers decided that she was not ready to be out and needed more time to trust them.

16 July 2010

Mawenzi, who has never really thrived as she should and is always a concern, has found a friend in Makireti and they are often seen together feeding side by side. Makireti is often found at the back of the group with Mawenzi who struggles to keep up with the rest.

17 July 2010

Kalama and Kudup are often found competing over leadership of the younger group. Although Kalama is currently at the helm the keepers feel that Kudup will slowly take over once Suguta and Olare have moved on to Tsavo as she seems to have more matriarchal traits than her counterpart and is more disciplined in her mannerisms.

18 July 2010

Melia rarely shows affection to the younger orphans and is standoffish with new arrivals. The keepers hoped that she would befriend Makireti who is from the same area but unfortunately this did not happen as Melia showed no interest in the new arrival. This could change as she grows up and develops better social skills whilst interacting with wild elephants in Tsavo.

19 July 2010

Mawenzi’s health has been steadily deteriorating and yesterday she had a lack of appetite drinking only four pints of milk. Thankfully today she was much improved and had all her milk as well as a healthy helping of vegetation with Makireti by her side.

20 July 2010

The keepers were disappointed in Kalama today who during a private visit knocked Makireti over leaving her crying for help.

21 July 2010

Kandecha who has been in the nursery for a month now has settled in nicely and is always in the lead when it time for the orphans milk feed. He has gained condition and has put on weight looking much healthier than when he first joined us. The one thing he has not yet become accustomed to is having a blanket put on him in the evening when it is time to return to the stockades for the night. He often leaves the group at this time meeting up with them at path to the stockades.

22 July 2010

Murka, whose wounds are healing nicely seems to be getting used to the keepers who were able to walk around in her stockade and clean it without being charged at. She has even started to suck their fingers through the stockade bars something that we feel shows that she is becoming more trusting of us and understands that we mean her no harm.

23 July 2010

Today the keepers were happy to seem Mawenzi trumpeting loudly as she charged after the warthogs with Makireti. It has been a while since we had seen her being active and it warmed our hearts.

24 July 2010

Suguta seems to like having a drink of water either before or after her milk feeds. The orphans spent the day out in the bush browsing happily.

25 July 2010

Maalim has been enjoying having his daily mudbath after all the visitors and the orphans have left. He loves having the keepers throw buckets of muddy water on his back and joyfully hops and spins around playing. Shida came to the compound today but instead of going into his stockade he stood in front of Maxwell’s stockade and the two spent the time smelling each other.

26 July 2010

At about 5pm as Amos was feeding Murka another keeper Mwetu tried to put a blanket on her. Murka who does not like being approached from behind was taken by surprise and panicked turning towards him pushing him against the stockade bars. Having endured such trauma her reaction was understandable. Amos called the other keepers and Zoom Zoom acted quickly distracting Murka so that Mwetu could get away. Mwetu sustained slight fractures in his upper arm but is fine and does not blame Murka. A warthog became trapped in Shida’s stockade today which did not amuse him. He tried to push the warthog out through the stockade bars but was unsuccessful as the warthog was too big to fit through them. The keepers came to the rescue opening the gate so that the frightened warthog could get out.

27 July 2010

Olare has always been suspicious of strangers and today she gave a new keeper a hard time at the mudbath which amused the visitors.

28 July 2010

Maalim is a real character and loves to keep his evening ritual with his mattress. This morning he decided to take his beloved mattress with him when he left his stockade. The keepers had to work hard to convince him to leave it behind.

29 July 2010

Some of the older orphans are reaching the age of two and their tusks are starting to come through. Just like any other teething process they often push against tree trunks in an effort to rub the area where the tusks are emerging.

30 July 2010

When Maalim came home this evening he was greeted by a large crowd of foster parents who were all waiting to see him. When he saw them he seemed apprehensive and chose to retreat to a nearby thicket rather than enter his stockade. The guests were moved aside so he could not see them and he happily strode to his mattress.

31 July 2010

During the mudbath Melia knocked over Sities which sparked Suguta to rush over to comfort and calm Sities who was bellowing proving that she is there for her whole herd.