01 July 2014

After the first little group of babies had finished downing their milk at the public viewing hour Balguda and Barsilinga decided to get into a pushing game. Lemoyian saw this and immediately took the opportunity to try and mount Balguda who would not tolerate such behavior so quickly head butted Lemoyian. Lemoyian was in complete shock at Balguda’s reaction so he took all his frustration out on little Kauro who was minding his own business gnawing on a stick. Lemoyian pushed Kauro to the floor which gained all the keepers attention and they quickly intervened to stop Lemoyian’s bad behavior. The keepers chased Lemoyian into the bush for some alone time to teach him that this behavior was unacceptable and little Kauro went back to gnawing on his stick like nothing had happened. Lemoyian tried to return to the group, but the keepers chased him away again. He trumpeted out his frustration because he hated being on his own, so eventually the keepers ushered him back to the others. He didn’t dare go near the babies again and he must have been very embarrassed after his rude behavior.

02 July 2014

Today we really noticed that Sokotei has become yet another greedy elephant when it comes to milk. During the 11 o’clock feeding he was trumpeting loudly; warning everyone that he was coming for his milk and no one could get in his way! Oltaiyoni seems to have also noticed this new greedy elephant as today she tried to get in Sokotei’s way. Naughty Sokotei head butted her to the floor as there is nothing that can come between him and his milk bottle. During the keeper’s lunch break, little, but naughty, Kamok and Kauro went off chasing warthogs in amongst the trees. It was extremely amusing for all the keepers to watch these two little babies chasing all the big warthogs. The warthogs however, eventually turned on the two babies and started charging back. Poor little Kamok fell to the ground and the warthogs took the opportunity to smack into her! Luckily, Arruba was close by and quickly stepped in to save the day; chasing off all the warthogs. The warthogs didn’t return after that, which was very peculiar as warthogs always put up a fight. Kamok and Kauro then followed Arruba back to the herd where they joined Mbegu and Oltayoni.

03 July 2014

Jasiri, Faraja and Suswa moved from the back stockades to occupy the empty stockades left by Murera, Sonje, Quanza and Zongoloni after they transferred to Umani Springs. This originally caused some unrest as the three missed their friends and the comfort of their familiar surroundings. Now everything has settled and the evenings are peaceful and drama free. Jasiri, Faraja and Suswa must of felt left out at the back stockades, but now they are in amongst all their friends so they are more relaxed and happy. Beautiful Solio came home again tonight returning to the park at dawn. We have noticed that Solio tends to come home more often recently and she hangs around the premises at night eating all the flowers and shrubs that she can find. She is healthy and happy and all the keepers were sure to say hello as well as Maxwell.

04 July 2014

Rorogoi, Mashariki, Nelion and Tundani lead the herd into the browsing fields this morning. As they approached the fields they encountered two bull buffaloes that were busy grazing. All 4 baby elephants began to approach the buffaloes with their ears out to try and scare them off, However the buffaloes were unresponsive to the four babies and firmly stood their ground. The babies realized as they approached the buffaloes that they were in fact a lot bigger than them, so after some trumpeting and a lot of noise the babies ran back to the safety of the herd and keepers. All the excitement caused by the meeting of Rorogoi, Mashariki, Nelion, Tundani and the buffaloes caused some unrest within the orphan group. As buffaloes are very moody animals and could turn on the orphans at any moment the keepers lead the herd to another location to try and get them all settled.

05 July 2014

Just after 9am this morning, once the orphans had drunk their milk, the entire orphan family was smothered in coconut oil. Everyone seems to love the coconut oil except little Kamok and Mbegu. They tried to hide and wiggle their way out of the coconut bath, but they just weren’t quick enough, before they knew it the keepers had smothered them head to tail with coconut oil. After the oil bath all the elephants began playing in the dust and mud amazingly happy and playful! The ellies played and played with excitement for a good hour or so before they settled to graze.

06 July 2014

As the orphans were waiting for their milk to arrive, naughty boys Kithaka and Lemoyian decided to get into a squabble. An overzealous game lead to both boys pushing one another which caused unrest in the herd; however there was no sign of giving up from either of one of them. Balguda and Jasiri even tried to try and stop this rough play but were unsuccessful eventually the whole herd just left the two behind as they all went off to get their milk. Kithaka and Lemoyian then realized they were left alone so quickly caught up with the herd, best of friends once again.

07 July 2014

All the babies got up this morning surprising excited for a new day to begin, starting with the youngest babies Mbegu, Ashaka, Kamok and Kauro who were first out. Ashaka was so excited that she ran into the bushes falling right over but quickly getting back up and running full speed back to her little friends telling them all about her little expedition over the bush. Later that day, around 3:30pm, a phone call came in from Joseph Sauni about a rescue in Satao Tsavo. A baby elephant that the DSWT Tsavo teams had been searching for was finally found, caught and ready to come to Nairobi. The baby had been spotted three days earlier on its own, but disappeared in the thicket and was not seen again. On the first day the DSWT pilot flew over the area with Joseph’s team to try and sight the baby from the air, but sadly failed. On the 2nd day Joseph went back to the area with the anti-poaching team to try and trace the elephant on the ground, but again failed. Finally on the 3rd day the baby was spotted by the area patrol team and Joseph was alerted immediately. A team was sent out to catch the baby and wait for the rescue plane to arrive at Satao Airstrip to take the baby elephant to the nursery. The rescue team left Nairobi at 4pm and landed at the Satao Airstrip by 5pm. On arrival the team examined the baby elephant to find it was approximately 18months but very thin which was a sure sign that the baby had been without its mother for quite some time. The team and the new baby elephant arrived at the nursery at about 8:15pm. She didn’t take any milk and was very aggressive which is normal for any new elephant. It was a good sign that she had some energy and later that night she took some milk from a bucket. She was named Kono.

08 July 2014

The morning after Kono’s arrival she looked strong and all the other orphans were very welcoming, especially Suswa who was moved to the stockade next to her. Suswa tried to show her affection and comfort her since she knew from her own experience that losing a mother is not easy and clearly wanted to show her that everything was going to be ok. Milk and love from the other elephants and the human family are all vital aspects to settling a newcomer in the orphanage. The rest of the day Kono ate greens in the stockade and drank milk from the bucket yet refused to trust any of the human family yet.

09 July 2014

Although Kono spent last night looking very strong, at around 8am this morning she collapsed. Blood tests were run and she was put on an IV infusion to try to restore her energy. Once the results were back we found that poor Kono had an infection and was given antibiotics to fight the infection. Throughout the day she didn’t take any milk and did not feed on any greens which was very concerning. After her drip she gained her energy back and was up, walking around her stockade. Later that day Kono collapsed again and she was put back on a drip; her stool was very watery and previously it also contained worms, which were all very bad signs for her.

10 July 2014

It was a very sad morning in the nursery as Kono passed away in front of her human family who had done everything possible to try and save her precious life. Her health had continued to deteriorate throughout the night and she collapsed several times. Suswa was in the stockade next to her and was very unhappy as she could tell Kono was not well. The keepers had to push Suswa to go with the other orphans as she refused to leave the stockade, preferring to stay by Kono’s side. That evening when all the orphans came home for the night Suswa, Lentili, Balguda and Arruba all stood outside Kono’s stockade for a few minutes of grievance. That same morning we lost Kono DSWT received a phone call from Samburu about another baby elephant in need of a rescue. He was approximately 1 month old and had fallen down a well; sadly there was no sign of his mother. The calf was found the day before by a herdsman who took his herd of cows to the well for water and found the little baby stuck in the well. He immediately reported it and the KWS team managed to rescue the calf and took him to Namunyak Conservancy where he spent the night. The next morning the rescue team landed and collected the baby. On arrival the team fed the calf milk which he took very well and by 2pm the baby arrived at the nursery. His new family warmly welcomed him and he was named Murit after where he was found.

11 July 2014

Baby Murit is looking strong this morning; he has been under 24 hour surveillance by his human family who are all making sure the little guy is happy and healthy, just as his mother would of done. Murit is also enjoying the company of his other little companions, Ashaka, Kauro, Mbegu and Kamok. Kauro and Ashaka keep very close to little Murit to try to protect and love him, but sadly Murit doesn’t take much notice. It seems that the loss of his mother is still very fresh in his memory and needs a little more time before he will play and enjoy himself again. All the keepers have noticed that little Murit is a very gentle and humble little boy. He loves sucking on the keepers fingers and there seems to be some sort of fascination with the dust coats which he loves playing with. His four molars have already come out which is a huge relief as the teething period can be life threatening for orphaned baby elephants; however it seems that the worst stage of teething is over for little Murit.

12 July 2014

At the 11 o’clock visiting hour the female elephants Mashariki, Lentili, Rorogoi, Arruba, Suswa and little Oltayoni were all playing in the dust and keeping to themselves. On the other hand the young growing males were highly energetic and stealing the spot light as usual. All the visitors watched these young bulls take one another on in a pushing battle or chasing game. Our naughty boy Kithaka as per usual decided to challenge Lemoyian in a battle of head pushing which resulted in trumpeting and low rumbles. Barsilinga and Tundani joined forces to try to take on Jasiri and young Sokotei who were busy trying to mount Mashariki and Oltayoni whilst they were minding their own business lying in the soil. All the activity going on left all the visitors smiling and laughing at all these funny elephants!

13 July 2014

Once the elephants had gone into the park and settled to browse; Ngasha and Faraja decided to explore a little further than the rest of the herd looking for tastier shrubs. Faraja became very possessive over their new find and tried to push Ngasha out of the way which started a fight; however Nelion quickly intervened to control the whole situation. Nelion, Tundani and Jasiri began to eat the shrubs, so by the time Ngasha and Faraja had finished their fight and returned to continue eating, there was nothing left.

14 July 2014

It seems that we have yet another greedy elephant to add to the many others. Sweet Ngasha is no longer sweet when it comes to feeding time! He runs full pelt to his bottle and after finishing his own he becomes such a nuisance to all the keepers and elephants as he just wants everyone else’s milk too! Today during the babies feeding time, Ngasha downed his milk and after finishing he pushed little Sokotei to the ground, proceeded to head butt him and then tried to drink his milk. The keepers had to intervene and drive Ngasha away. Ndii watched all of the commotion and happily assisted the keepers to drive Ngasha into the bush to show him that what he had done was definitely not on. Ngasha went into the bush and spent some time alone and every time he tried to return to the herd the keepers would chase him back into the bush. Making an elephant spend some time on their own is a good way to indicate that they have done something not to be proud of. The matriarch of the herd will always discipline individuals, especially the young growing bulls, by driving them away and making them spend time alone. This is a routine punishment that will occur in any wild herd.

15 July 2014

When Murit arrived a blood test identified that he had a bacterial infection, so he was immediately put on a IV Drip. We had to take yet another blood sample from little Murit today to see if he had made any progress from his bacterial infection. He is looking very strong and feeding on milk formula well and we all just hope it stays this way. Oltayoni has completely attached herself to little baby Mbegu. Originally Mbegu was attached to Arruba but even she can’t seem to get any time with her nowadays! Oltayoni will leave her herd to join the small elephants, but always pays special attention to Mbegu. It is said that elephants irrespective of their age are most caring and protective over the younger elephant calves, as witnessed with little Oltaiyoni.

16 July 2014

An elephant calf was rescued yesterday from the Satao area within the Tsavo reserve and stayed with the Voi keepers overnight before he was airlifted to the Nairobi Nursery. He had been identified on his own with a very swollen forelimb and was limping severely. However the main concern was what seemed to be a bullet wound almost a finger deep into his forehead. Despite his condition the young elephant looked strong and showed a brave fighting spirit. As soon as the orphan was in the stockade the team was eager to examine and treat the baby’s wounds. Firstly the head keeper Edwin cleaned the wound on the forehead to prevent any infection it may have from getting worse. Thereafter, an X-Ray was taken of the baby’s foot, the result of which was truly heart breaking. The leg had been so badly broken that he had no chance of survival or a normal life. The most plausible explanation is that his mother or another herd member fell on him after they were shot by poachers. The leg could never be repaired and if left the elephant would be crippled for life. The broken bone would never heal and be able to support the incredible weight of a fully grown bull so he had no chance of survival in the wild At around 3:45pm the baby elephant was lay to rest, just a year old. Everyone had a heavy heart that evening, as he had showed such courage and strength and yet another young life had been taken needlessly from the world. In such times we have to turn to the rest of the orphaned herd to remind ourselves of those who have been given a second chance and try to find some comfort.

17 July 2014

It is a beautiful day and all the elephants seem to have such an urge to play. The older group of elephants had been browsing for a short period of time before they encountered the herd of our 5 youngest baby elephants. Ashaka and Kauro didn’t take any notice of the older group as they were so busy playing with each other, but Kamok, Murit and Mbegu thoroughly enjoyed all the attention Arruba was giving them as she smothered them in unconditional motherly love. Later in the afternoon a phone call was received from Eldoret informing us about yet another rescue of an abandoned baby elephant who’s mother was killed by poachers. The rescue team left immediately, and after about an hour and a half flight arrived at the Kabarnet airstrip, Eldoret. The calf was escorted by a car filled with rangers who had helped with the rescue of the baby. The baby was weak and in a very bad state proving that she had been without a mother for quite some time. The rangers described that the carcass of the elephant’s mother had a number of spear wounds and no sign of the tusks. It was very evident that the elephant was lactating so a search for the baby elephant was called. The baby was given a little bit of milk but she barely drank much, as she was so weak and confused by her surroundings. After the long journey to the nursery the baby was settled in her new stockade right next to baby Murit, who was very excited to have a new friend next door. Although there were bars separating the two, it didn’t stop them from reaching their trunks through to touch each other which really settled the new baby named Kerio. After Murit had reassured the new little baby she quite happily took milk and she seemed happier.

18 July 2014

At 6am, most of the older orphans came to see the newest arrival to the herd. There was no hiding the new baby because she had made so much noise the night before that everyone wanted to meet the loud newcomer. Arruba, Mashariki, Balguda and Oltaiyoni all crowded at Kerio’s door, stretching their trunks in to try to feel and smell little Kerio. The older orphans even went to the extent of trying to push the door in just to have a sneak peak of the baby. Eventually the keepers had to get all the older orphans to leave as it was far too cold for the babies to come out and so they headed into the bush for a day of browsing and playing. Later during the day Kerio met up with all the other little babies who found this new arrival very fascinating. Ashaka even tried to charge little Kerio, but it was all out of interest to see what Kerio was like. Out in the bush the bigger elephants were browsing but once the little babies were spotted they all came over to welcome the new little girl to the herd. After everyone had seen the new baby they all returned to browse, all except Oltaiyoni, who stayed behind to care for the little ones. However she didn’t seem to pay too much attention to Kerio as her focus is still on little Mbegu.

19 July 2014

It was Friday and the elephants had the pleasure of been smothered in coconut oil again. Some babies absolutely love it, but others try every which way to get away from it. They try and run into the thicket but it’s a losing battle because at the end of the day they all have to have oil all over! The naughty four who hate oil baths are Rorogoi, Oltaiyoni, Ngasha and Arruba. They give all the keepers such a hard time and it is really hard work, however we manage in the end. As soon as the oil bathing was done most of the elephants rolled around in the dust and played excitedly with one another. The babies then headed for the mud hole for the 11am visiting hour. Mashariki and Oltaiyoni decided to jump into the mud bath and play which amused all the visitors, but it was Faraja and Lemoyian who stole the spot light when they both started playing soccer and then fell into the mud hole as they chased the ball.

20 July 2014

Kauro has become a serious bully, especially to little Kerio. This is most likely due to jealously as she is the newest baby and still requires a lot of medical care so is getting all the attention. Whenever Kerio seeks some affection from Kauro the reaction she gets is a massive push which eventually forces the keepers intervene. Kamok on the other hand is so gentle and far more comfortable with the new little girl than Kauro. After the public viewing all the orphans gathered together for some quality time. This is important so the baby elephants can learn from the older elephants. Arruba, Suswa and Oltaiyoni love these times as they get to be with the youngest babies, it seems that these 3 are going to be the next mini matriarchs of this herd.

21 July 2014

Oltaiyoni and Sokotei have failed to see eye to eye since Sokotei arrived and competed for Oltaiyoni’s foster mothers, Murera and Sonje’s, affections. Even though Murera and Sonje have now moved to Umani Springs they still have no respect for each other whatsoever. These two babies are constantly fighting for no obvious reason and cause a lot of disruption in the little herd. The main problem is that Oltaiyoni is smaller than Sokotei but refuses to back down even though Sokotei is much stronger and she doesn’t have a chance of winning. All day today these two just seemed to fight and fight until eventually Tundani and Barsilinga had to intervene and break the two up. Tundani stood in front of Oltaiyoni whilst Barsilinga pushed Sokotei in the opposite direction which was the only solution to stop this fight from getting any worse.

22 July 2014

The two Albino babies Faraja and Jasiri have played endlessly with Nelion today. It all began this morning at the stockades after all the elephants had been let out of their stockades and headed to the bush. Jasiri has recently developed a tendency of biting the other orphans tails. Today he followed Nelion and bit his tail which caused Nelion to trumpet and charge for the bushes for safety. With all the commotion Faraja decided to intervene which ended in the three of them wresting and mounting each other and they didn’t leave each other’s side for the rest of the day.

23 July 2014

Ngasha and Rorogoi have remained to be the most difficult orphans to control during feeding times, especially at the 11am public viewing. These two naughty elephants are exactly like children, they seem to misbehave when guests are present. It’s as if they know their guardians won’t discipline them in front of the visitors, but the minute they are in the bush they are as good as gold. As usual Rorogoi and Ngasha were busy trying to steal milk from the other elephants and from the milk wheelbarrow. Their naughty games ended up with the two falling over the wheelbarrow making a huge racquet before storming of into the bush with the keepers chasing them off. Kithaka on the other hand was stealing the spotlight by rolling around on the ground and sitting on his bum very close to the visitors. Sadly today has been quite a bad day for little Kerio. She got up this morning as usual and had her milk at 8am and then again at 10am, but within an hour she became very weak and the keepers had to take her back to the stockades to put her on a drip. She was still taking her milk but was very weak. Everyone was very worried about her, but hopefully tomorrow she will be stronger.

24 July 2014

Very early this morning at around 3:30am baby Kerio collapsed and was immediately put on a drip. At 6am she was supported by the keepers to try get her to take her bottle of milk, with a little persuasion she drank a little but then went back to sleep. The keepers had her on a drip for the whole day to try and replenish any lost nutrients, but sadly nothing was helping. Throughout the day she was getting weaker and weaker and her breathing became deeper which was a very bad sign for the little baby.

25 July 2014

We all woke this morning to find out the very sad news about little Kerio. Sadly her life was taken from us and we can only believe that she is in a far better place now. It was very difficult to take such sad news as she had fought so hard and we had all done everything we could to save her little vulnerable life. The older orphans were enjoying their time browsing in the forest when they were startled by buffaloes that were also on their daily rounds of the park. The elephants started running in every direction trumpeting and rumbling, with Ngasha, Lemoyian, Arruba and Rorogoi leading the way into the bush. However, within a few minutes they had all grouped together at the public viewing grounds safe and sound. The keepers ran to join the herd, calling their names to try and settle them all down. Luckily it was feeding time so all the babies soon settled and were happy again.

26 July 2014

Oltaiyoni has recently become extremely protective of Mbegu and she barely ever leaves her side. She really has stepped in as Mbegu’s new little mother in the nursery. Ashaka has become extremely envious of any orphan that gets the attention of the keepers, especially when another elephant gets the chance to suck on one of their fingers. Today baby Mbegu was suckling on one of the keeper’s fingers and Ashaka did not approve at all! Ashaka approached the keeper and pushed Mbegu right out the way, but Mbegu turned and pushed her back just as hard. Mbegu started screaming in protest which instantly got Oltaiyoni’s attention. Within seconds Oltaiyoni had her ears spread out and was running towards Mbegu to protect her. She approached Mbegu and put her trunk all over her to try and settle the baby back down. Ashaka attempted to charge Mbegu again, but Oltaiyoni had completely sheltered her little baby and there was going to be no trouble with her baby when she was around.

27 July 2014

The orphans had a very amusing morning as once all the big elephants were let out of their stockades, Kithaka, Barsilinga and Lemoyian decided to pay Maxwell a visit. Maxwell was fast asleep lying along the gate to his stockade so he didn’t notice the three elephants approaching and very secretly feasting on his lucerne. The lucerne was a real treat to the elephants and their mission was to eat as much as they could get before Maxwell woke up. Once they had their fill, Kithaka and Lemoyian began pushing the gate and pulling sleeping Maxwell’s ears with their trunks. At first it seemed that Maxwell quite enjoyed all this attention as he was moving his head around to get the best angle to get a tickle from the two babies. However, it didn’t take long until Max was out of his sleepy mood and was quite annoyed with the three menaces. He head butted the gate making the three elephants run away trumpeting with happiness as they joined the herd in the forest for yet another beautiful day.

28 July 2014

Today during the 11am visiting hour, the guests were being very loud which can cause the elephants to get very excited and start pushing and charging the ropes. With so much noise, Kamok, who is another little pushy baby, charged the school pupils who were the main troublemakers. The children all ran away screaming so it definitely taught the crowd that making noise results in trouble. At around 3pm Sokotei was having his milk when naughty Lemoyian pushed him to the ground and then attempted to mount him. The keepers shouted at Lemoyian but that didn’t stop him coming and eventually three keepers had to chase him off for some time out. Murit had a touch of diarrhea today so a blood test was run which confirmed that he was dehydrated and had a very low glucose level. Murit was immediately put on a drip for the remainder of the day to boost his immune system and he seemed a lot brighter afterwards.

29 July 2014

Tundani has become such a gentle giant; during feeding time instead of barging through everyone, like some of the greedy boys, he waits politely until the keepers are ready for him. At 3 o’clock this afternoon the elephants came down from the forest to have their milk. The elephants are separated into 2 groups because there aren’t enough keepers to feed everyone at the same time. Today however there was one too many elephants that came down in the second group and someone had to wait. Luckily as Tundani is a polite boy he was happy to wait patiently until there was a free keeper to attend to him. Every evening when all the elephants return to the stockades there is always a lush collection of branches in every stockade, but for some reason many of the elephants believe that his or her neighbor’s branches are far tastier than their own. Today was a perfect example of this, as Lemoyian was stealing from Balguda whilst Oltaiyoni stole from Sokotei. However Sokotei, being one of the greedy boys, was not willing to share, especially not with his nemesis Oltaiyoni, so he tried to pick a fight with her. The fight soon came to a stop once Sokotei realized that the bars separating the two elephants were a lot harder than he thought and there was no getting through them. We suppose the quote of ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ is a saying that elephants live by to.

30 July 2014

The keepers have really noticed how different Lentili is compared to all the other female orphans we have currently in the nursery. Lentili seems to lack any maternal instincts and has absolutely no concern for the younger more vulnerable elephants. The two babies, Mbegu and Kauro were playing happily together and hadn’t noticed the close presence of Lentili. Kauro accidentally ran into Lentili and she gave Kauro a really harsh push. Soon after little Mbegu came up to grumpy Lentili and tried to suckle on her ears, which again led to Lentili pushing baby Mbegu. Mbegu started screaming which got the attention of Arruba who responded very quickly. Arruba ran up to Mbegu and checked she was ok by rubbing her trunk all over the upset little baby. Once Arruba was certain that Mbegu was ok she turned directly to Lentili and charged her which led to Lentili running of into the bush.

31 July 2014

The elephants were in such an excited mood this morning, it seemed like everyone was either play fighting or chasing someone around a bush. Kithaka and Lemoyian were play fighting together as Barsilinga and Ngasha took on Tundani whilst Nelion was being chased around a tree by Oltaiyoni. The games continued for quite some time until the five little babies arrived, but they too quickly joined in all the fun. It was so beautiful to see such happy elephants as the sun rose over the plains of Nairobi National Park. Later on in the afternoon we received a phone call from Malindi that the community had found a lone male baby elephant with no sign of its mother or herd in the area. A rescue team from the nursery immediately left for Malindi. On arrival the elephant calf was waiting at the airstrip; thin but walking and had no obvious wounds. The reason for his separation from his family was not established however, by the look of him, it seemed as though he had been on his own for quite some time. After the elephant was loaded in the plane the team were on their way back to the orphanage and arrived at around 8pm. The young baby settled in quickly, even taking a little bit of milk. Oltaiyoni was in the room next door and as a "matriarch in the making" she really settled the little baby down. The baby, named Arabuko, then fell asleep close to the bars separating her from Oltaiyoni. Soon after, Oltaiyoni did the same and the two slept comfortably alongside one another.