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It was a quiet morning when the orphans left the stockade and settled for lucerne. Only two wild elephants were present at the water trough at that time. Soon after they had enough water, the two wild elephants approached the orphans in a slow measured walk, trying to find out what exactly was happening. They mingled with the orphans for a while and retreated the moment they spotted the keepers. Shortly later, Mulika’s group consisting of Mulika, Mwende, Wendi, Wiva, Sidai, Lualeni, Ololoo, Naserian, Loijuk, Makena and Lenana showed up at the stockade compound. Laragai, Orwa and Bomani mobbed at Wiva as each tried to play with the baby. Bomani was lucky to have a light pushing game with Wiva as Narok quit to play with Mwende. Moments before heading for browsing, Orwa engaged Mwende in a pushing game too. Kilaguni and Chaimu came to stockade after Mulika and the orphans had left for browsing. Challa, Rapsu and Zurura, who are slowly withdrawing from Mulika and Yatta’s herd to join the bachelor herds, passed by the stockade in the company of a wild bull. The sun was really hot but this didn't deter the orphans from carrying out the browsing activities as they looked forward to having a nice mud bath at eleven o'clock. At mud bath time, it was all quiet without any outsider visiting the water hole. The orphans went for drinking water first, soon after having their milk,and then walked down to cool off by getting into the mud. Siangiki and Shukuru led their friends in a soil dusting exercise soon after mud bathing. Only Bongo and Vuria remained in the water as Bongo tried to block Vuria from coming out of the mud. Finally Vuria managed to fight his way out. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse in theKanziku area and browsed calmly throughout the remaining part of the day.

Present in the morning at the stockade compound were, Mulika, Mwende, Kilabasi, Kasigau, Ishanga the group-less girl, Kilaguni, Chaimu, Kibo, Mutara’s group and a wild bull. Kilibasi and Kasigau escorted by the other junior Ex Orphans had come to console Makireti who had spent the night in the stockade following the encounter with poachers who had hit her with an arrow. Suguta, who had fallen to the same fate in June last year, raised her trunk in the air to find out how Makireti was feeling. Suguta had two wounds but no arrows were present when she was brought back for treatment by Loijuk and Matiba on the 5th June 2015. When the juniors were let out, Makireti wasn't allowed to leave as she had to wait for the vet to come and remove the arrow. Makireti wasn't happy about being prevented from leaving the stockade and protested bitterly by making alot of noise as she moved up and down in the stockade. Her friends, Kasigau and Kilabasi were brought in to join her in her stockade and she felt much more at ease then. Enkikwe spent some time scratching on a nearby rock as Garzi stretched his trunk towards Rapsu, talking about what only the two of them could explain. Bomani engaged Olsekki in a strength testing exercise that didn't last for long as Olsekki surrendered. As the rest left for browsing, Kithaka remained behind with a wild bull but later followed his friends. In the browsing field, Bomani and Teleki engaged one another in a pushing game while Kibo played with Chaimu. At around nine o'clock in the morning, the vet arrived to operate on Makireti and remove the arrow. Kibo, Kasigau and Kilabasi stood with Makireti as she went through the treatment. The three watched very closely with Kibo coming to touch Makireti from time to time as she lay unconscious on the ground. Finally the treatment was over and Kasigau and Kilabasi took the group leader for a walk. At mud bath time, it was all quiet, only ‘Limpy’ the elephant that was treated two months ago for a snare wound showed up at mud bath. Garzi, Shukuru and Bongo spent sometime soil dusting. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse in the upper Kalovoto area.

Kilaguni, Chaimu, Kilabasi, Kibo, Kasigau, Ishanga, Mutara, Kanjoro, Turkwel, Kainuk, Sities, Suguta and Makireti were all sleeping outside the stockade after arriving in the dead of the night. Three bulls kept watch over them just outside at the stockade water trough as they waited for water. The junior Ex Orphans decided to stick together with Makireti in a show of solidarity and comfort, ensuring Makireti had a quick recovery. Makireti's wound was dry and the clay that had been applied the previous day was still intact meaning that no pus had yet formed in the wound. Narok and Shukuru headed straight to the store of lucerne and stood outside waiting for the lucerne to come out. The junior Ex Orphans joined the orphans for lucerne, whilst Orwa and Kilaguni engaged in a light pushing that saw Orwa surrender moments later. An hour later, the herd left for browsing. Makireti, Chaimu and Mutara’s groups parted ways with the dependent orphans shortly before mud bath time. The junior Ex Orphans headed back to stockade for water while the orphans headed to the mud wallow where they joined Half Trunk with three other wild elephants. The weather was chilly and the orphans didn't bother getting into the mud but relaxed close to the water trough. Lemoyian engaged Narok in a light pushing game as Siangiki scratched her itching foot on a tree stump. Enkikwe played with Bongo as Bomani played with Teleki. On the way back to browsing, Orwa climbed on Narok and later they settled to feed together. Garzi decided to feed with Bomani while Kithaka settled to browse with Teleki. In the afternoon, Yatta and Mulika’s groups passed by the stockade compound as they headed towards Kalovoto. In the evening, Vuria spent sometime time in a soil dusting exercise, an exercise that also attracted Laragai who joined him. Shukuru mostly concentrated on peeling bark of trees and later, Lemoyian led the first group back to the stockade.

Six wild elephants were drinking water at the stockade water trough when the orphans left their stockades and settled to eat lucerne. Orwa spend some time scratching on the nearby rocks. The feeding on lucerne came to an abrupt end when the Ex Orphans arrived and joined the juniors. The orphans were forced to leave so as to avoid conflict with their seniors. Narok entwined her trunk with Kina in morning greetings as Shukuru led her group to the browsing field. Vuria engaged Garzi in a pushing game that didn't last for long. Later in the day, Vuria and Bongo had a misunderstanding when Bongo tried to overtake Vuria. The misunderstanding resulted in strength testing game that ended when Shukuru intervened and pushed the boys away. Bomani played with Orwa and later turned on with Garzi. On the way to the mud bath, the orphans were joined by Makireti, Kilabasi, Kasigau and Kilaguni. Kilaguni appears to have dissolved his group from Chaimu since Chaimu was spotted in Yatta’s group. Hopefully the separation is only for some time. Makireti's arrow wound is still in the process of healing but without any problems. After mud bath, Teleki and Vuria kept themselves busy by engaging each other in a pushing game. As the orphans prepared to return back to the browsing field, the Ex Orphans reported and Kina had a brief meeting with the juniors before watching them leave. Bomani challenged Chyulu while Vuria challenged Makireti; the two juniors lost their games to their seniors. Teleki tried his hand with Ishanga but lost the game miserably to her. He then moved off and had some pushing lessons from Kenze. Orwa engaged Kasigau in a pushing game that ended in a draw. Orwa then proceeded to play with Orok but lost the game to the very strong Orok. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse in the Kanziku area. In the evening, twenty five wild elephants reported at the stockade to drink water and they left shortly after dark when they had enough water.

The sky was clear as the orphans left their stockades this morning. Narok started her day activities by rolling on the ground as she waited for the lucerne to come out. The lucerne was provided and the orphans fed calmly. Barsilinga kept dusting a place on the side of his belly where he was hurt by the Ex Orphans a week ago in the scramble for lucerne. We are still using hydrogen peroxide to clean the small wound every day. It was a quiet morning as the orphans settled to browse calmly in the bush without any major events. At mud bath time, ten wild bulls were present and they mostly concentrated on drinking water. Only one of the bulls joined Boromoko, Sokotei and Sirimon in mud bathing. Shortly later, Makireti, Kasigau, Kilaguni and Kilabasi joined the juniors. Kasigau engaged Orwa in a pushing game that ended in a draw. Barsilinga and Garzi spent some time in a light strength testing exercise. Vuria also tried his hand in playing with Kasigau but he ended up losing the game. The orphans participated in a lengthy soil dusting exercise before being led away by Makireti. In the evening Mutara and her group showed up at the stockade to drink water. Shortly later, fifteen wild elephants joined Mutara and her group to drink and they drank leisurely at their own pace, leaving back to the bush once they were done.

The stockade compound was flooded by sixty elephants, Ex Orphans, our junior orphans and wild elephants. It was very difficult for the juniors to eat their lucerne peacefully since the Ex Orphans were too rough with them. Bomani tried to play with Makena but she proved to be too rough with him so he quit the game. In an effort to minimize conflict with the seniors just over lucerne, Shukuru led her group to the browsing field. Boromoko, Sokotei and Sirimon browsed together while Siangiki, Enkikwe and Olsekki formed their own small group to feed together. At eleven o'clock in the morning, Boromoko led the first group to the mud bath. Present at mud bath were the Ex Orphans and ten wild bulls. Zurura and Kenze joined Boromoko, Sokotei and Sirimon in mud bathing. Shortly later, the orphans settled to dust with soil. As the soil dusting exercise was in progress, Vuria the warthog chaser saw warthogs approaching from a distance. He stopped soil dusting and went after the warthogs at a very high speed. The warthogs didn’t wait but turned with their tails in the air and disappeared as fast as their legs could carry them. Vuria was left charging at the bushes as the warthogs disappeared without a trace. Kilaguni engaged Orwa in a pushing game that didn't last long as Orwa withdrew to go and play with Kilabasi instead. In the afternoon, Bomani browsed close to Sokotei as Bongo, Enkikwe, Barsilinga, Siangiki, Laragai and Boromoko went back to soil dusting once more.

The orphans were joined by Mulika, Yatta and Makireti’s groups in the morning. Makireti’s group had increased by one, making it a four member group; Kilaguni was the new member. Kilaguni used to share a group with Chaimu who was seen in Olare’s group yesterday; it remains unclear if the group has been permanently dissolved or they will reunite in the future. Wiva was surrounded by Narok and Bomani as they each tried to spend some quality time with her. Shortly later, the groups parted ways with orphans who headed to browse in the lower Kalovoto area, while the Ex Orphans headed west of the stockade. It was quiet in the browsing field given that the sun was very hot. The orphans turned up for their milk and mud bath at around eleven o'clock in the morning. Boromoko was the first one to get into the mud, later followed by Sirimon and Sokotei. Orwa briefly engaged Bongo in a pushing game while Vuria tried to put on a show whilst mud bathing. Vuria rolled in the mud and tried to raise his fore feet in the air while seated in the mud. When he at last tried to get out of the mud, Orwa was at his exit point and tried to block him from coming out, but Vuria managed to fight his way out. Garzi rolled on dry soil as Bomani came forward to engage him in pushing game. Shortly after the orphans returned back to the browsing field, the Ex Orphans and wild elephants, totaling about seventy in number, reported for mud bath. In the evening, Makireti’s group consisting of Makireti, Kasigau, Kilabasi and their new recruit Kilaguni reported for water at the stockade. Makireti's arrow wound is healing nicely after she was operated on the 7th of this month to remove an arrow head.

We had about 58 Ex Orphans and wild elephants in the stockade compound this morning. Wendi with Wiva, Yatta with Yetu, and Mulika with Mwende were amongst the group as well. Mulika was seen hiding and carrying Lucerne with her tusks while eating another bunch of lucerne. Wendi was eating Lucerne while Wiva was circling below. Wiva was very playful and active and our orphan Narok escorted her everywhere she went. Vuria started play fighting with Orwa and later the group walked to the bush for browsing. Orwa was also playing with a stick which he rolled along with his trunk. Shukuru was stretching to get chunks of soil for a dust bath. Lemoyian later led the group to mudbath. At the mudbath, Boromoko came running and took a bottle of milk by himself and started drinking it on his own! We had a group of wild bulls including Half Trunk playing in the mudbath with Kilaguni, Chaimu, Makireti, Kilabasi, Kasigau and Ishanga also amongst them. Kithaka was scratching on a tree next to the wild bulls without fear. The orphans and Kilaguni’s group played in the mudbath and later had their dust bath. Bongo and Vuria were the most playful and active ones. Back in the bush, the orphans browsed happily despite the hot and dry weather. Later Lemoyian led the group back home in the evening.

As the orphans came out of their stockades this morning they met with Kilaguni, Zurura, Challa, Buchuma, Tomboi, Lualeni and Ololoo the other Ex Orphans. There was also a group of wild bulls who came to drink water and left soon after. In the bush, Orwa and Vuria as usual started their daily morning play fight. Kilaguni later followed them and was playing with Orwa. Bomani was trying to climb on Olsekki and Vuria looked like he was doing early morning press-ups on the ground! The rest of the group were very busy browsing and not messing around. Sirimon led the group back to the mudbath for their milk. At the mud bath Barsilinga was busy sharpening his tusks on a tree as he clear off some insects from his trunk as well. Lemoyian also came to scratch on the same tree. However then the two started play fighting. Bongo, Vuria, Narok and Kithaka walked to the mudbath and started playing in the water. We were surprised to see Kithaka there too! Boromoko and Narok also followed them. Vuria and Bongo later came out pushing each other which turned into a serious fight, but after a few minutes they were stopped by a keeper. Narok,Vuria and Orwa started having a dust bath. Narok was rolling in the dust while Vuria and Orwa were scooping and tossing chunks of soil in the air. Later all the orphans walked back to the bush and the whole group were very busy browsing for the rest of the day despite the hot weather. Lemoyian led the dependent herd back in the evening. In the stockades today we had 10 wild bulls who arrived very thirsty. They drank a lot of water and left back into the park.