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Oltaiyoni has been the leader and matriarch of this herd for some time now and she is still a very good leader. She has the sort of character to distinguish who among the herd needs extra attention and care as well, and this applies to new arrivals too. Since the older boys left a few days ago, the herd has still remained together and intact, apart from Sana Sana who still remains a little girl who likes to wonder alone. Since the older boys left though Oltaiyoni has also started becoming slightly pushy towards her keepers and she has even been slightly pushy towards the newcomer Pare, who just recently joined the orphans out in the bush since his arrival on the 2nd July. We are not sure why she is behaving like this but maybe it is just temporary? Kiko as usual has been his independent and naughty self today. This morning he left his keepers with the baby group just before 11am and walked up to the chain that steers the public visitors towards the visiting area and away from the rest of the compound. He started feeding on the acacias there and watching the visitors waiting in the queue. Some of the people didn’t want to move down the queue when the visiting time opened, as they were busy taking pictures of Kiko! Later in the afternoon new orphan Esampu who was rescued on the 6th July, joined the babies and Pea out in the forest. Pea’s presence amongst the elephants bothered her though and she went on chasing poor Pea around, as mist new arrivals do who don’t understand why there is an ostrich with them!

In the morning before the orphans moved further out into the forest, Esampu went out to join the whole family. From a distance Mbegu saw her coming and she went up to her to welcome her to the herd. This was Esampu’s first meeting with everyone in the family and unfortunately when she saw Mbegu rushing towards her she got scared and ran in the opposite direction. Mbegu kept running after her though and didn’t give up. She eventually caught up to her and blocked her from going into the think bushes, and directed her back to the rest of the herd. It wasn’t that easy for Mbegu, as the little one turned around and tried to head-butt her! But as an understanding mini-matriarch Mbegu was so gentle and just went on persuading her until they rejoined the group. Roi and Dupotto realised the new ones presence and went up to join Mbegu in greeting her. As Esampu saw the other two elephants now approaching her she tried to turn and run again, but Mbegu blocked her. Roi and Dupotto went on to inspect the little one, touching her all over her body with their trunks. Once these two had finished inspecting the new baby they left and the little one took the opportunity to run away again. This time Oltaiyoni ran after the baby very fast and as she got closer she stretched her trunk out and pulled the baby under her neck. She rumbled loudly and had her ears raised. The whole herd came running towards Oltaiyoni and they all surrounded the little one who was hiding under the neck of Oltaiyoni. Eventually the little one became calm and quiet, soothed by Oltaiyoni’s cuddling and soft rumbles, and she settled down to stay out with the older orphans for the rest of the morning.

In the morning the orphans were enjoying their early morning browse in the bushes surrounding the stockades. Rapa is always jealous of any other baby looking for his best friend Tusuja’s company, especially the new babies, and because of this they will usually stay clear of Tusuja! But today Rapa was so nice to Pare who was browsing next to his friend Tusuja. He did not bully him and was even friendly, leading the new baby with Tusuja to the lovely soft grass they like to browse on. Sometimes Tusuja would break from feeding just to check on Pare, and Rapa allowed this all to continue. While Tusuja was looking after Pare, Sana Sana was on a mission of her own and looking after the new little orphan Esampu. Esampu seems to be quite a stubborn little girl and she keeps walking of to browse away from the others. Sana Sana has always been a little like this as well though recently she has become more sociable with the others. Sana Sana led the little girl into a small thicket full of soft greens and would not let her leave; every time she moved, Sana Sana moved with her. If she attempted to go, Sana Sana would block her and steer her back to the soft grass to browse. It was a lovely time for the small girl to spend some time with her who might understand her behaviour a bit more. Pea hurt herself whilst playing with the older orphans the other day. She ran into a broken tree which cut her leg and made it bleed. She is still lying down a lot when she is not feeding but we are certain it will get better with some treatment.

Usually the younger babies like Jotto, Esampu, Ambo, Tamiyoi, Tagwa and Luggard will join the others out in the park later in the morning. This morning the older ones had moved further into the forest by the time the babies came out. On the way into the forest, Luggard, who sometimes pushes around the younger ones, pushed Ambo who burst out shouting. From a distance, Oltaiyoni emerged out of the thicket with several other older orphans; Roi, Dupotto, Kauro, Lasayen and Kamok all accompanied their matriarch to come and check on the babies. As they reached the younger ones, Oltaiyoni was only interested in Ambo. She walked past Esampu and pulled Ambo out of the crowd of babies and went off with him. The rest of the group that accompanied her went to mingle with the other babies for a bit before rejoining Oltaiyoni. Ndotto wasn’t his normal, active and entertaining self today. He is known to be everybody’s friend leaving both his elephant and human friends smiling all the time. He is feeding well and his body condition is fine, he might just not be in the mood for playing today. This morning he looks more interested and concerned in Pare; there has been a lot of communication and interaction between these two since they met out in the forest this morning. Yesterday Naseku was the one celebrating and running around and today is was Roi who led this random joyous moment as the orphans ran back into the forest after the public visiting hour. Kauro, Kamok, Maramoja and Ngilai all ran behind her. They stamped around and trumpeted and rumbled with delight. It was like a noisy choir as they responded to each other with loud rumbling. This game went on for awhile before it turned into a warthog chase! The warthogs were hanging around waiting for some leftovers from the keepers’ lunch and they were driven away by the orphans who decided they didn’t want them there, before they settled down to browse for the afternoon.