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Enkesha’s trunk has improved so much in the last few months. Before the wound caused by the wire snare was really bothering her because it was so itchy, but now after her treatment she is looking much happier and is much more playful. Before she didn’t want to be near the others or play and she always looks uncomfortable. She would blow through the hole and suck up water and mud trying to relieve the irritation, rather than concentrate on feeding on greens, but now she is so much better. Now she is happy and interacts with all the other babies in the herd. After her 11am milk feed today she was happy rolling on the loose soil and bumping into Tamiyoi and Emoli who were also busy playing in the soil. At one point she was seen enjoying a pushing game with Emoli too. She is usually very quiet and calm, and we are happy she is looking and feeling so much better.

It was a funny morning for Musiara and Maktao when they came down for their 11am milk feed today. They came running down as part of the first group as usual, behind Sattao, Maisha, Kiasa and Enkesha. These four crossed the little stream leading into the feeding area easily, but when Musiara and Maktao reach the water, they put their front foot in and withdrew it very quickly, backing away not wanting to cross the water. When their keeper came up behind and jumped over, Musiara shook his head in defiance and then yelled out loudly. This made Maktao start crying as well, and when their keeper realized he could not coax them over he had to walk back and walk them around and across the dry area instead, which is where the visitors were standing. Musiara and Maktao hate cold water so much and it was a cold morning too, so it was obvious they were not going to cross the water leading to the feeding area!

Whilst many of the orphans were busy browsing this morning, Malima, Kuishi, Jotto, Ambo, Maisha and Enkesha were all busy scampering about in the thicket, charging and stamping their feet in protest of we were not sure what! They were in a very lively mood. The keepers wondered if it was because of the cold weather and they were just running around to keep warm. Malima and Kuishi were running about so much and then they started trumpeting, which stirred up everyone in the group, even poor Luggard with his bad leg who started stamping his feet close to his good friend Musiara. All the orphans remained in this restless mood trying to beat the cold weather for almost an hour, when it seemed they had all warmed up from this very active game and they all just settled down to browse. It is so cold in Nairobi at the moment for we are well into our ‘winter’ months when it is very grey and cold but not rainy. This also means the orphans do not mud bath anymore as it is too cold and also there is not very much sun to protect their skin from, but instead they prefer to roll and dust themselves in the loose soil. In this weather even Maxwell the rhino stays in his bedroom on his hay bed until it is warm enough to wake up! His friend Shabby the Sacred Ibis with the bed leg who we have raised stays next to him in the hay too sometimes.

As the orphans were about to come out of their rooms this morning the weather turned very chilly and it even started drizzling a little as well. At the front line of stables Kiasa and Enkesha seemed fine as they came out and started playing, but as soon as Maktao stepped out of his stable he felt the cold weather and walked right back into his room again! When the Keepers tried to call him out to join the rest, he started yelling and complaining and not wanting to come out into the cold. Just like the water in the stream the other day – he is evidently very sensitive to the cold! His cold weather-hating friend Musiara was the same on the other side of the compound. His friend Luggard had come out of his room and was standing waiting for his friend Musiara beside his door. When he eventually came out and reached the end of the shaded roof he felt the light drizzle and he too walked back, refusing to move. Luggard tried to wait for him to see if Musiara would catch up, but Musiara was not moving and he decided to follow the rest of the herd who had already gone out to the forest. Musiara and Maktao stayed behind for some time before heading out to join the others. They do not like the cold!

We feel like this might be the coldest month ever recorded in history! This morning we felt so cold, and the biting weather made the younger ones like Maktao, Kiasa and Musiara seek refuge amongst the older and bigger ones. Maktao and Musiara snuggled with Tagwa, trying to get warm from some of her body heat. Kiasa sought warmth from Sana Sana who didn’t seem overly interested in helping her, because the little girl had been so naughty recently. As the first group was heading to the mud bath area for their noon milk feed, Enkesha avoided wading through the small cold water stream, and instead forced her way through the group of visitors that were standing on the dry land. Maisha was so hyper during this feeding time, and was mock-charging all over the place. Two warthogs then passed by the mud bath area which drew Tamiyoi’s attention, who raised her ears as she tried to scare them away. The warthogs were defiant however, and Emoli had to join in and help Tamiyoi to win over the warthogs and push them away. Sattao was so scared of the incident he turned and also knocked over one of the keepers and he sought to run away from his friends scaring the warthogs away.

The scramble for Maxwell’s leftover lucerne pellets has turned all the elephant babies mad. Every elephant wants to be the first to reach his gate in the morning to find the leftovers there. Some like Mapia, Ambo, Malima and Enkesha are heard banging away at the doors first thing in the morning, as early as 5:30am, to alert their keepers that they want to come out. Mapia was the loudest this morning, banging on his door so hard we were sure it was going to fall off! His banging reverberated all the way down the length of the stockades, which disturbed some of the other babies. They began to rumble and cry out as they thought something was wrong. When Mapia’s door was opened he almost knocked the Keeper over he was in such a hurry to reach the pellets first and try his luck. Sana Sana and Ndiwa then came racing in. Sattao and Maisha tried their luck from Maxwell’s other gate, before Musiara also found them. Some of the other orphans weren’t so lucky as the keepers then started to lead the orphans out to the forest and they all had to follow.

Although it is rare in the month of July, today the fun came early in the morning as the sun managed to peak out from behind the clouds as it rose above the horizon, warming everything it touched for the first time in a while. The orphans enjoyed this brief respite in the cold weather too, and spread out in open areas on the ground, flapping their ears and stretching their trunks as they enjoyed the morning sun. As usual, Musiara played his games near the Keepers, this time lying amongst them and at times pestering them whilst they were trying to drink their morning tea. Maktao didn’t want to be left out either. He stood next to one of the Keepers and kept touching him on the shoulder with his tiny trunk, sometimes venturing over to interrupt Musiara’a play as well. Enkesha decided to join Maktao and Luggard came over to join his friend and neighbour Musiara, who by that time had stood up and was dusting himself with soil. After the midday milk feed, Kiasa, Emoli and Tamiyoi engaged each other in a pushing game. Emoli pushed Tamiyoi from the front, before the game was turned up a notch when Kiasa came over and bit Tamiyoi on the tail! Tamiyoi turned and pushed the little girl until she fell on the ground to teach her a lesson. Kiasa just got up and walked away to go and dust herself in soil, but we thought her pride was hurt just a little bit!

At the moment Mapia doesn’t seem to have any permanent friends in the Nursery herd. Most of the older ones like Kuishi, Ndiwa, Malkia and Sagala are pushing him around a bit at the moment and don’t like him standing with the group sometimes. Today Kuishi and Malkia were unfair on him and during the midday milk feed Ndiwa and Sagala kept charging at him. This means he avoids crossing paths with the older girls as much as he can. Sometimes as they browse out in the forest it is either Maisha or Enkesha keeping him company, as long as none of the older girls are trying to keep little Maisha or Enkesha company too! We are sure they will all settle down soon and as Mapia is quite big for his age perhaps the older girls are just trying to make sure he knows his place.

Naughty little girl Kiasa has developed yet another way of provoking her friends. The tail and trunk of any elephant is very sensitive and Kiasa seems to understand that very well. Today as the orphans were running in a line for their milk feed, she was at the back. She decided to try and overtake the others and Musiara was directly in front of her. She grabbed his tail and pulled him back before running ahead of him. Then she came to Sattao and then Emoli who is such a shy boy, and he ran out of her way yelling for help. The same applied to Mapia and her last victim was Enkesha who was leading the group. She manage to maneuver and get past everyone, mostly by pulling their tails, but then she reached the where the stream runs between the forest and the milk feeding area. Here she stopped and waited for the rest of the group to see how they were going to try and cross the water. Enkesha, Mapia, Emoli and Sattao all surrounded her and together pushed her into the water! She was fully submerged in the water whilst everyone else crossed over the small bridge and kept dry, before proceeding for the milk bottles. When she reached the feeding area too she was very cross with how she had been treated and charged at everyone in her bad mood.

In the morning as the elephant orphans were walking out to the forest, Maxwell was asleep at one of his gate’s which is close to Sattao’s room. Enkesha came along and decided to wake him up and have some fun with him before walking out to the forest, but he didn’t respond so she started sharing his lucerne pellets through the gate. Malima however then came charging over in an effort to play with Max and he couldn’t then resist playing too. She came charging over and started pushing and pulling on his gate, making lots of noise. Max then got up and started playing with both of the girls, but it did not last for long as they then decided to accompany Luggard out to the forest as he had been left behind. Jotto was playing a pushing game with Tagwa in the forest. From a distance he saw the two girls and Luggard approaching and he left Tagwa and ran to meet them. Luggard was happy to see Jotto coming to welcome him and started running towards him. Right away they started playing a wrestling game, with Jotto making sure not to be too rough with Luggard.

Sometimes Ambo and Jotto choose to revive their old friendship, and today was one of those days. The two boys spent most of their day together, away from the main herd. They were spotted playing wrestling games, as well as hide and seek, before settling back into browsing again. The twin-like sisters Ndiwa and Sagala had company from Sana Sana today. Ndiwa and Sagala look so similar sometimes we have a hard time telling them apart, and they are very close in character as well! To top it off, they are very good friends too and we will often see them together when Ndiwa is not off browsing on her own. Today they were accompanied by Sana Sana when they sneaked away from the herd to browse on their own. Because of Kiasa’s behaviour during milk feeding times, often she is held back until last so as not to cause any problems, and it seems she knows this as well, although sometimes she tries to sneak out first before she can be stopped from going for the milk. In the evening however, she has no one to fight over milk with in her room, so she is always allowed down first with Enkesha.