01 July 2018

Sometimes Kiko the giraffe is cleverer than we think he is. Today he heard the handset radios of the Keepers who were getting ready to take the orphans to the mud bath area for their 3pm milk feed. He knew this meant they were about to have their milk feed and he was adamant he wanted to go with them! He wouldn’t listen at all to the Keepers who were trying to lure him away in a different direction with a milk bottle. He knew they were trying to take him in a different direction so the elephants could go for their milk. When the last group of elephants had run down for their milk, he left his keeper and ran off too, pretending to run in the direction of the stockades, but then he made a quick about turn and instead followed the elephants. He caught up with Musiara, who never rushes for his milk bottles, and scared the little elephant with his long strides. Musiara ran yelling for help from the others as the giraffe ran up behind him. It was as if Kiko thought if the elephants can go down for their milk to see some visitors, why can’t I follow too? He decided he had to feature in this visiting time no matter what, and he stayed right up to the end.

02 July 2018

Maktao and Emoli seem to be quite close play mates these days. This morning as all the other elephants orphans were settling out in the forest to browse, these two boys were engaged in a pushing game with Emoli being more gentle with Maktao as he knows he is smaller and younger than he. Emoli even allowed the little youngster to be very rough and at one stage Emoli even fell over Maktao pushed him so hard, when in fact Emoli could easily do the same back. Emoli knew that if Maktao thought he had won the game it would encourage him to play more, which is exactly what happened. It was quite funny to watch Emoli even taking on Maktao from his sitting position, it was so easy to play fight with the little boy. It is so lovely to watch the little ‘personalities’ of all the little elephants develop. Maktao is just like a little brother to Emoli and acts like it to. At one stage we saw him even trying to climb on Emoli and even though there was no way his little body could accomplish such a thing, he kept trying and never gave up! Maktao is a determined little boy who loves to play.

03 July 2018

Little Malima’s character is blossoming and coming out more and more since Esampu, Mteto, Ngilai and Mundusi moved to Tsavo. During the public visit she waits until all the orphans have had their milk and the Keepers are looking relaxed. Then she suddenly runs along the rope cordon intentionally bumping, head butting and kicking the visiting public who were standing closest to the rope. The public obviously love this interaction and applaud, which causes her to trumpet before running off as she knows the keepers will be coming to tell her off. She is so quick though and by the time the keepers reach her she is already playing a game of rolling on the loose soil with an innocent look about her. The little elephant orphans are so very clever and they are always surprising us with their next clever antics.

04 July 2018

Tiny Kiasa is still proving to be the biggest trouble maker in the Nursery at the moment. She is especially naughty at feeding times, and we can’t take our eyes off her for a second from when she finishes her own milk bottle. From that moment she makes endless demands running from one keeper to another, checking whose bottle is not quite finished yet and who she can steal from! Today she was the last one down to the milk feeding area due to her greedy character, where she found slow feeder Musiara still having his milk. Instead of running to have her own share, she quickly started bullying Musiara and the keeper trying to feed him, tossing the milk bottle out of his hand and pushing his demanding to be fed instead of Musiara! She gave the keeper holding her full bottle no chance! When she eventually found her full bottle, she drank it very quickly and immediately went to the wheelbarrow holding all the bottles and threatened to push it over for no reason at all. When she was moved away by the keeper she stood still for a little while, then all of a sudden ran up behind the keeper pushing the wheelbarrow away from the feeding area and head-butted him in the back of his legs – just trying to make him stop for her to have some more milk! She really is a funny little naughty elephant baby. The keepers have given her the nick name of ‘kichwa ngumu’ in Swahili which means headache!

05 July 2018

Since Mbegu moved to Tsavo we have seen Sattao attaching himself more and more to Ndiwa. When the elephants are out in the forest we can see him spending most of his time with Ndiwa, and likewise Ndiwa looks for Sattao a lot of the time as well. This is quite a sweet relationship that has developed, as before Ndiwa used to walk off into the forest with the older orphans, and now she has this little boy to look after some of the time. Sometimes she does walk off far into the bushes, but little Sattao accompanies her and the two seem to have a lovely time browsing together. Sometimes she has the full company of Sattao, Ambo, Sagala, Sana Sana and Mapia too. It seems Sattao has found the love, care and protection he needs as a little calf in Ndiwa. Luggard still walks around with a smile on his face which is a positive sign as far as his health is concerned, which up until a month or so ago was not very good and his broken leg was causing him some discomfort. He now accompanies the other orphans far out into the forest and on most outings can be seen attached to his best friend Musiara. Musiara believes himself to be quite a grown up bull although he is still far too young, but sometimes he is spotted wandering off without anyone to accompany him until he is brought back to join the group.

06 July 2018

Malkia is usually a loving and gentle girl but recently she has become a bit of a bully, especially towards Mapia, Jotto and Ambo. She doesn’t like these boys anywhere near her and will push them away. When she finds one of the boys browsing next to her, she pushes them away by prodding her small tusks into their backs, making them move to a different area. Today out in the forest poor Mapia found himself browsing close to her and when she realized this she poked him with her small tusks and he cried out in pain. He yelled and fell down on his front legs until he could move out of the way of the little bully girl. Malkia’s naughty behaviour forced the keepers to move her away from the group so she knew she had done something wrong.

07 July 2018

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.

08 July 2018

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!

09 July 2018

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.

10 July 2018

Little Luggard is becoming a little greedy for his milk these days. When it draws close to 8am and he knows the 9am milk feed is soon approaching, he starts to walk away from the rest of the herd to where he knows the feeding takes place. When he reaches there and finds the milk is not there yet, he just chooses to browse from the surrounding bushes and waits for the milk to come so he can be the first one to be fed! Today he arrived even before 8am and chose to just patiently browse as usual in the surrounding thicket. Come 9am he left the bushes and walked right to the spot where he knows they all get their bottles and just stood there waiting for the bottles to come – it was very sweet to see him waiting so patiently for the bottles to come. When the milk arrived he was very happy to have the first bottle. He then positioned himself nicely next to the wheelbarrow where the empty bottles are put, and picked up the bottles to feed himself the small amounts that were left inside. It was funny to watch him pick up a bottle as soon as it was put into the wheelbarrow so he could catch any leftover drops of milk! He is very good at feeding himself. He is never a bully or causes any trouble at milk feeding time.

11 July 2018

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!

12 July 2018

When the orphans went out to the forest this morning, at first they were all crowded together. Slowly they started to spread out, and Mapia decided to walk off in his own direction. When the group came back together, Mapia was left behind. The herd then moved on to browse in another area which was much greener and deeper within the forest. Nobody realized at this stage that poor Mapia wasn’t with the group. When Mapia realized he had been left behind, he begun searching for the rest of the herd everywhere, and when he couldn’t find them, he ran back to the stockades crying out. He became so upset, almost inconsolable, as the Keepers in the stockades tried to calm him down. Eventually when he realized that none of the other orphans could hear him, he settled down with the Keepers. He eventually rejoined them for the 9am milk feed.

13 July 2018

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.

14 July 2018

A play-fight broke out between two stockade neighbours Tamiyoi and Malima in the forest today. With her ears held out wide anyone would think that Malima was ready for a real fight! They then started pulling each other’s trunks and Malima also started pulling Tamiyoi’s front leg with her trunk as well, as the game reached its climax. Jotto then interrupted, which almost brought an end to the game, but then the two changed their style and instead of play-fighting each other, they decided to pick a fight with the newcomer! Jotto found himself sandwiched between the two girls and he struggled to free himself. Ambo came over to support his friend, but then fellow bull Mapia came over to offer a helping hand and instead of assisting the boys, he allied with the two girls Tamiyoi and Malima! Mapia took on Ambo, who looked very serious about the fight as he was determined to fight his neighbor who always takes advantage of Ambo in the afternoon by stealing his green browse through their partition. Perhaps this was a good opportunity for Ambo to seek revenge! However it did not go according to plan for Ambo as Mapia has longer tusks which gave him an advantage over Ambo. Slowly the orphans calmed down and the game came to an end as they decided to all go back to browsing on the green bushes.

15 July 2018

Disability does not mean inability! Despite the fact that Maxwell the rhino cannot see, his ability to defend and safeguard his food is admirable. This was proven today when a group of warthogs came to visit his large stockade with the intention of sharing his lucerne pellets. Using his keen sense of smell and good hearing, the black rhino knew his territory had been invaded. Maxwell immediately swung into action and he charged round and round his stockade. Sensing danger, the intruders were forced to run for safety, with the smaller ones crying for help as the warthogs squeezed through the gaps in his gate. Maxwell continued to make sure all the intruders were out of his room, and one warthog that had delayed exiting had a very narrow escape when he got stuck between the bars of the gate and just missed being on the receiving end of Maxwell’s horn! It’s funny how sometimes Maxwell doesn’t mind the warthogs being in the room and sharing his food; this was obviously one of those days he did not want to share!

16 July 2018

Malkia’s desire for an extra bottle of milk to quench her thirst seems to be increasing every day. The girl with folded ears tried her luck during the 9am milk feed but she didn’t succeed in finding an extra bottle. When it came to the noon feeding by the mud bath, she tried her luck again by licking the empty bottles to see if she could find any extra drops of milk. She also sucked up the milk that had spilt in the wheelbarrow. As Tagwa was having her bottle, Malkia was hovering around trying to get the drops that were falling as Tagwa was having her milk. Not being satisfied with this small amount, she decided to take what she wanted by force, but this time from Sana Sana. This didn’t work however as Sana Sana fiercely protected her share, turning in protest and holding the bottle high up out of Malkia’s reach. She also attempted to throw Malkia a back-kick, and then a keeper came to her rescue and took Malkia away. Malkia stomped off in a very bad mood at being denied more milk, with her ears held high and shaking her head.

17 July 2018

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.

18 July 2018

Our elephant orphans always seem to think ‘the grass is greener on the other side’. Often when they come home in the afternoon and go into their rooms, they begin to steal the green branches from each other through their partitions. Today Sana Sana came down in the first group and after having their milk she began to feed on her greens. However instead of feeding on the branches brought into her room, she reached into Sagala’s room and pulled through some of the branches which she thought looked even better than hers. When Sagala came in she noticed what her neighbour had done and took her revenge by pulling the same branches back through the gap. Sana Sana protested and a tug of war began, which the two girls eventually pulling each other’s trunks through the partition. The girls carried on like this for some time, until Sana Sana noticed her other neighbour Jotto was stealing her branches from the other side! She rushed to the other side of her room in an attempt to salvage her branches but she was too late as Jotto had successfully managed to pull through so many of them. It is funny how all the orphans steal each other’s share, and at the end of the day they all have the same branches, and hopefully all get the same share!

19 July 2018

Ndiwa is still quite an independent orphan and most of the time likes to browse deep in the forest, alone or otherwise in the company of Sattao who has taken quite a shining to her. She can stay a long time on her own out in the forest, not like some of the others. Even though where the orphans were browsing had nice thick bushes, Ndiwa wandered off as the Keepers had their lunch after the public visit. Little did they realise that Ndiwa was not with them and it was only at the next milk feeding that it became obvious she was not with them. As the Keepers looked for Ndiwa, Ambo decided to try his luck as well and dodged the Keeper so as to make his way back to the stockades to try and find some lucerne pellets leftover near Maxwell’s stockade! The Keepers noticed quite quickly however that Ambo had walked back to the stockades and at the same time he was found by the Keepers working the compound, and he was led back out to the forest to join his friends.

20 July 2018

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!

21 July 2018

Kiko the giraffe was behaving very badly today. It is almost because he is the tallest amongst all of the orphans, he believes he can do whatever he likes. As the elephant orphans were browsing in the afternoon, the tall boy decided to interrupt their peaceful feed. The elephants were not interested in his attempts to disturb them, but Kiko kept provoking them and looking for attention. At one point he threw a little side kick towards Sattao to get his attention, and a few minutes later he tried to prod Kuishi with his head. Then Kiko threw a back kick towards Maisha which caught her on the bum and she cried out in protest. This now attracted all the elephant’s attention as they are always ready to protect one another and come to one another’s aid, and Tagwa rushed over quickly to find out to find out what was happening. She started chasing the giraffe and playful girls like Malima mock-charged from the side, as Emoli and Kiasa trumpeted in an attempt to scare Kiko away. The herd of elephants eventually managed to drive the naughty Kiko away from the herd and Kiko went running all the way back to the stockade compound kicking his legs out in protest and excitement. Calm was then restored amongst the elephants and they went back to enjoying their peaceful browsing session.

22 July 2018

After a lovely day of sun two days ago, today we were back to the low temperature and cloudy weather as the baby elephants started their walk out to the forest to begin their day. As time passed whilst the babies browsed it grew even colder and the elephants and the Keepers found themselves in very misty weather, with some light rain falling as well. Maktao is such a clever little boy and developed a new way of dealing with the cold. He moved over to the Keepers and sidled up to one. Using his little trunk he lifted up the corner of the Keepers dust coat and pulled it up over him to provide him with some warmth. This did not impress Musiara who hates the idea of missing out and believes he should always be the closest to the Keepers. He came rushing in to try and push Maktao away and when that did not work he resorted to pulling his tail. The Keepers had to step in and stop Musiara and his jealous antics, and walk him away to a different area.

23 July 2018

It was such a lovely start to the day for the orphans. The big girls Sana Sana, Ndiwa and Sagala were very over excited. As all the orphans prepared to walk out to the forest, the three girls engaged high gear and ran around in different directions towards the forest. It was all about trumpeting the loudest and stamping their feet in excitement. Ndiwa ran in the direction of the mud bath, Sagala ran towards the public parking area and Sana Sana ran to the milk feeding area in the forest! There were several birds on the ground feeding on insects ahead of Sana Sana, and they flew up into the air making a lot of noise as Sana Sana charged towards them. All the commotion attracted Maxwell’s attention as he was resting in his stockade. He got up too and started charging about in different directions thinking that perhaps there might be danger to fend off! His restlessness then affected the rest of the elephants who up until now had remained calm, Malima, Tamiyoi, Jotto and Ambo ran back to Maxwell’s gate, perhaps to reassure him that everything was fine and the older elephant girls were just in a hyperactive mood! It took some time however before Maxwell settled down. All the elephants then started filing out of the compound and following their Keepers to the forest where they met up with Sana Sana. It took some time before Ndiwa and Sagala too re-joined the group after they had calmed down.

24 July 2018

Jotto is a calm boy; friendly and very gentle. Recently he has become a good play mate to Sana Sana as well. Before the others moved to Tsavo, Sana Sana did not show that much interest in interacting with the others, or more that she was not one of the most playful. She did not show that much interest in taking care of the little babies either, as that role was filled by Mbegu, Godoma, and some of the others. These days she seems to have started taking on more of that responsibility. Tagwa and Malkia might have most of the interest in leading the Nursery herd, but we have really noticed a difference in Sana Sana too. She appears to have taken to Musiara most of all, playing with him and also waiting for him sometimes when they are walking to different areas. Tamiyoi has always been very caring of the youngsters. When they were walking down in the first group for their midday milk bottles, she was further ahead than Maktao and Sattao. However she stopped to wait when she got to the small stream as she knows they do not like crossing the water. She helped them across by waiting and then leading them through, and then they all proceeded to walk forward for their milk bottles.

25 July 2018

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.

26 July 2018

While the herd was busy out in the forest with their daily browsing routine, Ambo was causing trouble by bullying Mapia, his neighbor, and Malima. Malkia seemed to be watching him and had kept an eye on his for some time, hoping he would stop disturbing the others. She seemed to get so worked up over his bad behaviour that when she came to discipline him she was very hard on him. She went over and pushed him so hard he fell on the ground and the Keepers had to shout at her to stop. Maktao has become great play-mates with Emoli. They were enjoying their usual pushing game after the midday milk feed today and it looked like Maisha was very envious of Maktao playing with her friend Emoli. She tried to push them apart but the more she tried, the more energetic the game became. Eventually she managed to separate them but this didn’t end the game for the boys, they just moved to a different spot and carried on with their wrestling and mounting game. Maisha just moved away and waited for another time to play with her friend.

27 July 2018

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.

28 July 2018

Musiara is always full of confidence with everything that he does. He doesn’t mind walking alone and is never in a hurry when going for his milk. When everyone else is running, he will be quietly walking at the back. Perhaps this is why he and Luggard are so close too! He walks very majestically, looking all around him as he walks. One would think he is a patient grown up bull sometimes, despite being one of the smallest in the Nursery. Today was the very first day out of many that we had some sun shine. None of the babies have been interested in mud bathing recently as it has been so cold, but today when he finished his milk bottle Musiara started looking for some mud to cool himself down. Tamiyoi and Emoli tried to make some using some water from the water trough, and they and Maisha and Sattao all gathered round to enjoy rolling on the wet ground. Musiara wanted to join them but it was too crowded for him to join too. He decided instead to go and wallow in the water beside the mud bathing ground. The water trough orphans saw where he was going and decided to join him too as his was a much better idea. The babies enjoyed the cool ground which was a welcome relief from the hot sun.

29 July 2018

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.

30 July 2018

It is very true that elephants are very intelligent, and we can even say that is true with the Nursery babies at their young age. All the orphans know and understand their feeding times and how much milk they are meant to get as well. During the 9am milk feed, Mapia was being fed his first bottle of two. He had only had a quarter of the bottle, when Sagala came charging over and shoved both him and the Keeper so he dropped the bottle and some of the milk spilt out. No one was able to pick up the bottle fast enough as all the other Keepers present had their hands full. The Keeper went ahead and started feeding him the second bottle in his other hand, but when Mapia finished that bottle he started yelling and demanding his balance and rightful share. He shoved all the Keepers and yelled for more milk. He was handed an empty bottle to show him that there was none left but he was very persistent, and it wasn’t until Jotto stepped in to help move him away that he calmed down. He was fed his fair share at the next feed a few hours later, and he forgot all about the morning milk feed fiasco. During the same morning milk feed, Tagwa decided to instill some discipline when Ambo tried to steal her milk bottle. Kiko was a very good boy with the elephant orphans today. He spent the whole afternoon browsing with them not causing any trouble, until he was taken back to the compound in the afternoon.

31 July 2018

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.