01 July 2018

The orphan elephants came out of their stockades in a happy mood this morning, drinking their morning milk bottles and moving on to their routine games after eating the supplement lovingly put out for them by their Keepers. Naipoki and Ndoria engaged one another in a wonderful play-fight, while Panda was busy rolling around on the red earth piles to show off to Ngilai, Godoma and Mbegu. Tundani later intruded on Panda’s game to steal the attention of the three young spectators that were cheering Panda on. Lentili then started to lead the orphans out earlier than usual, so as to beat Mbegu to the task, as it is Mbegu who has been leading the orphans out most mornings, and Lentili used to enjoy this responsibility. The orphan elephants went up Msinga Hill, with Arruba exploring higher up the hill than her friends to browse. Kihari followed Arruba for a short distance and settled to browse half-way up the hill. The afternoon came fast, with Tahri, who usually goes to the milk feeding first, and Mbegu’s herd resorting to go last with Kenia’s herd who have already been weaned off their milk. Tahri’s adopted mother Ndii escorted her for milk feeding and stretched her trunk to request Tahri to share her milk feed but her request was rejected by the Keepers who wanted the little girl to enjoy her milk in peace. The orphans visited the baobab water hole where they played, before going back to browsing close to the water hole for the rest of the day

02 July 2018

The stockade dependent orphan elephants left the stockade around first light to head out to the browsing grounds. Bada wanted to lead his friends to browse up Msinga Hill, but the others had made an early decision and settled down at the bottom of the hill. Browsing went on peacefully with Mbegu commanding the leadership of Ndotto, Ngilai, Lasayen, Murit and Godoma as to which way directions they would take whilst they browsed. The weather was fairly cold today, and the orphan elephants had their noon milk feed at the bottom of the northern side of Msinga Hill, without visiting the water hole that afternoon. Lasayen and Murit then engaged each other in a friendly head-butting game while the four other members of their herd were busy playing a soil dusting game in one of the deep erosion trenches close to the hill. Later in the day, Mashariki and Naipoki decided that they would take Tahri to browse on their own, while Ndii was browsing with Embu a short distance away. The two had to remain calm and not get too excited, so as to enjoy the company of the little one who remained neutral in her engagement with them.

03 July 2018

The orphan elephants came out in a rush to have their early morning milk bottles when the gates of the stockade were opened this morning. They later went to have their Lucerne grass pellet supplement food, before enjoying some very brief games in the stockade compound and later walking out to the into the wild to browse for the day. The day was very cold, with strong winds blowing. Some of the orphan elephants hid behind big rocks at the foot of Msinga Hill, while others huddled up together to generate some warmth that was needed. After the noon milk feed, the orphan elephants went ahead to drink clean water from the baobab water trough, but did not attempt to take a bath as it was so cold. The orphans then proceeded with their browsing on the savanna grass lands. At around 3.20pm, Kenia’s herd joined up with a wild herd. Tundani moved very close to one teenage wild elephant bull, who he enjoyed greeting and the two went on to enjoy browsing together for quite a while. Mbegu’s herd did not join the wild herd as they preferred to browse close to the keepers. Kenia’s herd, who are now weaned from their milk bottles, then separated from the wild herd to head back to the stockades for the evening.

04 July 2018

The morning was good, and we had some early callers to the stockade as graduate orphans Layoni and Dabassa arrived and joined the stockade dependent orphan elephants to have some supplement food. Layoni saw that Ndii had grown taller, and decided to test her strength in a small play-fight. Although the odds were looking good for Ndii, she had to give up the fight as Tahri had mistaken their game for a real fight and was shouting loudly she was so uncomfortable and unsettled. Layoni then took on Nelion instead, for the same kind of strength-pushing game, but the commotion that Tahri had already stirred up made Kenia, Naipoki and Kihari take charge and lead the herd out towards the browsing grounds. The two graduate orphans parted ways with the junior elephants and went to browse towards the big water hole, where there were many wild elephant herds to interact with. The orphans visited the baobab water hole in the afternoon, and after bathing, Murit engaged Ndotto in a strength-testing pushing game, while Embu went to lean on a tree for a scratch, before following their friends for the final browsing session of the day.

05 July 2018

The orphan elephants left the stockade after their milk and supplement feed, with Lentili, Nguvu and Bada leading them towards the browsing grounds shortly after their socializing games. Naipoki stopped on the way, sitting on the stockade terrace for a scratch before following the rest. On the eastern foot of Msinga Hill, Mbegu decided to stop and scratch on a big rock and got left behind by her friends who were moving towards the northern side of Msinga Hill to browse. At midday the orphans went to have their milk bottles and proceeded to the water hole for a bath as it wasn’t as cold as the past few days. All the orphans interacted, with Arruba, Embu and Godoma taking centre place in the wallowing session and showing off all the expertise. Ngilai, who didn’t seem as interested in mud-bathing at first, was pulled into the water by his friends in some wonderful bathing games. The orphan elephants then came out of the water, spraying themselves with the loose red earth that had been piled close by, before moving on with the rest of their day browsing close to the water hole.

06 July 2018

The morning was wonderful with the orphan elephants concentrating on their milk and supplement feed before settling down for games in the stockade compound. Rorogoi went to scratch herself on one of the trees in the compound. Ndotto stretched his trunk to welcome best friend Lasayen for a pushing-game, but Lasayen turned down his request and instead went to take on his other close friend Murit for the same kind of wrestling match. Today the wrestling games were given most priority, with Araba reaching out to Ndotto for a similar game. Ndii played with Mbegu one-on-one, until Godoma came in to offer some reinforcement for her friend to effectively take on Ndii. Panda came in to drive Araba away so that she could play with Ndotto for the same kind of game before they all had to go out and concentrate on browsing. The orphans browsed in single file. Graduate orphans Layoni and Dabassa were spotted browsing high up on Msinga Hill, but the dependent orphans didn’t catch up with them today. The orphan elephants visited the baobab water hole to drink milk and water, but it was too cold for any kind of substantial bath activity to take place. The morning was good with the stockade dependent orphan elephants leaving the stockade under the careful leadership of Mbegu, after milk bottles and supplement feeding. Arruba scratched herself on a rock in the stockade compound, but eventually she had to follow her friends out to the bush. After browsing for more than three hours, Murit and Lasayen decided to have a break and engage in a wonderful wrestling match. Ndotto saw them and wanted to join their game, so he took Lasayen on and denied Murit his rightful place to finish the game he had started. Ndotto played mischievously, engaging Lasayen in a sitting down position to shake up the game a bit! Naipoki and Tundani, who up until that point had been relaxing under a tree, decided to enjoy the same kind of wrestling game as Ndotto and Lasayen. Panda separated from the others and went to relax under a big tree, in her favourite chosen spot to relax. The juniors only had a partial mud bath, before going back to browsing close to the water hole for the rest of the day.

07 July 2018

The morning was good with the stockade dependent orphan elephants leaving the stockade under the careful leadership of Mbegu, after milk bottles and supplement feeding. Arruba scratched herself on a rock in the stockade compound, but eventually she had to follow her friends out to the bush. After browsing for more than three hours, Murit and Lasayen decided to have a break and engage in a wonderful wrestling match. Ndotto saw them and wanted to join their game, so he took Lasayen on and denied Murit his rightful place to finish the game he had started. Ndotto played mischievously, engaging Lasayen in a sitting down position to shake up the game a bit! Naipoki and Tundani, who up until that point had been relaxing under a tree, decided to enjoy the same kind of wrestling game as Ndotto and Lasayen. Panda separated from the others and went to relax under a big tree, in her favourite chosen spot to relax. The juniors only had a partial mud bath, before going back to browsing close to the water hole for the rest of the day.

08 July 2018

The gates of the stockade were opened in the morning and the orphan elephants ran out to place themselves strategically for their milk bottles. Godoma grabbed her second and last milk bottle from the keeper’s hand, holding it tight with her trunk, gulping it down all by herself. She then bravely returned half of the milk bottle to the Keeper’s hands after a few minutes, requesting assistance to finish the rest of the bottle with him holding it for her. She was also seeking protection, as she had seen Murit approaching in the corner of her eye. He had finished his milk bottles and was approaching her slowly to try and snatch her share. Kenia and Ndii concentrated on patting their adopted babies Araba and Tahri softly with their trunks. Lentili, who missed the leading role she used to have amongst the orphans, but now had to compete with Mbegu for, decided to give up her share of the copra cake so she could start to lead the orphans out to the bush. Her friends caught up with her after they had finished having their share of the supplement feed. Lentili did not seem to mind she had not had her share, at least she got to lead everyone out first! Bada was the first one to follow Lentili, who was obviously desperate to have her leading role back. The dependent orphan elephants then spread out in the field, with Mbegu consolidating her herd to browse close to her for the rest of the day. The orphan elephants later walked half way up Msinga Hill to browse. We heard them all deeply rumbling and communicating with a wild herd of elephants who passed by the junior orphans later in the afternoon. They then visited the baobab water hole later in the afternoon but did not take a bath in the water due to the cold weather.

09 July 2018

The orphans decided to enjoy the most of their scratching games this morning after their milk bottles and supplement food. Kenia brought Mbegu, Ngilai and Godoma together to scratch on the stockade terraces. Nelion settled to scratch on a rock close to the stockade water hole, while Mbirikani, Mashariki, Bada and Kihari took turns to scratch on a big rock close to the stockade water trough. The orphan elephants then proceeded to the field and after browsing for more than four hours, Lasayen lay down to enjoy a fun game rolling on the ground. Lasayen’s game was very much envied by Murit and Ndotto, his best friends, who came in simultaneously holding him down and interfering with his game. Lasayen shouted for help which brought Mbegu’s intervention to rescue Lasayen and give him the space to stand up again. Panda enjoyed browsing and interacting with Tahri for more than an hour without Ndii’s interference. The two separated when Tahri left with the first milk feeding group towards the baobab water hole at noon. After milk feeding Ndii went back to shepherding her beloved Tahri, not giving Panda another chance to browse with her for the rest of the afternoon.

10 July 2018

The orphan elephants came out of their stockades for their delicious milk bottles and later proceeded for the supplement feeding. Soon after some very brief games around the stockade compound, Lentili bravely sneaked away towards the browsing fields with Tahri, without Ndii and the other elephants, who were busy playing, and didn’t notice them leaving. Ndii, Kenia and Kihari later noticed Tahri was missing and became very worried, but they all walked out of the compound to browse and caught up with her and Lentili who were browsing on the western foot of Msinga Hill. After browsing for some time, Ishaq-B noticed a wild elephant herd browsing quite a way above them on the western side of Msinga Hill. Ishaq-B decided to walk alone without other members of the orphan elephant herd to greet and briefly play a test of strength pushing game with one of the wild elephant calves. Ishaq-B had to abandon her interaction with the wild elephant herd to catch up with the orphan herd that were making their way to the baobab water hole where they had a lot of fun playing mud bathing games. Murit and Ngilai were the mud bathing stars today running and kicking up muddy water with their feet as they trumpeted happily.

11 July 2018

It was another morning full of fun and games around the stockade compound following the milk and supplement feeding. Kenia took advantage of her tall height to reach some of the very green leaves at the top of a tree at the stockades. Nguvu enjoyed a scratching session against a rock in the area before moving away and allowing Nelion and Tundani to do the same. Arruba and Ishaq-B both found themselves vying for Tahri’s company as the orphan herd left the stockades. The two were fighting a losing battle as fighting was not an option for them as that would attract Ndii’s attention and she would come and claim Tahri herself. Mbegu took charge of the orphan leadership today as they all followed the Keepers to the fields. While browsing on the northern foot of Msinga hill the weather took a sudden change for the worse with thick dark clouds covering the sun. As a result the orphans did not visit the waterhole at all today.

12 July 2018

It was another wonderful beginning to the day with the orphan elephants coming running out of their stockade to enjoy their morning milk bottle. After the bottle feed Godoma saw Lasayen approaching her for a pushing game and lay down to avoid taking part. She then ignored Bada’s attempts to play with her as she had seen him playing with Ndotto a little earlier and found him to be quite rough in his games. Kenia was having a lovely time rolling around on the red earth piles with Araba and Ngilai cheering her on as she rolled and touched their feet with her trunk. The orphan elephants then left the stockade for the browsing grounds where they had a wonderful and very peaceful browsing session. Ndotto, who came with the first group to the noon milk feeding area, finished his milk quickly and attempted to grab some of Ndoria’s share. Ndoria was having none of his shenanigans and chased him for fifty meters in an effort to engage him in a fight. The keepers intervened and prevented Ndoria from fighting with Ndotto.

13 July 2018

It was a bright and sunny morning as the orphan elephants took their morning milk bottle before settling down for their supplement feeding after which Bada and Tundani lead them up the western side of Msinga hill with everyone bar Kenia and Suswa, who settled half way up the hill to browse. At midday the orphans made their way down and caught up with Kenia and Suswa who were heading towards the baobab water hole for the noon milk bottle and a mud bath. Once there the sun was covered by the clouds and the weather became quite cold. Following a drink of clean water from the water trough, the orphans opted for a dustbath in a deep erosion trench instead of a mud bath. The trench game was thoroughly enjoyed by all with Ndotto riding on Lasayen’s back while Lasayen was busy sitting rolling in the erosion trench proving himself the star of the game. While browsing on the northern side of Msinga Hill in the afternoon, the orphans spotted a wild elephant herd and came running down to catch up with them. The herd were in the company of a very big wild elephant bull and both him and the wild herd ran off when they saw the orphans charging towards them as they were completely surprised by the orphan herd. Mbegu and Ngilai led the orphans back to the safety of the stockades in the evening.

14 July 2018

The morning was good with the orphan elephants playing briefly in the stockade compound after the milk and supplement feeding. Nelion went and sat on a rock in the stockade compound, where he enjoying a scratching session. Ndotto and Lasayen started a tough pushing game which was watched over by Godoma and Ngilai who acted as referees. Mbegu and Lentili took the leading role to the browsing grounds today, with Embu following them at close range. The browsing activities were peaceful with the orphans visiting the baobab water hole at noon where they interacted with a wild elephant herd that had come there for a drink of water. Panda and Nelion engaged age -mates from the wild group in a strength testing pushing match which did not sit well with Bada as he felt that Nelion had chosen a wild playmate that was older than him. Bada stuck close to his friend to ensure that the didn’t get hurt and seemed happy to see that the two kept the game friendly. The wild elephant herd interacted with the orphan elephants for more than an hour before moving towards the Mzima-Mombasa water pipeline area.

15 July 2018

It was another perfect beginning to the day with the orphan elephants assembling in a nearly perfect straight line to enjoy their milk bottle followed by Lucerne grass pellets blended with copra cake. Ndii then utilized her height, to reach a very green branch from a tree close to the stockade water trough. Embu, Mashariki, Mudanda and Araba tried to chase her away from the branch so that they could have it to herself, but Ndii held it in her mouth rand ran away to enjoy it in peace and quiet. In the afternoon, a teenage wild elephant calf that was about ten years old broke off from her herd and joined the orphans at the baobab water hole. The wild calf charged and chased the Keepers away from the orphan elephants, but Mbegu’s herd followed their human family. Rorogoi, Arruba, Mashariki and Embu engaged their new wild elephant friend in wrestling match. Kenia’s herd had a bit of difficulty having their afternoon milk bottle as the wild elephant kept following them around. Once they finished their bottles their wild friend ran off to join her herd that had come to the waterhole. The orphans interacted with them for about twenty minutes before the wild herd left.

16 July 2018

Today the orphan elephants lined up for milk and copra cake before engaging in some brief games around the stockade compound. When they had finished playing they walked out of the compound to browse. They had a peaceful time browsing, with Mbegu uniting her herd to browse close to the Keepers. At midday, the orphan elephants went for their milk bottles close to the baobab water hole, and after went for a partial mud bath as the weather wasn’t quite warm enough to fully submerge themselves and have a proper swim. After the small bath, Ndotto went for a soil dusting session along the road nearby. The orphan elephants were then joined by a wild elephant herd on the northern foot of Msinga Hill. Embu really enjoyed browsing close to a big wild elephant bull. Mbegu, Godoma and Ngilai were excited to see a small wild elephant calf that was close to its mother; they lifted up their trunks to greet the wild herd but were too shy to approach. One teenage wild elephant went for a soil bath in a nearby erosion trench, which attracted Panda’s attention as she loves doing the same thing. The two then engaged each other in a wonderful wrestling match. Nelion also secured a wild elephant friend for a test of strength as they pushed one another. The orphans browsed with that wild elephant herd for over an hour, before moving on towards the Voi River circuit to browse.

17 July 2018

This morning the stockade dependent orphan elephants teamed up for games around the stockade compounds soon as they had finished downing their morning milk bottle. Kihari and Panda went sat on a single rock boulder for a bottom scratching session. Panda then noticed Bada rubbing up against a tree and evicted him from his scratching place taking the position for herself. Panda then turned the position over to Arruba who was soon joined by Nelion who wanted to evict Arruba from what seemed to be the perfect scratching post. The orphans browsed their way from the southern side of Msinga Hill to the western side before making their way to the baobab water hole where they enjoyed a mud bathing session. Murit and Lasayen plunged into the central part of the water pool but found the water to be quite cold. Arruba briefly joined and the three then exited the mud bath when they realised that none of the other orphans would be bathing as the water was too cold. Ndii lay down on the red earth piles and rolled around enjoying a soil dusting game before joining her friends for the rest of the days browsing activities.

18 July 2018

The earliest callers to the stockade today were a wild elephant herd that came to drink clean water from the stockade water trough. Lasayen, who was drinking from the trough alone, ran off upon seeing the wild herd and went to join the orphan herd that were enjoying the supplements that had been put out for them. Mbegu was feeling very bold and approached the wild herd while they were drinking from the water trough to greet them. One teenage wild elephant approached and joined the orphans at the Lucerne grass pellet feeding area and later played a strength testing game with both Nelion and Panda. The orphans interacted with the wild for more than then minutes before Kenia, Ndii and Naipoki decided it was time to leave and led the herd to the browsing fields. The wild herd left the stockade compound about twenty minutes after the orphans and headed in the opposite direction.

19 July 2018

The orphans concentrated on their milk and supplement feeding this morning before leaving for the browsing grounds. After browsing for four good hours, Ndii took a break from browsing to enjoy a scratching session against a tree trunk. Panda took the opportunity to take little Tahri for a browsing session. Ndii later saw the two interacting and came charging over before changing tactics and maneuvering herself between the two to retrieve her darling Tahri. Lasayen engaged her best friend Ndotto in a wrestling match after which the orphan herd made their way to the waterhole. Soon after the afternoon milk bottle, Nguvu noticed a big wild elephant herd drinking from the orphans baobab water trough. Thinking that they would finish the water, he ran towards them with Tahri following him closely. The wild elephant herd was very calm and friendly and welcomed the orphan elephants for a drink and some socialising games. Ndotto and Ngilai tried to showcase their wrestling skills to the wild herd by engaged one another in a wrestling match wrestling match. Kihari, Naipoki, Ndii and Kenia hurriedly separated their orphan herd from the wild group with Kenia walking quickly to the stockade milk vehicle, fooling the orphans who had followed her into thinking that there was an extra milk bottle for them all, which there wasn’t.

20 July 2018

It was another busy morning for the orphans who came running out of their stockades for their morning milk bottle followed by the supplement feeding. Mbegu, who later took the lead towards the browsing field, stopped to investigate a big herd of elands totaling about 50 who were standing at the orphan’s entrance to the main park. Lentili came and joined Mbegu at the front of the herd watching as the elands ran away giving the orphan elephants the right of way. After browsing for two hours, Nelion took Panda to task in a pushing game, but Nelion found that Panda was not very co-operative and instead engaged Mashariki while Bada enjoyed a pushing game with Arruba. Rorogoi on the other hand tried to entice Nguvu into a pushing game but was unsuccessful as Nguvu was quite reserved and not interested in playing. The orphan elephants visited the baobab water hole where they had a lot of fun playing mud bathing games following the milk feed. The rest of the days browsing activities took place close to the waterhole.

21 July 2018

Following the morning’s milk and supplement feeding Ngilai engaged Lasayen in a pushing game; Godoma stayed close watching their game but did not take part. Nelion enjoyed a scratching session as he watched Panda, Ndii and Tahri’s dust bathing games. Lentili placed herself at the head of the group as she led the orphan herd to the browsing fields settling to browse at the northern foot of Msinga Hill. Mbegu and Godoma later led their herd in a dust bathing game in an erosion trench, with Murit, Ngilai and Lasayen playing a wrestling match as they sat in the trench. At midday the orphans made their way to the baobab waterhole where they had a wonderful wallowing session as the sun shone down on them. The rest of the days browsing activities took place close to the waterhole.

22 July 2018

It was another happy morning as the orphan elephants came out in preparation for the beginning of another busy day. Soon after the orphan elephants arrived in the browsing field, Embu and Panda separated themselves from the rest of the orphan herd and joined a big wild elephant bull that was browsing his way towards the Mzima springs-Mombasa water pipe line area. The bull was very happy to have the two orphans join him, stopping to give them a chance to catch up with him. As they got further from the orphan herd, the two became more reluctant to follow him and turned around to rejoin their group who were making their way to the waterhole. Following the afternoon mud bath, the orphan elephants went half way up the northern side of Msinga Hill to browse. Ndoria and Suswa preferred to stay at the base of the hill. At 3.15pm, a wild elephant herd came browsing past the orphan elephants with Mudanda, Nelion and Panda rushing downhill to join a big wild elephant cow. The other orphan elephants followed and managed to woo a teenage wild elephant calf to join them temporarily before she rejoined her herd.

23 July 2018

The morning was wonderful with the orphan elephants playing happily around the stockade compound after their milk and supplement feeding. Lasayen and Ndotto engaged one another in a tough pushing game, with Lasayen conceding defeat by turning his face away from Ndotto. Lasayen then turned his attention to chasing away baboons that had come to steal the orphans copra cake. He climbed a flat rock to make himself appear taller to the male baboons who did not seem at all bothered by his efforts to chase them away. Ngilai had joined his senior friends Mashariki, Araba, Embu and Rorogoi for a soil dusting session on the red earth piles before following their friends to the browsing fields where the orphan spread out grabbing as much browse as thy good. The orphan herd visited the baobab water hole at midday, where they enjoyed a bathing session before resuming their usual browsing activities close to the waterhole.

24 July 2018

The orphan elephants were happy in the morning as they came running out of their stockades to grab their delicious milk bottle. At the supplement feeding area, Mudanda became a little greedy and knocked Godoma down to get more copra cake. The Keepers had to intervene to ensure that the rest of the supplement feeding went on peacefully. Lentili took over the scratching rock from Mbegu who moved close to the stockade waterhole to continue her scratching session. Bada and Nelion were busy pushing and shoving while Ngilai, Murit and Lasayen kept busy picking up huge chunks of red earth and tossing it up on their backs. After the afternoon mud bath, which was very brief because of the cold and cloudy weather, a big herd of the wild eland that the orphan elephants had encountered a few days ago, approached the orphans as they were grazing. Mbegu and her herd noticed the group and knowing that they were not predators settled to browse by them. The wild eland herd later ran away when they were scared off by Tundani and Nelion’s pushing games.

25 July 2018

The orphan elephants came out of their orphans excited to begin their day. Ndoria, who was close to Rorogoi at the Lucerne grass pellet feeding area, became a little greedy and pushed Rorogoi to the ground. Rorogoi screamed loudly while Ndoria continued feeding, acting as if she had done nothing wrong. Rorogoi got back to her feet and moved to feed close to Kenia, Naipoki and Kihari. Murit and Lasayen enjoyed a wonderful strength testing pushing game before running to catch up with their friends who had started making their way to the browsing grounds. The orphan herd settled to browse on the western Foot of Msinga Hill. Ngilai was busy playing inside a deep erosion gulley and was caught by surprise when he heard his friends trumpeting loudly as they made their way to their milk bottles, he tried to get out of the erosion trench from the steeper side and had to change tactics when he saw that his attempts were unsuccessful. The weather was fairly cold and as such none of the orphans wallowed, choosing instead to continue with their browsing activities following their milk feed. At 1.15pm the babies of Mbegu’s herd were playing some hide and seek games. Ngilai engaged Ndotto in a pushing game, with Mbegu acting as a referee and peace maker. However, her services were not needed as their game was a friendly one. Godoma had fun rolling in the dust piles flapping her ears while Murit ran around disturbing her game.

26 July 2018

The morning was cold with the orphan elephants playing briefly around the stockade compound before proceeding to the fields. Lasayen had a wonderful game of rubbing his bottom against a rock. His game attracted spectators that included Suswa, Lentili, Mbegu, Godoma and Ngilai. Ndotto was on the higher side of the terrace and became jealous of Lasayen’s performance and poked him with his little tusks to drive him away. Lasayen was not happy with Ndotto’s actions and went to engage him in a fight, but Ndotto softly rested his trunk on Lasayen’s head which seemed to have a calming effect on Lasayen. Ndii seemed to be having a lovely time sitting on her bottom and scratching it against the big rock close to the stockade waterhole while Bada enjoyed a scratching session against a smaller rock near the red earth pile. Nguvu seemed to be enjoying a solitary game of scooping red earth and spraying it onto his back. When leaving the stockade for the browsing field Ishaq-B brought up the rear of the group taking Kenia’s role of ensuring that everyone in the orphan herd was ok. Today, Tawi the male orphan eland decided to follow the orphans from the stockade to the northern side of Msinga Hill where they settled to browse. Later he realized he missed the stockade and his friends Kore, Ngulia and Oltukai the buffalo, and went running back to join them.

27 July 2018

Soon after the gates of the stockade were flung open in the morning, the orphan elephants came rushing out to grab their milk bottles, emptying it in a matter of seconds after which they proceeded to the Lucerne pellet feeding area. Nelion stuffed pellets into his mouth by the trunkful, after which he moved towards the red earth piles munching as he walked. Once there he enjoyed a scratching session before joining the rest for the walk to the browsing fields. The orphan elephants encountered a big wild herd of eland soon after arriving out in the browsing field. The herd of eland was happy to welcome the orphans to browse with them but their long horns worried Mbegu’s herd to hide behind the senior members of the group leaving Mudanda, Ishaq-B, Suswa and Lentili to lead the way. The orphan elephants and the elands fed close to each other with the eland herd following the orphan elephants to the baobab water hole. The orphan elephants later left the wild eland herd drinking there and resumed their browsing activities on the northern foot of Msinga Hill.

28 July 2018

It was a wonderful beginning to the day with the stockade dependent orphan elephants playing around the stockade compound soon after the milk and supplement feeding was over. Mudanda enjoyed a scratching session on a small rock while Nelion watched from a distance as it was his favourite scratching spot. Ngilai took Ndotto to task over a head-butting encounter before joining their friends who were moving towards the browsing grounds. On the foot of Msinga Hill, Araba went to scratch against a very big rock where she was joined by Bada who waited his turn. Suswa had a scratching session against a tree and when she was the spot was taken over by Nelion. Godoma rested her foot on a small flat rock, as if she was about to walk on three legs, surprising Ndotto who was fixated on watching her and forgot to browse. Kenia went up onto a rock boosting her height so as to be able to reach the greener branches higher up in the trees. She then followed the others to the baobab water hole, where they had a lot of fun playing mud bathing games following their afternoon milk bottle.

29 July 2018

It was a chilly and wonderful morning as Nelion quickly made his way to his favourite scratching rock located close to the stockade water hole. Rorogoi waited patiently for him to finish before enjoying a scratching session herself. Naipoki engaged Nelion in a wonderful pushing game while Bada engaged Panda in the same. Ishaq-B today interacted more with Mbegu’s herd walking around them, watching their strength testing games before the entire group heading to the browsing grounds. Panda went to play in a narrow erosion trench where she got stuck and had a hard time getting out when it was time to leave for the noon milk feed. Embu and Rorogoi waited for her to get out and after they joined the rest of the group. The orphans had their milk bottles on the western side of Msinga Hill, visiting the baobab water hole at 2:15pm for a drink from the waterhole. They came running in to the waterhole area, scaring away a herd of wild elephants who saw the dust that was raised by the running orphan herd and took off, unsure as to what was coming towards them.

30 July 2018

The day began as any other with the orphans downing their morning milk bottle before settling to enjoy the supplement foods that had been put out for them. They then enjoyed playing around the stockade compound, running up and down the stockade terraces as they played a game of hide and seek. Lentili and Mashariki took the leadership role from Mbegu today leading the orphan to the western side of the stockade to browse. On arriving there Ngilai engaged Lasayen in a strength testing game after which he engaged Ndotto in a pushing game. At the baobab waterhole the orphan herd enjoyed a mud bath after their milk bottle. Ndotto stood in the centre of the water hole undecided as to whether to wallow or not while Murit jumped into the water to play rolling games. After the mud bath, Ndii took her adopted baby Tahri for a private browsing session away from the rest of the herd while Suswa and Nelion separated themselves from their friends. The two followed and joined up with a wild herd and browsed with them for about 2 hours before rejoining the rest of the orphan herd who would soon be returning to the stockades for the night.

31 July 2018

The orphan elephants came from their respective stockades in a happy mood ready for their milk and supplement feeding. Panda had a lovely time lying side by side with little Tahri as they gently touched one another with their trunks. Bada became jealous and grabbed Tahri’s tail with his trunk in an effort to get her to stand up. Tahri screamed loudly which brought Ndii running in to embrace and console her baby. The orphan elephants visited the baobab water hole in the afternoon, and at 2.40pm interacted and browsed with a wild elephant herd. One wild elephant boy engaged Panda in a play fighting game. The wild boy got very excited and rode on Kihari and Rorogoi’s backs. Mbegu was not happy with this activity, moving her herd away from the wild group and closer to the Keepers. The orphan elephants then separated from the wild elephant herd two hours later and browsed their way to the stockades.