Barsilinga playing with Kasigau
Mutara and her ex-orphan group joined the Ithumba orphans in the morning and they had lucerne and water together before heading out to browse. Barsilinga had a brief strength testing exercise with Kasigau but lost. It was not too hot or cold today, and the orphans concentrated mostly on browsing up to mud bath time when Mteto, Malkia and Kuishi left as the first group for their milk feed, as Jotto led the second group. Jotto headed for the mud bath soon after finishing his share, while Mapia and Kuishi opted for a soil dusting exercise. Eighteen wild bulls were present at mud bath. Kanjoro and Garzi engaged in a strength testing exercise that lasted for quite some time. In the afternoon, the clouds cleared giving way to sunshine. Jotto decided to relax under a tree waiting for the temperature to drop to a more favourable level. In the evening, Mutara and her group escorted the juniors back to the stockade compound.
Olare, Mutara and Narok’s groups were present in the stockade compound in the morning. The junior ex-orphans joined the orphans for lucerne. Two wild bulls were busy taking water at the stockade water troughs and shortly later, Buchuma emerged from the eastern side and walked straight to join the orphans for the lucerne feeding. Buchuma didn't stay for long; after tasting the lucerne and saying hi to the babies, he walked away off to the south. Kitirua took such a large pile of lucerne for herself, that Mapia was staring at her and perhaps wondering if she could ever make a good mother. Mapia raised his trunk towards Kitirua hoping that she might invite him to share with her, but Kitirua threw a back kick towards him in return, warning him not to come any closer. Mapia had no option other than to turn and leave since he didn't want to invite trouble for himself.
Ambo led the way to the browsing field. Kuishi found a suitable rock to scratch her buttocks on, while Sana Sana settled for soil dusting. At eleven o'clock in the morning, the orphans headed for their noon milk feed. The orphans didn't spend much time at mud bath and after taking milk and water, they headed south-east of Kalovoto, where they settled to browse for the rest of the day.
After lucerne feeding time, the orphans walked down to the water trough where they were joined by a solitary wild bull. Pare engaged Sapalan in a pushing game as they awaited their turn to drink. Pare ended up losing the game to the once slow and inactive Sapalan, but now Sapalan is as lively as ever, out to show that he is a force to reckon with.
Out in the bush, Kamok had a game of practicing how to attack her enemies by kneeling and piercing the ground with her tusks. Ambo enjoyed soil dusting and later Kuishi led the way to mud bath. Several wild bulls attended mud bath but stayed at one end, while the Ithumba orphans used the other end. Namalok tried to block the way for Sapalan but Sapalan used all his strength to push Namalok out of his way. In the afternoon, the sun was hot, prompting Jotto, Ambo and Rapa to relax under a tree.
The orphans settled for lucerne soon after leaving the stockades. Shortly later, four wild bulls reported for water at the stockade water troughs. Sana Sana left her group and walked down to join the wild bulls to drink water. Enkikwe joined his friends after having his leg treated and settled close to Naseku. Naseku moved away when Enkikwe attempted to take lucerne from her mouth. Sapalan had a brief strength testing exercise with Galla that was interrupted by Turkwel who pointed at them with her trunk in warning, and then went and stood between them to separate them and bring their game to an abrupt end. Narok, Bomani, Orwa, and Kainuk joined the orphans as they were about to leave for browsing. Lemoyian, Kithaka, Barsilinga and Garzi, as usual, decided to leave the dependent orphans, and showed up early at the mud bath before the others. Lemoyian demanded his milk and soon after he got it, he left again with his rebel herd heading north of the mud bath. The temperature was moderate and the orphans only walked around the mud bath. Ambo had a game of rolling on the ground and later led the way back out to browse. Mid way, he was overtaken by Kuishi who led the group up to the upper Kalovoto area where the herd settled to browse. In the evening, Malima led the way back to the stockades.
Chemi Chemi, the lone ranger who was last seen in mid-April, was outside the stockades in the morning waiting for the orphans to come out. We were not sure what time of night he reported and who his companion was either as we had not seen him before. Chemi Chemi joined the orphans for some lucerne as soon as they were let out, and then shortly later settled for soil dusting, as Karisa challenged Pare to a pushing game. Their game attracted Namalok and Sapalan who started their own pushing game. Mapia and Kuishi settled into scratching their bellies on the nearby rocks. Ambo tried to go close to Mapia but was warned by him not to get any closer, by pointing at him with his trunk. When the lucerne was over, captain Chemi Chemi took with the rebels Kithaka, Barsilinga, Garzi and Lemoyian with him and they walked off into the bush. The dependent orphans settled east of Ithumba Hill up to mud bath time. On the way, Mundusi tried to challenge Pare but he was overpowered. Forty wild bulls graced the mud bath occasion and by the time the orphans were leaving, more bulls were still showing up for water. The orphans settled in the upper Kalovoto area for the afternoon and in the evening, eighteen wild bulls showed up at the stockade water troughs and left only when they had enough water.
Twenty wild elephants were drinking water at the stockade water troughs when the orphans were let out. Noticeable was an eighteen-month old baby with its mother. The orphans settled for the morning lucerne then shortly later were joined by two wild bulls. Mteto engaged Ndiwa in a pushing game that ended in a draw while Namalok played with Sapalan.
The orphans had a quiet morning concentrating only on browsing up to mud bath time when Kuishi led Mapia and Malima in the first group to have their milk bottles. Fifteen wild bulls were present at mud bath, and as one bull tried to run away from another who was throwing his weight around, he accidentally knocked into Ambo who stood in his way. Ambo bellowed as he struggled to get back to his feet. His friend Jotto, who was standing close by and had been missed by inches, wasn't happy about what the wild bull had done to his friend. Ambo was fine though and soon got to his feet.
The weather was chilly and none of the orphans dared to have a mud bath. Mteto settled for a soil dusting while Olsekki warmed himself up by starting a pushing exercise with Oltaiyoni. Sapalan played with Namalok as the rest of the group headed back to the browsing field. Esampu settled to browse with Pare and later they went separate ways. The rest of the day was calm and the orphans returned back safely to the stockades in the evening.
Olare’s group joined the orphans in the morning for lucerne feeding. Mapia, who loves scratching against the stockade compound wall, started his day activities by scratching his bottom up against the wall. Three wild bulls came for water and were joined by the orphans briefly before the orphans left for browsing. Malkia settled to browse with Tusuja while Rapa invited Galla for a pushing game. Galla declined and went on with his business of browsing.
At mud bath time, the temperature was moderate and the orphans just had their milk bottles and some water without swimming. Later Bomani got distracted and decided to climb on Tusuja, something that annoyed Barsilinga for some reason. Barsilinga came running and pushed Bomani off from Tusuja. In the evening, Malkia, Ndiwa, Kuishi, Mapia, Mundusi and Sana Sana dodged the Keepers and followed Olare’s group who brought them back to the stockade early before five o'clock, the normal time for returning back for the night.
It was a fantastic day this morning after we were visited by different wild elephant herds who came to drink water. The orphans had their breakfast and rushed to eat the Lucerne laid out for them by the Keepers. The Lucerne is very important to them as it’s very dry out in the bush now. The wild elephants enjoyed the water at the stockade water trough for a long time. Buffalo’s came to join the wild elephants drinking there too. Kuishi was scratching her bottom and neck on the rocks. Mapia came to join her and they greeted the wild elephants as they waved their trunks at them and smelled them. Lemoyian shared some food with Karisa, and when they were done the orphans walked out to browse for the day.
Enkikwe browsed on his own while Mundusi tackled a stick and tried to peel all the bark from it to eat. Turkwel was comfortably browsing with the milk dependent orphans and enjoys staying with them.
At the noon milk feed, the orphans again only had their milk bottles and some water before walking straight back out to browse. They started browsing immediately as it's dry and they walked far in search of food; they have no time to waste. Malkia was browsing with Sana Sana and was flapping her ears as she enjoyed the breeze from a wind that was stirring. Later in the afternoon just before 5pm, the group walked back home for their evening milk bottles.
At the stockade today, we had a group of wild elephants who had a baby among them; they drank water and walked away. It’s dry and the wild elephants are drinking a lot of water in one go before they move on.