Keepers' Diaries, July 2019

Umani Springs Reintegration Unit



We noticed this month how the call to the wild has begun to take hold for certain orphans like Ziwa and Ngasha, and to a certain extent Jasiri and Faraja too. We can’t believe these bulls are now seven years old, and as we have witnessed with many of our orphans, this is the age when the call of the wild becomes stronger and they start to experiment with 'night outs', staying out of the stockades for a night or two.

01 July 2019

All the orphans gathered together to decide how they would spend the day today. The meeting was under Sonje and Murera’s leadership but after a short while Faraja, Ngasha and Ziwa walked out of the meeting to go out to the forest after hearing some wild elephants trumpeting. Ziwa kept going with Ngasha, but Faraja was concerned about where Jasiri was and turned to go back to find him, but he couldn’t find his way back so he had no choice but to continue going with Ziwa, who was leading the cheeky boys. 

The boys spent the whole day out in the forest as their own group, and Faraja later returned but by evening Ziwa and Ngasha still had not shown up. Instead they decided to spend half the night out, only returning to the compound around midnight where they found the Keepers had locked the gate, which they found very disappointing. Clever Ngasha stretched his trunk through the gate and pushed on it so the Keepers would hear someone shaking the gate and come to let them in, which they promptly did. When they arrived at their stockades they found Jasiri had stolen their branches so they had to wait for their morning bottles before they got any food. 

02 July 2019

Many wild animals come to visit the Kibwezi forest, mostly in the cover of night, to find drinking water, whereupon they find a very pleasant environment in which to browse in the forest during the day as well. They make their way down from the Chyulu Hills where there are many other animals and where it is quite dry now as well, to a place where they don’t have to compete as much for food at the moment. Many elephants now go to the Umani Springs to wallow and get fresh drinking water with their young babies, who get very thirsty after walking long distances from wherever they came from.

Yesterday and today Ziwa keeps following these wild elephants trails, and we wonder about how independent Ziwa with Ngasha are becoming and when they might leave the Umani orphan herd.

03 July 2019

Ngasha walked off with some of the others in the herd today after picking up the scent of some wild elephants around the stockades in the morning, leaving Sonje and Murera just to care for Mwashoti and Alamaya. All the orphans met at the dust bath point again later, ready to have their bottles. Ngasha and Ziwa showed up immediately to have their bottles of milk, taking all the Keepers by surprise about how close by they were ready and waiting, before just appearing out of nowhere looking very thirsty and in a hurry to have their bottles.

Just after having their bottles, Ziwa didn’t wait and turned his back to walk towards the Chyulus, before Ngasha and Faraja joined him, leaving only the matriarchs and other females like Lima Lima, Shukuru, Zongoloni, Quanza and the two youngsters to patrol with the Keepers for the rest of the day, before they came back to the stockades where Mwashoti and Shukuru took over the lead. Sonje and Murera looked very tired as they walked slowly back to the compound following at the back of all the others. 

04 July 2019

A wild bull found the orphans browsing along the Chyulu Hills within the thick forest today. At first we thought he was Sonje’s boyfriend he turned out to be a different bull. He kept walking around the girls and was most interested in Sonje as well. Sonje walked off and he followed, which gave her a bit of a fright and she left running away from him at high speed. Later Sonje came back to the Keepers with a slight limp, probably from running away over the rocks and we think she might have pulled a muscle. The Keepers ran to get the muscle spray from the compound to relieve some of the pain, and by the afternoon she was walking much better again.

05 July 2019

Alamaya and Zongoloni walked straight out from their stockades this morning ready for the new day. Before they could proceed to the forest however, they both stopped to eat Lucerne pellets in the place where they found Ziwa had already begun eating them. He was eating them so quickly it was as if he wanted to finish them all before anyone else could have any. Mwashoti arrived in the company of Murera and Sonje, knowing that if he wanted to get close to the Lucerne he would need their full security, or risk being pushed away by Ziwa, who still remains his closest rival. Murera walked close with Sonje to protect Mwashoti from the naughty boy Ziwa.

06 July 2019

Some wild elephants at the waterhole came were making a lot of noise, which signalled to the orphans and the Keepers that they might be around for the noon feeding time close to that area. When the orphans arrived for the bottle feeding, Shukuru was the first to walk to the waterhole and when the Keepers looked in the direction she was smelling, they saw two wild bulls drinking from the waterhole on the other side. Shukuru kept away and came back to her Keepers where they were having their lunch under the trees. The Keepers were wary of the bulls, in case one of them was Sonje’s boyfriend Osama who can be quite bad tempered, and they were quite big bulls, but when they checked closer they found none of them resembled Osama. All the orphans were relaxed and continued with their browsing without being bothered by the bulls.

07 July 2019

We found may trees pushed down blocking the path to Umani Hill today. In the night wild elephants had come along and pushed them down. It was hard for Murera to pass, so the Keepers set about clearing bushes to remove the trees. As the Keepers began cutting and moving some of the branches, Alamaya and Zongoloni came to see how the Keepers were struggling with some of them. Alamaya pulled a branch to try and help, but found it was very heavy and decided to leave it for the Keepers to keep cutting to pieces to make them easier to move. Greedy Lima Lima was not helping anyone as she decided this was a very good opportunity for a free meal, as she enjoyed the branches from the fallen trees. She was just thinking of filling her stomach! She was helpful in providing security however, as the Keepers were busy with their heads down, and could not see if any wild animals were approaching. Lima Lima is always good at keeping a look out and alerting the Keepers to any other animals in the area. 

08 July 2019

The orphans came out of their stockades after having their morning milk bottles. Zongoloni and Jasiri stepped out ahead of Lima Lima and Quanza as they were fed first, making Lima Lima and Quanza think that they might not be bottle fed at all. Quanza ran up to the Keeper holding her bottle and gulped down her milk, but without finishing the bottle she then rushed to the Lucerne pellets and dropped the bottle down on the ground, leaving the Keeper to follow her and pick it up. 

Murera and Ziwa did not spend much time at the Lucerne feeding area either. Instead they took off down the wild elephant pathways, headed to the hills to browse. Shukuru started to follow Ziwa but Faraja and Ngasha called Shukuru back as Ziwa walks fast and doesn’t care for the other orphans behind him, as he is more intent on finding wild elephants to socialise with. The Keepers don’t mind Ziwa taking his own path to find wild elephants to interact with and learn from, as everything is a lesson for our orphans and will help their eventual return to the wild.

09 July 2019

Some wild elephants appeared on the hills where the orphans were browsing this morning and took everyone by surprise. The Keepers were not aware the wild elephants were around, but just heard Alamaya yelling for help. When the Keepers got there they found the wild elephants play fighting with Alamaya and that was why he yelled out for reinforcement, as he was being pushed around quite hard by the bigger elephants. 

When it was time for their noon bottles, none of the wild elephants came with the orphans to the feeding point, which made it easier for the Keepers to feed them. Shukuru came ahead of all the others, with Mwashoti and Alamaya following closely behind.

The Umani orphans found the water at the water hole was very cold today and none of them decided to wallow; only Shukuru splashed some water on her head, as if she were washing her face. The other orphans just went ahead to the dusting soil and later walked away to the Chyulu Hills, with Faraja leading them to the forest in the afternoon.

10 July 2019

The Keepers were so surprised to see Murera and Sonje leading the orphans to the top of the hills today. At one stage the Keepers wondered if it really was Murera and Sonje leading as they were walking as if they didn’t have a bad leg at all, but it was them, and they sandwiched Mwashoti in between them for security from Ziwa, who sometimes likes to push the little ones around.

Shukuru was the first one to the top of the hills, and later she was the first to lead all the babies to the bottle feeding point at midday. When Mwashoti arrived he tried to pick up his bottle from the ground but he accidentally kicked the bottle over and some spilled out as he struggled to pick it up. He rumbled with annoyance as the more he tried to pick it up, the more he spilled, until the Keepers came to help him. 

11 July 2019

It was very joyful at the waterhole today when the orphans went to enjoy the mud bath. Mwashoti opened the show by stepping into the waterhole, and then Alamaya, followed by all the other orphans including Lima Lima who came running in as all the orphans were feeling quite hot. As it had been a sunny morning. All the orphans were flapping their ears to get cool air on their backs. Sonje walked over to Shukuru when she saw her going to her own separate waterhole away from the others who were pushing and shoving around and which she wanted to avoid.

After wallowing, all the Umani orphans walked back to the Kenze hills where they found some more soft branches which they enjoyed until it was time to return home.

12 July 2019

Sonje pulled a muscle in her leg again after another confrontation with wild elephants today in the bushes around the Chyulu area. The orphans ran away from the wild bulls who were interested in Sonje again. Murera couldn’t be seen anywhere as she ran off with Mwashoti, and Sonje ran in a different direction to get away from the wild bulls as well, but she returned a short while later with a stiff leg and walking very slowly.

At the water hole Sonje just stood looking as if her leg was painful, so we sent for the muscle spray and after applying that she walked fine for the whole day up until it was time to return home, and her leg seemed fine. She arrived back at the compound looking very happy, before going to the water trough for some water and going into her stockade for the night.

13 July 2019

Faraja and Ziwa walked away early into the forest this morning without even sampling the lucerne pellets. They acted as if the only reason they stayed with the Keepers was for their milk bottles, because as soon as they were done they just walked straight out of the compound into the forest, back to the area Ziwa had found some sweet branches the day before, that he decided to take Faraja today to go and taste himself. Ngasha started to walk after them, but decided to turn back and have some Lucerne pellets instead. 

Murera made a loud rumbling noise in her throat to warn Jasiri to move away from Mwashoti who was enjoying some Lucerne pellets. Murera wanted to allow Mwashoti a little space to eat his pellets with ease, and not for Jasiri to finish them all because Mwashoti likes them very much. Murera protects Mwashoti more than any other orphan. 

When all the orphans started to proceed out of the compound, Zongoloni, Quanza and Lima Lima led the whole herd towards the Kenze hills to eat and relax around there as there was so much vegetation to enjoy. 

14 July 2019

The belligerent big boys Faraja, Ngasha and Ziwa opened the day with a play fight among themselves over the scratching area on the wall that was not big enough to host them all. They decided that the strongest between them would be able to scratch on the wall, but just as they were fighting, one of their friends chased a bushbuck which came right towards them. Faraja felt something glance against his belly and he stopped to find out what it was but didn’t see anything. The fight eventually drew to an end when all the orphans headed out towards the Umani Springs.

When the Umani orphans arrived at the midday milk feed, they all headed to the waterhole straight after, ready to wallow as it was very hot. Shukuru went to a different place to swim where the others don’t always choose to go. Some crocodiles raised their heads looking at who was approaching the water and when Lima Lima saw the crocodile’s heads floating on the water’s surface, she walked to the water to kick them out, trumpeting loudly to scare them away. Alamaya joined Lima Lima and then almost all orphans went into the water, and all the little crocodiles came out to avoid getting stamped on by the baby elephants. 

15 July 2019

Last night Ziwa led his friend Ngasha out to the wild after several many days of trying to move off with wild friends, but he had not been lucky enough to do so. Today in the evening hours he managed to convince Ngasha to leave the orphan herd and follow him. He tried to get Faraja to follow too, but ever since Faraja walked off alone with wild friends and got abandoned, he has never wanted to be out alone again. He had been very clingy and still obviously regrets the two nights he spent without getting his milk bottle. Ziwa and Ngasha missed the evening bottle feeding but just as the Keepers were mixing the morning milk bottles, Ziwa came walking around the fence line with Ngasha following shortly behind, eager to compensate for their missed bottles. 

16 July 2019

Zongoloni and Jasiri couldn’t be separated today and nothing could come between them. They were very close friends today which took all of us by surprise. They climbed the hills together and kept moving in their own separate direction, avoiding everyone else, just like Shukuru behaves when trying to keep away from the trouble makers. Later the Keepers had to call for them as it was hard to find them, and Zongoloni appeared with Jasiri and Mwashoti from the direction of the Chyulu Hills.

Monkeys were making a lot of noise in some nearby bushes, which made Sonje walk over to see for herself what all the noise was about. She found the monkeys hiding and alarming due to a leopard that was ambushing an antelope for a kill. Lima Lima joined her to see for herself what all the noise was about, and when she noticed the leopard she walked straight over to the Keepers to warn them. Ngasha and Ziwa left the stockades again this evening.

17 July 2019

Wild elephants came along in the night to drink from the water trough, making a lot of rumbling sounds as the talked with their orphans inside the compound. One bull elephant came right to the gate to smell the orphans and was making a lot of rumbling noise, which Sonje and Murera responded to. The Keepers listened to identify what was going on, and they heard loud complain coming from Lima Lima and Sonje in the corner.

When morning came we found some bulls waiting outside the gate so they could meet the babies, especially Sonje. As the Keepers spread the Lucerne pellets on the ground, the bulls came closer and the Keepers moved to get out of the way. The bulls mixed with the orphans who were intent on picking up the Lucerne pellets, but their wild friends were not interested any because they did not know what the pellets were. The orphans picked up the pellets very fast as the bulls converged around Sonje, with Murera keeping away from them together with Shukuru too.

18 July 2019

Some of the orphans are becoming used to being more independent and testing a wild life out in the forest with their wild friends. Ngasha and Ziwa returned yesterday after spending two nights out in the forest, returning mainly to have their milk bottles. Ngasha started to walk back out to the forest but had a second thought, and decided to stay with Mwashoti and Alamaya. So today it was very hard for Jasiri to decide what to do – to leave the herd or stay. Jasiri walked off with Shukuru who accompanied him to the nearby forest in the morning, but later only Shukuru returned. Jasiri is quiet a nervous elephant though and doesn’t like to be out at night alone. If he tests a night in the forest he stands very close to the compound in the bushes and will never venture far. 

It has become a normal for the orphans to wander off now and spend more time with wild elephants, except for the matriarchs Murera and Sonje as they adore Mwashoti and Alamaya and will not leave them, and their old injuries keep them close to their human families for the time being as well.

19 July 2019

Many of the Umani orphans are now very ready to lead their way back to nature after getting the much needed experience from the other wild elephants out there in the wild. Ziwa is very ambitious to live his own life without the matriarchs anymore, and he has identified Ngasha as his close friend who can accompany him. After having his bottle, Ziwa signals to Ngasha to be ready and after a few minutes, we see Ziwa leading and rumbling very silently to his friend Ngasha, so the Keepers do not notice, leaving the herd to walk off into the forest. This has become their new routine and we are so proud of Ziwa to be taking the lead and showing Ngasha the way to the forest and a wild life. When they are wild the Keepers will miss them terribly, but we will all be so happy when they have successfully made this transition, and we will know we have done our job.

20 July 2019

Sonje was being so playful around the Lucerne pellet feeding area this morning, pulling off all sorts of poses as she rolled on the ground near the loading bay, with Mwashoti and Alamaya climbing on her. At one stage they were both rubbing their bottoms on Sonje and using her as a scratching post as well.

Shukuru stayed in the compound while Lima Lima sneaked in the gate to eat Lucerne pellets from the wheelbarrow, leaving Shukuru with none. When Shukuru realised this she just came out to join the other orphans who were now making their way towards the Chyulu Hills to browse.

21 July 2019

Shukuru and Faraja were good friends today, making the Keepers wonder why Faraja was being so nice and choosing to spend so much time with Shukuru. We do not normally see the two orphans browsing together, as often Shukuru likes to browse separately. Faraja walked much further than Shukuru normally does though, so eventually she decided to turn back and look for where the Keepers were seated having their lunch. She spent some time with the Keepers under the shade there. Faraja and Ziwa walked away and spent the night away from the stockades again.

22 July 2019

Lima Lima is a very brave girl and is very outgoing among the elephants. She is a very good leader and has a wonderful relationship with the Keepers, as well as the matriarchs Murera and Sonje. Murera and Sonje are happy to give up the role of leading the herd to Lima Lima as she is very cautious and careful to make sure there is no danger ahead when she leads the herd and the Keepers too. She can be relied on to lead the whole herd and they have her respect as well, only a few of the teenage boys do not listen to her sometimes, but she still makes sure everyone in the herd is safe.

23 July 2019

Faraja and Ziwa were back at the stockade compound this morning. Lima Lima walked towards the hills today where the Keepers did not wish to go, but they had to follow Lima Lima who was leading the other orphans. Sonje kept rumbling many times to Lima Lima trying to stop her so they could wait for Murera and Mwashoti to catch up, but Lima Lima just kept on walking without giving them enough time to wait for the limping Sonje, Murera with Mwashoti.  

After the orphans had their midday bottles, Lima Lima had a plan that the Keepers did not realise. The other Umani orphans were tired having walked during the heat of the day along the Chyulu Hills, so many of them decided with stay with the Keepers to rest under the big trees. Little did they know that Lima Lima decided to dodge them and sneak off to a big wild herd of elephants, and bring them back to where the Keepers were sitting telling stories with the other orphans close by.

Lima Lima walked right up to where the Keepers and orphans were enjoying the shade, and the Keepers were very surprised to see Lima Lima in the lead of a huge wild elephant group right up to where everyone was taking rest. Faraja and Jasiri moved to meet the wild elephants and tried to block them from joining Murera and Sonje, but Jasiri was really pushed around by some of the older wild friends as he was very small in comparison, and the Keepers decided to move to higher ground where they could just watch the orphans interact with their wild friends down below. When the Keepers were out of the way the wild herd settled down a bit more and all was calm.

24 July 2019

The quality of leadership that Lima Lima has still takes us by surprise day by day. Today she picked up the scent of something that none of the other orphans or the Keepers could pick up on. She raised up her trunk facing towards the end of the bushes, and after a short while, a herd of buffalos approached. They started puffing, but Lima Lima again came and stood near the Keepers as if informing them that all was okay, and that she would protect them should the buffalos try to charge at them. When she saw the buffalos stand for too long, just watching the Keepers, she trumpeted and ran at them until the buffalos ran away, leaving the Keepers laughing at her style of scaring the buffalos away from them. She kept blowing loud trumpets behind the buffalos to keep scaring them farther away from where the other orphans and the Keepers were.

25 July 2019

Murera together with Sonje and Alamaya headed to where they left some wild female elephants in the evening when they were coming back home yesterday. Today they thought they could meet again and play with some tiny babies. The wild babies were very shy and hesitant to come out from hiding under their mother bellies as they did not know the orphans and they could smell the Keepers nearby as well. After searching in the forest they found the mothers with their babies. Lima Lima again initiated the meeting between the two groups, and Ziwa, Faraja and Jasiri felt much more comfortable with them today; there was no fighting or pushing around an all the orphans were well behaved. They interacted up to bottle feeding time when Lima Lima led the orphans to have their milk bottles and a mud and dust bath. Faraja and Sonje were fighting over the same space to have a dust bath but it was not serious as Sonje knew Faraja was just being a teenage boy and testing his strength out. 

26 July 2019

Mwashoti and Shukuru were in the lead today after having their morning milk bottles. The Keepers opened the gates wide for them to come out for Lucerne, but today instead of pellets they found the Keepers there with Lucerne hay waiting for them. Ziwa and the other boys scooped up a bail each, carrying it away on their heads to a separate place to eat slowly, but Murera was unhappy with that and walked over to where they went with Sonje to take it back all the Lucerne for everyone to eat in one place. She warned whoever didn’t follow her rule would be punished. 

27 July 2019

The orphans walked to the Chyulu Hills today as they looked tired and none of them wanted to go as far as they did the other day. Some birds flew over the heads of Zongoloni and Lima Lima as they were walking towards their eggs hidden in the long grass, and they were trying to distract and confuse them to walk in another direction and away from their eggs. 

Faraja lost his way while on top of the hills and when it came time for bottle feeding he did not know which way his friends had gone. He realised that none of them were around him, even his best friend Ziwa had gone long ago. It was only after bottle feeding that the Keepers realised one of the orphans was missing and that it was Faraja. His bottle was kept safely by the Keepers for him to drink in his own time. Shortly later he came running in, blowing trumpets loudly. He had his bottle and went to the water trough and then finally to the dust bath to join the others. 

28 July 2019

Murera and Sonje watched Ziwa and Ngasha very closely this morning so that they would not disrupt the peace they were enjoying with Mwashoti and Alamaya. Murera and Sonje kept eyes on Ziwa who was mischievously looking to target Mwashoti, and if Murera saw him walking closer to Mwashoti or Alamaya they both stood firm and warned Ziwa and Ngasha not to try to push any of the young boys around. We watched as Ziwa whispered to Ngasha and then they both walked away, abandoning their plans to rough house with the young ones. 

Lima Lima then made a move to walk out to the forest and all the orphans followed her to the slopes of the Umani Hills. Once there, they took their time on the acacia trees, pulling branches down to get some of the green acacia pods that had not fallen yet. Lima Lima and Zongoloni pushed some of the trees to make some of the pods drop down so that they could pick them up and enjoy.

29 July 2019

The cold weather today meant that none of the orphans felt like a mud bath. When they came for the bottles at the midday feeding time, the weather turned very cold and windy which was not ideal for swimming. Instead Lima Lima and Shukuru just walked to the water trough to drink some water, and then they walked back out to the forest.

At one point Shukuru tried to convince Faraja, who was walking nearby, to change his mind and they went back to the waterhole, but Faraja tested the water and felt it was too cold, so swiftly moved to the soil dusting pile where they just threw dust around their heads for a bit before walking away. Shukuru took a different pathway to where the others were walking towards the Chyulu Hills. The two bulls Faraja and Ngasha went in their own direction as well, which the Keepers were happy for them to do as they are very used to the wild now and have stayed out for about four nights, so it is something we have to allow them to do whenever they wish to.

30 July 2019

Today again Lima Lima proved to her lovely Keepers that she adores them and will always protect them by all means from any wild animals. The Keepers are always relaxed when Lima Lima is in the lead as she will always alert them to anything up ahead by circling back around and standing close to them. Today was slightly different as Lima Lima moved off into the forest after having her milk bottle, but when she walked back she led a big wild herd of elephants again. The Keepers were not sure what Lima Lima was up to today. First they were suspicious as the wild elephants walked all around and made a lot of noise. They were not happy when they saw the Keepers, the orphans human family, but Lima Lima rumbled loudly to them and it was certainly as if she was telling them to behave, and that these were her parents, not just any old humans who might be bad, but good humans who have cared for her, her whole life. It was a big surprise for the Keepers to see how the wild elephants responded, making us believe more than ever how brilliant Lima Lima is.

31 July 2019

Faraja took on Sonje for a very long pushing game in the forest today, all the way back to the bottle feeding area. As soon as they finished their milk bottles, they walked off to continue their pushing game again, with Sonje keeping up a good fight and pushing Faraja hard, but Faraja not backing down either. Zongoloni went to stand in between them to separate them, but neither of them wanted to listen to her. Faraja kept up a spirited fight to show Sonje how tough he was, and Sonje wanted to prove to him that she was the second head girl in command. Later Jasiri came and pushed Faraja away to give Sonje her own time to go and take care to Mwashoti, who was standing to the side waiting for her.