Choose your region

Galana and her herd have become regular visitors to the stockade compound. Today they arrived early as usual and settled for lucerne with the orphans. The babies Lapa and Lili played rough with the orphans simply because they could with their mothers around, offering them protection! Malima was disappointed that Lili smacked her so hard with her trunk and for no reason, when she is only a little girl like her. 

After feeding on lucerne, the ex-orphans left with Barsilinga, Tusuja, Siangiki, Olsekki, Oltaiyoni, Roi, Kamok, Naseku, Rapa and Enkikwe, only to show up at mud bath time, before leaving again. The Class Five members appear to be very much enjoying company of their older friends, even more than their stockade dependent friends now. Galla chose to stay behind with the dependent orphans and engaged Pare in a pushing game. When he was done Karisa chose to play with Pare too. Malkia and Maramoja spent a lovely time browsing together, while little Musiara browsed close by. 

It was quite sunny today and at the mud bath twenty wild bulls came for water. Later they all made the same pilgrimage to the stockade water trough too where they enjoyed some more fresh water. Enkikwe teamed up with Kandecha, Chemi Chemi and two wild bulls who escorted him back early to the stockade compound, where he stood waiting for his friends to arrive a bit later. 

Shortly after feeding on lucerne, Ambo led the way out to browse. The orphans headed east of stockades while the ex-orphans headed west. As usual, the ex-orphans took Barsilinga, Tusuja, Naseku, Roi, Oltaiyoni, Olsekki, Siangiki, Rapa, and Kamok with them, and today Galla from Class Four decided to accompany them too. The orphans browsed as they walked round the hill behind the stockade compound. 

The orphans had a quiet morning as they browsed calmly without any major distractions. At mud bath time fifteen wild bulls turned up and settled to have mud bath on the left side of the water, which despite the drying weather is still impressively big and a number of wild bulls can comfortably enjoy a swim there. The dependent orphans chose to swim on the right side of the pool as well, and all could comfortably frolic in there together! 

Malima and Malkia came out of the water and enjoyed rubbing their wet bodies against one of the bushes. Maramoja looked after little Musiara and escorted him into the shade for awhile after drying off with the others at the dust bath. Jotto went to scratch his tail on his favourite tree stump, while Sattao looked on in wonder at what he was doing!

In the afternoon, the orphans settled east of Ithumba Hill and browsed calmly throughout the remaining part of the day.

It was a cold and a quiet morning. The orphans settled for lucerne as usual before heading out to browse. Shortly after the orphans had left, ex-orphan Rapsu showed up with a wild friend who had an injury on the right hand side of his belly, seemingly caused by a spear or an arrow. The wild elephant was nervous and didn't stay for long, and vanished into the bush as soon as he saw the Keepers walking towards him. Rapsu didn't follow him but stayed behind after making sure that his message had well been delivered to the stockade that he had a friend who needed help. 

At mud bath time, the weather was still cold. No wild elephants visited however, and the orphans had free roam of the mud bath without any disturbance. Kuishi and Malima had a nice dust bath while their friend Sana Sana watched on. Sattao walked over to the mud bath as if contemplating getting into the water for a moment, but then he thought better of it. Kauro walked by and the little bull decided to follow him to the loose soil for a dust bath instead. Mteto and Mundusi followed.

The injured wild bull was safely treated by our KWS/SWT Vet and awoke without complication. The Vet gave him a good prognosis, but Rapsu did an excellent job bringing his friend for treatment, otherwise things might not have turned out so well for him. In the evening, the stockade was flooded by both ex-orphans and wild elephants. More and more elephants are showing up for water and we will have to be well prepared to deal with this dry season. 

Ex-orphans Lualeni, baby Lulu, Melia, Kitirua, Naisula, Kalama, Kilabasi and Mutara with her herd were present in the morning to join in the lucerne feeding. Soon after finishing, the orphans headed east while the ex-orphans lagged behind but later followed the orphans. An hour later, the ex-orphans parted ways. Class Five members Kamok, Barsilinga, Roi, Naseku, Tusuja, Oltaiyoni Olsekki and Siangiki all followed the ex-orphans. Maramoja, without realizing, ended up following the ex-orphans too as she was trying to play with Lulu. 

A short while later some of the dependent orphans came across an ostrich which confused them a bit, as they weren’t quite sure what it was. The boys Mundusi, Sattao, Musiara, Enkikwe and Galla approached the ostrich with their trunks raised, smelling. When it saw the elephants approaching however the ostrich started to run off, which set the young elephant bulls off in a charging mood. They started running and trumpeting trying to scare the away ostrich. As the ostrich ran off into the bushes, even though it had already started to leave, the elephants saw this as a victory and started charging about and stamping their feet in celebration, before settling down to continue with their morning of browsing. 

Karisa and Pare settled for a strength testing exercise that lasted for quite some time, but it ended in a draw. This meant that the two boys would have a rematch another day. 

Shortly before mud bath time, Maramoja led the ex-orphans to the stockades in search of her friends but also to get her noon milk feed. However when they arrived they found that the car carrying the milk had already left for the mud bath. Maramoja and her team including Lualeni, Lulu, Mutara’s herd and the Class Five members, had some water from the troughs instead and then walked back out to the bush. 

Meanwhile at the mud bath it was quite hot and the dependent orphans got into the water to wallow after having their bottles without any encouragement from the Keepers. Twenty five wild bulls were present at the mud bath today. Challa showed up later and joined the orphans to wallow too. Esampu left the water all excited and ran off trumpeting into the bush. Mteto, Wanjala and Mundusi followed to check what the excitement was all about but they couldn’t find anything; sometimes Esampu just does that! Kauro, Malima and Galla skipped the wallowing exercise entirely. Kauro has never been a big fan of the water. 

The afternoon was quiet as the orphans browsed calmly throughout the rest of the day. Just before five in the evening and time to return home, Jotto, Wanjala and Ambo settled for a short soil dusting exercise on the side of the road and shortly later, Nabulu led Malima and Musiara in the first group back to the stockades for the night.  

It was a lovely morning as the orphans woke up early for their breakfast milk bottles. At 6am exactly, they started rumbling and making a fuss, and we knew they were ready for their bottles! As soon as they were done they came out of their stockades and walked straight to the lucerne feeding area for their supplement food during this dry weather. Naseku is becoming a very maternal and caring little girl, as she is preparing for her life back in the wild and becoming more independent. Often she is spotted looking after Ambo, Sattao and Musiara. This morning she spent her time protecting Sattao and Ambo as they fed on lucerne, and no one was allowed to push or bully the two boys. There was a very beautiful sunrise today. 

Out in the bush all the orphans concentrated very much on browsing. A little later Ambo and Malima started a play fight while their friends were busy browsing. Later all the orphans walked to the mud bath for their noon milk bottle and to wallow in the water as it was quite hot morning. Some wild bulls joined the orphans in the water too, and others were drinking from the water trough. Rapa decided to climb on Malima while they were swimming. Pare and Ndiwa were having a lovely time wallowing next to Malkia as well. All the orphans came out of the water around the same time, and went straight to dust bath to play and dry off. Jotto, Kuishi and Malima had the best dust bath ever and really enjoyed. Esampu, Rapa and Musiara were also enjoying rolling around on the dust bath separate to the others. When they were done playing and wallowing, the orphans walked back out to the bush to continue browsing. They browsed right up until the last minute when Pare led the herd back home for the night at 5pm. Enkikwe and Sapalan were left behind but arrived back half an hour later.

When the orphans arrived back at the stockades they found a couple of wild bulls drinking water there. Barsilinga and the rest of Class Five, including Tusuja, Siangiki, Olsekki, Oltaiyoni, Roi, Kamok, Naseku, Rapa and Enkikwe, who walked off this morning after the mud bath, arrived back an hour after all the others. They are doing so well honing their wild instincts and learning to become independent. 

The orphans enjoyed feeding on lucerne this morning and it has been relaxing for the past few days without being disturbed by any ex-orphans and wild elephants. Mundusi started play fighting with Sapalan while Esampu scratched and enjoyed playing around a big rock. At one point it looked like she was trying to jump over it! Mapia was enjoying some morning exercise as he squatted down to scratch his belly on a rock. The dependent orphans later walked to the water trough to have some water before it was time to head out for the day.

Mundusi took a break from browsing to start a play fight with Karisa. Malima was busy playing and scratching against some rocks as the others started to make their way towards the mud bath for their bottles. The orphans looked quite tired this morning and walked slowly towards the feeding area, and none of them jostled to be in the front groups. 

We came across some ex-orphans at the mud bath with Mutara's herd among them. Kalama was spectacularly enjoying wallowing in the mud wallow while the wild bulls were at the far end of the pool. A wild young bull got in to play with Kalama and they enjoying playing and swimming together. Some of the dependent orphans got in the water as well and relished the company of their older and wild friends. Kibo was among some of the ex-orphans playing in the water, but he decided to get out and follow the orphans to the dust bath to dry off. Later, the orphans walked back out to the bush to browse.

All the orphans enjoyed browsing in the afternoon despite it being so dry. Wanjala, Karisa, Rapa, Ambo and Mundusi were all playing together. Later Sapalan went to scoop and toss soil into the air and onto his back. The orphans later walked back home in the evening for their milk and to go to bed. Very few wild elephant bulls appeared at the compound for water today.

It was a busy morning today as we had a big group of wild elephants visiting the stockade water trough. The orphans had their milk bottles and then came out of their stockades to begin their day. They almost couldn’t find any space, the Ithumba stockade compound was so full of elephants! It was so full some of the orphans decided to walk straight out to the bush without having any lucerne, although the Keepers tried their best to convince them to stay and have some. Ex-orphans Ishanga, Sunyei, Galana, Loijuk, Lualeni and Lenana with their wild born babies were among the wild elephants too. Ishanga seems fine and is improving every time we see her. The veterinarian did a wonderful job. Before Esampu left for the bush, she decided to do some morning exercises by kneeling down and pushing her head on the ground, and generally just messing around! Jotto stayed behind as well stretching his legs and they later they walked out to the bush together.

Mapia was browsing together with Galla before Galla decided to join his friends in Barsilinga’s herd, who wanted to go their own direction as usual. They walked away from the dependent orphans just before mud bath time. Malima was busy playing with a stick for a short while, and then she decided to chew on it as she walked along. 

Barsilinga’s herd in Class Five met up with the other orphans at the mud bath again. Some of Mutara's herd also appeared today. Suguta, Sities, Kainuk, Bomani and Orwa all decided to visit the mud bath, and they started wallowing in the water hole with pleasure. Slowly, once they were done visiting the mud bath and had finished with all the various activities, the orphans made their way back out to the bush, leaving Mutara's herd behind together with Barsilinga's group.

Malima browsed together with Mundusi while Dololo was busy play fighting with Pare. The rest of the herd were concentrating on browsing and filling their tummies, and later Nabulu and Dololo led the herd back home in the evening.

We are well into the dry season now. The orphans settled for their lucerne supplement in the morning as usual. Orwa and Bomani joined the orphans and later escorted them out to browse. Musiara teamed up with his friend Maramoja. Enkikwe came across a suitable tree that he used to scratch his belly on. Malkia and Sana Sana teamed up with Nabulu and Malima and had a girls talk while feeding. Two dik dik antelope’s darted out of a nearby bush, startling Mteto, Mundusi, Sattao and Ambo and the four orphans ran towards the Keepers. Esampu, also known as the drama queen, couldn't understand why the four orphans were scared off and decided to trumpet and charge in the direction they had come from – she might be a drama queen but she is also brave! She didn’t find anything there though, so came running back to the rest of the herd where she settled down and continued browsing. 

At mud bath time the orphans were joined by thirty eight wild bulls. ‘Dad’ was among them, who has the biggest tusks of all and he is such an impressive bull. Wanjala and Pare walked straight over to join the wild bulls at the water trough. One of the junior wild bulls wasn’t happy about Pare and Wanjala approaching them without what he thought was enough respect, and so he decided to chase them away as a lesson for not respecting their elders. The Keepers felt bad for the two youngsters, who were just thirsty, and intervened by requesting the bulls to kind step back and make way for the young orphans to have some water, as they only spend an hour or so at the mud bath. When all the orphans were done having some fresh water, they walked over to the loose soil for a dust bath. Esampu and Malima decided to enjoy by relaxing on the soil, almost as if they were having a little nap. 

In the afternoon the orphans settled to browse in the Kanziku area where they looked for as much vegetation as they could to fill their tummies before returning home. In the evening, as usual, Nabulu led the way back to the stockades for the night.