July was a very cold month in Voi. We’re at the height of the dry season here in the southern sector of Tsavo — and indeed it is very, very dry — so the chilly weather may seem incongruous. However, we are also in the midst of our winter, so it creates quite a harsh combination of conditions. The orphans were duly businesslike this month, focused on staying warm and finding ample browse.
It was a lovely morning as the orphans headed to the lucerne feeding area after having their milk bottles. After a while Murit decided to walk back towards the stockades to relax for a while on his own. He seemed to be contemplating lots of deep thoughts, and when he was done he walked off again to enjoy scratching against a rock. While Murit enjoyed this solitary exercise, his friends continued feeding on lucerne. After a while Tamiyoi decided to go and enjoy rolling on the loose soil, while Tagwa and Sagala stood beside her. Sagala then decided to enjoy her own rolling game on the soil too. A little further away Ngilai stood standing near the terraces, posing and stretching. Emoli noticed Ngilai on his own and walked over to initiate a wrestling game with him. When they were done Ngilai got up and walked off to enjoy scratching against one of the rocks in the stockade compound. Emoli wanted someone else to play with, so went and picked on Godoma, while Tagwa chose Ndotto for yet another sparring game. When the orphans were done with all their games they walked out to the Park to begin browsing.
They spent the morning browsing along the open grasslands and slowly made their way to the mud bath for their noon milk feed.
The orphans chose not to really mud bath today and slowly they made their way back out to browse. Sagala scratched against a desert shepherd tree while Ngilai invited Murit for a sparring game. When he was done playing with Murit, Ngilai walked off and spent some time with Arruba, catching and holding her trunk in their own private kind of game. The orphans had a quiet afternoon browsing and slowly made their way back to the stockade compound just before 5pm.
After having their morning milk bottles, the orphans walked straight to have their lucerne supplement breakfast. They didn’t play many games like they did yesterday, and instead they walked straight out to browse once they were done. The orphans browsed along the foot of Msinga Hill and slowly made their way towards the mud bath for their noon milk bottles.
As they were walking, the Keepers heard lions calling in the area around the baobab tree mud bath. The lions are certainly a threat to Diria, Ivia and Cheza, so for this reason the orphans and Keepers decided to turn back and browse elsewhere, and have their noon milk bottles back at the stockade compound.
After they had their bottles the orphans chose to wallow in the small mud bath in the compound as well. When he was done swimming, Ngilai came out of the water and starting rolling around on the ground to dry off, striking all sorts of funny poses. Murit and Ishaq-B walked together to have a drink from the water trough. The orphans then left the mud wallow while Pika Pika and Ndii remained behind spending quality time with each other, wallowing and bonding. Araba went to dry off by rolling around on the loose soil, while Mbegu scratched against one of the rocks and then joined Araba too. Emoli came over to join them and started climbing on Mbegu. When all the fun and games were over the orphans left the compound to continue browsing in the Park for the rest of the afternoon, until it was time to return home later in the day.
After their milk feed this morning, the orphans decided not to play around in the compound and left the stockades for their usual browsing activity. They didn’t visit their usual browsing spot as there were still lions present in that area and they pose a threat for the young buffaloes and zebra, so the orphans chose instead to browse not far from the stockade compound on the hill.
Later the orphans were enjoying a dust bath, especially Mbegu. She then lay relaxing on the soil for awhile before she got up and invited Ndotto to a wrestling match. Murit stood close by enjoying a scratch, while Lasayen did the same against a rock. At one point he stood on his trunk and scratched it delicately with his front foot.
After enjoying a mud wallow in the stockade compound, Ngilai and Godoma chose to scratch against one of the trees while Tagwa went for a dust bath. Ngilai, Tundani and Suswa played against the stockade terrace wall, one after the other. Ndii enjoyed scratching herself and then later went charging over to Ivia to play with him. She hasn’t really shown that much interest in playing with the young buffalo before! Pika Pika spent some quality time bonding with Ngilai, and then later walked over to join her favourite Ndii who was now scratching and playing against the stockade terraces.
As the orphans started to file out of the stockade compound to continue with their afternoon of browsing, Ngilai and Ivia lagged behind and enjoyed one of their wrestling games in front of the compound gates. Eventually they decided to abandon their game and catch up to the others who were already busy browsing.
Today the weather was cold and windy and the orphans huddled up to one another in groups so as to keep warm. As the weather was cold the orphans weren’t very active today and focused on browsing and sticking together for warmth.
Half an hour before their noon milk feed the orphans had already congregated at the feeding area awaiting the milk vehicle to arrive. The milk-dependent babies had their bottles then walked down to the water trough beside the baobab tree to have some water. As soon as they had drunk their fill they started to file out to continue browsing on the grasslands, without even thinking of stepping foot into the mud bath today! Ishaq-B stayed behind to enjoy scratching against the baobab tree, and Mashariki enjoyed dusting herself on the loose soil.
Murit and his friends Ngilai, Emoli, Mbegu, Godoma and Lasayen browsed along Msinga Hill in the afternoon. Mbegu and Ndii stopped to cuddle and bond with little Pika Pika sandwiched between them. Ndotto and Arruba decided to have a break from browsing to enjoy a sparring game which lasted for some time. Lasayen walked up to Tagwa to have a private conversation with her and patted her with his trunk as they walked home for the evening.
The orphans scattered all over the stockade compound playing and bonding this morning. After finishing their lucerne supplement food, Emoli decided to climb on Mbegu who was rolling on the ground. While those two played Godoma was very busy beside them browsing on some shrubs. When she was done playing with Emoli, Mbegu lay down to rest and relax, so Emoli took the opportunity to walk off and start a sparring game with Ngilai instead. Sagala chose to relax on the piles of loose soil, and when Ngilai was done playing he walked over and started dusting himself there as well.
The orphans browsed quietly throughout the morning and concentrated mostly on filling their tummies and finding enough to eat. At noon they made their way to their usual feeding spot and the milk-dependent babies had their milk bottles. Ndotto was the last to leave the feeding area as he was enjoying his milk bottles so much, and sucked on the end of the bottle to enjoy every last drop. Often he is the last one to leave the feeding area as he looks around for any extra milk bottles, and explores the milk vehicle to see if the Keepers might have left one inside.
The orphans chose not to mud bath today as it is still cold, and instead they went straight back to browsing for the rest of the afternoon.
The orphans chose to play in the stockade compound this morning after having their milk bottles. Pika Pika walked down past the terrace walls slowly as Godoma was scratching there. Pika Pika then approached Godoma head on as if requesting for a pushing game. Lasayen was close by watching Godoma and Pika Pika play while enjoying a scratch, while Sagala lay on the loose soil enjoying a dust bath in the company of Tamiyoi and Murit who were standing and dusting themselves.
Mbegu and Emoli then came over to enjoy a dust bath as well. Mbegu lay on the soil throwing trunk-fuls of soil over herself, and then Emoli decided to take the opportunity to climb on her. Mbegu didn’t seem to mind and the two orphans played on the soil for some time. Meanwhile Suswa was browsing on the acacia branches hanging across the electric fence and enjoying the tasty leaves.
As the orphans were walking out to browse, Murit and Lasayen started a pushing game. Arruba was lagging behind scratching against a rock. As they were walking out Ngilai decided to try and climb on Tagwa’s back as she walked ahead. This annoyed Tagwa and she turned to face Ngilai to explain to him not to climb on her again without her permission, and Ngilai seemed to listen as he walked off to play with Emoli instead.
The orphans left the stockades for their daily browsing activities, and they spent the morning enjoying browsing across the open grasslands.
After enjoying their morning milk bottles the orphans proceeded to the lucerne feeding area. Mbegu decided to enjoy climbing and stretching against the terraces, while Ndotto enjoyed a morning scratch against a rock. When he was done Godoma came to have a turn and she started playing there with Tamiyoi as well. Ngilai and Emoli enjoyed a sparring game. After about half an hour all the orphans left the stockade compound at once for the browsing fields.
Pika Pika browsed in the company of Kenia and Ndii throughout the morning. Mbegu and Ndotto were very close today and kept holding each others’ trunks and patting each other. They browsed and stayed close together right up until the noon milk feed, when they walked down to have their bottles together. Ndotto and Mbegu have always had a very close and special relationship, ever since they were in the Nursery together. Ngilai and Murit spent the morning browsing together too.
The weather was cold and chilly today so none of the orphans decided to swim in the mud bath. Instead they just had some water from the water trough and went straight back to browsing, leaving Mudanda scratching against the baobab tree. As the orphans started to walk back out to continue browsing, Ngilai and Emoli started a wrestling match which they enjoyed for some time, although neither one seemed to emerge as the clear winner.
It was a ‘scratchy’ kind of morning for Lasayen today! He moved from a lengthy scratch against the terraces to the desert shepherd tree in the stockade to scratch his bottom. Ndii was posing and stretching along the terraces too, while Ndotto invited Mbegu to a pushing game to start their morning. Lasayen later went back to scratch against the terraces again, just as Sagala walked past him to go and enjoy her own scratching session against one of the rocks in the compound. While his friends were all busy with their different morning routines, Murit was solely focused on collecting up as many lucerne pellets as he could.
Eventually when they were all done, the Voi orphans finally left the stockade compound to begin their day of browsing out in the Park. They chose to browse across the open savanna grasslands today, overshadowed by Msinga Hill.
The orphans had their noon milk bottles in groups and then walked down to the baobab tree mud bath. After enjoying a mud bath the orphans chose to spend the whole afternoon browsing on the slopes of Msinga Hill searching for fresh foliage.
The milk dependant orphans came out of their rooms for their morning milk feed. Godoma, Emoli, Tamiyoi and Pika Pika all lined up at the feeding area first to gulp down their bottles, and they were soon joined by the others too.
Tagwa and Sagala were the first to decide to have an early morning dust bath. They enjoyed rolling around on the loose soil for quite some time. Ngilai and Emoli had a sparring match while Pika Pika chose to stay close to Kenia and Ndii.
Ndoria was the one who decided to lead the herd out to enjoy their day of browsing today. Sagala, Tagwa and Tamiyoi followed behind but kept their distance, afraid that at any moment Ndoria might turn around and discipline them for trying to take over the lead which she was enjoying.
As the orphans were browsing at the foot of Msinga Hill, Mbegu decided to take a break to wrestle with Ndotto. Suswa, Ngilai and Sagala spread out across the grasslands away from the other orphans until it was time to head for the noon milk feed, then they came back to rejoin the group and they all walked to the feeding area together.
When they were done with their milk and were walking down to the mud bath, Ngilai decided to invite his favourite elephant playmate Emoli to a sparring game. After a while the orphans all went back to browsing for the rest of the afternoon.
Tagwa remained very close with Tamiyoi today and stayed closed to her as they browsed. Every now and then she would stop to pat her little friend with her trunk. Godoma and Suswa browsed from the same shrubs and they didn’t seem to mind sharing.
It seems as if Mbegu wasn’t that interested in browsing today, as after a short while she chose to take a break again and lie on the ground to enjoy her own rolling game. If she was hoping for any of the other orphans to join her though she was out of luck, as everyone else wanted to concentrate on feeding. The only other two orphans who were also distracted from feeding were Emoli and Ngilai who were still enjoying their pushing game! After a while Emoli decided to leave Ngilai and instead climb on Mbegu who was still rolling on the ground. Emoli loves to climb on Mbegu whenever he finds her on the ground!
The orphans were hanging about in the compound playing and bonding after their morning milk and supplement feed. As she left the lucerne feeding area, Tamiyoi started scratching against one of the big rocks. Pika Pika stood against the terraces inviting Tagwa to a sparring match which Tagwa was happy to oblige. Ngilai and Emoli were already immersed in their usual wrestling game. Pika Pika came over to watch Ngilai and Emoli’s game and at one point Emoli stretched his trunk towards Pika Pika, inquiring if she wanted to join in too, or perhaps telling her to stay back while their wrestling game went on. Eventually Ngilai had enough of their game and went over to the lucerne feeding area to see if there were any pellets left there. Meanwhile Ndotto and Mbegu had locked tusks and were involved in their own gentle wrestling game!
Murit went over to join Ngilai at the feeding area and the two young bulls ended up starting a friendly pushing game. Eventually Ndoria decided to lead all the orphans out to the Park to begin their day of browsing.
Mashariki walked up Msinga Hill with the older orphans in the search of green vegetation which is getting hard to find in the Voi area, while Mbegu stayed at the base of the hill with her own group including Godoma, Tagwa, Sagala, Tamiyoi, Lasayen, Ngilai, Emoli and Murit.
Later on at the mud bath, Ngilai decided to test the water and have a drink of from the waterhole. He found the water too cold to swim in but found it okay to drink. Lasayen walked around to join him, and he held Ngilai’s trunk with his own as they both stood at the edge of the water. The orphans spent the rest of the afternoon browsing on the open grasslands.
After spending some time bonding and playing this morning, the orphans left for the Park to browse for the day. Kenia, Ndii, Araba and Pika Pika spent the morning browsing together as all the orphans made their way slowly to the noon milk feeding area. The milk vehicle arrived and the milk-dependent babies had their milk bottles, before the whole herd walked down to the mud wallow for a drink of water. It is still cold so the orphans chose not to wallow in the water, but return straight back to their browsing activities.
At one point Murit grew tired of all the browsing, and decided just to lie down for a rest after a busy day. Godoma spotted him and walked down the hill to start a play fight with him. She walked up to him and as Murit saw her coming he knew exactly what was coming, so he stood to face her head on for a wrestling match. Lasayen was browsing and walking down the hill, and he too decided to play with Murit. He took over from Godoma and the two boys enjoyed their wrestling match for some time. When they were done playing all the orphans slowly made their way back to the stockade compound for the night after a busy day of browsing.
Orphans Sagala, Mbegu and Murit were all lying on the soil pile having an early morning dust bath. Emoli, as usual, decided to take the opportunity to climb on Mbegu while she was on the ground. After a while Sagala and Murit left, leaving Emoli and Mbegu to continue playing on the soil together.
Suswa seems to have taken over from Tundani and chooses to browse on the acacia branches that hang over the electric fence in the compound. Araba scratched against the desert shepherd tree, while Pika Pika enjoyed a wrestling game with Ngilai. When he was done playing with Pika Pika, Ngilai decided to invite Tagwa to a sparring match, and the two orphans locked tusks as they tried to establish a clear winner. Eventually Emoli showed up and decided to interfere in their game. He walked straight up to Ngilai to challenge him to a wrestling match, so Ngilai decided to leave Tagwa to take his friend Emoli on. Tagwa didn’t seem to mind and she went off to see her friend Tamiyoi. Ngilai and Emoli’s game continued on the soil pile as they used the different levels to challenge each other.
Eventually Sagala decided to lead the orphans out to browse. All the orphans followed behind her except Ngilai, who seemed adamant to remain behind enjoying a dust bath! The Keepers had to come back for Ngilai and convince him to join the others. Finally Ngilai got up and when he realized how far his friends had already walked into the Park he ran trumpeting to catch up with them.
The orphans mingled with some impala this morning as they all enjoyed the lucerne pellet supplements the Keepers put out for them. Mashariki carried her own pile away to enjoy feeding on by herself. When they were done, the orphans left and settled to browse on the open grasslands.
In the afternoon the orphans walked down for their noon milk feed and proceeded on to the baobab tree mud bath. Instead of swimming in the water, Ngilai and Lasayen decided to roll and enjoy a dust bath. Ngilai then invited Tagwa to a sparring match. It seems Ngilai is really enjoying playing with Tagwa these days and it is nice to see Tagwa getting involved in some of these bonding games too.
Some wild elephants visited the baobab water trough and the orphans had a lovely time socializing and interacting with them. Panda was thoroughly enjoying swimming in the water, and when she was done she came out to the piles of loose soil to roll around and dry off. Godoma was rolling there too, and she was joined shortly later by Embu. After a successful mud bath session the orphans resumed browsing for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to return home.
The orphans enjoyed some bales of lucerne today instead of the pellets. They all had a drink from the water trough to wash the supplement breakfast down, before enjoying some games in the compound. Ishaq-B opted for an early morning dust bath. It was funny to watch Mbegu climbing on Emoli for once, instead of the other way around. As Emoli lay on the soil pile Mbegu walked over to him and enjoying climbing and sliding against him! Godoma scratched against some rocks next to the stockade mud wallow.
Later out in the Park, Ngilai decided to take a break from feeding and invited Emoli to a sparring game at the foot of Msinga Hill. Sagala and Tagwa were busy browsing inside one of the erosion gulley’s that form along the side of the hill. Later the orphans walked down for their noon milk feed and resumed browsing almost immediately. Ngilai and Lasayen paused later in the afternoon to have a wrestling match which seemed to go on for some time. Kenia passed by and tried to separate the two bulls, perhaps trying to convince them to continue browsing instead of playing! Sagala and Murit walked back to the stockades in each other’s company and enjoyed patting each other affectionately as they walked.
The morning was cool and cold as the orphan elephants went to feed on the lucerne pellet supplement food after having the milk feed. The orphans decided not to play very much around the compound this morning, and instead left to browse for the morning under the leadership of Tagwa and Tamiyoi.
After browsing for about three hours, Ngilai took a break to play in an erosion trench, a game that attracted Emoli. Emoli arrived at a run, and rammed Ngilai with the broad part of his head, sending Ngilai staggering to the side before regaining his footing. Ngilai spun around at this rather aggressive invitation to play, with his head held high and ears spread. Emoli stopped to face him head on for the ensuing pushing game, and took advantage of Ngilai being on the lower side of the trench to hold him hostage inside. After playing for some time the bulls finally brought an end to their game to continue with the important task of browsing, especially as it is so dry at the moment.
Just as the orphans started to make their way to the noon milk feeding spot, Ngilai decided to have a fun sparring match with Ivia the buffalo. After having their milk bottles the orphans decided not to have a mud bath as there was quite a cold wind blowing and it was still cloudy, and instead they decided to carry on browsing across the grasslands for the rest of the afternoon.
It was a lovely morning and the orphans followed a similar routine of relishing their milk bottles before heading to have some lucerne supplements. When they were ready, they left the stockade compound and decided to browse on the grasslands throughout the morning. After about four hours, Emoli approached Murit to initiate a pushing game that went on for quite some time. The two boys brought a swift end to their game however as soon as they heard the vehicle carrying their milk bottles. They were in a position where they were well ahead of their friends who were patiently waiting, so they ran down as fast as they could and were the first to have their milk bottles as a result.
After a wonderful mud bath, Murit became very excited and went to lie and play on the piles of red earth. He got up quickly however when he saw Ndotto fast approaching him, as he wasn’t sure of his intentions. Ndotto just wanted to play with Murit, but when his sparring partner walked off, Ndotto simply decided just to take his place where he had been playing. After Ndotto took over from where Murit had been playing, Kenia came over to play with Ndotto. She rubbed her head against Ndotto’s back and side. She interrupted Ndotto’s rolling to such an extent that eventually she forced Ndotto to get up and walk away, allowing Kenia to have that lovely spot all to herself!
The orphans chose to browse to the south of the waterhole for the rest of the day until it was time to return home.
After enjoying their milk bottles and some lucerne pellets this morning, the orphans decided to play for a while around the compound. Ndotto went over to Mbegu for a ‘test of strength’ sparring game, while Ngilai invited his new good friend Tagwa for the same. Playing in so important for these young elephant babies – it allows them to experiment with new behaviours in a safe and protected environment without dangerous consequences. The unwritten code of conduct surrounding play lets the young elephants explore lots of different outcomes too, and practice different life skills. The fun might continue for just a few seconds to minutes for very young babies, but go on for much longer as elephants enter their teens. Sparring matches provide bulls with the opportunity to test their fighting ability so that they might successfully compete for a female when they reach maturity later on too!
Lasayen chose a different activity this morning and went to lie and roll around on the ground, as Sagala was busy scratching against the big rock in the compound. The orphan elephants, buffalo and zebra then left the stockades and browsed in single file throughout the morning session.
Later on just before noon, the orphans made their way to the feeding area near the baobab tree waterhole, where the milk-dependent orphans went down in groups of five to have their bottles. When she was done with her bottles Pika Pika ran to reunite with Kenia, Ndii and Ishaq-B, who no longer have milk, and thereafter she walked down with the three of them to drink some fresh water from the trough.
The weather was cloudy and cold and none of the orphan elephants showed any interest in having a mud bath, so they carried on walking back out to the bush to continue browsing without swimming today. Mashariki, Mudanda, Murit and Rorogoi embraced each other and chose to browse together for the rest of the afternoon.
The delicious milk bottles were ready and waiting as the gates to the orphans’ stockades were opened this morning and the orphans came rushing out in excitement for their morning breakfast. The milk-dependent orphans couldn’t finish their milk fast enough, and when they were done they walked straight over to the lucerne feeding area, to join their older, milk-weaned friends there.
It was a chilly morning once again! Araba and Pika Pika went to cuddle up next to Kenia, each taking one side, while they fed on lucerne grass at the same time. Kenia played a neutral role however and didn’t choose to favour one baby over the other, as she knew they both needed her as much and needed equal treatment and warmth. Pika Pika was acting like a real baby this morning though, leaning against one of Kenia’s legs, while Kenia accommodated and planted her leg firmly so as to support little Pika Pika who evidently needed lots of tender loving care this morning. Sagala also played her part when she took a mouthful of lucerne grass and offered that to Pika Pika in an effort to share it all out with the youngsters.
Kenia made sure to look after Pika Pika for the entire day. Later on while at the baobab tree waterhole after the noon milk feed, she went to get Pika Pika and walked her to the water trough to make sure she had some water. Although it is cold it is very dry, and the orphans have to make sure to have enough water throughout the day. Soon after having enough water, the orphans left the water hole without swimming today, and just as they were leaving another thirsty wild elephant herd arrived to have some water too.
There was a cool breeze blowing this morning as the orphan elephants were busy feeding on the lucerne grass after the milk feed. When they were done they left the compound and walked to browse on the southern side of Msinga Hill. Here they enjoyed some delicious and ‘untouched’ vegetation as the wild elephants had not been through that part of the hill to browse yet.
There is a fault with the Mzima Springs pipeline bringing water to fill the baobab tree water hole, so while we attend to that, the orphans came back to the stockade compound for their noon milk bottle and to mud bath.
Today there was a huge mud bathing party and all the orphans enjoyed swimming today. Ngilai was playing but was being a little too boisterous, and he started trying to grab hold of Pika Pika and pull her down. This caused Godoma, who was playing with her, to get up and chase Ngilai away. Panda saw the commotion and came over and actually drove Godoma away from Pika Pika too, misunderstanding that they were the ones actually playing peacefully, but she stood guard next to Pika Pika to allow her to enjoy a peaceful mud bath. Pika Pika was a little confused why Panda was looking after her instead of Kenia or Ndii, but Panda was delighted to be able to spend some time with the little girl. Meanwhile, having been driven away, Godoma left the water to enjoy a scratching game on a nearby rock, while Ngilai went to engage his friend Emoli in a sparring game. As soon as she left, Tamiyoi took over the rock that Godoma had been enjoying and also had a lovely scratching session there, rubbing all the mud off. Pika Pika later came out of the water and chose to play with Mbegu on the mound of loose soil, before joining up with all her friends to leave the compound for the afternoon browsing session.
The morning was peaceful with the orphan elephants lining up in a near-perfect straight line at the lucerne pellet feeding ‘trough’ after the milk feeding. They later had some lucerne grass too, before leaving for browsing in the same area as yesterday, on the southern side of the hill which still has relatively good amounts of vegetation to browse on.
The orphans later came back to the stockade compound again for the milk feed and to mud bath. Murit lay down and initiated a game, stretching his trunk out to welcome Lasayen to play with him, but Lasayen chose to ignore him as he wasn’t in the mood for playing. Instead he went to sit and scratch on a small rock close to the water hole.
Sagala and Ngilai went over to the trees and each leant against their own individual tree to enjoy a good scratch. Ngilai later caught up with Emoli close to the ‘favourite’ scratching rock, and started a wrestling match that went on for quite some time. Eventually Ngilai turned his back on Emoli and started playing with Pika Pika instead, teaching her some great wrestling and playing techniques. Godoma, seeing Emoli had been abandoned, invited him for a soil bathing game before all the orphans left to continue browsing for the afternoon.
The morning was good with the Voi orphan elephants coming out of their stockades in a happy mood, looking forward to another wonderful day of browsing. After the milk and lucerne supplement feeding, the orphans teamed up and went to play on the piles of red earth. Suswa had carried a bunch of lucerne grass away from the others to enjoy on her own, and she was still off in the corner enjoying her own pile to herself while her friends played in the soil.
Soon afterwards, Tamiyoi and Tagwa took the lead and walked everyone towards the southern side of Msinga Hill again to browse. Mudanda and Mashariki teamed up to browse only half way up the hill together, while their friends explored much higher up the hill. Later the orphans had to come back downhill to have their noon milk bottles and some water, and they decided to have a mud bath today in the stockade mud bath as well, as the Mzima Spring pipeline still has a problem.
After a very quick mud bath in the stockade compound, Ndotto and Pika Pika went to lie and relax on top of the red earth piles, like tourists enjoying the beach and the sun, and they even fell asleep! The two were rudely awoken however by a commotion caused when Emoli started climbing on Godoma’s stomach. Godoma didn’t want Emoli climbing on her stomach and called out to the Keepers to come and help her, but Emoli understood and quickly got off and moved away.
This evening when the orphans returned from the bush to go into their stockades for the night, Mudanda, Mashariki and Ndii decided to walk straight past the milk-feeding orphans and walk into their stockade instead of their own! When they were done with their milk, Ndotto, Murit, Mbegu, Lasayen and Ngilai stood at the entrance of their stockade, surprised to find the older orphans in there and unsure what to do. The Keepers came over however and escorted the three big girls into their own stockade, so that Mbegu’s herd could comfortably settle themselves into their own stockade for the night.
Early this morning Emoli was competing with Pika Pika over who would reach their milk bottle first. They both ran so fast that Emoli ended up running past the Keeper holding his bottle! He realized his mistake and came running back again but Pika Pika yelled out in protest as she thought he was running back to take her milk bottle instead of his own. Eventually the two had both their milk bottles and peace returned. Later all the orphans assembled themselves to have the lucerne grass pellets which they thoroughly enjoyed, before going to drink plenty of water from the stockade water trough.
It was very cloudy as the orphans walked out to the bush to browse. As they browsed throughout the morning, after about three hours it started to rain very lightly. The light raindrops fell and were soaked up immediately by the thirsty ground. Ngilai and Ivia took a break from browsing to play as the blessing of rain continued. At one stage Ngilai mischievously lay down to lower himself to Ivia’s level for a wonderful wrestling match. Mbegu was watching them curiously. Often she wants to be the one to play with Ivia and we could see her thinking she wished she could be Ngilai to enjoy that game!
Just before noon the orphans returned to the stockade compound for their milk bottles and to have a mud bath if they wanted one. Ndoria and Embu appeared not to be very thirsty, perhaps after browsing on the moist grass during the morning after the rain, as they lagged behind their friends and only caught up with them later. Some of the orphans had a lot of fun mud bathing in the stockade water hole, before leaving to browse along the same southern browsing grounds for the rest of the day.
The milk-dependent orphans gulped down their delicious milk bottles this morning before going to have some lucerne. Today the pellets were already laid out for them in the feeding trough and they all assembled to scoop up as much as they could. Ndii became a little greedy and was chasing her younger friends away from the lucerne, all except Kenia, Araba, Pika Pika and Ishaq-B of course. In the end the Keepers intervened to allow for a peaceful feeding session for all, and to make sure all of the orphans had their fill of the supplement feed during these dry times.
Eventually the orphans left for the Park and browsed in single file, with both Araba and Pika Pika seen cuddling up close to Kenia. Later they returned to the compound again for the youngsters to have their milk feed.
Ngilai skipped enjoying a mud bath to instead catch up with Ivia for a sparring match. Cheza, the female buffalo, was watching them in a great amazement, but she doesn’t enjoy playing with the elephants like Ivia does, and remains a spectator. Sagala and Emoli went to play along one of the stockade terraces, while Mudanda and Ishaq-B went for a dust bath on the mounds of soil. Tundani placed himself strategically between the two famous twin trees, scratching and enjoying himself, before joining up with his friends to leave for the field and browse for the rest of the day. Rorogoi and Sagala decided to lead the orphans back home slightly earlier than usual today, and all the orphans returned to the compound just before 5pm to spend the night.
The orphan elephants came bounding out of their stockades for the morning feed. Ndotto, Lasayen and Mbegu walked straight to the lucerne pellet feeding trough after having their milk, and were joined shortly later by Pika Pika and Godoma. Mashariki and Mudanda walked straight to the piles of loose soil and enjoyed an early morning dust bath.
Later after playing for some time in the stockade compound, the orphans left to browse. Kenia, Ndii, Araba and Pika Pika walked up the Msinga Hill leading some of the herd for the beginning of the browsing day. Meanwhile Rorogoi and Embu teamed up to browse along the foot of the hill, along with Suswa, Lasayen, Tagwa and Tamiyoi.
Later in the day, Ndotto came downhill leading those that had decided to browse higher up, taking them towards the baobab tree water hole which has water again. After having his noon milk bottle and some fresh water from the trough, Ngilai started being naughty and was splashing and stirring the water within, making it all dirty. Mbegu took charge and came over to push him away and block him from doing that. Rorogoi and Pika Pika led their friends to splash around inside the water hole. Ndii submerged herself in the deep water and invited her adopted baby Pika Pika to play there with her. Pika Pika really enjoyed playing in the water and even as the others started to leave, she stayed behind to show off all her different playing styles. Eventually she got out and started to follow the others who had already begun to browse along the grasslands.
Tamiyoi yelled out loud this morning as she ran as fast as she could for her morning milk bottle. She didn’t want anyone else to get to her bottle first and have it for themselves! Kenia and Ndii thought perhaps their adopted baby Pika Pika was in trouble and came running over like fighter-jets, but arrived to find it was just the normal milk feed and nothing was amiss.
After the lucerne feeding Ngilai went to catch up with his new friend Tagwa, and the two enjoyed a wonderful wrestling match. They were having so much fun that Emoli became jealous, and came to push Tagwa away from Ngilai and take him away to enjoy a similar game. Lasayen then noticed that Ngilai and Emoli’s game was taking far too long, and seemed far from over, so he made the decision to come over himself and push Ngilai away, so that they would both notice that everyone else was starting to walk out to the Park to browse. It seems like Ngilai was just purely in a playful mood today however, for as soon as they reached the grasslands he went straight up to Ivia to play. Ivia became very excited, jumping up and down in sheer delight, much to the curiosity and bewilderment of Cheza!
The Voi orphans visited the water hole in the afternoon after having their noon milk feed. Diria the zebra squeezed in-between the elephants and was allowed to drink water from the trough alongside them too. Later all the orphans left without having a mud bath today as it was too cold, and continued browsing for the rest of the day.
It was a cold morning but a bright sun was rising as the milk-dependent orphans came out of their stockades for their first milk feed of the day. The orphans concentrated on their milk feed and then their supplement feed of lucerne pellets, before walking out to begin their day of browsing without choosing to play around the compound today.
Soon after arriving on the southern side of Msinga Hill, Mbegu close to play inside a deep soil erosion trench. Her game attracted Tagwa as well, who wished to join her, but later changed her mind and instead she moved on to join their friends as they were being slowly left behind.
The orphans spread out across the grasslands grabbing as much as they could to eat before their noon milk feed.
After the milk-dependent babies had their bottles, all the orphans walked down to drink fresh water from the baobab tree water trough. Tundani looked as if he wanted to get into the water trough for a moment, and Kenia and Araba watched him closely, but in the end he decided not too as it was too cold. This was probably for the best, as the other elephants don’t like it when one of them dirties their drinking water! Mashariki tried taking a mud bath in the cold mud wallow, but she didn’t stay there long and soon went to warm herself up by dusting on the piles of red earth.
The milk-dependent orphan elephants ran to gulp down their morning milk feed, joining their older friends for the lucerne pellet feeding when they were done.
Tamiyoi saw the Keepers washing the milk bottles inside the milk mixing room and mistakenly thought that a third bonus milk bottle was underway being prepared! She stayed back hanging around the milk feeding area hopefully, but soon realized that another milk bottle wasn’t actually forthcoming, and so she decided to join her friends to feed on the pellets too.
All the orphans then left the stockades to enjoy a morning of browsing and later went to have their afternoon milk bottles, before proceeding to the water hole. A wild elephant herd arrived to have some water and swim in the mud bath, and they had two small calves with them. Tamiyoi and Tagwa tried their best to reach the wild calves and play with them, but their efforts were futile as their older brothers and sisters were very protective and didn’t want their siblings playing with any strangers. So our babies were reduced to simply watching the wild elephant calves drinking water from a distance.
Arruba and Ndotto decided to disrupt the tranquility by engaging each other in a sparring game. Ndotto later left to catch up with Ivia the buffalo in their own wrestling match. Ngilai came to join them and Ndotto and Ngilai decided to show off to the wild elephants by excitedly sparring with their friend Ivia. The wild elephant herd was indeed curious of the two elephants playing with a buffalo, and stood watching their brilliant game. Kenia, however, got a little bored of all the antics and these games were old news to her, and as the wild herd weren’t allowing for very much interaction she decided to signal to the other orphans that she was ready to carry on for the afternoon. She started charging up and down, motioning to the others that they had stayed at the water hole for long enough, and it was time to get moving to continue with their usual afternoon of browsing. Soon enough all the orphans decided to follow her, having been denied to play with the young calves, and they all carried on with their browsing activities to fill up their tummies before returning home for the night.
It was a bright morning as the orphans ran to have their milk bottles this morning. After having their lucerne supplements all the orphans walked out to begin their day of browsing. Mashariki, Ndoria and Arruba chose to walk up Msinga Hill adjacent to the stockade compound to browse. Sagala, Tagwa and Tamiyoi lead the way out towards the grasslands, leaving Mashariki and her friends behind. Upon noticing that their friends were quite far away however, Mashariki and the others came running down the hill rumbling and trumpeting to catch up with their friends. It seems they didn’t want to totally be left behind.
The orphans settled on the open grasslands with Msinga Hill behind them. They browsed there all through the morning until just before noon, when it was time for some of the orphans to have their next milk feed. They walked to the feeding area under a nice tree, and then proceeded to the baobab tree mud bath.
Panda walked slowly and majestically towards the water trough where she joined her friends Kenia, Pika Pika and Ndii who were drinking water. Panda and Ndii then walked away, leaving Kenia and Pika Pika behind posing beside the trough. Mbegu decided to roll around on the edge of the mud wallow while sparring with Emoli at the same time, whilst Tagwa also chose to climb on her! She truly is a mini-matriarch in the thick of things at all times. Godoma was standing to the side, waiting patiently for her turn to climb on Mbegu too; unfortunately Sagala came along and ruined that plan by climbing on Mbegu herself, spoiling Godoma’s fun as Mbegu got up and started to walk away to continue browsing. Ndoria enjoyed a good scratch against the baobab tree, while her friend Embu had a lot of fun in the middle of the mud wallow with Ndotto. Eventually when they were all done, the last stragglers at the mud bath like Embu and Ndotto decided to join the rest of their friends to continue browsing for the rest of the day.
Emoli, Pika Pika, Godoma, Sagala, Tagwa and Tamiyoi lifted their trunks to smell their morning milk bottles being brought over for their morning milk feed, eager to guzzle down every last drop of their breakfast bottle. They came running out of their stockade at top speed and finished their bottles in a matter of seconds. Kenia and Ndii came running down from the upper stockade for a wonderful morning greeting with their favourite Pika Pika. They were very excited to see her this morning! The orphans then chose to hang around the stockades for a while, playing and bonding. Ndii thought they were taking too long with their fun and games however, and she approached Kenia and touched her mouth, as if consulting with her about the way forward. Soon she and Kenia took charge and lead their friends out to browse along the southern side of Msinga Hill.
As they arrived there, Ngilai and Murit decided they weren’t done playing, and took each other on in a sparring match, before going back to their browsing activities a bit later.
After the afternoon milk feed, the orphan elephants decided not to take a bath as it was cold today, so they just carried on to continue browsing and fill their tummies along the eastern side of the hill. Suswa used the very big rocks found there to lean against and scratch her entire body. Her friends took an interest in this and decided to copy her with Ndii and Panda coming over to do the same. Meanwhile Mbegu rolled on the ground playing, and Araba came over to touch her with her trunk and admire her game. Emoli started a sparring game with Pika Pika, before the orphans returned to browsing and then slowly made their way home just before 5 o’clock in the afternoon.
This morning was calm and cold. Ndii climbed on a rock close to the stockade water trough to reach some nice greens leaves from one of the tall trees found there. Tamiyoi and Tagwa later took the lead of all the orphans out to the browsing grounds after having their milk bottles and lucerne supplements.
Ngilai, who was in a group browsing ahead of the others, turned back to intercept Ivia for a possible sparring match, but Ivia ran off and avoided playing with Ngilai as he was much more intent on eating. The area is so dry and he was evidently hungry, and so didn’t feel like playing. The orphans traversed the southern rocky side of Msinga Hill, before reaching the baobab tree water hole for the noon milk feed.
As the orphans were having some fresh water from the water trough, a wild elephant herd joined them and they all had a good time interacting and bonding. Sagala, Tamiyoi, Pika Pika and Godoma felt like they were in paradise when they were allowed to interact and play with the young wild calves within the herd – they like nothing more than the opportunity to play with babies! They tried to surround one of the wild calves to hide it from its family so that they could sneak off with it and play, but the older sisters and brothers soon realized what the orphans were trying to do, and they came to fetch their little sister and walked off with her. The orphan elephants followed them for a while, trying their luck to play with the calf again, but in the end they gave up and went back to browsing for the rest of the afternoon.
The orphans were scattered all over the stockade compound feeding on the lucerne pellets after the morning milk feed. Ndotto walked back to the milk feeding area and peered into the milk-mixing room, hoping for an extra bottle; he always does this whenever there is activity in the milk room!
Ndoria was the leader today and all the orphans followed behind her as she walked out to the browsing grounds, leaving Tundani behind as he was still focused on stretching his trunk over the electric fence to browse on the nice green leaves found on the other side.
The orphans settled to browse south of the baobab tree water hole, browsing quietly throughout the morning. After the noon milk feed, the orphans crowded around the baobab tree, but no one wanted to go into the water to wallow as it was too cold today. Mbegu decided to lie down to relax and minutes later, the sassy Emoli came over and initiated a sparring game with her.
The orphans later settled to walk along and browse on the rocky side of Msinga Hill. Lasayen was playing against one of the big boulders he came across and was enjoying his time there until Ishaq-B came along and ruined his fun. Ishaq-B wanted to scratch against the same rock so Lasayen was forced to respect his elder and leave. Godoma was being affectionate towards Murit and the two browsed close together side by side, occasionally touching each other with their trunks. All the orphans browsed collectively until later in the evening when they were lead home by Kenia.