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Some wild bulls walked into the stockades with Ziwa, it seems he was the navigator. Sonje was wary of the bulls until she realized that Ziwa was with them. He walked in confidently and started eating the pellets the keepers had put out. His wild friends stayed further away as they did not want to be so close to the keepers, they were curious as to why Ziwa was so calm around the humans. When the wild elephants started to leave, Ziwa followed them and didn’t even pause to say goodbye to the keepers and the other orphans. They all left towards the Chyulu Hills, while the orphan herd moved to the Umani springs. 

Enkesha and Maktao are best friends, so they walked together towards the Chyulu area. They usually go in the same direction as each other, even if this is the opposite direction to the rest of the orphan herd. Maktao had his trunk over Enkesha as they walked. Kiombo felt left out so he spent the day with Sonje. Some Sykes monkeys were in the trees above, they climbed down the branches to the ground and gave Kiombo a fright. He screamed and started running, this scared Sonje who also started running. Kiombo saw Sonje running so he started running faster.

Kiombo and Maktao have started to have regular mandatory pushing matches. These two growing boys enjoy testing each other’s strength every morning. As soon as they are let out of the stockades, they find each other to start their game. If it ever gets too rough, Enkesha gets involved to separate them as neither of them want to surrender. This morning Maktao was not in the mood to play but Kiombo was oblivious, so he followed Maktao ready to start their game. Maktao turned around very abruptly and pushed Kiombo hard. This left Kiombo confused and upset. Sonje came to attend to Kiombo while Maktao ran away, feeling guilty and not wanting Sonje to be angry with him. Sonje trumpeted calling her friends over to protect Kiombo, but Murera and Enkesha knew that this was their usual game so they were not worried. 

The nightclubbers have not been back for a couple days, but today Zongoloni, Lima Lima, and Faraja came back to the stockades. Jasiri and Ziwa stayed away. The females want to come back to see their friends and the babies but the two males were not interested in coming home. As in the wild, growing bulls leave the family herd and go out on their own. 

Two crocodiles made their way out of the Umani springs and found themselves on the dry land. The orphans were heading towards the springs to browse. Kiasa was running to catch up with her friends when she stopped abruptly and raised her trunk above her head. Kiasa was trying to warn the others, but they couldn’t work out what she was trying to tell them. Quanza and Enkesha rushed over to see for themselves. Quanza spotted the crocodiles and turned to run away. The crocodiles also started running back to the safety of the water, and they disappeared under the surface. Quanza kept Kiasa close to her and the whole orphan herd relocated to browse on the hills away from the Umani springs.

The orphan herd was very calm and settled browsing on the top of the Umani hills when Murera and Alamaya started trumpeting. They were raising the alarm and charging at the trees and rocks. The Keepers couldn’t see anything so they think it was probably a game. 

Kiombo and Makato found themselves in a pushing match this afternoon. Then Maktao pushed Kiombo’s bottom, which turned the tide of the game. Kiombo was losing the game until Sonje came to rescue him from the stronger Maktao.

After their midday bottles, Kiasa, Kiombo, Quanza and Sonje walked over to the bushes, Kiasa raised her trunk over her head. The Keepers thought Kiasa was just stretching, they thought nothing of it. Little did they know that Kiasa, Kiombo, Maktao and Enkesha actually had found some new wild friends that had tiny babies. Kiasa has taken after Lima Lima; she also loves little babies. Sonje joined the younger orphans and they all joined the wild herd. They were completely intermingled, the Keepers found it very difficult to separate the orphans from the wild herd.

The Keepers went off tracking the orphans, trying to get them back from the wild herd. They tried calling Sonje and Kiasa back, hoping they were still close enough to hear and that they would listen. Luckily Quanza, Mwashoti, and Murera heard the Keepers calling and appeared from the bushes. Murera and Mwashoti showed the Keepers which direction the others had gone. After a short time, the Keepers spotted Maktao and Enkesha, who had separated themselves from the wild herd and were heading back to the stockades. All the other orphans followed closely behind, looking tired and thirsty. Before Lima Lima had joined the nightclubbers, she was always the one that would lead the orphans home. Now, Enkesha and Maktao have taken over this duty; they have big shoes to fill.

Zongoloni and the nightclubber boys came back today. They were on a mission to come and take Kiasa away with them. Kiasa was ecstatic to see Zongoloni; she welcomed her back into the orphan herd. 

Murera and Mwashoti didn’t celebrate the arrival of the nightclubbers. Murera was especially unhappy to see Jasiri, who likes pushing her around; she is not interested in the trouble. There were two wild bulls waiting for Zongoloni, who had come to get Kiasa to join them. Zongoloni was still trying to get permission from Sonje, but Sonje was not happy about the situation. Sonje was trying to persuade Kiasa to stay, reminding her of her other friends and the milk feeds and the lucerne. Maktao and Enkesha moved to try and block Kiasa from going with Zongoloni, while Murera and Quanza waited patiently in the shade for Sonje to come back with Kiasa.

When it was time to go back to the stockades, Lima Lima appeared with a young wild bull. She brought her new boyfriend home to introduce him to the orphans and to feed on the Lucerne. The bull was unsure of the situation, so Lima Lima stayed close to him in order to reassure him. As Lima Lima was happily eating the Lucerne, the bull was putting his trunk in Lima Lima’s mouth to get the lucerne that she was eating. He quickly realised that it was very tasty.

Ngasha kept on misbehaving, chasing Murera and Sonje. Kiasa, Kiombo and Enkesha were not happy about this. They love the older girls and don’t like to see them being bothered by the annoying Ngasha. Kiombo and Quanza teamed up and they reported Ngasha to the Keepers. The Keepers helped to keep Ngasha away from Murera and Sonje so that they could browse with the orphan herd in peace. Ngasha knew that he had made a mistake so he left the orphan herd. The babies started celebrating their victory by trumpeting loudly and charging at the bushes. They would now be able to enjoy their day with Murera and Sonje browsing in the to Chyulu hills area.

A wild elephant family accompanied Ngasha back to the stockades this morning. Ngasha spent some time with the wild elephants, but the Keepers could see that he was uncomfortable. The Keepers decided this was because there were big wild bulls that were with the wild herd; he was scared of them, as he couldn’t push them around like he does to the orphan herd. Ngasha left the wild herd and stayed away from the big bulls, making the Keepers laugh at his change of behaviour. 

Zongoloni, Lima Llima and Ziwa joined Kiasa, Kiombo and Enkesha at the waterhole. They enjoyed their time together playing in the mud bath. Kiasa and Zongoloni were especially happy to be together. While still at the waterhole two hamerkop birds flew over, hoping to land at the water, but instead they caused panic amongst the orphans. Mwashoti and Alamaya ran in one direction, Kiasa, who was still in the mud bath, ran in the opposite direction by herself. The confusion cut the mud bath short and the orphans changed their plans, heading back into the bush to browse.

This morning was much colder than usual. This made the orphans quiet; there were no pushing games or playing. At midday when they went to the waterhole, none of the orphans wanted to go swimming. Sonje moved all the orphans to the water trough to have a drink before heading out to the Umani hills. Kiombo usually stays under Sonje’s belly, but today he was confidently walking out in front of the herd. Kiasa, Enkesha and Quanza followed behind in a straight line, then Murera and Mwashoti brought up the rear.

Ngasha hadn’t come back to the stockades this morning, to the relief of Murera and Sonje, but at the midday bottle feed he appeared. Ngasha picked on Maktao today, and when the Keepers interfered, he was very rude and wouldn’t listen to them. The Keepers joined forces and forced him to leave. He then got ashamed of his behaviour and walked off to hide in the bushes. Peace was restored. 

Although Faraja had come back yesterday, he left again during the night. Only Jasiri and Lima Lima were waiting at the stockade gates this morning. Ngasha saw the arrival of Jasiri and he remained on edge while the other orphans browsed peacefully together. Enkesha tried to say hello to Ngasha with her trunk outstretched but he pushed her trunk away, he was sulking about Jasiri keeping an eye on him. Enkesha was upset by his reactions, and went to complain to Zongoloni and Sonje, Maktao also came over to comfort her. After having a discussion Zongoloni, Enkesha and some other orphans went over the Umani hills, leaving Sonje, Murera, and Mwashoti at the base, as they were not ready to go higher up the hills. 

Two huge wild bulls came out of the bushes. As Sonje and Lima Lima were not present, Quanza acted as their hostess and welcomed them nicely into the herd. One bull began pushing Quanza away from the herd, Quanza thought she was just making new friends but now she regretted her discission. She moved away from the herd, feeling scared of the rogue bull.

Kiombo felt cold this morning so he went to hide under Sonje’s tummy, hoping to get some of her warmth. Kiasa and Mkatao saw Kiombo with Sonje and decided to disturb him, pulling his tail and pushing him away from Sonje. Kiombo saw what was going on and fought back. Kiombo and Maktao started a pushing match, and the loser would have to move away from Sonje. Unfortunately, Kiombo was overpowered by Maktao and ran away. 

Sonje and Enkesha raised their trunks up, sensing that there was something in the bushes. The Keepers suspect that they were getting the scent of wild elephants. They were right, a big wild bull came out the bushes. This was usually Lima Lima’s job, she was very good at detecting intruders and new friends, she would often go on patrols and check the path ahead for anything dangerous, but Lima Lima has been spending more and more time away from the orphan herd. 

Alamaya and Mwashoti have spent the last couple of days with the orphan herd but today they quietly headed back to Chyulu hills area to look for Zongoloni and Lima Lima. Shortly after they left Mwashoti heard Murera calling him and turned around to go back to her. Alamaya carried on to find Lima Lima and Zongoloni, he was used to going on his own. Before Alamaya got to where the girls were he got scared of two wild bulls that where following close behind him. Once he joined Zongoloni and Lima Lima he felt much safer. The two wild bulls also joined his friends as Zongoloni trusted them. The wild bulls boosted their group and made them all safe from other wild elephant bullies. Lima Lima was very happy to see Alamaya. 

Today Mwashoti looked lonely. His nightclubber friends, Ngasha and Alamaya, had followed Lima Lima and Zongoloni to the Chyulu area. Although Mwashoti missed his other friends, he loves being with Murera; they spend the days together and at night Murera would put her trunk over the separation and into Mwashoti’s stockade. Mwashoti really enjoys the lucerne pellets the orphans get fed, he can be quite protective over the pellets, only allowing Murera to eat near him. This morning when Enkesha got too close, he raised is trunk in warning.

The orphan herd started following Sonje and Kiombo to the Umani hills. Murera and Mwashoti took their time deciding whether to follow Sonje or not. The Keepers had to call them to join the herd. On the way to the Umani hill the orphans came across a lone buffalo in the bushes. Enkesha trumpeted loudly warning him that there was a herd of elephants and Keepers coming through. The buffalo moved off. 

Murera and Sonje were bothered by the cold this morning, they were slow moving out of the stockades and up to the Umani hills to browse. The rest of the orphan herd were ahead of them already at the top of the hill. Kiombo went to greet Sonje when they got to the top but she was not happy or patient today and she pushed Kiombo away. Kiombo was so upset and complained a lot. Enkesha heard the commotion and went to comfort Kiombo, explaining that Sonje was struggling with the cold, that the cold makes her stiffer, and that she wasn’t angry with him. 

On the Umani hills the orphans had a good day browsing as finding more food on the top of the hill. Quanza found some very tasty acacia trees with lots of pods. Kiasa and Alamaya pulled down the branches to eat while Quanza and the others were trying to shake the whole tree so everyone would have food to eat. Ngasha and Jasiri did not help get the pods down as it was the older females that wanted the younger orphans to get enough to eat. 

The orphans were all raising their trunks up above their heads, a signal that a visitor would appear at any moment. A wild herd appeared and walked directly over to where Faraja and Quanza were standing smelling the air. It turned out to be Ziwa’s family. Ziwa received a warm welcome from Sonje, Enkesha, and Maktao, then all the orphans came over to greet their friend. Ziwa only stayed for a short time before his wild herd left in a hurry. He trumpeted and charged at the trees on his way out. 

Murera and Mwashoti climbed up the Umani hills very quickly, when they got to the top, they found themselves alone, as Sonje and the others were following a different path up the hill. Later in the day, they met up with the rest of the herd at the waterhole. It was too cold to swim so they drank from the water trough and then they left.