The month began with a visit from Ziwa, who is the first Umani orphan to fully transition to a wild life. He showed up at the stockades with some wild bulls in tow. Sonje was perturbed to see so many strangers approaching, but as soon as she saw Ziwa, she settled down.
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.
Last night was full of trumpeting and the sound of breaking branches. The Keepers and the orphans were safely in the stockades, but they couldn’t work out what was going on. In the morning we established that some wild bulls were fighting over a female who was in season. The keepers found Jasiri, Ziwa and Faraja close by, watching the whole fight but unable to chase the bigger wild bulls away.
Sonje could see the wild bulls through the fence, and she remembered how tiring it was when Osama was around and all the boys were fighting over her. She didn’t want to be involved this time, she stayed well away. Quanza on the other hand was very curious, she wanted to get closer and was pushing on the posts trying to get out. The Keepers kept the gates shut and didn’t let Quanza out as they were worried about the consequences. Murera stayed calmly in the stockades; she was not disturbed by the noise-makers outside the fence.
Zongoloni, Jasiri and Ziwa came back to the stockades together with some wild elephants, then went straight to the lucerne pellets. The wild elephants were scared at first, but when they realised that they were safe, they joined in feeding on the lucerne. They must have realised that the lucerne pellets were really good in this time of drought. The bushbucks have also discovered how good the lucerne is, as they were feeding in the corner. Zongoloni left the wild elephants to go and join Kiasa, who has been missing her terribly.
Sykes monkeys were trying to climb down a tree that Lima Lima was relaxing under. Every time they got lower Lima Lima would put her trunk up and stop them. The monkeys started shouting in frustration, so the Keepers went to see what was going on, and they found Lima Lima and Zongoloni joining in on the game. The Keepers called the mischievous elephants away so the monkeys could be left in peace.
As the orphan herd started heading back to stockades, a buffalo walked out from the bushes. Kiombo and Kiasa were scratching on a post, and before Kiasa realised, the buffalo was heading straight towards her. Lima Lima and Sonje rushed towards Kiasa trying to warn her, she looked up and saw the buffalo. Kiasa moved out of the way just in time and went to Sonje’s side for protection.
Today was very chilly. When the orphans were at their midday mudbath none of them wanted to get in the water. Sonje and Maktao put their trunks into the water, testing the temperature. Sonje decided it was too cold, she led the babies to the water trough to have a drink instead of going swimming. The orphans had a drink then Sonje and Lima Lima led them out to the bushes towards the Kenzili area.
A wild bull appeared trying to sneak his way into the orphan herd. After hearing the Keepers’ voices, he retreated back into the forest, not feeling comfortable around the humans. Alamaya, who had made friends with the wild bull, seemed sad to see him go.
Mwashoti and Murera found some taller branches to eat on the other side of a trench. Mwashoti was trying to lean over to get to them, but after seeing how deep the trench was he got scared that he might fall in. Mwashoti then led Murera to go and find some branches that were easier to get to. They walked back to where the rest of the orphan herd was browsing, but when they got there, they found that Sonje had led the herd away. Mwashoti and Murera decided to go their own way and join up with the rest of the herd at the stockades later.
This year, the Chyulu Hills and Kibwezi Forest area is uncharacteristically dry. The seasonal rains have failed and it looks like drought is going to be an issue. Finding enough food is becoming harder and many wildfires are now seen approaching. The orphan herd get supplementary lucerne and milk feeds, so they are not suffering from the lack of food. Other animals have been coming to eat any of the leftovers, and it has now become our duty to support the wild elephants, buffaloes, antelopes and other wild animals. The Keepers have started dropping hay and lucerne for them, and the animals all come to feed together. This morning the Keepers found wild elephants feeding on lucerne with bushbucks and baboons. The wild animals know that things are getting tougher and they are happy to share the food.
However, Mwashoti and Alamaya were more protective over their lucerne. The two boys started trumpeting and chased away the baboons and antelope that came to feed on their lucerne. This left the baboons screaming at the top of the trees. Murera, who is still best friends with Mwashoti, walked over to him asking why he was chasing the baboons away, Mwashoti didn’t answer he just moved over to the lucerne and started scooping.
Kiasa and Kiombo had a disagreement over a stick that they both wanted. They started a tug of war but neither of them were ready to give the stick up. Eventually Kiasa overpowered Kiombo, making Kiasa the winner and she walked away with her prize.
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.
Many of the orphans do not like sharing their lucerne with other wildlife. When Mwashoti arrived at the lucerne drop he found six big baboons enjoying the lucerne. Mwashoti chased them away but they gave him a run around, as the baboons found it easy to dodge him. Alamaya and Quanza arrived and they both joined in to help. The baboons ran to the trees. The bushbucks and the baboons returned to the lucerne once the orphan herd had left.
Sonje and Kiombo both decided to go for a drink of water to help the lucerne go down. Kiombo walked in front of Sonje so that she could make sure that he was safe. When they arrived at the water trough, they found two terrapins outside the water. When the terrapins saw Kiombo, they slipped back into the water. Kiombo got scared of the water, he waited for Sonje to catch up. Sonje drunk the water and then started splashing about to try and scare the terrapins out. The terrapins escaped into the grass without Sonje or Kiombo noticing, so both elephants kept splashing around in the water.
All the nightclubbers came back today, under the leaderships of Lima Lima and Zongoloni the boys came home and joined the orphans. There was lots of happy reconnecting, especially Kiasa, Sonje and Murera who ran over to greet Zongoloni. Kiasa had really missed Zongoloni, she stayed with Zongoloni all day and Kiasa would run over trumpeting if they ever got separated. At the Umani hills Zongoloni and Kiasa kept putting their heads together, Kiasa staying very close to Zongoloni so that she would not disappear again.
Alamaya and Mwashoti were happy to see their friends Faraja, and Jasiri, but Ngasha was less happy to have them back. Faraja and Jasiri extended their trunks in greeting to Ngasha, but he did not want to interlock trunks. Instead, he pushed Faraja, telling him he better walk away with Jasiri. Mwashoti moved to Faraja, telling him not to worry about Ngasha, who was still holding a grudge against Faraja. While Jasiri and Faraja had forgiven and moved on with normal life among the herd.
Ziwa arrived with his adopted wild herd at the stockade water trough this morning. They were joined by another wild herd and a big wild bull that appeared to be escorting them. Ziwa went to greet all his orphan friends but he was interrupted by Jasiri and Ngasha, who were pushing him away. Ziwa let out a little screaming which alerted his wild friends to come and rescue him. They came to his rescue and were ready to push past anyone that tried to stop them from getting to Ziwa. The huge bull acted as the group bouncer and he kept Ngasha and Jasiri away from the wild herd. They collected Ziwa and left in a hurry.
Lima Lima snuck into the wild herd, wanting to go with them because she had seen that they had two tiny babies. However, the wild mothers didn’t give Lima Lima the chance to get close to the babies, they were very well protected.
The wild herd were moving very quickly to Chyulu area, some buffalos realised that they were coming through but two buffaloes hadn’t heard the movement and they got a fright. The wild elephants kept on trumpeting and the buffaloes went running in the opposite direction.
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.
Zongoloni and Faraja arrived back at the stockades this morning, they were welcomed back but the Keepers noticed that Lima Lima, Jasiri and Ziwa had not come back with the other two. The Keepers assumed that they had stayed with the wild herd that had the tiny babies; Lima Lima would have wanted to stay with them.
On the Umani Hills, some wild elephants were screaming after a fight broke out between them. There were two young elephants fighting over a stick, then Lima Lima appeared to settle the fight. We were amazed at how good Lima Lima was at brokering the peace. Alamaya and Mwashoti joined Lima Lima in the hills with the wild elephant herd. Lima Lima was with a wild bull that she had befriended during her travels along the Chyulu Hills.
Later in the day the orphans went to the waterhole but it was too cold to go swimming. Alamaya was the only one who got into the water but he quickly got out and went over to the dust bath and began throwing dust over himself.
A wild herd showed up along the Kenzili road to meet up with the orphans. Kiasa realised that Zongoloni and Mwashoti were among the wild herd and she went to join them. There was a wild baby that was roughly the same age as Kiasa, this baby came running across the road to meet Kiasa. The wild mother was not happy, she didn’t want Kiasa and Zongoloni to take her baby away. Alamaya and Mwashoti returned to the Keepers but the wild bulls didn’t trust the Keepers so tried to charge them. The Keepers had to run away calling the orphans to follow them.
A klipspringer crossed the rocky sharp lava area in the Kenzili area. Lima Lima and Ngasha watched in disbelief as the klipspringers ran over the rough terrain so quickly and disappeared. There was loud trumpeting as the orphans tried to charge the antelopes, but the klipspringers were too clever, and disappeared before the orphans knew what was happening.
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.
The bushbucks and the baboons have become friends in this time of drought. The baboons have even started helping the bushbucks get acacia pods. The baboons climb the acacia trees and shake the branches so that the pods fall to the ground and the bushbucks can easily reach them. The orphans have also realised that they too can get easy access to the acacia pods. Quanza brought Kiombo to feed on some acacia pods. Quanza is the leader when it comes to chasing the baboons and bushbuck away to get the seed pods that are left behind. Lima Lima and Sonje now took over the role of shaking the branches to get the pods down. Maktao and Kiasa were celebrating their newly found snack. Once Sonje had finished shaking branches, she came to eat some pods but found that they had already been finished, none of the babies thought of saving any for Sonje.
Ziwa and his wild family came from the Umani springs, where they had been drinking water, to say hello to Murera and his other friends. The herd was on high alert and did not give Ziwa the chance to stay with the orphan herd. Ziwa’s adopted mother trumpeted loudly, telling him that they would leave without him if he didn’t come back to the wild herd now. Ziwa quickly rejoined the wild herd and followed them back to the Chyulu hills.
The orphans were playing and wallowing in the mud bath. Kiombo and Mwashoti were enjoying another pushing match, until Kiombo fell over, and then Alamaya fell on top of him, squashing Kiombo. Kiombo started trumpeting loudly, calling to Sonje for help. Sonje rushed in to help Kiombo but it wasn’t easy as all the orphans were overcrowding the mud bath. Murera and Lima Lima also came to help get Kiombo out of the mud bath. Maktao, Kiombo’s agemate and wrestling buddy, came to hug Kiombo and make sure he was okay. The Keepers decided to chase Mwashoti and Alamaya out of the mud bath as they were too rough with the younger orphans.
After having a mud wallow, Sonje led the orphans to the dust pile. Ngasha and Murera both took a nap on the warm dust pile. Murera found herself a very comfortable spot to enjoy the sunshine, with a slight breeze keeping the flies off her. Maktao accidentally stepped on Murera while she was still sleeping, which made her very angry with him. Mwashoti came to Maktao’s rescue, explaining that is was an accident.
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.
The Keepers heard lots of elephants trumpeting loudly in the Chyulu hills area. Kiasa raised her trunk over her head, trying to work out who was making so much noise. But when Zongoloni, Lima Lima, Faraja and Jasiri came back after being away for a couple of days, it became apparent that Kiasa had been able to smell her friend Zongoloni.
Jasiri walked to where Ngasha and the other orphans were browsing, he circled round greeting all the babies. Jasiri and Faraja saw Ngasha chasing Murera and this angered the two boys, they decided to protect Murera and to teach Ngasha some respect. The two older boys pushed Ngasha away from the orphan herd, leaving the younger orphans, Murera and Sonje celebrating his absence.
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.
The Keepers were happy that Jasiri had stayed back with the orphan herd even when Faraja had left, as he was keeping Ngasha in check and teaching him some manners. Sonje and Murera were both happy and relaxed today, which gave the Keepers a lot of Joy. They hoped Jasiri would stay with the herd for a while to give them some peace.
Zongoloni and Lima lima did not come back to the orphan herd this morning. They had probably caught up with Faraja, as they are good friends and they like being together. The Keepers think they have all moved to the Chyulu area in search of more food, as the Umani and Kibwezi areas are very dry, with the exception of the springs. The springs still have nice clean water to drink which brings the elephants and orphans through the area on a regular basis.
The cold dry weather we have been experiencing has made the orphans reluctant to go to the mud bath as the water is cold and then the cold wind makes it hard for them to warm up afterwards. The Keepers have observed that the orphans will put their feet in the water to test it, they end up with darker mud on their feet, it looks like they are wearing socks.
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.
Maktao, Kiasa and Kiombo were very playful this morning. Maktao held Kiombo's tail from behind and Kiombo turned to fight for his tail, then Maktao let go of Kiombo’s tail to push Kiasa. Before she could get up Kiombo came along and climbed on her. The Keepers went to rescue her as the two young boys had ganged up on her. Quanza and Sonje also came to help Kiasa.
Wild elephants visited the Umani springs and came by the stockades looking for the orphan herd, but they had all gone to browse on the Umani hills. The wild herd could hear the orphans and the Keepers on the hillside, they did not want to be close to people so they chose another path to the Kenzili road.
Faraja and Jasiri came across their friend Ziwa and his wild family. They interlocked trunks and hugged in greeting. Faraja was especially happy to see Ziwa.
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 Keepers heard lots of wild elephants and buffaloes around the Kenzili area. All the animals were busy trying to find enough food. Zongoloni, Lima Lima and Faraja came across these wild friends, Lima Lima immediately walked over to say hello. Zongoloni saw that Lima Lima was happy with the wild herd, as they had two tiny babies, so she returned to the stockades to find Kiasa.
Another disagreement broke out between Jasiri and the bully Ngasha. Ngasha walked straight over where Jasiri was pulling up acacia roots to eat. This upset Jasiri as Ngasha was being so disrespectful.
Lima Lima and the other nightclubbers arrived this morning, even Faraja and Ziwa were present. They went straight to the lucerne pellets corner. Murera and all the orphans were also still at the stockades, Kiombo as usual was with Sonje and Quanza. Sonje was trying to position herself between Kiombo and Ngasha to protect her little friend. Ngasha was hanging around the orphans and none of them felt relaxed about his presence.
Alamaya got scared of baboon that was making a lot of noise behind him, he charged at the baboon that was eating the left over pellets, embarrassed that it had scared him.
The orphan herd left the stockades and headed out towards the Chyulu hills. Ngasha did not hesitate to follow them, but he stayed a little behind them knowing that he was not really welcome. Although today he remained very calm and well mannered. Since Jasiri has been staying with the orphan herd, he has taught Ngasha that he can be big and strong without being a bully. Jasiri is stronger than Ngasha, so even if he does misbehave Jasiri can still put him in his place.
Alamaya, Mwashoti and Lima Lima remain great friends, but Mwashoti also likes being with Murera. This has given Alamaya the chance to go off with other nightclubbers and not worry about leaving Mwashoti behind. Murera is also very happy about this, Mwashoti is her favorite and she loves spending time with him.
Wild elephants visited from the Chyulu hills, the herd had two tiny babies with them. The babies were anxiously trying to stay underneath their mothers’ tummies. They were scared of our orphans, especially Lima Lima and Quanza, who went to see them up close. The wild mothers blocked the orphans from getting too close, wanting to protect their babies. Later some wild males came along too, they joined the wild female herd and the orphans. Lima Lima, as usual, was the first to warn the Keepers that a wild elephant was coming, she put her trunk over her head. This is her signal for either danger, wild elephants, or buffaloes.
Zongoloni spotted that Kiasa was separated from the Keepers and the other orphans. Before the Keepers knew what was happening Zongoloni had taken Kiasa away with her, leaving the Keepers searching in the bush for Kiasa. They called her name, hoping she would hear them and come back. When all the orphans arrived back at the stockades that evening, Kiasa was still nowhere to be found. She wanted to experience a night out in the wild, but late that night she must have gotten worried and forced Zongoloni to bring her home. Kiasa missed her evening bottle, but as a reward for coming home, the Keepers gave her a milk bottle in the middle of the night.
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.
The Keepers were very happy to see all the orphans assembled together this morning. Zongoloni and Lima Lima had brought back all the nightclubber boys. The whole herd was peacefully eating lucerne pellets together. Zongoloni and Kiasa were reunited, they intertwined trunks, then Kiasa took up her place next to Zongoloni, touching her side. Lima Lima is so clever, she had not had enough lucerne to eat, so she walked straight to the lucerne store and took a bale. She also tried her luck at the milk store, but the lock was closed. Then she ran off with the lucerne so the Keepers would not catch her. Mwashoti with Ngasha walked behind her picking up any lucerne she had dropped. Sonje made a low grumbling noise, a warning to the orphans, they all stopped what they were doing and the younger orphans all moved to where Sonje was standing. Sonje wanted all the babies to relocated to another area where there was more vegetation to feed on.
The bully Ngasha found himself in a tough spot, he was now overpowered and outnumbered by Jasiri and Faraja. They had him cornered in the stockade compound, making him feel very uncomfortable. He ran quickly trying to get past them, but he slipped on some wet ground and fell. Faraja went and stood over him, trying to teach him to respect his fellow orphans so that Ngasha could be part of the herd, instead of being the unwelcome bully. Sonje and Murera need the older bulls to teach him a lesson as they as not strong enough to win pushing matches against Ngasha.