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After leaving the stockades, the orphans briefly settled for some lucerne grass. They didn’t stay long however, for suddenly Larro started trumpeting and running towards the bush. The trumpeting drew the attention of the entire group and they all stopped feeding and followed after Larro. The orphans were all running and Mukkoka grabbed Roho’s tail when Roho overtook him. Poor Roho screamed when Mukkoka bit his tail, but Mukkoka let go as soon as he heard Roho shout, apparently satisfied that he had punished Roho enough for overtaking him.

This brought about the beginning of the browsing day for the orphans! Jotto loves rolling first thing in the morning and today was no different, he got down on the ground and started rolling around in joy. His game looked so much fun he was soon joined by Sagateisa, Naboishu, Sattao and Esoit. Kindani and Bondeni had their own soil dusting exercise a few metres away from their friends. Later, Bondeni engaged Roho into a pushing game that saw Bondeni surrender when the going got tough for him.

The orphans were joined by Malkia, Sana Sana, Malima and Rapa who are now living free in the wild, and who like to join up with the dependent orphans and Keepers when they fancy doing so. Kuishi had a brief meeting with her friend Malkia, perhaps inquiring what life is like out there in the wild. We can’t help but think that perhaps Kuishi might think about joining them soon!

Kindani led the first group to the mud bath while Olorien led the second group. After finishing their milk, the orphans went to drink some water and went straight back out to browse again, without wallowing. It was another quiet afternoon as the orphans concentrated on browsing. Shortly before evening, Esoit engaged Lodo into a pushing game while Roho played with Bondeni, and steered clear of Mukkoka who he hadn’t forgiven for biting his tail this morning! Naleku took a break from browsing to have a game of rolling on the ground. In the evening, Suguroi led the way back to the stockades for the night. 

The orphans came out of their night stockades and immediately went to enjoy their lucerne breakfast. Kauro, who often reports back in the morning, arrived in good time to join the dependent babies. Later, a lone wild bull joined the orphans too. Naboishu walked over to chat to the bull and they ended up conversing for quite some time. As soon as the bull had enough lucerne, he walked down to the water trough. Neshashi followed him and they were joined by Roho, Sattao, Musiara, Naboishu and Naleku too. Kinyei and Bondeni settled to scratch on a nearby rock. Neshashi, who left with the ex-orphans last night, emerged from the south leading Nabulu, Malima, Malkia, Mapia and Ndiwa. We were happy to see her with the girls who have recently left the stockade life and she seemed very happy in their company! The small group joined the orphans for lucerne too. When everyone was done, Larro led the way out to the bush.

Out in the bush the boys, Musiara and Ambo, had a strength testing exercise while Naboishu tackled Roho. Meanwhile the rest of the orphans concentrated on browsing right up until mud bath time when Olorien led the first group for their noon milk feed. The happy and playful Suguroi led the second group. It was a hot day and Dololo, Roho, Naboishu, Naleku, Ambo, Esoit, Larro, Musiara and Jotto all got in the mud bath to cool off after finishing their milk. They came out and went to the dust bath to dry off. While on the loose soil Naboishu enjoyed climbing on Sagateisa, but his game was short-lived as Makena arrived and warned Naboishu to stop misbehaving. The orphans calmly settled to browse in the Kanziku area for the rest of the day.

The orphans settled for lucerne shortly after leaving the stockade. A wild herd with young ones arrived at the stockade water troughs to drink water. Kauro walked down and joined the herd in drinking water. Lodo settled down to share lucerne with Sagateisa, while Kinyei played a pushing game with Esoit. After having enough lucerne, Kuishi led the way to the browsing field. There, the orphans were joined by Neshashi, Mapia, Nabulu, Malkia, and Malima. Jotto and Kuishi had a brief conversation with Neshashi, trying to understand how she had returned to the wild in less than a year since coming to Ithumba. Neshashi seemed to smile and only told them that they were very welcome to join her if they would like to.

During mud bath time, Naleku was brave enough to join the wild bulls in the large mud bath to cool herself down. The rest of the orphans settled for a soil dusting exercise. In the afternoon, the orphans went to browse in the Kanziku area. Roho engaged Bondeni in a pushing game. However, their game didn't last long as Jotto passed by and separated the two boys. In the evening, Olorien led the way back to the stockade.