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Once the orphans were out in the bush Kilaguni and Kibo had a score to settle, for a few days earlier Kibo had pushed Kilaguni from his bottle of milk. The two engaged one another in a furious battle, and had to be separated by the Keepers who feared that they might injure one another. Sabachi then ran forward to take on Kilaguni, but was deterred when Kilaguni turned on him quickly with outspread ears which made Sabachi think twice about initiating a pushing match!

Three large Safari trucks arrived today in preparation to move Kilaguni, Sabachi and Chaimu to Ithumba in a few days time. The Keepers are always sad to lose some of their babies to the Rehabilitation process, but understand that they belong in the wild. Three Keepers will accompany the elephants to Tsavo. Kilaguni is one of the most social orphans we have ever had in Nairobi and is every Keepers favourite. The three candidates for translocation were led to the trucks to take their milk and whereas Kilaguni trustingly followed a Keeper right into one of the trucks to take his milk, Chaimu and Sabachi refused to go in.

Today was the day for Kilaguni, Sabachi and Chaimu to leave the Nursery, so it was a sad day for the Keepers, for the three were part of their elephant family. Kilaguni was the first to go into a truck at 5 a.m. in the morning. Chaimu resisted when she reached the back of her truck, but the Keepers shoved her in and closed the door quickly before she could reverse out. Sabachi did the same, and was similarly forced in, and by 5.30 a.m. all three trucks were on their way to Tsavo, followed by Robert and his father and Dame Daphne in the Landrover. At Ithumba, the IMAX crew were ready and waiting to film the arrival of the newcomers. Back in the Nursery, we expected Kibo to be very sad at the absence of Kilaguni, but after searching briefly for his friend, he accepted the inevitable and settled down to browse along with all the others.

Kibo was still in a dull mood due to the absence of his best friend Kilaguni. As soon as Kibo was let out in the morning, he ran to the Stockade formerly occupied by Kilaguni, only to find him not there. Again the orphans were split into two groups, the older group included Suguta, Olare, Tumaren, Melia, Mawenzi and Kibo. The baby group led by Kalama, enjoyed pushing and rolling games, with Mutara and Shukuru being the most playful.

Kibo has been exemplary since the departure of Kilaguni and has not been involved in any mounting or bullying of the babies. Today it was very rewarding to see Mawenzi beginning to play with Kibo, because she has long been “dull” and not well, although we cannot fathom what the problem is.