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Out in the bush this morning the orphan herd, under the care and leadership of Mbegu, looked calm and composed. The likes of Mbegu, Maramoja, Pare, Lasayen, Rapa, Ndiwa and Mundusi looked bored and sad as they seemed to miss the company of the older orphans Ukame, Wanjala and Galla who left yesterday for the reintroduction unit in Tsavo East National Park. They all browsed close to their keepers and none wanted to walk off very far from the group, as they used to do in the company of the older orphans. During the public visit today, soon after the first group had settled down after their milk bottle, some settled to soil dust and roll around on the dusty ground whilst Esampu and Kuishi were busy chasing after a football. Esampu would run after the ball and try to kick it but more often than not would miss and fall on it. Kuishi would then take advantage of her having fallen on the ball to clamber on top of her. This annoyed Esampu and she got up and head butted her hard to dissuade her from doing it again, but Kuishi didn’t pay attention and every time Esampu fell over the ball she tried to climb on top of her again! This was all very funny for the visiting public and keepers to watch.

This morning during the public visiting time after the first group had finished their milk bottles, Esampu was being a naughty girl and bulling little Kuishi who was trying to drink water from the water trough. Kuishi showed Esampu some respect by turning her back on her, but Esampu just started to head butt her from behind. She then pushed Kuishi so hard she fell into the mud pool, which really surprised the visiting public as they could not believe Esampu would be so naughty.

It was a bright morning today as the orphans went out to the forest and many of them were in a very happy, playful mood. They engaged each other in different games, running after each other, wrestling and playing pushing games. Murit was full of energy and sized up all the other boys for pushing games. He began with Ndotto and they had a fun time playing together, only for Ndotto to surrender awhile later and settle to browse instead. Ngilai replaced Ndotto and had fun playing with Murit and Jotto as well, although Jotto did not last in the game very long with the two older boys. Ngilai always plays with the same strength and vigor with everyone he plays with regardless of their age or size! Murit and Ngilai gave up their game briefly when all herd were on the move to a different part of the forest, but later Murit came across Ngilai playing with Kuishi and he approached to try and interrupt their game. He did not succeed in taking Ngilai away from Kuishi so instead he tried pushing Kuishi away. She didn’t have much choice but to abandon her game with Ngilai and move instead to be with the two young babies Musiara and Sattao who were with the keepers nearby. Kuishi wasn’t having much luck today as when Musiara saw her coming he raised his ears and charged at her. She just ignored the little one and moved closer but Musiara head butted her to try and drive her away. She didn’t respond to his challenges and Mbegu herd Musiara shouting because Kuishi would not move away. She ran over and found that everything was okay but stayed in case any trouble arose. This actually caused further problems though as Ambo followed Mbegu because they had been browsing together. Musiara pushed Ambo and wouldn’t leave him alone, forcing Mbegu to take him away so that Musiara wouldn’t push him anymore.

As all of the orphans settled out in the forest today and were busy browsing, we watched as both Tagwa and Maramoja, who had previously shown less interest in taking care of the young babies unlike Godoma, Mbegu, Esampu, Kuishi, Tamiyoi and Malima, very much attach themselves to the little ones. They even tried to fight off Esampu, Tamiyoi and Kuishi when they tried to approach the two little boys. Later in the day all the caring girls including Malkia, Tagwa and Maramoja were all spotted with the little boys – we have never seen so many protective females around the babies at once!

This morning all the orphans were seen to be busy enjoying their browsing with seemingly no show-offs amongst the group this morning; over the past few days especially the boys have been engaged in games and pushing contests as soon as they greet each other in the morning, but today it was quiet. Maramoja, Ndiwa, Mundusi and Mteto are regrouping and browsing further afield than the other orphans, just like the used to do in the company of Ukame, Galla and Wanjala, but now Maramoja and Ndiwa are their little leaders. After they had finished their share of milk, the first group of orphans down at the public visiting time were all milling around, some drinking water from the water troughs and others eating the greens that had been provided. Kuishi drew everyone’s attention however when she went to lie down on top of the soil heap with her front legs forward and her hind legs spread out behind, and there she napped for almost half of the visiting time in her own unique style.

It was a very dull and cold morning when the orphans went out into the forest this morning as a result from the rain last night. Most of the orphans were slowly browsing and it was only Lasayen and Murit who seems to be in a playing mood. The two engaged each other in a strength wrestling game, even though Lasayen didn’t show much interest in continuing the game. Tagwa is still showing interest in taking care of the little babies and perhaps this has been partly due to Malkia’s influence. Tagwa is almost the same age as her and they are together most of the time. Because of her influence the others like Kuishi, Esampu and even little Malima want to care and protect the little ones too. Today Tagwa chose to be with Malkia whenever she went to find little Musiara and Sattao. During the public visit today the polite boy Ambo was dusting himself on a heap of loose soil in the middle of the group and the cheeky girl Esampu came over and pushed him! Ambo didn’t take this lightly and started pushing her back and then they started fighting. His friend Jotto was meanwhile sizing up with Malima but Esampu went over and pushed Jotto. When Ambo saw that he came running over with his ears raised high ready to engage her but Esampu stood ready to challenge him and by the time they reached each other Jotto and Malima were also there to help put Esampu in her place. The trio jointly disciplined Esampu properly and drove her away from the group.

When it comes to milk feeding time some of the orphans can misbehave and some will fight for what they believe is there’s. Ambo is considered to be one of the polite boys in the orphan family but today he caused drama during one of the feeding times. He arrived earlier ahead of Tagwa to the milk feeding point and when she arrived she ran straight to the keeper who was feeding Ambo. When he saw her coming out of the corner of his eye he started pushing his keeper to walk away and avoid Tagwa, but Tagwa managed to catch up to them. The drama unfolded as the keeper walked in circles trying to avoid Tagwa and Ambo pushed him to fight for his milk! The keeper dropped the bottle to end the pushing and for his own safety as well but the two elephants carried on fighting until a keeper came over with another bottle for Tagwa and Ambo’s was collected to help settle the situation. The same two babies were seen browsing together later on in the day, showing there was no hard feelings after their wrestling match in the morning! Sometimes for no reason, one of the babies can feel jealous towards another and the outcome usually ends in a fight or some kind of disciplining from the older orphans. Today Tamiyoi finished her milk and went to drink from one of the water troughs when Kuishi came over and pushed her, spilling water all over those members of the public who were standing nearby. This annoyed Godoma and she came over to drive Kuishi away from the scene before going back to console Tamiyoi. Ndiwa has settled in so well and knows where her stockade is like the front of her trunk. Today as the orphans were coming back to their stockades, they were scared by a troop of baboons. They came in running and shouting and some of them lost their way and which direction their pen was in, requiring the keepers assistance, but Ndiwa came running in and went straight into her stockade to wait for her bottle feed.

It seems to be the start of our ‘winter’ judging from today’s weather! It was a cold, foggy and drizzly morning today and very misty when the orphans came out of their stockades. The weather has been getting colder every day and today it seems to be the coldest! Because of the cold weather the babies Musiara and Sattao and even Luggard have been staying in their stockades for longer in the morning. Because of this Mbegu, Tagwa, Malkia have been making several trips back to the stockades. By the third time and this time with Pare in tow, the keepers finally realised it was because the babies were still in the compound. This time Mbegu went straight up to Musiara’s stockade and gave a low rumble to which Musiara responded by yelling, attracting Tagwa and Malkia to run to his door as well. They tried to push it open but in vain. There was no other option that to give the babies an extra blanket each and allow them out into the forest with the other orphans and they came out full of joy, walking alongside the older ones to the forest. Esampu was a naughty girl at the public visit today. After drinking her milk bottles she went on head butting everyone starting with Ambo who pushed her back. She proceeded on to knock Tamiyoi, Malima, Jotto, Kuishi and finally Enkesha who she pushed through the rope cordon and into the crowd. It was hard for the keepers to control her as she was clearly in a very bad mood. As they consoled one orphan she moved on to the next one! The keepers had to take her to the edge of the group and keep her there while she calmed down.

It was a lot warmer today than yesterday and the young Jotto was in a very happy and playful mood again. Today he decided to have some fun with Kuishi and she turned ready for a fight, perhaps thinking that Jotto wanted to bully her. He had to approach her in many different playing styles to lure her – he went down on his knees and raised his head and trunk high up in the air and eventually Kuishi complied and she too went down on her knees. They ended up having lots of fun and running around and rolling on each other too. Malima came over as the two were playing their pushing game, looking for Jotto who she is good play mates with. Kuishi didn’t want her to join in though and pushed her away. When Luggard came over though the situation was very different and Jotto was much more gentle in his pushing tactics, considerate of his bad leg. Kuishi wasn’t selfish with the game this time and gave Luggard the chance of playing with Jotto. She stood to the side as Jotto rolled on the ground and Luggard slid down his back. They also enjoyed a wrestling game before winding up their time together. Elsewhere Murit was playing with the naughty boy Rapa; they were breaking down dried and rotten branches and charging and pushing each other. Ambo does not normally take much time playing and doesn’t last too long in games but today he was engaged in a game with Ngilai, charging at warthogs and wrestling with each other. Today it seems to have been Maramoja’s duty to care for the little boys Musiara and Sattao. Since morning she has been walking around with Musiara and before she took over all the older females had surrounded both boys. When they dispersed Maramoja was left with the little ones and Sattao moved to walk next to the keepers, so Maramoja moved into the thicket together with Musiara.