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After Jotto, Ambo and Mapia were moved to be in the older group with the big girls like Shukuru, Ndiwa, Sana Sana, Sagala, Malkia, Tagwa and Kuishi, the first group seems to be very peaceful and there is no one to bully the youngsters, especially during the public visit. Maisha and Malima are now all happy and playful and able to run about without the worry of one of the bullish older orphans to stop them. Today during the public visit Malima was especially playful, rolling around in the loose soil and striking all sorts of poses. Suddenly she got up and started running along the rope cordon, playfully bumping into the visitors with her ears spread wide, with the keepers running after her. When she noticed the keepers coming after her she did a u-turn and went back to playing on the soil, but when she saw the keepers moving away again she quickly got up and went back to running along the cordon! She was very funny and seemed to steal the visiting public’s attention today.

Tamiyoi is taking on Godoma’s old role very well and is showing promise of becoming an excellent mini matriarch within the herd. With some of the babies it is not often we find them sharing or inviting their friends to share food with them, but Tamiyoi has remained gentle and polite and is a peace-maker among the young group. Some of the babies like Enkesha recognize her good nature and appreciate her character so much, they invite her to share their food with them. Enkesha is normally quite protective of her food, especially when approached by one of her age-mates, but not with Tamiyoi or the very little ones. Today during the public visit she got very angry with Malima and charged at her to keep her away from her food pile, but allowed Tamiyoi to share with her. Today for once it was Kiasa who had to teach one of her age-mates a lesson. Emoli was being a little trouble maker and head butting those in front of him, but Kiasa came over and chased him away which was very interesting to see. Perhaps there is only room for one naughty elephant!

It seems Kiko’s naughtiness is growing as fast as he is! The giraffe is determined to make sure his presence is felt and he is not forgotten by the keepers and the elephant orphans too. Just after 1pm, as the orphans gathered under the trees to seek shade from the hot sun, the naughty giraffe stormed through, forcing his way through the herd. This sparked a response from the elephants, with playful girls like Malima trying to mock-charge him. Tagwa joined in to protect her from the mischievous Kiko, who was throwing back-kicks towards Tamiyoi. Naughty Kiko then used his height to his advantage, by picking a hat off one of the keepers’ heads and trying to chew on it, before another keeper could snatch it back! The attempts from Kiko’s keeper to lure him away from the group bore no fruit as Kiko was clearly wise to this old trick. The elephants then got together and gathered their courage to charge at the defiant giraffe, and eventually they succeeded in driving him a small distance from the herd and he wandered off to go and browse on his own.

It was a warm afternoon and all the orphans were in a good mood. Some were browsing and others were dusting themselves in the loose, dry soil. What started off as a game only between the little boys, soon attracted some of the young girls as well and even some of the older ones. It was Musiara who set the ball rolling, grabbing Maktao’s tail. In protest Maktao turned and a pushing game started. As the game gained momentum, Musiara’s friend and age-mate Sattao joined in to help his friend. Emoli intervened and tried to separate them all, but he received a bad response as Musiara pushed him hard and bit his tail as well! The little limping boy Luggard stepped in and took hold of one of Maktao’s ears with his trunk, before Kiasa came rushing over to help her neighbour little Maktao. Enkesha then joined the pushing game too, with Jotto, Ambo and Malima mock-charging from a distance. The game continued for some time, before they were all drawn to Tagwa who had made the decision to start moving into the nearby thicket to browse. This meant the game drew to a close, as each of the babies bowed out to follow their new matriarch into the bushes as well.

Today we watched Luggard have a lengthy interaction with Musiara and Jotto. It was nice to see the three playing and pushing each other. Luggard went after Musiara and grabbed his tail to make sure he couldn’t walk away and so that there wasn’t a big gap between them. Mapia keeps warning Ambo as day after day he seems to want to bully him. Today however whenever Ambo has tried to charge at him, Mapia raises his ears and moves a few steps forward, showing Ambo that he is ready to take him on now he is feeling more confident. Today during visiting Malima was happy running along the rope cordon throwing back-kicks towards the visitors, as Sattao was happily interacting with them. He especially enjoys interacting with school children. In the evening while in their stockades, most of the babies will go on pulling branches over from their neighbour’s room, even though they have their own to browse on. Sometimes Malkia is left with almost nothing to eat as Ndiwa and Tagwa have pulled through all her branches, which is exactly what happened this evening too!

The two ‘big boys’ in the Nursery at the moment, Jotto and Ambo, were playing a pushing game after the 9am milk feed. Ambo was determined to win the game, and pushed Jotto hard against a nearby tree. In revenge, Jotto grabbed Ambo’s leg with his trunk, almost causing his opponent to fall over. Malima decided to join the game by biting Jotto’s tail! Jotto yelled his complaint and turned to face his female opponent for revenge. Tamiyoi now intervened to assist Jotto, her long-time friend, before Kuishi interrupted the entire game by lying on the ground in the middle of the sparring babies to dust herself. Malima decided to exit the game and dust herself as well, as Jotto and Tamiyoi lay next to Kuishi to join in too. Sattao and Maktao came running over to enjoy the dusting session, as Kiasa scratched her belly against a tree that was nearby.

Kiasa is most certainly the naughtiest orphan in the Nursery at the moment. Today she pushed Sattao to the ground during the 9am milk feed, but her naughty antics did not stop there. During the public visiting time between 11am-12noon, she wanted to make sure her presence was felt and this time she did it by bullying Musiara, wanting his share of milk and demanding it from the keepers feeding him. The keepers tried to block her from getting Musiara’s milk bottle, but instead she turned her attention to Maisha. As Maisha arrived for her share Kiasa quickly ran over and pulled the bottle out of the keeper’s hands, spilling some on the ground before he could pick it up. After being warned by the keepers, the cheeky girl turned to Emoli and decided to try and take a branch from his mouth. In protest Emoli turned in circles trying to protect the nice branch he had found and that he was enjoying chewing on. As Kiasa persisted, Emoli resisted, and decided to try and fight her which initiated a ‘push and pull’ game. Tamiyoi intervened to try and get the situation under control, but the two babies wanted to continue with their fight. Eventually everything was resolved when Malima came over and bit Kiasa’s tail! The naughty girl bowed out of the fight and decided to at last behave herself, heading to the mud hole for a mud bath.

Today Maxwell woke up earlier than usual. He was seen to be quite restless and moving up and down in his large stockade. Dust filled the air as the blind orphan stamped his feet on the ground. Later as the keepers were leading the elephant orphans out to the forest, they noticed a herd of buffalo near Maxwell’s stockade, and we realized that was the reason why Maxwell was so unsettled and stamping around his territory. As the orphans made their way out, the buffaloes began to move slowly away into the bushes. Sana Sana, Tagwa, Malkia and Malima were in the front line and doing little mock-charges at the buffaloes. They trumpeted and stamped around in the bushes, raising their wars high to make themselves appear big to the retreating buffaloes. Jotto, one of the big boys in the Nursery, mock-charged with them as well. Mapia and Ambo, although not at the front, trumpeted and kicked to support their older friends. Maktao, Musiara and Luggard with his bad leg preferred to remain close to the keepers and watch from behind.

During the public visiting hour today, Musiara stole the show. As the last group of elephants came running in for their milk bottles, this little boy lagged behind, slowly following his friends who rushed in. Musiara chose to avoid the water that separated the feeding area and the rocks, and instead chose a dry path to follow, forcing the visitors to pave way for the little boy. He slowly drank his bottle, resting his trunk on his keeper’s hand. Emoli and Maktao were rolling on a fresh heap of loose soil, taking it in turns to roll and dust their bodies. Sattao joined their game and as it gained momentum, Kiasa decided to join the three boys. This also changed the style of game from a rolling one to a pushing and pulling one. Emoli pulled Sattao’s trunk as Kiasa pushed Emoli from behind. Emoli did not know but Kiasa had other plans, and the naughty girl bit Emoli’s tail so hard that he yelled for help. Malima came running over with her ears raised to save the crying Emoli, and Tamiyoi came over to help separate the fighting babies as well. They all walked off in different directions, bringing their fighting game to an end.