Every new rescue acclimates to Nursery life at their own pace. It isn’t unusual for an orphan to need several weeks or even months to fully settle in. However, the latest addition to our herd, Esoit, has embraced his new family with great fervour. Despite his traumatic rescue, he took to his Keepers from the outset and adapted to all the unfamiliar routines without incident.
This morning Bondeni seemed to be extremely eager to be let out of his stable. As the Keepers were walking around getting ready to let the orphans out, they had opened the top doors of the stables and this seemed to excite Bondeni who immediately started knocking at his bottom door and climbing up to see outside. The Keepers eventually decided to let Bondeni out as he was causing such a commotion. Once he was let out however Bondeni seemed to be a little disappointed, as he realized he was the first to be let out and none of the other orphans were around yet. The Keepers kept a close eye on him as they waited for it to get a little brighter before letting the others out. Bondeni began to do the rounds; he first ran over to Kinyei and Kindani’s stable doors and greeted his two best friends who were both patiently waiting to be let out. He then walked over to Shukuru’s stockade gate and the two warmly greeted each other for a couple of minutes.
After greeting Shukuru, Bondeni noticed that Maxwell was up and about and walking around his stockade. Bondeni quickly ran over to Maxwell’s bottom gate, and Max, who has excellent hearing, was quick to hear the little bull and walked over to the same gate. Bondeni began to playfully push and pull at Max’s gate which seemed to excite the large rhino who began to rub up against the gate as he walked up and down. The two enjoyed their game until all the other orphans were let out of their stables and stockades. Bondeni seemed to be so distracted by his game that Larro came over and rumbled at him, as if telling him it was time to head out to the forest now. As Bondeni ran off with Larro and the others, Maxwell walked back to his greens where he began to feast on his acacia branches.
Since Maktao and Kiombo’s graduation, Mukkoka has had to step up as the uncle of the herd and he seems to be taking this role very seriously. He has been enjoying many playful moments with Naboishu but he has also been keeping Naboishu in check. After the orphans’ midday bottles of milk, Naboishu tried to push Olorien who was standing next to Mukkoka. Mukkoka got very angry with Naboishu and he quickly chased him away and rumbled loudly at him, meaning Naboishu kept his distance didn’t bother any of the other orphans for the rest of the day.
Naleku continues to pursue a friendship with Shukuru. Perhaps due to her condition, Shukuru doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to the younger orphans and this may be due to a lack of energy. The younger orphans continue to be slightly curious about their older Nursery friend, but most days they will let her do her own thing. Naleku, however, continues to follow Shukuru around and tries to catch the older girls’ attention whenever she is nearby.
It is important for the orphans to learn how to socialize and co-exist with other wild animals that they will come into contact with in the wild. The orphans at the Nursery predominantly come across buffalo, baboons, and the warthogs too. Today’s interaction, however, was with the troop of baboons that daily comes through the forest. It was towards midday and the orphans had settled in the forest to browse, and they had divided themselves into smaller groups. Naboishu was busy browsing with Ziwadi, Rama, Naleku, Olorien and Kinyei. Naboishu was being so friendly with his little group that the Keepers didn’t even have to keep an eye on him. Shukuru was browsing just to the left of them, on her own but not too far from the herd. Roho, Mukkoka and Kindani had formed their own group of three and Larro was browsing with Esoit and Bondeni.
As the orphans were busy browsing, the baboons were up above them in the branches of the trees, foraging and swinging from branch to branch. As one of the larger baboons was moving along one of the branches, it accidentally broke off a piece of branch which fell and landed on Roho’s back. This gave Roho such a fright that he began turning in circles trying to see what had landed on his back. Mukkoka looked up and as soon as he saw the baboons he let out a deep rumble as if alerting the other orphans. Mukkoka then began to push at the trees as if trying to shake the baboons out and as some of the baboons began to swing from branch to branch to get away they were pursued by Roho, who ran after them trumpeting and rumbling. Kindani even got involved and began to chase after them too.
Once the baboons were long gone, Kindani, Mukkoka and Roho began making their way back to the rest of the Nursery herd. As they were walking along the path, Kindani accidentally stepped too close to a tortoise that let out a deep hiss in warning. This gave Kindani the biggest fright as she trumpeted loudly and ran straight towards her Keepers. Once the Keepers realized there was nothing to worry about they calmed her down and all the orphans settled back down to browse for the afternoon.
Much like humans, the orphans can have their good days, and their bad days. Since Shukuru’s arrival, all the orphans have tried to gain her attention and keep her company. Shukuru, however, has always been a bit of a solo elephant and seems to quite enjoy peacefully browsing on her own. This morning, however, Shukuru was in an extremely friendly mood. As the orphans had settled in the forest to browse, Shukuru as usual settled to browse on her own, not too far from the rest of the Nursery herd.
At one point during the morning, Kindani, Bondeni, and Kinyei began to enjoy a dust bath on one of the soil mounds within the forest. As they were rolling around, Shukuru started to approach them. Kindani quickly noticed her and she stood up, as if she was unsure of what Shukuru might do. She seemed a little hesitant as Shukuru go closer, but as soon as Shukuru was close enough she reached out her trunk and held Kindani close to her which seemed to calm her down. It was so special to see Shukuru enjoy this special moment with them. They spent the at least an hour trunk hugging each other, suckling Shukuru’s ears and cuddling one another.
The orphans enjoyed their midday bottles of milk down at the mud bath as the Keepers had dug some fresh soil for them to play in. Naleku was the first to run straight over to the fresh soil and she began to roll around covering herself. As she was rolling around, naughty Naboishu came running over and began to try to climb on the little girls back. As he is so much bigger, Naleku quickly began to protest and as a result Roho came running over and began to push Naboishu away from Naleku, trying to protect her. Roho unfortunately was too small to push Naboishu away, so Mukkoka quickly came running over to help. Mukkoka quickly pushed Naboishu off her and then all the orphans enjoyed a peaceful dust bath.
The orphans had a quiet afternoon browsing in the forest.
Much like Roho and Rama, Esoit seems to love his mud baths. Sadly, however, Nairobi has been quite cold recently and the orphans haven’t been able to enjoy the water for quite some time now. Even on slightly warmer days, they haven’t shown much interest in having a mud bath including orphans such as Roho and Rama. Today, however, as the orphans were walking through the forest, Esoit came across a little mud pool and he immediately dashed into the muddy water and began to splash around. After a few minutes, Roho came running over and joined Esoit in the muddy waters too. Roho and Esoit seem to be growing closer and closer as friends. They were soon joined by Larro, Mukkoka, Naboishu, Naleku and Olorien, and they all enjoyed a long mud bath before getting out and re-joining the rest of the Nursery herd who were busy browsing.
Kindani seems to be adopting some of Olorien’s naughty ways and can sometimes be a bit of bully towards the other orphans. Recently, she has been bullying Rama, Ziwadi, Roho, Naleku and on the very odd occasion even her good friend Kinyei. This afternoon she seemed to be in one of her naughty moods. As the orphans were running down for their 3 o’clock bottles of milk, Kindani went with Rama, but she kept blocking his way and pushing him. The poor boy yelled out in protest and the Keeper accompanying them quickly appeared. As soon as Kindani saw him she ran off as she knew she was being naughty. Rama continued on his way but seemed to keep his distance from her.
Later back in the forest Kindani kept up her naughty ways. She pushed Ziwadi, knocking her over for no reason at all. This time, however, it was Larro who responded and she was not impressed. Larro came over and pushed her away and rumbled at her very angrily as if warning her off. Kindani quickly ran off and settled to browse near Bondeni and Kinyei for the rest of the afternoon, and didn’t disturb anyone else.
Naboishu does keep his Keepers on their toes, much like Kiasa used to do! Some days, he can be so well behaved, whereas others he can be so naughty that the Keepers constantly have to follow him around and keep an eye on him. He always seems to enjoy the company of the younger orphans, but he just doesn’t seem to realize his strength and size compared to theirs and this can get him into a lot of trouble.
After the orphans finished their midday bottles of milk, Kinyei, Bondeni, Kindani, Olorien, Roho, Naleku and Esoit were all enjoying rolling around in the freshly dug soil and they were all having a great time. Roho and Naleku were even having fun playfully climbing on each other’s backs. Their fun, however, was short lived as Naboishu kept trying to sneak in and climb on them; his main targets were Naleku and Kinyei. To make matters worse, he was being extremely disobedient and wouldn’t listen to the Keepers or Larro and Mukkoka, who were all trying to keep him away from the younger orphans. Roho even stepped in to protect little Naleku from him. Eventually, the Keepers had no choice but to chase him far away from the herd into the bushes, much like being put in the naughty corner. Once back in the forest, he seemed to calm down and wasn’t so naughty.
It was quite a warm afternoon and the orphans enjoyed their afternoon bottles down at the mud bath. As soon as he was finished his bottle, Rama walked straight over to the edge of the mud bath where he stood, seemingly debating as to whether he should get in or not. He appeared to be hesitant because there was a large male warthog wallowing in the middle of the muddy pool too. Naboishu, however, was oblivious to the warthog and just came barreling into the water, scaring off the warthog. As soon as the warthog scampered off, Rama happily got into the water and began to splash mud all over his body. After all the mud baths were finished, the orphans enjoyed a short browsing session in the forest before heading back to the stockade compound for the evening.
Shukuru continues to have her days where she is more interactive with the younger orphans and her days where she prefers to move off and browse on her own. Today, however, she spent the entire day with the younger orphans. Since this morning, she has been keeping company with Olorien, Kinyei, Roho, Ziwadi, Rama, and Naleku. She is such a quiet girl, so it was so nice for the Keepers to see her enjoying her time with the younger orphans, even Naleku seemed so excited to finally be able to spend lots of time with her. At one point, Shukuru could even be seen resting her head on and trunk on Roho’s back, her trunk is so long that it practically covered his back but Roho was quite calm and enjoyed his cuddles with her.
Naboishu was being mischievous again today. This morning, as the orphans were finishing up their 9 o’clock bottles of milk, Roho had finished his bottle and was now standing near his Keepers. Suddenly out of nowhere, Naboishu came charging over and he head butted Roho, but as Roho was not expecting the knock he fell to the ground. Before Roho or the Keepers could react, Naboishu had already ran off into the forest as if he knew he would be in trouble. The Keepers are having a hard time disciplining him because much like Kiasa, they never know what to expect with his moods, but he continues to be a happy bull amongst the herd.
Roho continues to grow in confidence, and he is no longer such a jealous boy amongst the Nursery herd. When Esoit first arrived, Roho wasn’t so eager to be his friend and he seemed extremely reluctant to share the attention of the older girls with this younger bull. Recently, however, the two bulls are interacting much like brothers, they seem to really enjoy each other’s company and often will enjoy a wrestling match throughout the day. This afternoon, they seemed to be having the best time dust bathing near each other and in the company of Naleku. As of late, Roho has even begun protecting Esoit from some of the other orphans such as Olorien, if she tries to push him around. Roho has even been enjoying more playful moments with Naleku, and they aren’t quarelling like siblings so often anymore which is very endearing.
This morning all the orphans seemed eager to begin their day and dash off into the forest. Unlike other mornings, where one by one the orphans will come out of their stables and stockades and then wait for the rest of the herd to show up before heading off to the forest, this morning, they all came running out and started to head straight towards the forest without hesitation. First to dash off were Mukkoka and Naboishu, who were then followed by Larro and Roho, with Esoit running up behind him. Shukuru headed off in her own direction but then soon rejoined the Nursery herd. Kindani, Bondeni, Kinyei, Naleku and Rama were all busy following Shukuru and every direction she walked in. Olorien and Ziwadi walked out together and stopped at all their favourite browsing spots, and they seemed to be waiting for the rest of the herd to choose a browsing spot before they followed them.
With so many different groups in the forest, Esoit appeared to get so excited and confused about which direction and which group to follow, that he was running in between all of them rumbling and trumpeting. Ziwadi and Olorien soon joined Roho and they all settled to browse. Esoit was running from their group to Shukuru’s and back. He was making such a noise that he even managed to scare off the troop of baboons that was nearby. After a couple of minutes, he finally settled to browse with Olorien, Roho and Ziwadi. They remained in their smaller groups until their midday bottles of milk, which is when they all came back together.
This afternoon, the orphans accompanied Shukuru back to the stockade compound as she was due for her afternoon checkup. Whilst the Vet and Keepers were busy with Shukuru, Roho, Mukkoka and Kinyei enjoyed a playful moment with Maxwell. They were running up and down his stockade posts, and the big rhino was following them up and down as if he were chasing them. Their game continued up until Shukuru and the others were ready to head back to the forest. Shukuru’s check up went well and she appeared quite happy to go back to the forest for the rest of the afternoon. The orphans browsed right up until it was time for them to head home for the evening.
Nairobi continues to be extremely cold in the mornings and evenings; during the day it can warm up but that is not always the case. As it is quite cold in the mornings, the orphans are often spotted huddled together in the forest. Shukuru being the biggest will often find herself surrounded by Larro, Kindani, Bondeni, Olorien, Kinyei, Naleku, and a few others. When they huddle together, they can stay warm as they share their body heat.
Roho, Esoit, Mukkoka and Naboishu tried a different tactic to keep warm this morning, which was to keep active. Roho was wrestling Esoit, or rather he seemed to be teaching him how to wrestle, and then Naboishu was busy chasing Mukkoka around the forest and the two kept wrestling and climbing on each other’s backs. They were being so playful that all four of them didn’t spend any time browsing before their 9am bottles of milk. Fortunately, the sun was shining by this time and the orphans all enjoyed their morning bottles of milk before settling back in the forest to browse.
The orphans enjoyed their afternoon bottles of milk down at the mud bath. After they all guzzled down their bottles, they all headed straight for the mud bath where they enjoyed splashing around and covering themselves in mud. Olorien and Roho, could be seen rolling around right in the middle of the mud bath and they were having a great time with their bodies fully submerged in the muddy waters; all you could see was their little heads and trucks sticking out above the mud. Rama, who loves the mud bath just as much, will always be on the edge of the mud bath covering his whole body. Although an excellent mud bather, he is never one to submerge his body fully in the water, but rather prefers to hose himself down with his trunk from the sidelines.
After a lengthy mud bath, the orphans went back to the forest where they browsed before heading home for the evening.
Shukuru seems to be much more comfortable around the Nursery orphans but she seems to be really enjoying spending time with Rama, Roho, Esoit and Ziwadi. Shukuru seems to have her daily routines of how she likes to do things and some days she will browse more than others. Generally, however, when she is with this small group, she will settle to browse with them and then head off to enjoy a short dust bath before coming back. Often when she is not browsing, she is enjoying a dust bath. All the younger orphans seem to enjoy her company and they especially seem to enjoy grabbing all the fresh branches she drops from way up in the bushes. Being so much taller, she can grab the branches high up that are fresh and green and all the younger orphans love sharing these greens with her.
Roho seems to have developed this habit of chasing baboons whenever he comes across them. He appears to especially dislike it when the baboons are screaming and being loud. This afternoon, however, it was Larro the matriarch that was chasing the baboons. It all started when one of the larger male baboons started chasing after all the younger baboons. He was being so aggressive that the whole troop was screeching in protest, especially when he went for one of the baby baboons and this seemed to really upset Larro. Larro began to rumble and charged after this large male baboon. She flapped her ears at him and trumpeted loudly. The baboons quickly ran off and only once they had all disappeared did she calm down again.
The orphans then had a quiet afternoon browsing in the forest.
With Nairobi being so cold now, the Keepers are having to bundle themselves up as well as the younger orphans who sometimes wear a blanket in the morning. Shukuru is much older and no longer wears a blanket but as she has recently come back to the Nursery she is adjusting to the colder climate compared to Tsavo too.
This afternoon, Bondeni was in an extremely playful mood. As soon as he finished his afternoon bottle of milk down at the mud bath, he ran off and began to kick the inner tube around the mud bath. Once he was bored of kicking the tube around, he turned his attention to the water troughs which were full of water. As the troughs were so full of water, he was having no luck pushing them over and this seemed to frustrate him. He then began to chase after the Keepers, but he was so over excited and wouldn’t leave them be that they eventually had to chase him away to the naughty corner with Naboishu. Naboishu had tried to push some of the younger girls which is why he was there too. These boys remained together until the orphans made their way back to the forest.
This evening, as the orphans were making their way back to the stockade compound, Ziwadi rushed off ahead of the whole Nursery herd. When the Keepers finally caught up to her, they found her right by the water trough having her usual evening gulps of water. She seemed to be thirstier than usual, so the Keepers let her take her time before escorting her back to her stable for the evening.
Esoit, just like many of the orphans at the Nursery, loves his mud baths, but with the colder weather the orphans are not mud bathing as often. This afternoon, the sun was shining, and the day warmed up quite nicely though! As a result, the orphans enjoyed their afternoon bottles of milk down at the mud bath. Once Rama and Esoit had finished their bottles they walked over to the water and both started splashing mud over their bodies. Rama as usual stayed on the outskirts of the mud bath, whereas Esoit walked straight in.
As Esoit was busy rolling around and Rama was splashing about, Roho decided to join them and he too walked straight into the mud bath. Once Roho was also submerged, he and Esoit began to splash around and wrestle each other; they even began to playfully climb on each other’s backs. Rama also joined in with the games and this saw little Naleku join in and she began to play with Esoit and Roho. Olorien, Ziwadi, Kindani and Bondeni were all browsing nearby, not taking much notice of their games.
Once the orphans had finished down at the mud bath, they were escorted back to the forest by their Keepers where they had a quiet afternoon of browsing before heading back to the stockade compound for the evening.
It continues to be very cold in the mornings and this also seems to be bothering Maxwell as he doesn’t always seem to enjoy the cold. This morning, he refused to come out of his bedroom as he appeared to be enjoying his bed of hay and its warmth so much. Eventually, as the day began to warm up, Maxwell appeared from his bedroom and walked straight over to his freshly cut greens where he began to munch away on.
As Maxwell was busy eating his green branches, some of the resident warthogs were trying to sneak in and grab some of his fresh lucerne pellets in the upper part of his stoclade. Blind Max’s sense of hearing and smell is excellent though, and he quickly picked up on the warthogs and immediately stopped eating his greens. He began to make his way up to his lucerne pellets as if he was getting ready to chase the warthogs away. The warthogs noticed this large figure headed towards them and they scattered in all directions looking for a way out. Max heard them running around so he began to chase after them, kicking up his back feet up and marking his territory, having a great time. All the warthogs quickly ran out of his stockade and as soon as they were gone, Maxwell calmly walked over to his lucerne pellets and munched away.
Once Maxwell finished his lucerne pellets, he settled and had a long nap in the little bit of sunshine that was peering through the clouds.
Some of the orphans were reluctant to come out of their rooms this morning. Bondeni, Ziwadi, Kindani and Esoit all seemed very unhappy to come out of their stables as they were all still enjoying the warmth inside. By the time they decided to come out, the other orphans had already settled in the forest to browse. The Keepers slowly led them to where the rest of the Nursery herd were, and they quickly settled to browse. As they were all in the blankets they didn’t seem to be too cold and settled quite quickly even though they had to leave their rooms.
Mukkoka and Larro have always been close and since all the older orphans have graduated, they have recently been challenging each other in some short wrestling matches whilst in the forest. Although Mukkoka is used to these wrestling matches, Larro has not wrestled as much as she has always been busy with her nanny duties and now being matriarch. Even as she played with Mukkoka, the Keepers noticed how she continued to look around her, as if checking on the rest of the herd still. If Esoit decides to take part in these wrestling matches, Larro often seems to pause her game to go and check on him and then returns to her games.
As it was such a cold day the orphans were quite quiet and spent most of their time browsing, pausing only for their milk feeds.
This morning Shukuru seemed extremely eager to be let out of her stockade as she could be seen standing right by her gate, awaiting her Keepers. The Keepers thought she may be so eager because some of the other orphans had been let out before her, and she could now see them browsing within the stockade compound as they waited for the rest of the Nursery herd. The Keepers quickly let her out of her stable and she walked up to some of the orphans and began to browse near them. Once all the orphans were gathered, the Keepers led them out to the forest where they all settled to browse.
As usual, the Keepers let the orphans down for the milk feeds in their smaller groups, and in doing so they tend to keep naughty orphans such as Naboishu at the back. Shukuru will sometimes go with the younger orphans and other days she will go with the older groups. Today, she was too busy dust bathing as the Keepers started letting the orphans down for their midday bottles of milk, so she went down instead with Mukkoka and Naboishu, the sprinters. Shukuru, unlike the younger growing babies of the Nursery, is not always as crazy about her milk, so she is rarely in a hurry to race down.
The orphans had a quiet afternoon browsing in the forest.
Olorien and Kinyei continue to have a flourishing friendship and will often be seen walking in each other’s company. This morning, after the orphans finished their 9 o’clock bottles of milk, Olorien and Kinyei settled to browse near Larro. The Keepers have noticed that Larro is one of these matriarchs who will always scan to see where the herd is, especially the younger orphans, before she will settle herself. This morning she did a quick look around and then began to grab branches from the same bush as Olorien and Kinyei.
Unlike other days, Ziwadi also settled to browse near them and didn’t go wandering off in her own direction. She does seem to enjoy the company of Olorien and Kinyei but the Keepers also noticed that they happened to be feasting on her favourite shrubs too, which most certainly caught her attention. She stayed with them until it was time for the orphans to head down to the mud bath for their midday bottles of milk.
After her 11am bottle of milk, Ziwadi always walks over to the freshly cut greens that the Keepers place around the waterhole. She loves to concentrate on eating her greens, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the Nursery herd all busy doing their own things too. Today some were enjoying a dust bath, others were also eating their greens and others were patiently waiting for the Keepers to let them return to the forest.
The orphans had a very quiet afternoon of browsing before they went home for the evening.
Nairobi continues to experience its winter and the mornings continue to be cold and as a result some of the orphans were once again reluctant to come out of their stables this morning. Ziwadi, Naleku, Olorien, and Esoit all refused to come out of their rooms so the Keepers left them for a while and continued on with the rest of the Nursery orphans. Older orphans such as Naboishu, Rama, and Shukuru were already in the forest browsing by the time they finally came out their rooms. They were also in the company of Mukkoka and Roho.
Bondeni, Kindani, and Kinyei all seemed to be in a playful mood as the morning began to warm up. They were busy chasing each other around the forest, very close to the stockade compound. Naleku was also nearby with Roho.
This morning, as the orphans were running down for their 9am bottles of milk. Roho seemed to want to run down with Naleku as he was following her everywhere, but she had already run off with Kindani, Bondeni, Ziwadi, Kinyei and the speedster Mukkoka. Once Naleku finished her bottle of milk, she seemed to be looking for Roho too. She was looking all over the place, when suddenly she noticed Roho running down in the next group. As soon as Roho finished his bottle, he ran up to her and they settled in the forest.
The orphans had a very quiet day browsing and enjoying their milk feeds.
Mukkoka and Roho are becoming very good friends as they continue to engage each other wrestling matches. This morning, as the orphans had settled to browse in the forest, Roho and Mukkoka began to chase each other round and wrestle. Mukkoka is bigger than Roho so he always plays a little gentler with the young bull. Whilst they were busy playing, Kindani and Naleku were browsing just near them but as soon as they saw them running around both the young girls seemed eager to move over. Naleku went off to join Larro and the others whereas Kindani went over and joined her friends Kinyei and Bondeni who were browsing nearby.
Rama continues to be an adventurous elephant and will often wander off on his own. He continues to browse near Ziwadi and the others but often at some point he will walk off on his own looking for his own spot to browse. This afternoon, he managed to wander off not too far away but as he was within a dense part of the forest the Keepers took some time to spot him. Once they had spotted him one of the Keepers went to usher him back to the herd. Once he was back with the herd he went back to browse near Ziwadi for the rest of the day.
Elephants are known to be quite skittish animals and they will often get spooked easily if they are surprised by something in the forest. Today, as the orphans were walking through the forest, they were slightly ahead of their Keepers heading off to one of their browsing spots when they suddenly came across two large buffalo grazing. Instead of continuing on their path, the orphans seemed to get scared and they all began to rumble and trumpet before running back to their Keepers for protection. The Keepers quickly spotted the buffalo up ahead and they decided to change the direction the orphans were heading in and leave the buffalo in peace.
After the orphans finished their 3 o’clock bottles of milk, instead of heading back up into the forest they started to wander down towards the plains of the Nairobi National Park. The Keepers were happy to see Larro leading the orphans in a different direction because as matriarch it is important for her to learn which direction to take the orphans as she would do in the wild. The orphans settled to browse on the rocks up until it was time for them to head back to the stockade compound for the evening.
Although a sweet bull, Naboishu continues to be the naughtiest member of the Nursery herd. He seems to not notice that he is much bigger than the younger orphans and that he is much stronger. This morning, he and Roho seemed to be having a great time wrestling each other and chasing each other around the forest. Unfortunately, after a couple of minutes, Naboishu began to play a little too rough and this seemed to upset Roho and he trumpeted in protest. Larro immediately reacted and came running over rumbling at Naboishu. As soon as Naboishu saw Larro coming over, he quickly ran off.
Later in the day, Naboishu began to bother quiet Ziwadi. He was naughtily pushing her and trying to push her away from the bush she was browsing on. He was being so naughty that the Keepers eventually stepped in and chased him away. Once Naboishu had calmed down, the orphans enjoyed a quiet afternoon browsing in the forest. Ziwadi quickly returned to where she was browsing and continued to enjoy her favourite greens. She was soon joined by Rama, Kinyei and Olorien.
The orphans had a very quiet day browsing and enjoying their milk feeds. As it is still cold none of the orphans enjoyed a mud bath.
It was another very cold morning as the Keepers were getting ready to let the orphans out to head off to the forest. As it was so cold, the Keepers decided to leave some of the orphans in the warmth of their stables. Bondeni, Kindani, Kinyei, Ziwadi, and Esoit all remained within their stables and it wasn’t long before the Keepers came back to let them out. As soon as the sun was shining they were all let out and all but Ziwadi went rushing off to the forest. Ziwadi as always continued her morning routine of stopping at every water trough to quench her thirst before she headed off to the forest.
Naleku, Roho, and Olorien were Larro’s little shadows today, following her wherever she walked and always browsing near her. The orphans were having a great day walking throughout the forest browsing on the different greens that are within the Nairobi National Park. They spent most of their morning in the forest before heading down to the mud bath for their 3 o’clock bottles of milk.
Down at the mud bath, once all the orphans had finished their bottles, Olorien, Esoit, and Mukkoka were all having fun rolling around on the dust mound. As they were dusting themselves, Rama went to the edge of the mud bath and splashed some water on his back. As it was still quite a cool afternoon, Rama didn’t cover his whole body in mud. Once all the orphans were finished at the mud bath and dust mound, they headed back to the forest where they browsed for a short while before heading home for the evening.
Rama and Ziwadi continue to be close friends and they seem to enjoy spending a lot of time together during the day. In the mornings, when the orphans are being let out of their stables and stockades, if Ziwadi has made her way to the top of the stockade compound before Rama has come out, he appears to look for her before heading off to the forest. This morning, Ziwadi was already browsing up behind Maxwell’s stockade when Rama was let out. As soon as Rama was let out, he appeared to be looking for her as he began to walk back towards her stable. When he suddenly realized where she was, he quickly ran over to her and greeted her with a warm welcoming rumble.
They spent most of their day together, browsing in each other’s company and constantly following each other around the forest. If the Keepers let Ziwadi down for her milk without Rama, he seemed to get restless and kept trying to push past the Keepers to follow her so in the afternoon they let them down together.
Shukuru seems to have settled back into her life at the Nursery and her condition seems stable now which is a good sign. She is enjoying spending her days browsing with all her new little friends and the younger orphans have picked up some funny habits with their tall friend. As always, Shukuru will take a break from browsing to have her daily dust baths, and often whilst she is dust bathing smaller orphans such as Esoit and Bondeni will come and stand right underneath her so she can dust them off too. She seems to enjoy their company as she happily carries on.
With the weather being so unpredictable and cold, Maxwell has not enjoyed a mud bath for quite some time now, but he continues with his normal daily routines. Whenever the sun is shining brightly, he is out his bedroom sunbathing, making sure to get as much warmth as possible.
It was another very chilly morning as the orphans were making their way to the forest. Unlike most days where they settle deep in the forest, none of the orphans were eager to walk that far. Larro, Naboishu, Mukkoka, Kindani, Kinyei, Bondeni and Naleku all settled to browse right on the border of the forest. To warm up, Mukkoka and Naboishu engaged each other in a wrestling match whereas Larro, Bondeni, Esoit, Olorien, Kinyei and Kindani all enjoyed a dust bath. As the day began to warm up, the orphans finally moved further into the forest to browse.
Ziwadi is such a curious orphan because her favourite activity continues to be browsing. She very rarely will enjoy a dust bath or a mud bath as it seems that she just does not enjoy the chaos of it all and prefers to remain on the outskirts. On extremely hot days she may have a short mud bath but if the weather is cool, she has very little interest.
This afternoon at the mud bath, Bondeni was once again playing with the inner tube, he seems to love bouncing on and off it and kicking it around. This afternoon, however, he was joined by Kinyei who immediately jumped on the tube as he got up. They were both having a such a fun time.
Esoit has completely settled in his new life at the Nursery and appears to be enjoying both his elephant and human friends. He always appears to be in such a happy mood and the Keepers always enjoy his company as he doesn’t cause any mischief but certainly has a lot of fun. His closest friends seem to be Roho, Larro, Olorien and Bondeni but he is more than happy to spend time with all the orphans. He and Roho have been spending so much time together, and they always seem to have such fun wrestling each other. Roho has now become the teacher, even though Naboishu is always eagerly trying to get involved. Their game continued up until it was time for them to run down for their 9o’clock milk feeding time.
Larro appears to be enjoying being the matriarch of the Nursery herd. The Keepers are always amazed by how well she has slotted into this new role so quickly at such a young age and she does a great job at looking after her little herd. She continues to have a special relationship with Bondeni and many of the other orphans, and she is always on guard ready to help any one of them. When Bondeni is rolling around on his tube she always seems to be keeping an eye on him, making sure he doesn’t hurt himself.
Naboishu and Roho appeared to be in very playful moods this morning as they were eagerly waiting to be let out of their stables. As soon as they were let out, they went barreling up towards the forest and once in the forest they began to wrestle each other. It is always a good experience for Roho to wrestle the bigger bulls as it will teach him how to challenge bigger opponents in the wild. Roho’s confidence has just grown in leaps and bounds and the Keepers are confident he will make a strong bull one day.
This afternoon, after the orphans finished their 3 o’clock bottles of milk down at the mud bath, some of them decided to have a dust bath as it was still too cold for a mud bath. Roho, Bondeni, Larro, Kinyei and Kindani were all excited rolling on the dust mound. Rama, seems to be obsessed with his mud bath as he was the only one brave enough to splash water on his back. Unlike other days, he didn’t cover his entire body.
Esoit used to be so noisy when running down for his milk bottle but in recent days he has been so quiet. He seems to have really settled into his routine now and although he is still just as excited for his milk, he doesn’t shout for it anymore.
As all the orphans settled out in the forest to browse, Naleku and Olorien were busy chasing the troop of baboons that were foraging nearby. Olorien seemed to get a little bit hesitant when she tried to chase some of the bigger males, as they barked loudly at her, but Naleku had no hesitation at all and ran straight for them rumbling and trumpeting. All the baboons quickly jumped up into the trees and this led to the end of their game as they had no one to chase anymore. Naleku and Olorien seemed very proud of themselves as they came back to the herd.
This morning, after the orphans had their 9 o’clock bottles of milk, Shukuru seemed to be enjoying the company of Rama and Ziwadi. She could be seen following them wherever they went and the three of them happily settled to browse together. All three of them don’t seem to enjoy walking very far as they enjoy browsing along the way. On the other hand, orphans such as Naboishu, Mukkoka, Naleku, Kindani, Kinyei, Bondeni and Larro like to walk further afield before settling down.
It was a beautiful sunny morning as the orphans were making their way out to the forest. Everyone including the Keepers were happy to have some warmth after so many cold mornings. Even Maxwell came bouncing out of his bedroom, ready to start his day nice and early. He quickly munched down on some of his greens and Lucerne pellets before settling in the sun for his morning nap.
As it was such a warm morning, the Keepers decided to take the orphans down to the mud bath for their midday bottles of milk. All the orphans downed their bottles of milk and immediately ran straight for the mud bath. Larro and Mukkoka were bumping against each other on the edge of the muddy water and so were Roho and Naleku, and Rama was at his usual spot on the edge. Roho and Naleku even enjoyed a short game of climbing on each other’s backs. The biggest surprise for the Keepers was Shukuru! She too entered the mud bath and seemed to thoroughly enjoy rolling around and covering her whole body in mud. What an incredible sight after being so quiet for so long. Soon to join in on all the fun was little Esoit who also enjoyed climbing on Kinyei and some of his other friends.
After such a fun mud bath the orphans had a quiet afternoon browsing.
The orphans all seemed very quiet this morning as they settled in the forest to browse. Every orphan settled in their own quiet corner to browse on the different greens they had access to in the Park. Towards mid-morning, Bondeni, Olorien, Kinyei, and Kindani all huddled to browse around Larro. It was still quite cold so they seemed to be huddling together to warm up a little bit, and Larro was always more than happy to be close to the smaller babies of the herd.
After the orphans enjoyed their midday bottles of milk, Mukkoka and Naboishu engaged each other in a wrestling match. Their game continued for quite some time until Mukkoka seem to grow tired and walked off to browse. Mukkoka found some delicious bulbs in the ground and he was quietly pulling them out and feasting on them and this seemed to catch Naboishu’s eye once again. As Mukkoka was busy pulling at the roots, Naboishu would sneak up behind him and then quickly steal his delicious treat. Naboishu managed to do this twice before Mukkoka angrily chased him away.
Rama is still quite shy with the Keepers and will mainly only approach them for his milk bottle. As soon as he finishes his bottles he quickly rushes over to the rest of the orphans and he always stays close to Ziwadi.
The orphans enjoyed their midday bottles of milk down at the mud bath today. Once Kinyei, Esoit and Roho had finished their bottles of milk they went over to the dust mound and began to roll around and they all enjoyed a lengthy dust bath. Kinyei and Roho enjoyed short wrestling games, where they would push against each other and then continue to roll around. Kinyei even enjoyed a short game with Esoit where he would climb on her back and then slide off.
After a few minutes Kinyei seemed to grow bored of the dust mound and she quickly ran over to the tyre tube. She was so happy pushing the tube around and sitting in it, she even let Roho and Esoit have a turn.
Shukuru seems to be improving and she is enjoying her browse and milk feeds a lot more at the moment. She has recently been spending less time dust bathing and more time browsing throughout the day. The Keepers are always so happy to see her enjoying her greens more and more as this is always a good sign and she is still enjoying the odd mud bath.
This morning, as soon as Olorien got out to the forest she found a dusty patch where she enjoyed a long dust bath on her own. It was quite cute to watch her rolling around, completely oblivious to what the other orphans were up to. Ziwadi continues to move at her own pace and she will often walk slowly behind the rest of the herd. This morning, Ziwadi and Rama decided to head off in their own direction looking for their favourite greens. One of the Keepers walked with them, making sure they didn’t wander off too far.
Naboishu has been quite calm recently and hasn’t been as naughty. The Keepers do keep a watchful eye on him as they are never sure what to expect. Recently, after he finishes his milk the Keepers just keep him a little further away from the rest of the orphans as they finish their bottles. This seems to have helped keep him a little calmer as he doesn’t get overly excited for more milk and then bug the rest of the orphans. As Naboishu is so boisterous he can sometimes challenge the Keepers, so the Keepers have found it best to rather appease him then have to discipline him.
Roho and Naboishu began wrestling each other as soon as they arrived in the forest. After several days of not wrestling, the two bulls seemed to be thoroughly enjoying chasing one another around the forest. Roho is quite a good opponent as he won’t give in and their games are able to go on for long periods of time. This morning, however, their game was abruptly ended by Larro who came over and stood between them. Naboishu seemed to get bored, so he wandered off to join Mukkoka who was browsing nearby, whereas Larro and Roho enjoyed their own short wrestling match before settling to browse.
Larro continues to really enjoy her time with Bondeni but since she has been matriarch she has been sharing more of her time with all the orphans. This afternoon, she spent time with Olorien, Esoit and Kindani. She could be seen browsing with them and watching over them when they moved around the forest. Kindani, shows a lot of similar personality traits to Larro and the Keepers think that she may take over as matriarch once Larro graduates. The orphans had a quiet afternoon browsing in the forest.