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Three wild bulls were drinking water at the stockade water trough when Naboishu led the orphans out of their stockades this morning. Mundusi, Rapa, Pare, Maramoja and Kauro walked straight down to join the wild bull. Soon after they had their fill of lucerne, the boys switched into a more playful mood. Jotto engaged Pare in a pushing game that ended when Jotto decided to surrender. Mukkoka tried his hand at taking on Sattao, a game that went for quite some time until Rapa intervened. Rapa took Sattao and left Mukkoka, since he understood that Mukkoka is young and wouldn't accept his request for a pushing game. Sattao agreed to play with Rapa but changed his mind when Rapa started playing rough with him, and at that point he simply walked away. 

Later on, out in the bush, Mapia played with Jotto while Esampu challenged Kauro. At one point Nabulu practiced how to hang her trunk on her tusks to relax, but her tusks are still too small to hold her trunk. Mteto teamed up with Enkikwe to browse as Ndiwa and Maramoja took a break from browsing to participate in a soil dusting exercise. 

At noon the orphans had their milk bottles but decided to skip the wallowing exercise, since it was quite overcast and chilly. Ex-orphans Naserian, Njema, Naisula, Kitirua and Namalok showed up at the mud bath. The ‘baby-lovers’ Mteto, Esampu and Malkia walked over to babysit Njema before following their friends out to the bush. Kilaguni showed up to join the dependent orphans briefly, then walked away. The afternoon was quiet as the orphans concentrated mostly on browsing.

Ex-orphans Lualeni, Lulu, Lexi, Chyulu, Cheka, Loijuk, Lili, Ithumbah and Galana were present in the morning and joined the orphans for some lucerne. Mteto had a brief chat with Lili before moving to check on Cheka and Lexi. All the orphans fed on lucerne peacefully and as soon as they were all done, Larro led the dependent orphans out to browse for the day. 

They headed towards the Kalovoto area, an area they like the most at the moment given that it has quite a lot of vegetation still, perhaps due to the water underground, and it’s not far from the stockades where they can access water easily. The orphans settled to browse until Sattao and Musiara became engaged in a heated argument over a branch that they came across, probably dropped by a wild bull. As they continued with their stand off and while they were distracted, Mukkoka passed by and picked up the branch! Mukkoka taking the branch away brought the stand off at an end, as the two boys ran after Mukkoka to retrieve the branch. Mukkoka dropped it and walked off, and Musiara and Sattao resumed their fight as they each pulled an end of the branch and tried to out do each other. Luckily the branch broke in two pieces, so each got to leave with their own share! Soon it quiet again as the orphans got serious about their browsing. 

It was hot when the orphans made their way to the mud bath, where they were joined by four wild bulls to wallow in the waterhole. Kilaguni, who travels alone these days, showed up at the mud bath too, but left a few minutes later. Naboishu challenged Ambo but the game ended when Naboishu surrendered. Dololo played with Musiara as Mapia played with Pare. Sattao and Esampu joined several wild bulls to have some water before running to catch up with their friends. 

In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse in the Imenti area. Later on Enkikwe and Karisa dodged the Keepers and arrived back at the stockades early before the others.

It was a quiet morning with no wild elephants or ex-orphans present. The dependent orphans settled for lucerne soon after leaving their stockades. Half an hour later however, ex-orphan Kilaguni, ‘the loner’, arrived. Kilaguni joined the orphans for lucerne too. A wild bull also showed up and settled for some water. Sapalan, Rapa, Mundusi and Jotto got wind of the wild bull and decided to walk down to find out a bit more about him. They found it was a bull they know and so settled to share water with him. Shortly later, the wild bull left after drinking enough water. The orphans were left with their trunks up as they tried to find out where the bull was heading. Enkikwe found a suitable tree that he used to scratch his neck against. Malkia teamed up with Malima and as the time approached for the orphans to head for their milk bottles, they followed Larro to the milk feeding area. 

The weather was chilly and none of the orphans wanted to wallow in the main waterhole. In the afternoon, Mukkoka decided to challenge Dololo. Ambo, who was close by, couldn't allow Dololo to be humiliated by this young boy, so Ambo intervened by teaming up with Dololo in defeating Mukkoka. Mukkoka couldn't withstand the strength from the two boys combined and so decided to surrender to maintain his dignity. 

In the evening, Yatta her family along with Kinna, Sunyei and their families, Makena and Vuria showed up after being away for more than one month! It was lovely to see them all.

The orphans settled for lucerne soon after leaving the stockades. Shortly later, Yatta and her herd showed up and joined the orphans to have some lucerne too. A wild herd with two young babies followed and joined in too. An hour later, the dependent orphans left to begin their day of browsing, and they decided to settle in the Kanziku area. Malkia teamed up with Naboishu, Mukkoka and Larro while the boys Rapa, Mundusi, Pare, Kauro and Jotto split from the main herd and browsed some distance away. 

It was a quiet morning as the orphans concentrated mostly on browsing. When they made their way to the mud bath for their milk bottles, they were joined by Kilaguni. It was very hot and all the orphans decided to wallow in the main mud bath, with the exception of Kauro who didn't even bother to step into the water. Ten wild bulls were drinking water at the mud bath water trough, and brave Nabulu and Sattao decided to join them. The rest of the herd kept away until the Keepers moved the wild bulls aside to allow them to have some water too. After drinking enough, the orphans headed for a soil dusting exercise and then went back to browsing for the rest of the afternoon. 

Later in the afternoon Mapia engaged Jotto in a pushing game that lasted for quite sometime. At last, Jotto decided to surrender and almost immediately, Ambo took over. Eventually Ambo and Mapia decided to finish their game to spend a bit more time browsing before it was time to return home. Karisa and Enkikwe disappeared yet again, only to show up later at the stockades. 

Kilaguni and a wild friend were playing outside the stockades in the morning as they waited for the water to be refilled and the lucerne to be distributed. Yatta and her herd arrived shortly after the orphans were let out. Esampu decided to have fun by playing with Saba. Mteto received a warning from Meibai when she tried to share the pile of lucerne he was feeding from. The orphans didn't stay for long since they faced stiff competition from the ex-orphans so they decided to head out to browse. 

Mukkoka and Larro settled to browse together. We couldn’t help but think they might be reflecting on their life for the past five months since they’ve been at Ithumba. Pare and Jotto had a warm up exercise by having a pushing game. Their game only ended when Kauro passed by and pushed the two boys out of his way. The orphans moved and settled to browse in the Kanziku area. Later they had their noon milk bottles at the mud bath and Rapa got into the water to show his friends how mud bathing is done. Sana Sana, Mapia, Ambo, Karisa, Mukkoka and Larro joined Rapa to enjoy the cooling off exercise. When they were through, Mapia got out first and tried to block Karisa from getting out. Mapia's action annoyed Karisa and he decided to fight his way out as he didn’t want to be held hostage in the water. At last, Karisa managed to push his way past and walked out to participate in a soil dusting exercise. Mapia walked over to Jotto, perhaps to receive an explanation as to why Jotto didn't want to wallow today. It looked as though the confrontation between Jotto and Mapia might escalate, but Jotto was clever as he went to stand close to his Keepers. 

Rapa came across a log of wood that kicked around for a bit like a football and later he engaged Mapia in a pushing game. In the evening when it was time to return to the stockade compound, the Keepers found that Maramoja, Sapalan, Sana Sana and Naboishu were missing. They couldn't return home without Naboishu, so some Keepers took the rest of the orphans home while the others went in search of Naboishu. An hour later, Naboishu, Sapalan, Maramoja and Sana Sana were found. Naboishu, who looks up to Sana Sana, was only following her and wasn’t really aware of where he was going or how late it was! The Keepers returned safely with the missing group so all the orphans were tucked up into their stockades for the night. 

Three wild bulls were drinking water at the stockade water trough in the morning when the orphans were let out. One of the wild bulls walked up and joined the orphans since he knew that by teaming up with them, he would definitely get to share their lucerne. Shortly later, Mutara and her herd arrived. After an hour of sharing lucerne, Larro settled to have a word with Suguta before leading her friends out for the day. Sattao spotted some monkeys a head of him and decided to chase them. He trumpeted and charged at them. His trumpeting attracted Mundusi and Malima who ran to check what was bothering Sattao. The moment they saw the monkeys, Mundusi and Malima helped Sattao in chasing the monkeys away, who ran up into the trees.

Ex-orphans Melia, Kilaguni, Chemi Chemi and Kibo arrived shortly later after the orphans had left for browsing and teamed up with Mutara’s group who were still in the stockade compound. The orphans had a quiet morning as they concentrated on browsing. 

When they went to the mud bath area for their noon milk bottles, Karisa, Rapa, Mundusi, Jotto, Dololo, Sana Sana and Naboishu decided to get into the water for a swim soon after finishing their milk. Tomboi joined the orphans briefly at the mud bath before leaving. 

In the afternoon Mukkoka challenged Sattao. Their game came to an abrupt halt when they saw Rapa approaching. Mukkoka and Sattao stopped their pushing game and faced in opposite directions, pretending nothing was happening just to let Rapa pass. As soon as Rapa went past them, the two boys resumed their pushing game.

Kilaguni was the only senior elephant present in the morning to join the orphans for lucerne. As such it was very quiet and the Ithumba dependent orphans very much enjoyed their morning as they experienced no disturbance from any outsiders. Half an hour later, a wild female with a two-month-old baby arrived. The baby’s nannies consisted of the ex-orphans Kitirua and Kalama! Two junior boys also accompanied the small group. Mukkoka and Sattao stood in front of one of the two wild boys with their trunks up, trying to get to know him better, but the wild boy didn't show any interest in familiarising with the two boys. Sattao and Mukkoka decided to leave as the bull looked like he might push them out of his way any minute. Meanwhile the wild baby interacted with Mteto and later played with Mundusi which was nice. After finishing the lucerne, Ndiwa led the dependent orphans out to browse. 

Mapia engaged Jotto in a pushing game and later they both entered a competition of trying to pick leaves from the tallest tree branches. When Jotto realised that he was losing, he stepped on a nearby rock just to make himself a bit taller and gain an advantage over Mapia. Musiara challenged Ambo to a pushing game that ended when Musiara surrendered. 

Again it was only Rapa, Sana Sana, Esampu, Mundusi and Pare who decided to wallow in the mud bath after the noon milk feed. The rest of the group opted for a soil dusting exercise before proceeding to have some fresh water. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse west of the Ithumba Hill. When it was time to return to the stockades for the night, the Keepers realised that Rapa and Sana Sana were missing. The two orphans showed up to the stockades later in the evening, accompanied by the ex-orphans in Yatta’s herd.