Save for a few scattered showers, rain again evaded us this month. The Voi herd diligently focused on browsing throughout the day, as elephants must if they are to fill their bellies during these sparse times. However, the orphans remained lively and optimistic.
It was a bright morning today as the orphans had their morning milk bottles and decided to hang around the stockade compound bonding, playing and feeding on the lucerne grass supplement. Tagwa and Tamiyoi spent some quality time together while Godoma enjoyed a morning scratch against the terrace wall. Rorogoi had an early morning dust bath as Tagwa went to scratch on the rock next to the stockade compound mud hole. Mbegu was spotted busy munching away on the leafy acacia branches over the electric fence. There is water that collects there so the tree is usually always green with tasty leaves! Murit went to join Rorogoi to scratch against the terraces while Suswa and Lasayen fed on some supplement range cubes. Mbegu came around the corner looking very pleased with herself as she had managed to break a branch from the acacia tree and now she was munching away on it as she walked along. Her victory was short lived however as Ndotto spotted her and wanted some share in the tasty prize! He tried hard to snatch from of the branch from her but of course Mbegu didn’t give him a chance – she ran off with the branch in her mouth!
Later in the morning Mbegu decided to lie down for a nap before Ndotto came over and startled a wrestling game with her – perhaps in retaliation for her not sharing her branch with him earlier! Mbegu was uninterested in the wrestling game with Ndotto, so he walked off and invited Mudanda to the same wrestling game. Mudanda accepted the challenge and the two enjoyed their game. Ngilai also invited Emoli for a similar sparring game before moving on to Tagwa. Their game was ruined however when Lasayen came over to climb on Tagwa’s back. The orphans then left the stockade compound for their daily bush walks on the northern side of Msinga Hill.
The orphans looked happy and content as they fed on the lucerne supplement pellets inside the stockade compound. When she was done, Suswa decided to go for an early morning dust bath. She ousted Mudanda from her place on the pile of soil where she had been enjoying a dust bath too. Thamana came over and joined his adopted big sister Mudanda and they had a great time playing. Emoli scratched on the big rock in the compound that all the orphans enjoy scratching on, while Tagwa and Godoma both enjoyed their morning scratch on the terrace wall. Ngilai seemed to have an itchy foot which he lifted onto a rock to find a better position to scratch, but just as he was trying to do that, Ndotto came over and tried to initiate a sparring match. Ngilai didn’t feel like playing with Ndotto in that moment, but later when he went over to the twin trees,
Lasayen walked around the other side of the tree and the two spent some time together playing and bonding. After they walked away from the twin trees Mudanda came to scratch their too, and before she had even settled into her session, Ndotto was there requesting a sparring match with her now – it seems Ndotto was desperate for someone to play with this morning but everyone else seemed preoccupied just in that same moment! Sagala was watching over Pika Pika who was meanwhile pestering Ngilai for a sparring game over beside the terraces.
When the orphans went to the baobab tree for their milk feed later in the morning, Ndotto finally got his wrestling match with Mudanda. Later, the orphans embarked on their afternoon browsing session at the foot of Msinga Hill. In the evening just before they walked back to the stockades for the night, Murit engaged Lasayen in a last-minute wrestling game.
It was a bright morning and the orphans were out enjoying their lucernes pellets and rolling in the sandy soil after their morning milk feeding. Pika Pika and Arruba were busy scooping up pellets along the feeding trough as Lemeki and Thamana were feeding along the terraces. Mudanda and Ndotto meanwhile enjoyed warming themselves up through a sparring match. Embu and a group of other Voi dependent orphans were feeding on lucerne grass at the far end of the compound. Rorogoi was doing trips between the lucerne pellets and the fresh grass, as if undecided where she actually wanted to settled down.
As usual Tamiyoi and Tagwa led the way out to the browsing fields. Thamana decided to keep Mudanda, his doting adopted sister, company while browsing. Eventually the orphans decided to settle along the slopes of Msinga Hill to browse, overlooking the baobab tree water trough.
Mbegu and Mudanda took a break from browsing and started a wrestling game, as Lasayen and Murit also engaged each other in an exciting sparring game.
After the noon milk feed the orphans walked down to the mud wallow and soon a group of wild elephants started congregating around the water trough. They played and interacted with the orphans for some time before hundreds of buffaloes arrived, forcing the orphans to move on and resume their day of browsing.
It was a sunny Saturday morning today. Arruba moved all over the stockade compound feeding from the different piles of pellets while looking for Pika Pika, who was resting at the far end of the compound having finished her own pile of lucerne. Ngilai decided to take on his favorite playmate Emoli in an exciting sparring game before following their friends out of the compound to properly being their day.
Out in the bush at the foot of Msinga Hill, Mbegu and Emoli were browsing side by side while Mudanda decided to have a mid-day dust bath. She rolled and lay in an erosion gulley alongside Embu and Ndotto who were also frolicking around in the sandy soil. Rorogoi spent some quality time with Lemeki, holding trunks and patting her, while Pika Pika seemed to have taken custody of her younger ‘brother’ Thamana.
At noon the orphans quickly drank their milk bottles before rushing down to the water trough and quickly returning to browsing, snubbing the mud wallow today. They then spent the whole afternoon browsing in the woods to the south of the baobab tree mud bath until it was time to return home for the night.
Tagwa and Ngilai were wrestling early in the morning as the rest of the Voi orphans were busy feeding on the pellets and fresh grass, and a few were having an early morning dust bath. Today it was Lemeki, Thamana and Mudanda who were the leaders of the morning, guiding everyone out of the compound and out to the bush, followed closely by Tagwa and Tamiyoi. Suswa and Embu were at the back of the convoy.
As time went by the orphans slowly browsed along the slopes of Msinga Hill. Pika Pika and Arruba directed the orphans to the top of the hill in search of fresh vegetation.
After the noon milk feed the orphans resumed browsing, making their way to the top of the hill again where they seemed to enjoy the vegetation they found. As time went on, they decided to make their way down in preparation of heading back to the stockades for the evening and browsed at the foot of the hill. We watched Mbegu spend some quality time with Tagwa as they affectionally held trunks. Thamana was getting a lot of attention and the best care possible from his adopted sister Mudanda as they browsed and slowly made their way home for the night.
At around 6.30 in the evening, we received a call from Ndololo Camp of an orphan baby elephant who was stuck in the mud at one of the water holes there. The Keepers quickly responded and rushed to the place to rescue the orphan elephant calf, who we later named Kigellia. The rescue mission was successful, and the poor baby was brought to the Voi stockades.
It was overcast and quite chilly this morning. Sagala, Lemeki and Embu enjoyed a good scratch on some of the large rocks in the compound. Ngilai was looking as mischievous as the troop of baboons that were accompanying him as they made their way over to where the lucerne pellets were. The baboons wanted some of the pellets too this morning and they fed alongside Ngilai who didn’t seem to mind. Ndotto was also nearby feeding and everyone just concentrated on filling their own bellies. Arruba stretched her trunk over the electric fence to feed on the lush green shrubs on the other side. Godoma took similar risks by climbing on the rock next to the water trough to also stretch up high to reach some fresh browsed from one of the trees above.
Pika Pika, Arruba, Tamiyoi and Tagwa all enjoyed an early morning dust bath on the pile of loose soil put there for them to enjoy just that. Thamana playfully rolled down one side of the soil pile, surrounded by Rorogoi, Ndotto and Mudanda who were watching over and making sure he was okay, so that none of the other orphans would get any funny ideas about coming over to disrupt his play.
As soon as the milk feeding was completed this morning and their orphans had had their fill of lucerne pellets, Pika Pika took up her early morning playing position on the pile of loose soil, where Rorogoi joined her to play. Ndotto felt jealous of their games and came over to cut Rorogoi off by coming in between them and joining Pika Pika himself. After a few minutes Arruba came over to collect for Pika Pika, but instead Ndotto intercepted her and started climbing on her back; a situation that upset Pika Pika.
Mudanda had noticed that Rorogoi was bored and embarrassed by Ndotto coming to take her place on the soil pile, disrupting her game with Pika Pika, and quickly joined her to play in their own dusting game. They enjoyed their game up until it was time to join their friends who were starting to walk out to the park to browse for the day.
It was a peaceful day of browsing in all. At noon Ndotto snubbed the mud bath and instead moved straight to roll around and play on the pile of soil. Murit followed him and soon they were both having a great time rolling around and throwing soil everywhere, covering the Keepers who were standing close by and trying to photograph them. Their extravagant games soon attracted more attention, and they were joined by Ngilai, who can never resist a good game, as well as Mbegu and Embu, before leaving for the remaining half of the browsing day.
There was a lot of playing in the stockade compound after the feeding today. Tagwa had initiated a sparring match with Pika Pika while her adopted ‘mother’ Arruba was busy playing with Mudanda on the red earth piles. Ndotto soon arrived at the soil mound too and interrupted their game, selecting Mudanda for their own wrestling match. Mudanda eagerly complied and pulled off the most fantastic poses during their game, including tackling Ndotto while sitting down at one point!
The orphan elephants later left to begin their day out in the park and they enjoyed browsing peacefully for most of the morning. When they arrived at the mud bath beside the baobab tree however, they were soon joined by many wild herds who started streaming in to have a fresh drink of water. Mbegu, Ndotto, Mudanda, Lemeki and Thamana led their friends to play on the red earth piles where they lay down, rolling around on the soft soil to enjoy themselves. Tagwa and her friend Ngilai kept themselves busy with a sparring game, while Sagala and Tamiyoi were busy tracking down the wild elephant babies within the herds which had just arrived in order to play with them. This was an uphill task for them, as their sisters and brothers stood in strategic positions to stop that from happening.
The rest of the browsing day took place to the south of the water hole. Unfortunately our recent rescue Kigellia is not responding or feeding well, her trunk hanging loosely as she stands still most of the day.
Ndotto was enjoying a good early morning scratch along the terrace wall after his milk bottles this morning. The orphans didn’t play much in the compound this morning, and instead left to begin their day of browsing, making their way up the slopes of Msinga Hill overlooking the stockade to browse. Pika Pika and Arruba teamed up with a wild herd of elephants they encountered on the hill, and who are frequent visitors to the stockades. They spent the mid-morning together browsing.
At noon the orphans came down the hill and back to the compound for their milk feed, where they stayed to play for a while. Pika Pika and Arruba were still together and started rolling on the soil piles. Sagala later joined them to dry off as she had been swimming in the mud bath.
Embu, Tahri, Pika Pika and Arruba then went to have fun in the mud bath too, wallowing, rolling and splashing around, as their friends were busy feeding on the dairy cubes. Lasayen drank some fresh water from the trough as more orphans made their way for a dust bath. Ndotto was having a great time playing around with Ivia the buffalo, which he hasn’t done for a while. Godoma was doing her own thing and climbed up on the terraces for some reason, while Ngilai was below feeding on dairy cubes. Murit had what looked like a full body massage on the twin trees, scratching in all different positions and from different angles.
Later the orphans returned to browsing, heading back up the Msinga Hill in search of fresh foliage. Sadly Kigellia collapsed this evening and we spent the whole night administering drips for her.
It was a bright sunny morning today and the orphans were out feeding on lucerne pellets after the morning milk feed and enjoying basking in the sun. Godoma tried taking a short cut to come down the terraces by climbing down instead of walking around, but we have always suspected that she is afraid of heights and so she eventually gave up after several attempts, and just walked around. Suswa decided to feed on the lucerne pellets which were in the feeding trough as her friends were having the lucerne grass.
Tamiyoi then started to walk out of the compound and led the orphans out to the park for the day. At the foot of the hill, the orphans settle to browse throughout the mid-morning.
After having their milk bottles near the baobab tree waterhole, the orphans went for a mud bath and interacted with a herd of wild elephants which arrived. As usual Tamiyoi was trying her very best to socialise with some wild babies in the herd. All the orphans later returned to browsing, making their way deep into the woods to the south of the baobab mud hole.
Despite all our efforts, Kigellia sadly succumbed to her poor condition and all the trauma she had been through, and passed away in the evening.
After the morning milk, the orphans left the stockade compound for the browsing fields, making their way up the Msinga Hill again today where they enjoy looking for fresh vegetation. Tagwa, Tamiyoi and Sagala led the charge on this tasty foliage seeking mission.
As they had chosen to walk up the hill today, once again the orphans returned to the compound for their noon milk feed instead of going to the big baobab tree. After having their milk bottles Pika Pika, Arruba, Sagala, Embu, Suswa, Godoma and Mudanda all enjoyed rolling and messing about on the red earth piles. Suswa came over later once they had all left to enjoy a solo session on the dust pile. Lasayen decided to go and rest over beside the terraces where he had a short nap while standing. Mbegu went for a good scratch again the twin trees.
The orphans later returned to browsing up the hill for the rest of the afternoon.
It was all systems go after the milk and lucerne pellet feeding today, as if all the orphans had woken up with a huge amount of energy that they wanted to burn off immediately! Tahri started rolling on the ground and invited Suswa to join her, which she immediately did without hesitating. There was also a separate sparring party going on – between Ngilai and Emoli, and Ndotto who took his friend Mudanda head-on in their own competition.
The orphan elephants then left for their daily bush walks with Mudanda browsing alongside Thamana and Lemeki throughout the morning. The orphans went to the baobab tree as usual for their milk bottles just before noon, but after they only had some fresh water and snubbed the mud bath as it was quite cloudy and cold today. Some wild elephant herds visited for some water and also chose not to wallow today. The orphans didn’t hang around today and moved off to continue their day.
We couldn’t believe that we awoke to some drizzle today, with cold clouds of mist touching the ground in the early morning hours of the day. The orphans chose to play for a while after having their feed, perhaps in order to warm up on this chilly morning.
Embu went and took the big rock to scratch against, while Tahri lay on the red earth piles. Rorogoi came over to watch her and after admiring her game for a while she decided to join in herself.
Sagala, Tagwa and Tamiyoi then took the lead towards the park, with Lemeki, Thamana and Mudanda following up behind them.
The orphans were reluctant to take a mud bath in the afternoon after their milk bottles as it was still cold. Instead, they concentrated on socializing with the wild elephant herds present, in particular the calves of course - most of the games were focused on the red earth pile. Thamana invited Mbegu for a sparring match during which Mbegu handled him very gently and kindly. When they were done socializing the orphans chose to resume their afternoon of browsing.
Later in the day we watched Sagala go to play beside some small rocks at the base of Msinga Hill before joining up with her friends to head back to the safety of the stockades for the night.
The orphans settled for dairy cube supplements once they had finished their milk feed.
Suswa, Embu and Ndotto were feeding from the trough in front of the milk-mixing area, while the rest of their friends went were eating pellets from the top of one of the stockade terraces. There wasn’t much playing in the compound as the orphans seemed in a hurry to begin their browsing day.
Later in the day, the orphans made their way to the baobab tree waterhole after finishing their lunchtime milk feed. They had a brief moment mud bathing, but Ndotto didn’t want to and instead went to the water trough. He put his foot up on the side without touching the water while he drank using his trunk. Ngilai also snubbed the mud bath to catch up with his favourite Tagwa, who he seems to have a crush on. All the orphans soon flocked to the red earth piles to enjoy rolling around there having fun. A wild elephant herd then arrived to drink water. Godoma and Sagala pretended to join them for a second round of drinking, but really their intention was to try and play with the babies in the herd!
Eventually the orphans left to continue with their usual browsing activities for the afternoon.
After the recent cold snap we’ve been experiencing, it was back to a bright and sunny morning today. The orphans were all out basking in the early morning warmth, feeding on dairy cubes and lucerne pellets. Emoli and Ngilai were sparring over by the stockade water trough. Murit and Lasayen stayed behind feeding on some lucerne cubes as the rest of the orphans went to feed on the fresh grass. Godoma was patting Emoli with her trunk while Tagwa scratched on the rock by the mud hole. Ngilai came over and invited Tagwa to a sparring game, but Tagwa turned him down to follow her best friend Tamiyoi, who was leading the way out to the bush. The orphans settled to browse across the open savanna grassland, browsing their way towards the baobab tree water hole.
At noon, the Voi dependent orphans walked down to the mud bath beside the baobab tree where we were met with the lovely surprise of bumping into an old friend, ex-orphan Nguvu, who was visiting along with his new wild family. Nguvu interacted with the orphans for a little while, before rejoining his new family at the water trough. Suswa in particular spent quite a long time bonding with Nguvu before he left.
After the mud wallowing session the orphans returned to the stockades to welcome Juni out of her stockade where she has been recuperating after being rescued about a month ago. The orphans were happy to meet her properly, and Sagala, Suswa, Mbegu, Mudanda and Tagwa all scrambled to spend time with her. Sagala and Tagwa seemed to win her over however and managed to spend a lot of time with her as she explored her new surroundings.
Lemeki and Thamana led the way out to the bush today, alongside Tagwa, Tamiyoi, Juni and Sagala. The Voi dependent orphans settled at the foot of Msinga Hill overlooking the baobab water trough. Juni settled into the new routine with ease and seemed completely at home among the other orphans.
Just before noon the orphans walked down to the feeding area for their milk feed as usual, before proceeding down to the mud wallow. Juni held onto her milk bottle, savouring every last drop even when it was finished, until Sagala came to pick her up and escort her down to the mud bath for the mud bath for the first time.
Ngilai enjoyed splashing about in the mud bath while Suswa dug at the sides with her massive, long tusks. Ndotto splashed and rolled around on the edge of the mud bath as the rest of the Voi orphans had a good time on the earth piles dusting including Juni. Ndotto joined them there while Tagwa kept to herself and scratched against the baobab tree. Rorogoi did her usual thing of going to enjoy the mud bath to herself after everyone else had left – this ensures she can enjoy herself to the maximum, running from one end to the other splashing and trumpeting in excitement. She was late joining the others who had already started to wander off to continue browsing, and she had to run to catch up with them.
The orphans spent the afternoon browsing at the foot of Msinga Hill. Lasayen browsed side by side with Godoma while Rorogoi spent time browsing with Ndotto. Mudanda was being very inventive using a branch to scratch her chest as she walked along. Eventually all the orphans started to make their way back to the stockades for the night after a very active day.
It seemed like it was going to be another cold day today. Ngilai was bugging Tagwa for a sparring game, but Tagwa turned down the challenge as she was busy looking after Juni. Sagala doesn’t like to be left out and she is often spotted trying to spend time with little Juni too.
The orphans spent the mid-morning browsing at the foot of Msinga Hill. Pika Pika is now feeling a little jealous of all the attention Juni is getting now and tried pushing her away from Arruba. Ndotto approached Mbegu for a sparring game along the way to the noon milk feeding area and Mbegu was happy to oblige as she wasn’t particularly focused on browsing at the time. Lasayen invited Murit for another sparring game.
Mudanda and Suswa were playing excitedly in the mud bath; Mudanda in particular was running about in all directions with her ears raised high, splashing water everywhere. Lasayen posed on the water trough drinking alongside some of his friends. Godoma came over for a drink just as the others started to walk off, and started splashing the water in the trough, first with her trunk and then with her foot. It was a good thing the others had had their fill or they wouldn’t have been able to drink with Godoma splashing water everywhere. Ndotto went to the pile of red earth for a solo dust bath.
The orphans later returned to browsing in the thick wooded area until later in the afternoon when they returned to the stockades for the night.
The orphan elephants enjoyed their morning milk bottles before leaving for the bush afterwards. It is still bush orientation for Juni, who is still the main focus of attention for so many of the older females in the Voi herd. Sagala seems to have decided that Lemeki and Thamana are no longer exciting because Mudanda is always so heavily involved with them, so she had decided to focus her attention on the new baby Juni.
The orphans spent the better half of the morning browsing halfway up the slope on the southern side of Msinga hill. They later came back to the stockades for the noon milk feeding and mud bath. Lasayen went to play on one of the stockade terrace and Juni came over to admire his games. Mudanda went over to the big rock to scratch, but left to make way for Murit, who came over and went to the twin trees instead. Embu and Arruba took the big rock close to the stockade water trough for their own scratching games.
As soon as the orphans made their way back out to the bush to continue browsing, we spotted Ngilai looking all around for his girlfriend Tagwa. Mudanda and Ndotto were nearby having their own sparring match, and as soon as Ngilai walked away from Tagwa Ndotto sidled over to invite her into his game with Mudanda. Tagwa was happy to oblige, so all three of them enjoyed a pushing game together.
The orphan elephants left the stockade compound for the beginning of a busy browsing day as soon as the feeding was over. Later they chose took a break from browsing to compensate for the time they chose not to play in the compound this morning. Ndotto sweetly lay down on the ground to invite Lemeki and Thamana to come and play and climb on him while he was on the ground. Both of the little orphans enjoyed playing with Ndotto and sliding on his stomach, but Mudanda was jealous and came over to disrupt their game. She tried pushing Ndotto to his feet so that he couldn’t play anymore, and Lemeki and Thamana decided to sneak away to avoid getting involved. Godoma decided to lie down as well and Pika Pika and Sagala joined her. Tagwa and Tamiyoi were seen having their own deep and meaningful conversation, with their heads bowed close together and their trunks intertwined. Sparring games were given top priority, with Mudanda hooking up with her best friend Ndotto, Lasayen changing playing mates between Murit and Ngilai, and Tamiyoi settling down head on with Emoli.
There is a problem with the Mzima-Springs pipeline at the moment so the orphans came back to the compound for their noon milk feed and a drink of fresh water, before resuming with their browsing activities to the south of Msinga Hill.
Ngilai was pulling very funny poses this morning, scratching his big bottom on a low-lying rock outside the big stockade. Murit went over to collect him as all the orphans were starting to make their way out to the park for the day.
The day was very cold and drizzling with thick cloud cover, but the sun started to break through at about 10:20am. Godoma and Rorogoi seized the opportunity and lay down to bask next to one another in the bright sun light. Mudanda was busy teasing Ndotto to get him to spar with her before the orphans started to walk down to the milk feeding area beside the baobab tree.
The orphans all stood around the edge of the waterhole, debating whether or not to have a mud bath after their milk bottles, waiting for someone to take the first plunge. Suswa broke the silence and was the first to dive into the water, with her back legs splayed backwards and splashing water everywhere. This made Godoma excited and she too ran into the water, charging and running here and there splashing the water with her trunk and feet. Later Godoma and Mbegu had a wonderful and good time playing on the red earth piles, showing off to the visiting wild elephants, before rejoining their friends who were leaving to continue browsing.
After the morning milk feed, the Voi orphan elephants decided to hang around the compound for some socializing and bonding games before moving off for their browsing bush walks. Ngilai starts a wrestling match with his favorite friend Emoli while Pika Pika warmed up at the soil pile playing close to her adopted ‘mother’ Arruba. Mudanda was scratching against a tree at the far end of the compound near the fence line and was later joined by Ndotto. Thamana is getting very jealous of Juni and seems to be agitated that Juni has usurped him and taken the position of being the youngest in the herd. He is occasionally spotted trying to push her away whenever she comes close to him.
Sagala and Tamiyoi suddenly took off towards the park, leading their friends, as Ndotto and Mudanda followed slowly behind as they had been fully engrossed in their sparring match and hadn’t noticed that their friends had started to leave.
After the noon milk feed the orphan decided to skip the mud bathing session today as it was a cold and overcast afternoon. Ndotto veered away from the water hole and went to warm himself up by rolling on the loose soil, before joining his friends to continue browsing.
It was an early start to the day with the Voi orphans joining up with the wild elephant herd who frequently chooses to visit the stockade on an almost daily basis to enjoy some of the leftover lucerne supplements. Sagala, Arruba and Tamiyoi were at the centre, trying to reach the wild elephant calves to greet and play with them, but the mother is still very cautious and blocked them from reaching the calves in the herd.
Ndotto is such a character and has a pivotal role in the herd. The Keepers often say he is a life-changer to many of his friends. Today he went over to Lemeki and introduced her to some sparring games. He wanted to pass on a crucial message to Lemeki that there is more to life and she doesn’t always have to stick so close to Thamana and not socialize with any of the other orphans.
Ngilai was busy chasing his girlfriend Tagwa around and trying to climb on her back, as if trying to show all the females in the herd that he is mature now, but everyone knows that is not quite the case yet and he is still far too young. The rest of the browsing day carried on peacefully.
It was a cool morning with Arruba surprising her friends by lying down on the lucerne grass that she had just been feeding from, chilling there as if she was on a straw mattress. She had a good rest there, but eventually got up to leave the compound with her friends.
The orphan elephants had a peaceful morning browsing, visiting the baobab tree water hole after the noon milk feed. Soon Nguvu came through with his adopted wild elephant family, settling at the water trough for some water. Arruba noticed him and went over to greet him. Suswa then went over too and was spotted practically pushing Nguvu to join the orphan elephant herd. As Nguvu was busy socializing and greeting the other orphans, his herd left the water hole and walked towards the northern bushy side of the water hole.
After a while everyone had spoken with Nguvu and the orphans didn’t seem interested in continuing the interaction, so Nguvu was able to wander off in search of his new family.
He moved along the commonly used elephant paths, waving his trunk back and forth along the ground and smelling as he went. Eventually he was finally able to track down his wild elephant family and moved off with them to browse.
Playful games dominated the entire morning session after the milk and supplement feeding. Lemeki snuck through an open gate, searching the back of the stockade for the truck, hoping to find a bonus milk bottle after she was done with her usual two milk bottles. Every day, this truck brings milk to the baobab feeding area, and Lemeki seems to think that it is always equipped with milk bottles and ready to go!
Later in the morning the orphans went for some fresh water where they interacted briefly with a visiting wild herd, before Tamiyoi started dreaming of the lucerne pellets and decided to lead her friends over to where they are normally distributed in the stockade compound. The Keepers were busy taking their lunch nearby. The orphans enjoyed another batch of the range cubes in the afternoon, with Ndotto keeping himself very busy in sparring games with his good friend Ivia the buffalo, which he has not done for some time.
The orphan elephant later went ahead wound up their browsing day halfway up the southern side of Msinga Hill. A single wild elephant cow and her calf came down the hill to drink water from the stockade water trough and were given some lucerne pellets as well, as it is still so dry.
Tagwa was seen in close contact with Juni throughout the whole feeding session this morning, substituting Sagala for once. Just after noon at the water hole, Sagala went to seek an alliance with Tagwa in looking after Juni, which was granted, and the two stayed looking after Juni in peace. It was a cold day and most of the orphan elephants were reluctant to go into the water for a bath. Juni, Tagwa and Tamiyoi stood at the edge of water as Embu, the water baby, got down and lay just in the water, rolling around, seemingly trying to impress Juni.
Juni was indeed excited by her antics and decided to join Embu, closely followed by Suswa as Tagwa and Sagala remained determined to stay out of the water. As soon as Juni came out of the water again Tagwa was there waiting to scoop her up and escort her to continue their afternoon of browsing together. Mbegu stood nearby watching with Godoma, happy that Tagwa has found a new little friend.
It was a perfect beginning of the day with the stockade dependent orphan elephants emptying their morning milk bottles and settling for some supplement food before engaging in some brief soil dusting games in the stockade compound.
The earliest callers of the day were the single wild elephant cow and her calf, who were already standing in the lucerne grass feeding area waiting patiently for the fresh grass to be distributed. The orphans joined them for a brief time before leaving for the bush. On the way Arruba decided to feed on some tasty acacia branches she came across, inviting Ngilai to join her.
It was fairly overcast again today, and the orphans avoided taking a mud bath again.
Lemeki was introduced to some more sparring games by the famous life changer Ndotto. She seems to have found the games fun and exciting and then started engaging Ngilai in some head-on sparring matches too.
The orphans continued their afternoon of browsing halfway up the western side of the Msinga Hill, with their single wild elephant friend spotted browsing up at the peak of the hill with her calf.
The orphans sprinted to reaching their morning milk feeding area this morning. Tagwa noticed that Juni has been left behind and turned back to meet her and escort her to the milk feeding area. Tagwa made sure she was standing at a strategic position to try and safeguard Juni from being harassed by any of the older orphans, who were gulping down their milk in a hurry to possibly seek an extra milk bottle. It wasn’t long before Pika Pika tried just that – sneaking up behind Juni in an attempt to reach her milk, but Tagwa spotted her and came to Juni’s defense.
The orphan left for the bush in a single file, which is how they continued browsing throughout the morning. They later visited the water hole and had a lot of fun in some mud bathing games after the noon milk feed. Juni was the first to break the silence by plunging into the water to swim. Ngilai followed suit with Tagwa, who isn’t comfortable swimming in cold water, moving all around the periphery keeping a constant eye on Juni, apparently worried what Ngilai’s intentions might be. She need not have worried however as Ngilai played perfectly in the water and mostly kept to himself.
Lemeki once again left Thamana’s side, something she is becoming more confident doing, and went to join Ngilai and Mbegu on the red earth piles to play. This suggests that Ndotto’s efforts to get her to move outside her comfort zone and play with the others are working!
After the morning milk feed the Voi dependent orphans lined up for the lucerne to be distributed. Pika Pika became naughty, resting her heavy head on Thamana’s back while he was trying to eat. Not wanting to start a fight, Thamana decided just to leave rather than confront Pika Pika. The orphans then hung around the compound for some socializing games before following behind Tagwa and Tamiyoi to head out for the day. Along the way, Pika Pika and Arruba decided to peel off and browse on their own for a while, before joining up with their friends.
Tagwa seems to have assumed looking after little Juni entirely. She was seen chasing her friend, Sagala, who had earlier shown interest in adopting Juni.
After the noon milk feed, Godoma led her friends down to the mud bath to wallow and refresh themselves as it was a hot afternoon. Ndotto kept to the water trough and only drank water. It seems Ndotto isn’t a fan of mud bathing water games as he has consistently been snubbing the mud bathing session! The orphans later resumed their usual browsing activities until evening when it was time to return home.
After the feeding was over in the morning the orphan elephants settled down to play in the stockade compound. Rorogoi lay down to roll in the soil and looked very happy, until Ngilai came over and completely disturbed her game, stepping on her back with his front feet. Thamana went to play and scratch against the orphans’ favourite rock with Tamiyoi coming over to cheer him on. Soon the orphans left bush for the beginning of their busy browsing day.
After browsing for about four hours, Arruba and Murit settled for a sparring match, which was an unusual combination as these two orphans don’t usually play, while Pika Pika went to play with Emoli inside an erosion trench.
Later the orphans were reluctant to swim after having their milk bottles as although it is dry, this is the coldest month in Voi. Suswa went to look after Thamana and wrapped her trunk affectionately around his neck. Mbegu looked jealous but could only look on as Suswa cared for Thamana. The rest of day continued to the south of the baobab tree water hole where the orphans chose to browse for the rest of the day.
Embu went straight to take her early morning dust bath on the red earth pile before the area became crowded by her friends, so she could enjoy herself in peace. Ndotto walked all around the lower side of one of the stockade terraces feeding on the lucerne pellets there. Sagala and Tamiyoi then took the lead towards the browsing grounds when all the feeding and the games in the stockade compound were over.
The orphans browsed in single file for the better half of the morning all around the Msinga Hill. Tahri noticed a wild elephant browsing on top of the hill and started moving uphill to join her. However, Tahri abandoned her ambition to reach the wild elephant as soon as she heard the pick-up vehicle carrying the milk bottles approaching! She quickly ran down the hill again and joined her friends who were moving down for the milk feed.
The orphans then visited the mud bath after having their bottles, but they didn’t swim due to the prevailing cold weather conditions. Ngilai and Pika Pika enjoyed a sparring match while their friends drank. Tagwa was busy guarding Juni from being able to interact with Sagala, but Sagala managed to stand with her back just touching Juni to make sure her presence was still felt! The orphans carried on peacefully browsing for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to return home.