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After settling on lucerne in the morning, the orphans were joined by a wild family that they already know. The two babies accompanying the wild herd engaged Jotto, Olorien, and Naleku in a strength testing exercise. The feeding of lucerne didn't last for long, as the playful Suguroi ran towards the bushes, trumpeting. The trumpeting attracted the rest of her group, and from there, everyone moved off into the bush.

The orphans settled to browse in the Kone area. After some time, Kindani, Kinyei, Bondeni, Lodo, and Sagateisa took a break from feeding to have a game of rolling on the ground. Jotto and Naboishu, who like pushing games, challenged each other for quite some time. The weather was chilly and the orphans browsed calmly throughout the morning session. At mud bath, the orphans had their milk. Roho was the only one who participated in mud bathing, as his colleagues stood nearby watching. In the afternoon, the orphans settled in the Imenti area. Naboishu engaged Dololo into a pushing game while Kuishi played with Jotto. The rest of the day was quiet. In the evening, Challa, Kilaguni, Tusuja, Kanjoro, and three wild elephants showed up for water at the stockade compound.

This morning, there was already a group of ex-orphans waiting outside the stockades. Looking keenly in the group,we found Neshashi amongst them! She came running towards the Keepers, requesting milk. We gave her two bottles and then encouraged her to join the others at the lucerne feeding point. Neshashi had disappeared in the bush for a good ten days. She was accompanied by ex-orphans Galla, Olsekki, Kilaguni, Barsilinga, and Enkikwe. While they took very good care of her, the young girl had clearly missed her milk feeds. All the babies clustered around Neshashi, smelling her and perhaps asking her about her adventures. 

After her time away, Neshashi came back a more reddish colour, from rolling and wallowing in different soil. This confused Kinyei, Kindani, and Bondeni, who thought she was an entirely new addition to the herd. Bondeni tried to bully her, but Neshashi swiftly got her revenge on the upstart young bull. 

Back in the bush, the babies were very busy browsing. Suddenly, they started running here and there — something had clearly startled them. In the chaos, Sagateisa, Kuishi, Ambo, and Esoit got caught up in a wild herd. It took the Keepers two hours to shepherd them back! We suspect they had seen a lion, as two have been seen in the environs of Ithumba recently, or perhaps a bull in musth set them off. There are many bulls in musth at the moment, which also challenged the search, as they can be very aggressive. Luckily, the babies were returned to the group and everyone was very happy to welcome them back.