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Ngasha pushed Amali away from the mud bath so that he could have lots of space to himself. Faraja and Jasiri were watching from the sidelines and they were upset to see this behaviour from Ngasha. They approached him to find out why he pushed her, then Faraja and Jasiri chased Ngasha away from the herd. Amali had already run over to Mwashoti, in need of comfort after her interaction with the wayward bull.  

Once Ngasha was gone, Sonje got into the mud bath. She was showing off all her swimming skills and tricks. Kiasa and Enkesha joined Sonje and they started a swimming competition. They copied Sonje and had a very enjoyable time playing in the mud bath. Kapei joined in. He climbed on Kiasa while she was lying down in the deep water. Kiasa was not too happy about this and stood up, leaving Kapei in the mud.

Lima Lima and the other nannies took Mwana early this morning. They were so enthusiastic that they whisked the baby forward before she had even had a chance to feed from Murera. Mwana protested until Kiasa and Enkesha gave in, they stopped and gave Mwana time to feed. Lima Lima didn’t realise that they had stopped and found herself further down the path without Mwana. The orphan herd moved towards the Umani Spring area to browse and find water.

Jasiri arrived with a wild herd. Quanza was very excited to see four small babies in their midst. Quanza and Faraja had a short conversation then decided to welcome the wild herd to browse with the orphan herd.

Alamaya and Mwashoti started fighting over a stick. Mwashoti got frustrated with Alamaya, so Mwashoti moved away and he pulled up his own stick. He then went over to Murera and rumbled his annoyance to her.

Kiasa, Enkesha and Maktao were browsing together as a group. Kiombo saw them and came over to join in. He started his usual pushing games but Kiasa and Enkesha were not interested. They moved away and left the two boys to their game. Maktao and Kiombo had a lot of energy to burn off.

Sonje and the other night clubbers, Mwashoti, Alamaya, and Jasiri, reported back to the stockades this morning. Sonje was unusually early. Her routine has become that she arrives at the stockades very late; she usually finds the orphan herd has already left and all the pellets have been finished.

The orphan herd headed to the Umani hills. Enkesha and Kiasa walked back to be with Mwana. They wanted her to be in the middle of the herd, so she was more protected. Murera was very calm, she trusted Kiasa and Enkesha to look after her baby. Sonje joined the nannies looking after Mwana, while Alamaya and Mwashoti walked with Murera.

In the afternoon, when it was time to go for their mud bath, the orphans found two big wild bulls already enjoying The bulls were reluctant to move; they mock charged the orphan herd, letting them know that they were not welcome at the mud bath. Eventually the two bulls moved off, leaving it free for the orphans to play in.  

The orphans had a wonderful mud bath today. Mwana was the first one in. She walked straight into the water, leaving her nannies all rushing to catch up with her. Kiasa and Enkesha instinctively followed her into the mud, just wanting to keep her happy and safe. Mwana was very lively today and her mood was infectious: The whole orphan herd was having so much fun and no one wanted to get out. They all stayed wallowing in the mud for a long time.  

The games in the mud bath got too rough and Mwana rumbled in distress. All the orphans stopped playing and tried to find out what had happened. Once Mwana had calmed down, the orphans finally got out of the mud bath and wandered towards the Chyulu area to browse before heading back to the stockades.

Kiombo and Maktao tried to approach Mwana to make friends with her, but Quanza and Enkesha were very suspicious of the two boys. The young bulls are not known for being friendly towards little babies, so Mwana’s nannies did not trust their intentions. Quanza and Enkesha got worried and chased them away from Mwana. The two junior boys escaped onto the bushes.

Jasiri saw Ngasha moving towards Sonje, which he was not pleased with. Jasiri moved to block Ngasha’s path and push him away from Sonje and the older girls. They were grateful to have Jasiri as their protector.

There were lots of baboons and bushbuck near the stockades this morning. The baby baboons were busy playing in the trees above, while the bushbucks were in the grass underneath. One of the baboons jumped down close to a bushbuck, who then got a fright and ran into the bush. In turn, the darting bushbuck scared Faraja. Faraja started running for safety before realising it was only a little antelope. He charged and trumpeted at the bushbucks and the baboons, embarrassed that he had gotten a fright. Faraja called his friends over for back up, but only Ngasha was interested in his game. Typically, Faraja and Ngasha still do not get along well, but today the baboons and the bushbucks united the two boys.

 Zongoloni appeared at the water trough with two wild females and a young calf. The orphan herd welcomed Zongoloni and her visitors. Kiasa was fascinated by the wild calf, perhaps mistaking it for Mwana. She was trying to take the calf back to the orphan herd, but she got blocked by the wild female, who was protecting her baby. Kiasa left the wild calf with its mother and went to find Mwana, who was browsing with Enkesha and Quanza away from the herd.

This morning was very foggy around the Umani Hills, making it difficult for the Keepers to see very far ahead of them. They could hear the orphan herd browsing around them, but they could not see all the elephants. Once they got to the base of the Umani Hills, the Keepers had to call all the orphans back to them to do a head count and make sure everyone was accounted for.

The cold continued until midday when the orphans went for their mud bath. The Keepers thought it was too cold for any of the orphans to go swimming, but to everyone’s surprise, both Lima Lima and Mwana got into the water and enjoyed their time swimming. The orphan herd then moved to the dust bath; the Keepers watched as Mwana joyfully climbed to the top of the dust pile. Zongoloni and Enkesha kept a close eye on her, especially making sure Ngasha didn’t get too close.

Some wild bulls have been showing an interest in Quanza. They came again today, but after seeing Quanza’s disinterest, they moved their attention to Sonje. Sonje also turned them away, clearly uninterested. The bulls then disappeared into the Kibwezi Forest, frustrated at the lack of attention from the girls.

Quanza walked back to the herd to take on her role of looking after Mwana. Sonje joined Kiasa and Enkesha playing on the dust pile.

When Quanza rejoined the herd, she immediately went to look for Mwana. The little girl was with Kiasa, who was not ready to hand Mwana over just yet. Kiasa and Enkesha were very insistent on keeping Mwana; they did not want to let Mwana go with Quanza. Quanza was surprised by this behaviour and didn’t know how to respond.

After standing in confusion for a minute, she decided to join Murera, Mwashoti and Alamaya pulling down some big acacia branches to eat. Ngasha came to join them, but then Murera and Quanza stopped browsing and moved away from Ngasha.

It was cool this morning when the orphans were let out of their stockades. They were all happy to be out browsing peacefully until Kiombo and Maktao started their usual games. Kiasa got upset with the boys sparring too close to her. She trumpeted at them to get them to move away. The young boys refused to respect Kiasa’s personal space — in fact, Kiombo even tried to pull Kiasa’s tail! This made Kiasa furious and she was ready to fight Kiombo and Maktao. Enkesha, the peacemaker, came over and stood between the boys and Kiasa to protect her friend.

Despite the cold weather Mwana, Kiasa and Enkesha went to the mud bath for a swim. Kiombo, Maktao, and Kapei followed them. Sonje, Murera, and Quanza did not feel like wallowing; instead, they went straight to the dust bath. Mwana saw her mother at the dust pile and got out of the water to join her. Mwana climbed to the top of the dust pile so she could be as tall as her friends.

Murera had to discipline little Mwana today. Mwana was playing around with her nannies as normal, but then she went to charge at one of the Keepers. Murera saw what was happening and quickly intervened, warning Mwana not to charge at her family. She didn’t understand why Mwana was chasing those who are helping to raise her — but to Mwana it was all a game; she didn’t realise she could hurt one of the Keepers.

Sonje, Kiasa, and Enkesha came to collect Mwana and take her to the water hole for their mud bath. Zongoloni and Quanza helped round up Kapei, Amali, Kiombo and Maktao to take them to the mud bath. Mwana and Amali were the first ones in the mud bath. They really love swimming.

Ziwa reported back to the stockades this morning. As usual, his wild family patiently waited a few metres away. Ziwa greeted his friends then moved off with his wild family.

Sonje led the herd to browse in the Kenzili area for the morning until it was time to go for their midday milk feed and mud bath. Zongoloni and Kiasa commandeered Mwana for the whole morning, they were very unwilling to share her. Only Murera was allowed access to her baby. Mwana would go and suckle then as soon as she was full Kiasa and Zongoloni took her back. Later Enkesha got jealous and forced her way into Kiasa and Zongoloni’s circle.

Amali and Mwashoti have remained great friends. Mwashoti looks after Amali very well. He protects her from being pushed around by the other orphans, or from buffaloes. Today Amali was very happy as Mwashoti was pulling down small branches for her to eat, then he stood guard to protect her from anyone that tried to steal her branches.

The mud bath was very interesting. Ngasha tried to initiate his rough games, but he was quickly stopped by Jasiri. Ngasha moved towards Kiasa with rough intentions, Jasiri charged in and chased Ngasha away. He was left to watch all his friends having fun in the mud bath without him. Ngasha was only allowed back if he assured Jasiri that he would behave nicely and be gentle with the other orphans.