In Ithumba, the month began with the promise of new life: ex-orphans Kalama and Kitirua visited the stockades in the company of a wild female and her baby. While we don’t know her exact due date, Kalama looks to be very close to giving birth — she is huge! We cannot wait to meet her first baby.
Hot weather this month brought lots of impromptu mud baths and swimming sessions. One evening, most of the herd gathered in the reliable dam along the Tiva road. Suguroi and Roho were the most playful, while Vaarti — who doesn’t usually like the water — chose to roll in the dust instead. Funnily enough, Bondeni — who also doesn’t like the water much — found himself pushed into the water by Esoit. Rather than retreat in anger, he made the best of the situation and played vigorously with Esoit.
We had visits from lots of ex-orphans and their babies this month, much to the delight of our baby lovers, Naleku and Suguroi. Given the chance, these two girls would likely disappear with the wild-born babies without looking back. Funnily, age-mate Olorien doesn’t seem to share their nannying aspirations.
The highlight of the month fell on 9th June, when we welcomed our newest class of Nursery graduates. The truck carrying Muwingu, Kitich, and Mageno arrived at Ithumba shortly before nine o’clock in the morning. Mukutan, Choka, and Loldaiga — who knew the trio from the Nursery — were the first to meet the new babies. There was instant recognition among the old friends.
Unsurprisingly, our gentle boys Mayan and Vaarti were extremely welcoming to the newcomers. They were among the first to approach Muwingu, who appeared quite settled. They later greeted Kitich and offered their own warm welcome to Ithumba.
Mageno and Kitich followed Naleku closely, eager to learn more about their new environment. Muwingu stayed near Choka, who repeatedly tried to entice her into a pushing game. Muwingu, however, showed little interest and ignored him. After their evening bottles, the three new babies settled in to enjoy the fresh greens provided for the night.
At the Nursery, the orphans are the only and thus biggest elephants — whereas at Ithumba, they are dwarfed by all the wild visitors. The day after Muwingu, Kitich, and Mageno’s arrival, Makena, Moe, Mkuu, and Mulika joined the orphans during lucerne feeding. The newbies felt intimidated by Mulika’s large size — to be fair, she is a notably large female — and chose to keep their distance.
There was a funny moment with Mulika’s youngest, Moe. He strolled over to Esoit and attempted to bully him, with little success. Curious, Mageno came closer to check on the young calf who was bold enough to challenge his elders. Moe turned his aggression on Mageno and charged. Mageno didn’t hesitate — he whipped Moe with his trunk and calmly walked away. He may be the newcomer, but he won’t tolerate nonsense!
It’s starting to get a bit drier, which brings all our ex-orphans and their babies circling in. Visitors this month included Sapalan, Ithumba, Iman, Sidai, Silas, Sid, Sita, Mteto, Kenze, Enkikwe, Mapia, Olsekki, Sities, Sunni, Sana Sana, Naboishu, Malkia, Roi, Maramoja, Mutara, Mambo, Turkwel, Kainuk, Chaimu, Muwingu, Lualeni, Lulu, Lexi, Luki, Yatta, Yetu, Yoyo, Yogi, Yebo, Yara, Olare, Ola, Mwende, Mala, Makireti, Kilabasi, Kofi, Namalok, Tusuja, and Kanjoro, among many others. It was lovely to be reunited with Namalok, who had been missing in action for some time.
Kinyei and Kindani remain very devoted to their ‘little brother,’ Bondeni. One afternoon, Vaarti and Bondeni took a break from browsing to engage in a strength-testing exercise. However, it didn’t last long — Kinyei passed by and separated the two boys before it could get too intense!
A troubling development unfolded on 13th June. New mum Makireti arrived at the stockades for water — but her baby, Makimaki, was missing. We would have assumed he was with Neshashi, who is the main nanny, but Neshashi was also present. It’s not clear what might have happened. We will continue monitoring the situation.
Muwingu and Suguroi seem to be in competition over who can win over Sities’ little baby, Sunni. Sunni appears to be enjoying this competition, as he ran around happily while the two girls bickered. At last, Sities left with her baby towards the water trough. Suguroi and Muwingu followed, and Muwingu nearly succeeded in walking away with Sunni. Suguroi foiled the attempted snatching by blocking her rival. The Keepers decided to walk the orphans to the browsing field in order to stop the girls from fighting over Sunni.
For as maternal as she is shaping up to be, Muwingu also doesn’t suffer fools gladly. One morning, Muwingu went around greeting some of the wild-born babies. She started with Wema, then Wimbi, and finally Kaia. After a brief exchange, Muwingu tried to pull Kaia’s trunk. It’s not clear what Kaia said to Muwingu that angered her. Muwingu even kicked Kaia using her front leg, then when leaving, she threw a back kick at her.
We can always count on Bondeni to spice up the day. One afternoon, he came across two dik-diks who were pushing each other. Bondeni decided to end their game by running towards them. The two antelopes ran away as fast as their legs could carry them, while Bondeni charged after them. His trumpeting attracted Roho, Lodo, Mayan, and Loldaiga, who immediately rallied around their friend. At last, they got tired — the dik-diks were long gone anyway.
We had a wonderful ending to the month. The sun became hot as the day progressed. Muwingu settled to browse with Kitich and Mageno until 11 o’clock, when Loldaiga led the first group to the noon bottle feeds, while Suguroi led the second one. Feeling the heat, the orphans then jumped into the pool for a lovely, long wallow before settling into a soil dusting exercise. Mageno, Roho, and Lodo emerged as the stars of the day, as they had a prolonged wallowing session.