The month began with training for our next class of graduates: Kitich, Mageno, and Muwingu. They proved to be far more amenable students than the last cohort. Sileita, Sholumai, and Mushuru, our stubborn girls, were often reluctant to enter the truck. By contrast, Kitich, Mageno, and Muwingu were positively laid-back, plodding quietly up the ramp and into their compartments on most days.

The graduates’ big day fell on 9th June. We began loading them into the truck at 2am, tempting them in with bottles of milk and sugar cane. Once the three four-year-olds were safely inside, we loaded piles of greens into the truck for the journey and bid them farewell.

The journey to Ithumba, by the light of a full moon, was uneventful. Mageno, Kitich, and Muwingu stood calmly in their compartments, with Keepers Peter and Harrison for company. Along the way, the two bulls were pinching greens from each other — one picked up a bunch and then the other stretched his trunk around to grab the tasty treat! The truck arrived at Ithumba soon after dawn, and our elephants walked out to begin the next stage of their lives back to the wild.

Back at the stockades, the herd was less upset than when Sileita left last month. They certainly noted the departure, but most of the orphans stayed quiet and calm. Mzinga and Taroha were the exceptions. Taroha paced around his room, trumpeting loudly, while Mzinga pushed against her door in protest. However, after an eventful night, the day passed off peacefully. The herd — including Mzinga and Taroha — seemed to accept the change, browsing quietly in the morning and enjoying a group dust bath in the afternoon.

Following the recent graduations, we moved three elephants to new rooms. Mzinga left her baby stable for a big girl stockade next to good friend Muridjo. She accepted her new bedroom with minimal fuss. We also moved Olomunyak and Taroha, putting Olomunyak in Mzinga’s old stable next to Wamata, and Taroha on the other side of Mzinga’s new room!

Weka is a two-sided coin. She may be mischievous and unpredictable, but she is also very caring towards little ones like Talek, Pardamat, Olomunyak, Taroha, and Wamata. Whenever she hears one of them complaining, she runs to the rescue and generally deals with the problem. One morning, when Olomunyak began trumpeting for no apparent reason, Weka rushed over to the young bull, checked him with her trunk, and stood next to him protectively. Olomunyak feels very safe with Weka.

Muridjo loves Wamata, and Wamata loves Muridjo. The two girls are like sisters and are spending more and more time together. In the past, Muridjo was not known as one of our most nurturing girls, but that has started to change. One morning, the girls stood glued together while browsing. When some of the other orphans strolled over to join them, clever Muridjo had a cunning plan. She distracted her friends by trumpeting and running off into the bushes. Nyambeni and Mzinga followed her, whereupon Muridjo turned back, scooped up Wamata, and walked away in a different direction.

Truth be told, everyone loves Wamata — particularly Latika. She is always rolling out the proverbial red carpet for her little girl. One afternoon, as the orphans plodded down to the mud bath, Latika went one step further in her protective nanny role. She pushed other elephants out of the way so Wamata could pad down the path like a princess. Walking close behind her, she did not let any of the others overtake the little girl!

This was a difficult month for our little Tali. He got knocked over in the bulls’ roughhousing play at the end of May, which left him with an injured leg. As he recovers, we are following veterinary advice and keeping him close to the stockade compound, so he can rest his leg as much as possible while still browsing out in the forest. The other orphans check on their friend.

Since Mageno and Kitich graduated from the Nursery, Shujaa has been asserting his dominance and generally telling anyone who will listen that he is now the only big boy in the herd. He has found a surprising friend and playmate in Kamili. This is a surprising partnership — the social boy and the solitary girl — but they get on famously.

In fact, Shujaa and Kamili can be quite exclusive. One afternoon, they were pushing through the forest when Weka tried to join their game — without success. Whenever she approached them, they stopped playing, moved a short distance away, and started the game again.

On the afternoon of 17th June, a tiny new orphan arrived from the Mara. We named her Kipekee, which means ‘unique’ in Swahili — a lovely name befitting a lovely young elephant. She had a good first night at the Nursery, sleeping in a stable between Wamata and Olomunyak. In the morning, she stood calmly and stretched her hairy trunk over the half door to greet her Keepers. She has very long eyelashes and very thin legs but is already comfortable with her new family.

Kipekee has brought out a nurturing side in our spoilt baby, Wamata. Sensing an opportunity to rise to the occasion, Wamata was very friendly to her new neighbour, rumbling and stretching her trunk through the stable gaps in greeting. Throughout the night, whenever Kipekee complained, Wamata reached her trunk through the bars and rumbled to calm the newbie down.

Pardamat is going through a phase of doing his own thing in the forest. We often find him by himself, browsing or rolling in the mud or chasing wagtails. However, he continues to wreak havoc at the milk feeds and, despite being relegated to the final feeding group, has not learned his manners. Whenever we relax our rule and send him down earlier, he misbehaves!

The large number of nannies in the herd means that all the little ones have so much attention! Olomunyak is a great favourite of Kerrio, Muridjo, Latika, Mzinga, and Nyambeni, making him a very confident boy. His peers react differently to his bravado: When he pushes Talek, she usually gives him space and backs down. When he does the same to Taroha or Pardamat, they retaliate and push back. Taroha, who is older and stronger, usually gets the upper hand. Pardamat, who is older but not stronger, generally gives up.

Mzinga is a mini matriarch of note. She loves looking after babies and leading the others. She is also very attentive towards the Keepers. Whenever we call the orphans, she is the first to respond. She also likes staying close to the Keepers, often choosing to browse near us.

Surprising no one, everyone loves the new girl. Kerrio, Muridjo, and Nyambeni are especially smitten with Kipekee. They are more or less managing to share her, and the newbie happily follows whichever nanny finds her first. During one particularly cold morning, Kipekee remained in her cosy stable until it warmed up. It wasn’t long before Nyambeni strolled over, after sneaking away from the herd to check on ‘her’ new baby!

We were also pleasantly surprised to see how much interest Talek has taken in Kipekee. Talek is still very much a baby, but she has not been known to date for her maternal behaviour. One morning, however, she was the first to greet Kipekee. Over she came, rumbling along the way, to browse next to the little girl.

Our new girl has adapted well to life at the Nursery. Kipekee may be very small, but she is learning the ropes quickly. To tempt her out of her warm stable in the mornings, a Keeper must be holding a bottle (either empty or full). If he is not holding a bottle, she will not follow him! During the nights, she wakes up without prompting every three hours for a milk feed, and she does not like to sleep with the light on. Even in just a few weeks, she has already improved by leaps and bounds.

The rhinos:

Raha has also learned to mark her territory just like a wild rhino. We take her to different places in the forest so that she learns about her territory, and she stops to urinate at regular intervals along the way.

Every so often, just like the elephants, little Raha has a coconut oil session. This month, the Keepers had a lovely coconut assistant in the form of her elephant friend, Nyambeni. Our stubborn little rhino stood very still while we massaged her body with oil, and rather large helper Nyambeni rubbed her trunk over Raha’s back. Nyambeni was happy smearing, and Raha enjoyed her trunk touches.

Maxwell, the blind black rhino, is well. During the colder weather, he likes to lie on a bed of hay in the covered part of his enclosure, sometimes not emerging until close to noon. Then, we often find him grazing on pellets with several warthogs. On most days, he is happy to share his pellets.