01 March 2016

The morning was good with the orphan elephants coming out of their stables assembling for their morning milk bottle before settling down to eat copra cake. The orphans only spent a brief time in the stockade compound before Ndii and Kenia took the lead of taking the others out towards the browsing grounds. Ndoria, who could not imagine missing out on any games, took her wonderful buttock scratching game to an outcropping rock close to the stockade water trough. Lentili, who had already been overtaken by Ndii and Kenia in the leadership role this morning, pulled back to wait for Ndoria to finish her scratching and then fetched her to follow the other orphans to the browsing grounds. The orphans had a wonderful browsing moment for the better half of the day and visited the middle water hole for a brief bath. Mashariki went to scratch her fore foot on a tree stump and then join the others in browsing. The rest of the browsing day went on peacefully with Ishaq-B enjoying the lead of taking them back to the stockade that evening.

02 March 2016

The morning started well with the orphan elephants obeying their usual morning milk feeding routine and taking off to the browsing grounds. Nelion, who usually likes to eat, pulled back with Araba and remained behind to browse for half the day when they realized the other orphans were moving fast and not settling down to browse. Later the other orphans came to pick up these two to head to the water hole for bathing. In a dramatic bathing competition, Rorogoi went down in wonderful rolling games in the plentiful water. Ishaq-B rushed in to challenge her in her games which led to a very active bathing session. The orphans had a lot of fun but Panda and Ndii stayed out of that main bath to go in for a private bathing session after all others had left the water. The orphans all browsed peacefully afterwards and they returned to the stockade happily that evening.

03 March 2016

It was a nice morning until a report reaching the stockade at 7.30am of an orphan baby buffalo sited by guest in the Kanderi swamp. A rescue team was quickly mobilized and arrived at the rescue scene. When the team arrived they found that the orphan baby buffalo had gone under a guest’s vehicle seeking shelter from the scorching sun. The fate of its mother was not established at the time of that rescue and the orphan was taken to the Voi stockade. Ngulia, the orphaned zebra who is the boss of the eclectic small orphan group, took charge in welcoming the new arrival, showing him around their stable area and showing him into his designated stable. Jamuhuri, the current resident orphan baby buffalo, went to greet the new arrival but kept on pushing and shoving him around so the keepers had to intervene and separate them. Earlier in the day, Lesanju, Taveta, Sinya, Kivuko and Lempaute were sited browsing on the far eastern side of the stockade, but they did not come into the stockade today.

04 March 2016

It was a fantastic day with the orphans coming out of their stockades running to drink their morning milk bottles. The orphans all played in the stockade area for a short time before proceeding towards the browsing grounds. Lentili positioned herself at the front to lead the others towards the browsing grounds. The orphans settled in single file browsing peacefully with Mudanda keeping her close browsing ties with Ndii. Afternoon came fast with the orphans moving in groups of five to the middle water hole for milk, water and a bath. First went Mudanda, Bada, Araba, Mashariki and Rorogoi with the others following in close intervals. The orphans then went to the main water hole after drinking from the half drum barrels and Kenia led them in a quick and a wonderful noon mud bath. They then left the water hole and browsed close by for the rest of the day.

05 March 2016

It was a beautiful morning with the orphans enjoying their normal milk feeding routine before proceeding with their usual walk to the browsing grounds. Soon after they left came Emily’s herd arrived at the stockade with Wasessa, Dabassa, Layoni and Mzima who have been absorbed from Lesanju’s herd into this Ex Orphan herd. Kivuko, who was usually found part of Lesanju’s herd, was also with Emily’s herd today. They peacefully drank clean water from the stockade trough, before hanging around the stockade compound for twenty minutes and then leaving. Laikipia, who just missed the Ex Orphan herd when they visited the stockade, caught up with the juniors in Kenia and Panda’s herd at 9.30am in the browsing grounds. Laikipia was warmly greeted by the junior orphans who surrounded him and occasionally tossed their small tusks in the air to appreciate his presence among them. Bada fell in love with Laikipia and browsed close to him throughout the day until he left towards the Voi River. All the junior orphans followed him for more than a mile before coming back to the middle water hole at noon. A few minutes before heading to the water hole at noon, Mzima, Dabassa and Kivuko split from Emily’s herd and were seen on a mission of searching for the juniors. They never met up with them though as they had taken a completely different route to where the juniors were browsing. The juniors did not meet up again with Emily’s herd for the rest of the day. Lesanju, Sinya, Taveta and Lempaute briefly joined the juniors at the stockade area in the evening as they were busy milk feeding, but parted ways when the juniors headed into their stockades to eat their grewia branches and go to sleep.

06 March 2016

The morning was calm with some light rain showers as the orphans came out of their stockades heading to the browsing grounds. They lay down and rolled on the ground to draw some warmth before browsing their way up the Msinga Hill. Here they found a perfect browsing place with some untouched, lush green grass as the wild elephants had not ventured up the hill that far yet. Nelion felt very happy and even decided to explore more uphill alone, with the others choosing to stay half way down the hill. The orphans only came down the hill again at noon to enjoy their milk bottles at the base of the hill, before choosing to return uphill to browse for the rest of the day. They never bothered to go to the water hole that day as the moist grass that they fed on was just too irresistible to leave, and was also enough to quench their thirst for the day.

07 March 2016

The morning was bright with the sun rising hot and a sunny hot day ahead is predicted. The orphans enjoyed only some brief games in the stockade compound before Naipoki led them towards the browsing grounds. Lentili overtook Naipoki to lead the orphans a short distance from the stockade. The orphans browsed their way to the far northern side of the stockade turning slowly to arrive at the water hole by noon. After milk feeding and drinking water was over Rorogoi and Mashariki, who had evidently missed the mud bathing games yesterday, lay down to roll in the water and compete against each other in some mud bathing games. Ishaq-B availed herself as the referee of that much that was very highly contested. The orphans then came out of the water and browsed close by for the rest of the day.

08 March 2016

The day started well for the orphans and they scattered across the browsing grounds to enjoy some nice fresh vegetation before coming together again to prepare to head to the water hole for their afternoon milk bottles and to cool off in the mud bath – which was very important on this hot and sunny day. Just before their departure Kivuko arrived alone. It appeared she had been searching for them to catch up with them. Kenia and Ishaq-B ignored her presence and took off towards the water hole without greeting her. Lentili went to greet and welcome Kivuko into the junior herd. Kivuko then followed them to the middle water hole and had fun with the juniors in some mud bathing games. Nelion got out of the water to enjoy further browsing upon noticing that the mud bathing games were going on just a little too long for his liking. Kivuko then left the juniors to head towards the air strip where Lesanju or Emily’s herd were believed to be browsing. The juniors then ended their wonderful day as they headed back to the stockade in the evening without the company of Kivuko.

09 March 2016

It was a beautiful morning with the orphans emptying a morning milk bottle and assembling to eat some copra cake before engaging in some fun games. Ndii soon blew a ‘bush’ trumpet, signaling it was time to head to the bush to browse, and all the orphans swiftly followed her heading towards the browsing fields. Upon arriving there the juniors were welcomed by Lesanju’s herd that seems to have spent the previous night browsing in that area. Kenia, Ndii and Panda had no option but to accommodate Lesanju, Lempaute, Sinya, Taveta, and Mzima as well who was among them today. The two herds browsed peacefully together for more than two hours before Lesanju and the other four left the juniors behind to head towards the Mzima-Mombasa pipe line. The juniors carried on with their normal routine and had a lot of fun in some mud bathing games before proceeding to browse for the rest of the day. Today the vet unit rescued an orphan female elephant from the Mbololo River and brought her to the stockade this evening. The orphan elephant calf had a bullet wound in her rear leg and was in a collapsed state when she arrived at the stockade. She was revived after receiving three bottles of IV drip but could hardly stand on her three feet. She continued receiving a drip slowly throughout the night.

10 March 2016

The morning was good with the orphan elephants moving out of the stockade catching up with the first light of the day in the browsing fields. They followed the same routine before heading to the mud bath around noon. As soon after finishing their afternoon milk bottle, Lesanju, Taveta, Mzima, Sinya, Lempaute and Kivuko joined them for a bath. Mashariki and Rorogoi became very happy – showing off their bathing expertise in a tough bathing competition. Taveta extended his congratulations by tenderly touching Rorogoi on the head with his trunk, giving her an upper hand in the bathing competition. The bathing became highly charged with both juniors and seniors enjoying it in their own unique styles. Bada got extra excited and lay down in the water without noticing that the others were actually leaving the pool to browse. He came up from the water to find he was all alone and he came charging out and ran to join his friends. Lesanju’s herd left the juniors and went to browse towards the Voi River. The rest of the browsing day went on undisturbed with Kihari taking the lead of the others back to the stockade that evening. The orphan elephant brought in yesterday from the Mbololo River could not endure the pain and effect of the bullet wound and succumbed to her wounds this afternoon despite our best attempts. Today another orphan elephant came into our care. She was rescued close to Ndara and brought to the stockade this evening. Her leg was badly injured from a bullet wound and she was in deep pain but she was trying her level best to browse on the grewia branches brought to her in her stable. We called this orphan Yatima. She is approximately three to four years old.

11 March 2016

This morning was full of activity as an orphan elephant was reported to our DSWT vet by a tour driver that had seen an elephant calf in near state of collapse along the Voi river close to the Ndololo public camp site. The rescue team spotted the orphan after forty minutes of searching. At first the keepers thought it might have been Elkerama who had wondered off with a wild herd the previous day. Upon reaching the young calf they found it was not him. This orphan elephant was badly de-hydrated and was driven slowly with the help of the stockade and the DSWT vet vehicle to join the Voi stockade dependant orphans. The orphan elephant was welcomed and taken by Kenia, with Ndii coming to greet him after a few minutes too. Mudanda, who had been adopted by Ndii, became very jealous and stuck with Ndii for the rest of the day. The new arrival then separated himself from the stockade dependent orphans a few hours into the afternoon. The keepers caught up with him again and he was taken to the safety of the stockade by the keepers safely, this was done without the vet, as he was already attending another case of an injured elephant near Satao.

12 March 2016

The orphans left the stockade quite early today after all the milk and supplement feeding was over. They followed behind Naipoki to the browsing grounds in a near perfect straight line. They browsed towards the far northern side of the stockade turning slowly to arrive at the middle water hole at noon where they had a lot of fun in mud bathing games after milk feeding. Lesanju and Kivuko arrived in the stockade compound at noon, and were followed closely by Taveta, Sinya and Lempaute. They went to drink water from the stockade water trough and to eat left-over copra cake on the ground. The keepers supplied them with their share as well. They then moved out of the stockade to pass by the middle water hole but did not link up with the juniors who had already moved away from there. We received a report of an orphan baby Oryx from the same Galana Kulalu farm where the orphan (Sala) came from, which was flown over by one of our pilots to the stockade this afternoon. Sala was very excited and slept next to the new arrival. Layoni came in the afternoon alone, to drink water in the stockade compound and to greet the new orphans in their taming stockade, before leaving for the bush again.

13 March 2016

This morning we noticed that Mtonni’s dung was very dark with mud and loose meaning he might have been stuck in some mud after losing his family. Kenia and Panda’s herd of dependent orphans proceeded to the browsing grounds where they all enjoyed a good morning of browsing. Mashariki, Nelion, Bada, Rorogoi and Lentili took the lead to reach the middle water hole first for an afternoon milk bottle, followed by the others in groups of five. They only went to the main water pool to drink water and take a partial bath. Araba however went to the middle of the water pool to have a full bath but the others did not decide to follow her. In the middle of the day Mtonni collapsed and was very quickly put on a drip but after an hour he unfortunately passed away. After four hours of browsing, Ndoria separated herself from the others to browse alone; the keepers had to keep a close eye on her to keep her from getting lost. Tundani picked up a chunk of soil and accidentally blew it into the eyes of Mashariki who was standing behind him in the queue for soil dusting; she walked off to clean her eyes with her trunk and others moved up to get in line to soil dust. Later in the evening, Layoni arrived to take Nelion away and to a private browsing ground away from the other orphans. They came back again to join the others a few minutes before heading to the stockades in the evening. Layoni escorted them all to the stockades and left soon after drinking water from the troughs there.

14 March 2016

Naipoki’s mischief moved up a notch this morning after milk feeding. She went to anchor her buttocks on a rock taking a scratch while facing the exit side of the stockade to the browsing grounds. After she had finished she ran flat out towards the feeding ground with the orphans chasing after her confused about what all the excitement was about. Finally they settled and began feeding and we as Keepers were left wondering what the fuss was all about! On the way to the browsing grounds, Ndoria was seen to keep biting her trunk, as if she was about to do something naughty. We checked too to see if anything was irritating her. Araba nearly fell victim on the way to the water hole at noon, when Ndoria chased her from behind to bite her tail; but thankfully Araba got away. An hour after their departure Lesanju, Lempaute, Sinya and Taveta came into the stockade but they had already missed the dependent orphans. They drank water and followed the foot prints of the juniors to the field but were not lucky to catch up with them today.

15 March 2016

The morning was cool. The first to call at the stockade this morning was Lesanju, Lempaute, Sinya and Taveta who have decided to form their own four member group this month, and seem to be comfortable with that membership subscription. Kenia and Ndii had to bear with that situation and joined them to share piles of copra cake. Lesanju took Mudanda to eat copra cake with and Bada ate with Sinya to substitute Lesanju. The two herds then went into the field together, browsing for the first part of the day and moving to the middle water pool together at noon. Ishaq-B and Ndoria had a lot of fun in mud bathing games as the others tried as much as possible to avoid the bath due to the slightly cooler weather. The four members of Lesanju’s herd then moved off towards the Voi River leaving the rest to browse close to that water hole for the rest of the day.

16 March 2016

It was a warm and bright morning with the orphans drinking their milk bottles and settling for some copra cake feed. Araba took a safe distance behind Ndoria who was drinking from the stockade trough, to avoid entering a tail biting trap! She patiently waited and moved in to drink when Ndoria had left. On the other side Tundani grabbed some leaves from Ishaq-B’s mouth as she happily feasted on them. Lentili enjoyed scratching on a rock in the stockade while positioning herself to lead the others out to the browsing grounds. They all enjoyed browsing on some lush green grass on the northern side of the stockade which had grown after the recent short rain showers.

17 March 2016

The orphans left for the browsing grounds early in the morning in a single file. They favored browsing on the northern side of the stockade on that same nice green grass, before turning slowly and arriving at the middle water hole that afternoon. The orphans had a lot of fun in mud bathing games with Tundani remaining in the water and only joining behind the others later. Ishaq-B was seen having a soft spot for Araba and browsing with her, following her movements for the rest of the day.

18 March 2016

It was a nice morning with the orphans assembling around the stockade water trough to quench their thirst after milk feeding and feeding on the copra cake piles put out for them. Arruba was thoroughly enjoying the delicious copra cake and was nearly left behind by the others when they were walking out the browsing grounds. At 8.06am, one hour after the stockade dependant orphans had left, Laikipia arrived from the east into the stockade area alone. He was soon joined by Emily’s herd but they came from the western side; they all drank from the stockade water trough together. Laikipia had a wonderful highly charged greeting with Ndara, before taking Mzima to feed on the remains of the delicious copra cake left by the stockade dependant orphans. Emily and Icholta went to feed on the remains as well, with Icholta later moving to milk feed Inca under the tight security of Mweya. They all later left the stockade for the bush but did not meet up with Kenia and Panda’s herd for the rest of that day. It seems the situation of the orphan elephant Yatima is getting worse due to the bullet wound in her rear leg. She later collapsed and Dr. Poghon was immediately called to administer some vital treatment as well as put her on a drip.

19 March 2016

The situation of the orphan elephant Yatima grew worse even after taking her all necessary medicine and she passed away in the early hours of the morning. This was a sad time for both the keepers and the orphan elephants after we try so hard to save them. When the stockade dependant orphans were busy feeding onto their copra cake, Lesanju, Lempaute, Sinya and Taveta arrived at the stockade. Upon seeing them Kenia and Ndii teamed up to take all the members of their herd out of the stockade in a hurry, even giving up their copra cake feeding. The left over copra cake was perfect for Lesanju and her herd as they were left to feed on it as Ndii and Kenia were successful in leading the others away. Bada has a soft spot for Lesanju though and resorted to stay behind with her when his friends left the stockade. The keepers came back for him though and made him join up with his own herd as he is still too young and dependent on milk. The two herds never met up again for the rest of the day.

20 March 2016

It was a nice morning with the orphans coming out of their respective stables running and assembling in a line to take their morning milk bottles. As soon as they had settled for copra cake feeding, Laikipia arrived alone at 7am. Bada stretched his small trunk up to him in greeting. Laikipia responded with a deep rumble and settled down to eat copra cake with him. Kenia and Ndii took the lead of their herd soon after finishing the feeding, leaving Laikipia behind drinking water from the stockade water trough. The browsing day went on well today, with Ndii, Panda and Rorogoi having some close browsing ties for most of the day. Later in the evening, Nelion remembered the great browsing there was to be had further up the hill and thus his mission began of leading the others towards climbing the hill. The orphans were reluctant to follow though as they thought it was in fact time to return back to the stockades for the evening, so they abandoned Nelion’s mission and made their way home.

21 March 2016

The orphans and the keepers started the day well with the normal stockade duties taking their course. The stockade dependent orphans then left the stockade with a few keepers as others had to respond to a rescue report of an orphan elephant in the Sobo rhino sanctuary. This orphan elephant was sighted by the rhino sanctuary KWS rangers but it could not be located by the time the rescue team arrived there. After another hour of searching, the orphan elephant was sighted and rescued as quickly as possible. The orphan was loaded onto a pick up and was taken to Voi to be airlifted to the Nairobi nursery. Soon after the stockade dependent orphans had left the stockade, Emily’s herd arrived at 7.05am to drink from the stockade water trough. Thoma lay down on the ground attracting Eden and Safi in her game. Siria came in though and took Eden away for some other games, denying Thoma her right to play with the babies at that time. Emily’s herd lingered around the stockade compound for half an hour before leaving towards their usual browsing grounds in the main park. We had some very sad news today as we lost one of our keepers who was looking after the orphan elephants in the park. Joseph Musau Mulei, one of the most calm and hardworking keepers, collapsed whilst seated on a rock under a tree watching the elephants and died from a heart attack whilst on duty. We are very sad to lose such a good friend, of us and the elephants. He has been with the Trust for 27 years and will be sorely missed.

22 March 2016

It was a lovely morning as the still dependent exited their stockade and downed their milk before enjoying the copra cake piles that had been availed to them by the keepers. Ndii kept very close to Mudanda during the entire supplement feeding time before going to enjoy some rock scratching games after which she joined the rest of the group who had started to make their way to the browsing grounds. Arruba who was browsing on her own stayed at the back of the group bringing up the rear as they all made their way to the waterhole where they enjoyed mudbathing games. Laikipia was seen walking alone to the dependent orphan’s usual browsing grounds in an effort to locate them and spend some time with his younger friends. Sadly he was not successful in joining them as they had headed to the browsing grounds below the waterhole for the afternoon. Embu enjoyed leading the group back to the safety of the stockades in the evening.

23 March 2016

It was a fairly cold morning when the orphans came out of their stockades for their morning milk feed after which they left the stockade compound under Lentili and Naipoki’s leadership. At the browsing grounds Ndii stayed close to her favorite baby Mudanda while Kenia settling down to browse with Araba for the day. The orphans visited the middle water hole for the noon milk feeding where they had a drink of water following their bottle. Due to the cold weather all of the orphans chose to stay out of the mudbath. In the afternoon Nelion led the group half way up Msinga Hill where they spent the remainder of the day browsing. As the stockade dependent orphans made their way down the hill to head home for the night they were joined by Lesanju, Lempaute, Sinya and Taveta. Lesanju immediately took charge by taking the lead getting the group to the stockade in record time. She remained at the stockade compound until 7pm.

24 March 2016

The orphan elephants exited the stockades in a joyful mood looking forward to a wonderful day spent browsing and playing. Ishaq-B took Bada with him for a drink of water from the stockade water trough before joining the rest of the group for some copra cake. Ndoria came to the water trough wanting to have the whole thing to herself as she pushed Embu and Rorogoi out of the way. The two were quick to leave as they did not want to have their tails bitten by Ndoria who has a tail biting reputation. Ishaq-B showed her love of Bada as the two spent time in the browsing fields in each other’s company while Ndii stuck with Mudanda and Kenia with little Araba. The orphans had a lot of fun playing mud bathing games when they arrived at the middle water hole in the afternoon. The rest of the day was spent browsing close to the water hole.

25 March 2016

It was a nice morning as the orphans bounded out of their stockade to greet the dawn. The milk and copra cake feeding was over by 7am after which Mudanda climbed onto a rock close to the stockade water trough. This was quite dangerous and Panda came running to get Mudanda to climb back down before she got hurt. The orphans then left the stockade for the browsing field settling in single file for the mornings feeding activites. An hour into the browsing session Emily’s herd was seen walking along the base of Msinga hill as they made their way towards the water pipe line. The ex orphan group was too far away to join the orphans who continued browsing before making their way to the middle waterhole. At about 4pm, Lesanju, Lempaute, Taveta and Sinya joined the stockade dependent group for a short while before the juniors began to make their way home. Kenia and Ndii were not happy to have Lesanju and Lempaute take over the leadership of their herd and complained loudly all the way back. As the group got closer to the stockades Embu and Mashariki picked up the pace overtaking Lempuate in an effort to get to their milk bottles as quickly as they could. It was quite late when Lesanju’s herd headed back to the park.

26 March 2016

This morning it was Mbirikani who wanted to live dangerously by climbing the same rock that Mudanda had climbed the previous day. Thankfully she was able to get up and down the other side without getting injured. An hour after the stockade dependent orphans had left for the browsing grounds Emily’s herd accompanied by a big wild elephant bull arrived at the stockade and proceeded to empty the water trough. Mzima, Layoni, and Dabassa were the only members of Lesanju’s herd who visited with Emily’s group. Joseph Musao Mulei the keeper who died on the 21st of this month was taken from the Voi Moi hospital mortuary to his home in Mbuvo Makueni county where he and was laid to rest in a very emotional send off.

27 March 2016

It was a nice morning with the stockade dependent orphans making their way to the browsing grounds with the first light of the day. The stockade dependent orphans visited the water hole where they thoroughly enjoyed mudbathing and playing in the mudwallow. Tundani was caked in mud and stood shaking his head from side to side to get as much off as he could in an effort to dry off faster. Bada was having so much fun that he was left behind and came charging and running to join the others. Ishaq-B moved to welcome him back to the group and was engaged by Bada in a strength testing game. Ndii enjoyed a wonderful scratching session against a tree trunk before joining the others in browsing activities. Embu went to test Tundani’s strength by challenging him to a pushing game. Tundani was a very good sport and even though he is stronger than Embu he allowed her to win. At 3.20pm Lesanju. Lempaute, Sinya and Taveta who have clearly defined their little herd joined the stockade dependent orphans in the browsing field. Kenia screamed loudly in protest when the four arrived and took over the group which she considers to be her herd. They browsed with the babies for the remainder of the afternoon before heading back to the stockades with them in the evening.

28 March 2016

It was a fantastic morning with all the orphans coming out in high spirits looking forward to a day spent in the park. They had a very brief playing session at the stockade compound before leaving and heading out to the fields. Two hours after their departure the stockade dependent orphans came into contact with Emily’s herd who were in the company of Mzima, Dabassa and Kivuko. Wasessa and Rombo were missing from that group today. They had a brief charged greeting with Embu and Mashariki moving in to great Eden who was being closely guarded by Ndara. There were also a few pushing games, one of which resulted in Ndii losing her single tusk by breaking it in the game. Ndii is now tusk less and looks a lot like Kivuko. Emily’s herd then left the juniors and headed to the stockade where they drunk water from the water trough before enjoying a mud bath in the stockade water hole. Inca came charging at a keeper who was taking photos of the group from the other side of the fence. After the mudbathing activities the group rested under an acacia tree where Safi managed to fall asleep and get some rest watched over closely by Ndara and Mweya. They later left for the browsing grounds with Emma getting very excited as she charged around breaking some small bushes in her game of running here and there.

29 March 2016

The stockade dependent orphans left the stockade at 6am, which was as soon as they had finishing with their milk and copra cake feeding session. Emily’s herd just as they left missing them by a matter of minutes. Lesanju, Sinya, Lempaute, Dabassa, Taveta, Layoni and Kivuko were present but Wasessa, who seems to have joined a wild herd was still absent from Emily’s herd. Rombo who was missing from Emily’s herd yesterday was present today. After a wonderful moment of drinking water, Emma grabbed Taveta’s rear leg with her trunk pulling it in an amazing game of trying to get Taveta to move. Her sister Eve felt jealous and pushed Taveta on the buttocks to get him to leave the game. Eden was busy enjoying a rock pushing game with her strength not quite enough to get the big rock to move even an inch. Emma was quick to join Eden but they were still not confident in getting the rock to move. Sweet Sally then came to enjoy some buttock scratching against the rock before following the others who were making their way to the browsing grounds.

30 March 2016

It was a wonderful morning with the stockade dependent orphans heading to the browsing grounds after all the milk and supplement feeding was over at the stockade Emily’s herd was seen at 9:30 resting under a tree with the babies, Emma, Eden, Safi and Inca lying down enjoying their sleeping moment. Today Mzima, Dabassa, Kivuko, Layoni and Rombo were with Emily’s herd. After the babies had gotten some rest, the herd proceeded to the stockade drinking at the water where they caught up with Lesanju’s herd that had arrived for a drink just before they did. Kivuko had a wonderful opportunity to play with Emma for a bit before Eve came running up to stop their fun. Morani scratched against a rock at the stockades with Eden and Safi moving close to him watching his activities with great curiosity. Lesanju, Lempaute, Sinya and Taveta who were in the stockade at the arrival time of Emily’s herd took refuge in the stockade water hole not wanting to mix with the other ex-orphans. Eden and Safi went to greet them, with Safi mimic mounting Eden. Wasessa is still missing from both herds. It was a very hot day and Laikipia decided to climb into the stockade water trough hoping to get a swimming pool that was really not enough for his big size. Emily’s herd left an hour they had arrived at the stockade. The four members of Lesanju’s herd followed them to the browsing field making sure to keep some distance from them.

31 March 2016

It was a cool day with light rain showers being received for the better part of the morning. The stockade dependent orphans enjoyed their milk and the copra cake piles before heading to the far northern side of the stockade to browse under the leadership of Kenia and Ndii. Ndii who had lost her one tusk is looking quite different to what she used to look like. The orphans enjoyed browsing on the green moist grass deciding to remain where they were for the entire day, including the milk feeding and mudbath, taking their bottles where they were and not going to the mudwallow. Emily’s herd arrived to drink water at the stockade trough at 11.20am, with Safi drinking directly with her mouth instead of using her trunk. They had a wonderful moment hanging around the stockade compound for twenty minutes before heading out to the browsing grounds. Lesanju’s herd was not with them today.