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Dololo, like many of his peers, had a traumatic start to life when he became stuck in the mud of a drying up water hole, and in consequence became separated from his mother and herd. He was fortunate enough to be rescued and brought to the Nairobi Nursery where he has begun to flourish with his new orphan and human family. The young bull has been gaining weight and confidence in the herd, and loves to greet the Keepers with a deep rumble whether at the mud bath area, the stockade compound or in the forest. He has become so confident in fact that today he stole a branch from Sattao and managed to keep it away from him in a playful game of strength testing. 

Mukkoka and Dololo have become close friends and are often found browsing together. They have even been known to wonder off together away from the other orphans. The Keepers believe that they are close because they arrived around the same time, from different locations, and would spend most of their days together as they became accustomed to the Nursery herd. 

Today Mukkoka and Maktao decided to browse further away from the Nursery herd. As Maktao seem to lose sight of the other orphans he began to trumpet loudly, almost as if he was calling out to the other orphans and Keepers. Tagwa and Malima ran straight to the young bulls almost as thought they were coming to his rescue. 

When the younger group of orphans were making their way down to the mud bath area, for their midday bottle of milk, Musiara appeared to block Maktao, Mukkoka, Kiasa and Sattao from overtaking him. He seemed to want everyone to walk down at his pace. Kiasa seemingly annoyed by Musiara’s actions, began to push him once down at the mud bath area and would not stop pushing the young bull who was enjoying his branches. Emoli witnessing the commotion took it upon himself to protect Musiara and push Kiasa away from him. Musiara appeared to be unbothered by as he continued to enjoy himself at the mud bath area. 

Mukkoka and Dololo appear to have a very close friendship. This evening, when the orphans came back at 5pm, Dololo was seen pushing his branches from the centre of this stable towards Mukkoka’s stable boundary. The two began to share the branches, and what amazed the Keepers is that when they were finished eating Dololo’s branches, Mukkoka went and pushed his branches to the boundary and they began to share those too.

Sattao has always been a humble bull and is rarely seen charging the other orphans. Recently Sattao has changed stables and he is now next door to Larro. Since his move he has become quite protective of her and can often be seen watching over her as they return to their stables in the evening and whilst in the bush. 

Sagala and some of the other females in the herd like Tagwa, Tamiyoi, Maisha, Malima, and even Kiasa have all been so welcoming to the new orphan from the Masai Mara. They all went to his stable in the morning and accompanied him out to the bush, raising their trunks and sniffing the young bull almost as if to show that he was now part of the herd. The orphan has adapted well to Nursery life, as he is not charging the Keepers as much and as begun to thoroughly enjoy his milk feeding times. He has also been spending more and more time with Dololo, as they can be seen enjoying branches together. 

The Nursery was in shock this morning with the devastating loss of Maarifa. It is difficult for us to comprehend the events which happened so quickly and so unexpectedly, as she was thriving in our care, doted on by her ever attentive Keepers and very much the boss of the Nursery compound enchanting all who met her. As hard as the loss is we have to pick ourselves up in order to look after all the other little charges that remain in our care. 

Kuishi and Sagala seem to be competing for the new bull’s attention. The whole of yesterday afternoon and this morning the two girls have been seen by his side. The young bull is settling into the Nursery herd very well and appears to be getting along very well with the other bulls, such as Sattao, Mapia and Jotto. 

This afternoon, Luggard, Ambo, Enkesha and Dololo were too busy browsing that they didn’t have their milk. Eventually Luggard walked over the mud bath and began to throw mud all over his body. The Keepers who noticed him enjoying himself, went over and began to shovel some mud over his back and the spots that were a little harder for him to reach. 

Lately, Tagwa and Sagala appear to be sharing the responsibility of looking after the herd, and when Tagwa is too busy enjoying her greens Sagala is often the one to watch over the younger orphans. 

Kiasa is known for her naughty ways and even her fellow orphans are aware of this. In the evenings, she can often be seen bothering her neighbour Maktao, which often results with them getting annoyed with one another and moving away from one another in their stables. 

As of late Mukkoka has been a bit distant from Dololo, and has been spending most of his time with Tamiyoi and Sattao. This doesn’t seem to have bothered Dololo as he has been browsing in the company Nabulu and is often seen walking off with her away from the other orphans. 

Although small Larro knows to remain close to the larger girls as they offer her company and protection. This was the case this afternoon, when Emoli was told off by Malima and Tagwa as he decided to push her whilst she was busy browsing and minding her own business.

Enkesha has a very big heart and is very mindful of all the other orphans. When the orphans leave their night stockades in the morning, they usually form their own small groups, and today was no different. Enkesha led her own group including Dololo, Mukkoka, Larro and Ambo. This group browsed separately from the others for a few hours this morning, always under the leadership of Enkesha. Only at the 9am milk feed did Enkesha and her group emerge from where they were browsing and join the others.

Maisha is not getting on with Musiara these days. Today Musiara was enjoying the mud bath together with Enkesha and Emoli and they were having a peaceful and fun time, but then Maisha got into the mud bath and started trying to climb on Musiara and poke him in the back with her tusks. It took Enkesha to intervene and chase Maisha out of the mud bath for peace to return. 

Tamiyoi is quite well known to return home first in the evening at 5pm, but today she has to compete with Kiasa who sneaked in front of her. The two had a running race and in the end Tamiyoi ended up pipping Kiasa to the post being the first into her stockade for her milk.