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It was a very windy day today and all the orphans were reluctant to wallow in the mud bath and instead enjoyed eating their greens that were laid out for them. Jotto, Ambo, Mapia, Kuishi and Sagala all seemed to be busy snatching the greens from one another, always grabbing the tastiest ones. Jotto was quite tactful in protecting his greens as he turned his back towards Ambo and Mapia and kicked his hind legs back to warn the young bulls away. Ambo managed to outwit Jotto by kneeling down and sneakily grabbing some branches with his trunk without Jotto realizing. Mapia unfortunately was not so lucky and ended up having to wait for Jotto to finish. 

Maxwell was bothered by some noisy baboons today who decided to saunter through his stockade and try and help themselves to some of his lucerne pellets on the way. Max was having none of that and every time he heard one of them move he would charge off in that direction, as the baboons would chatter and run off in an excited frenzy. Later our loving Shabby the Sacred Ibis came and perched on Maxwell's water trough while Max ate lucerne pellets close by.

Sattao appears to be a brave and gentle young bull who often seeks the comfort of some of the older females in the Nursery herd. He used to always be by Tagwa’s side, but more recently as Tagwa has seemed to keep her distance from him, Sattao has sought the company of Tamiyoi. He has become so protective of his female companions that today when Mukkoka approached Tamiyoi, Sattao pushed him away and made sure nobody came close to Tamiyoi. 

Malima is known to enjoy drinking her milk without assistance from the Keepers; she holds onto her milk bottle by wrapping her trunk tightly around it and tilts her head up. Kuishi on the other hand is known to be naughty and greedy as she constantly guzzles her milk down and then tries to steal extra milk from the other orphans. Today, during their midday milk feed, Kuishi downed her milk and then began to chase Malima, who was gripping onto her bottle, around the mud bath area. The Keepers tried to stop Kuishi as the two could be seen running around the muddy pool, but they were unsuccessful. By the time Kuishi got close enough to Malima, she had already finished her milk. 

Malima really loves little Larro and continues to remain protective of her, which Larro seems to be very aware of. However, being the youngest orphan in the herd Larro will orphan trumpet or get a fright for no reason at all and today was such a case. Whilst the orphans were out in the bush Larro burst into a loud trumpet whilst Malima was some meters away from her. Poor Emoli, who was standing next to Larro at the time, got charged away by Malima who came to her rescue, fearing that someone was bullying her. During their 9am milk feeding time, Kiasa was up to her usual mischievous ways and seemed to really disturb Kuishi who began to push Kiasa away. 

During their 11am feeding, Tamiyoi, Emoli, Maisha and Enkesha enjoyed a long wallow in the mud bath. Kiasa and Musiara ended up joining them towards the end of their feeding time. When it was time for the younger group of orphans to head back into the bush, Musiara did not want to get out of the mud and had to be pushed out by the Keepers. 

Nabulu seems to be settling in well with the Nursery herd. Tagwa, Sagala, Emoli, Tamiyoi and Kuishi have been interacting more regularly with the young female. In the mornings, they all walk over to her stable and greet one another before making their way out to the bush. Tagwa, who has assumed the role of matriarch of the Nursery herd, can often be seen leading the orphans out into the bush, whilst Tamiyoi enjoys getting to know her new friend Nabulu by continuously smelling her as they walk out side by side. 

Whist in the bush, Emoli joined the boys and began a game of strength testing by pushing his close friend Ambo. Mapia eventually joined in and separated the young bulls, putting an end to their game and resulting in all the young bulls walking off into the bush.  

Larro seems to know that she is the youngest of the herd and will often begin to trumpet loudly when she has finished her milk, almost as if to get the attention of the other older orphans. Today, as soon as she had finished her morning bottle, she trumpeted so loudly that Kuishi, Tagwa, Tamiyoi, Malima and Maisha all came running to her side to protect her. If one of the other orphans accidentally bumps little Larro, Kuishi will chase them away. Unfortunately, Nabulu had to learn this the hard way. The other day, whilst Nabulu was greedily looking for more milk, she accidentally bumped Larro which caused her to trumpet loudly. Kuishi, in response, came running over and pushed Nabulu away and seemed to tell her off by smacking her with her trunk. Even Sattao has become quite protective of Larro. If the larger girls are away, Sattao will often be seen standing near Larro and breaking branches off for her, especially if the branches are so high that she cannot reach them. 

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. 

The orphans were in a very jovial mood this morning as they headed out to the forest. Enkesha kicked off all the excitement when she got a fright from a large hare that jumped out at her from his burrow. In response she kept charging backwards and forwards flapping her ears and trumpeting unsure of where the hare had gone. Ambo and Emoli quickly ran over to see what was happening and also began to charge around looking for the hare. Tagwa, Malima, Kuishi and some of the other orphans eventually joined in with all the fun and trumpeting could be heard all over the forest. 

Later in the afternoon, Sattao and his good friend Musiara began to play a game of strength testing. Luggard who was busy watching the duo eventually decided to join in and began to play a pushing game with Musiara as Sattao moved off.