When the wider Tsavo area is the throes of the dry season, wild elephants and other creatures converge in the Kibwezi Forest. Lured by the promise of plentiful foliage to eat and spring water to drink, they forsake the dusty plains in favour of the lush forest. We saw this happen during March, when the number of elephants, buffalos, bushbucks, and even butterflies in the Kibwezi Forest seemed to swell overnight.
Luggard woke up this morning but wasn’t his usual joyful self; instead he took his time moving out of his room and walked slowly towards the stockade gate.
Sonje saw him standing there, next to Murera, who was trying to convince him to join everyone at the pellets corner. Sonje also saw that Murera was in a hurry to get to the pellets herself, so she decided to take over duty of Luggard, and Murera walked over to join the others at the pellet feeding area. As soon as Lima Lima and Quanza were done with their supplement feed they joined Sonje in trying to get Luggard to have his supplement feed before they left for the day. Lima Lima rumbled at the little boy and we don’t know what she communicated to him, but the young bull perked up and walked slowly to join Murera. It seems Lima Lima always knows just what to say to Luggard to get him to become his sweet old self.
After their midday bottle feed, Shukuru led all the orphans towards the waterhole and everyone was ready to cool off in the mud. Shukuru looked around and saw the boys were getting ready to join them, so she changed her mind and instead stood away from the mud-bath watching her friends. After a while Lima Lima emerged, covered in mud, and could see that Luggard too needed to cool off; she managed to again encourage the young bull to join them, this time in the mud wallow. Enkesha and Shukuru who had opted out of the mud bath also joined Lima Lima and Luggard, at the edge of the mud bath and splashed mud on themselves and on Luggard.
The semi-independent orphans, who have been christened “the night-clubbers”, met up with the Umani herd today. The older girls, Murera, Sonje and Lima Lima are always happy to have their friends join them but not when Ngasha and Jasiri are with them. These two boys have been rather assertive in their approach, chasing the older girls looking to mount them.
With their injuries, the older girls are not happy with the chasing game and often thwart the boys’ advances, but the boys are quite persistent, so sometimes, with the help of the Keepers, these two bulls have to be kept in check. If they aren’t successful with the older girls, they set their sights on little Enkesha, but Zongoloni is ever vigilant. If the boys try to make moves on the little girl, Zongoloni is present to chase the boys away. Enkesha is far too young and small. These bulls just seem to be mimicking what they have seen other bulls doing in the wild!
It was certainly a full house today, as the semi-independent orphans as well as the Umani herd browsed together. The Keepers were extra vigilant, keeping an eye on the older bulls to make sure they don’t bother the older girls, allowing Murera to carry out her duties towards Luggard. At the waterhole Shukuru, Luggard and Murera opted out of wallowing, and instead stood by the edge watching Faraja play with Quanza, climbing on her back. Quanza was happy to play with him, but as soon as Faraja started to push Quanza, she quickly got up out of the water, throwing Faraja off, putting an end to their game.
This morning the area outside the stockades was full of wild elephants. A herd had arrived quite early in the morning to stop at the water trough. Amongst the wild elephants were a few females and one had a tiny, almost new born, baby. The little baby was very aware of the new smells and not used to the Keepers, so stayed under its mother’s belly for safety.
Enkesha was very curious and as soon as the Umani herd were done with their milk and supplement feed, she couldn’t wait to exit the stockade gates and mingle in the wild herd looking to interact with the younger elephants. Lima Lima and Shukuru quickly disengaged Enkesha from the wild herd, knowing that the wild herd could easily entice young curious Enkesha to join them.
Faraja and Ziwa joined the Umani herd, shortly after they exited the stockades. A bit further down the path, they raised their trunks and spread their ears, as if sensing perhaps another wild herd nearby; there might have been but we did not encounter any on our way to the browsing fields.
The wild herd soon parted ways and did not join the orphans at the mud bath. After their midday milk feed, Murera, Sonje and Quanza were rumbling at each other as though discussing whether they should move towards the
Chyulu Hills, where they know they would find an abundance of fresh browse. Luggard remained between the three girls feeling very comfortable and safe. An eagle swooped into the tree where the three girls were standing, startling Sonje who then decided they should move to another tree, but as soon as Murera started to walk away, Luggard rumbled and refused to follow them. He reached his trunk out to Murera touching her chest and when Murera tried to walk away hoping Luggard would follow; Luggard held on to Murera’s tail rumbling at her again. It seemed as though Luggard was a bit tired and wanted to rest some more before they could move, so there he stayed, relaxing in the company of his three surrogate mothers.
Last night there was a lot commotion in the forest and Umani Springs area. The Keepers heard a lot of loud trumpeting and we wondered if there was a female in season in the area. If so, each mature bull will vie for her attention and often fights break out amongst the bulls. Today in amongst these wild herds were our very own boys, Faraja, Ziwa and Jasiri, who watched the bulls pushing each other, trying to outdo one another, so that the strongest bulls would have a chance to mate with a female. Even though our boys are still juveniles and lack the necessary skills and finesse, Ngasha tried his luck fighting with one of the older bulls but was quickly pushed out of the game. Ngasha arrived at the stockades later with a few scratches on his back, from where a wild bull must have used his tusks on Ngasha.
Lima Lima seemed very interested in Ngasha and they started quite a vigorous pushing game. The Keepers felt they had to intervene and put a stop to it incase Lima Lima injured herself, but both Ngasha and Lima Lima seemed intent on keeping up their game, so the Keepers ushered Luggard towards Murera and left the two elephants to enjoy their frolic.
After the midday feed, the orphans seemed very unsure of whether they wanted to wallow or not. Only Shukuru walked up to the mud bath and splashed some mud on her chest. Enkesha walked up to the mud bath too, but didn’t wallow; she just stood next to Shukuru waiting for her to finish so that they could walk together, following the rest of the herd who were already looking for some shade to rest under.
At the Chyulu Hills, the orphans thoroughly enjoyed browsing on the abundant fresh foliage. Eventually most of the orphans ventured higher up into the hills in search of more browse, but Sonje and Luggard remained at the foot of the hills, as it can sometimes be a challenge for these two elephants to maneuver the steep slopes. The Keepers divided themselves between the different orphans, making sure that both groups had some Keepers with them.
A little later in the afternoon, the Keepers saw Zongoloni and Lima Lima charging down from the hills, towards Sonje and Luggard and this got them worried, thinking perhaps there might be a wild elephant herd nearby or some other wild animals, but after a while, they saw the two older orphans running back and forth and soon realized they were playing. Lima Lima and Zongoloni seemed unperturbed and oblivious to how much they had worried the Keepers, they carried on with their game, running through the tree and bushes, trumpeting, as Sonje and Luggard looked on.
The Kibwezi Forest comes alive at night, with the sounds of wild elephant herds; they can be heard flocking to the forest as early as 8pm, crashing through the trees and bushes, trumpeting loudly. This sometimes carries on well into the night, leaving orphans like Sonje unable to sleep. Luggard spreads his ears every time he hears an elephant trumpet coming from the forest, and he can also hear Sonje and Murera responding to the wild elephants by rumbling in response.
As soon as the orphans woke up the next morning, they hurried out of their stockades, had their milk bottles and rushed to the supplement feeding area, so that they could then walk into the forest, exploring the area where they wild elephants were, curious about the goings on from last night. Alamaya and Mwashoti found fresh elephant dung and they sniffed it, in the hopes of catching a scent so that they could follow the wild elephants. They boys walked quite a distance hoping to catch up with the wild herd, but it seems as though the wild herd must have moved further away. The boys returned to join the Umani herd, to find that their friends Faraja and Ziwa had decided to visit them.
Alamaya, Zongoloni and Faraja were first to arrive early this morning, ready to join the stockade dependent orphans for their browsing activities, but it was far too early; the orphans had not even exited their stockades yet. So whilst the Umani herd went through their morning routine, these three night-clubbers waited by the water trough and were soon joined by Ziwa.
As the orphans were exiting the stockade compound, a fight broke out between Ziwa and Faraja. Faraja has been warned by Zongoloni to be on his best behavior. He has got into the habit of chasing the older girls, trying to mount them, and when that fails, he sets his sights on Zongoloni’s best friend, little Enkesha. Zongoloni knows Enkesha is far too young and small to bear the weight of a bull like Faraja. Today, as Enkesha was walking by, Faraja tried to mount her and that is when Ziwa intervened trying to put a stop to it. The two bulls started pushing each other and Zongoloni had to step in to separate them.
Murera wasn’t too pleased with all this commotion so she ushered her baby Luggard to the front of the head, where Lima Lima and Shukuru were already leading the orphans to towards the Umani Springs. The orphans stopped here to enjoy the fresh cool water, as they did not have a chance to stop at the water trough after having their pellets. Unbeknownst to the others Sonje had spotted a crocodile in the springs, she saw his head bobbing in the water and quietly signaled the rest of the herd, so they all moved away, leaving the Keepers, Shukuru and Luggard bewildered as to why their friends had walked off into the forest. Zongoloni and Enkesha turned back and rumbled to their two friends and by that time the Keepers had also noticed the crocodile, so everyone moved away from the springs.
As soon as Murera exited her room this morning, she heard Luggard rumbling in his pen. Assuming something was wrong with him, she rushed towards his room, where a Keeper was getting ready to unlock the gate. Murera was in such a hurry to get to Luggard that she wouldn’t allow the Keeper to properly open Luggard’s door. One of the other Keepers’ had to entice Murera away from Luggards’ room with some pellets to allow the Keeper to then let Luggard out. Once he was out Luggard rushed over to his beloved Murera for his morning trunk hugs.
At the midday bottle feed, Shukuru was the first one to arrive and finish her milk. It had been a hot day, so Shukuru moved over to the water trough to quench her thirst. Lima Lima, Sonje and Quanza, with Luggard between them, were having lengthy discussions, about what we can only assume were plans on where to move to next. Luggard rumbled at Lima Lima, and we saw Lima Lima walk Luggard to the mud bath where the young bull proceeded to splash cool mud onto this chest and back, they way he had been shown by the older girls.
Later on in the afternoon Ziwa and Faraja visited the Umani herd; with them was Alamaya and the boys engaged in some pushing games. They foraged for a while, but as soon as the stockade dependent orphans started to make their way back home, Faraja and Ziwa decided to go their separate ways and disappeared off into the Kibwezi forest.
Today, as the orphan herd was slowly making their way to the Umani Hills circuit, Lima Lima decided to take lead, and walked in a hurry to get to the front of the herd where she would then direct everyone towards the Hills. She gathered speed as she got to the front of the herd but then stopped abruptly. This is always a signal to the Keepers that there might be a wild animal ahead.
This time it was little girl Enkesha who spotted the lone buffalo, he was in the bushes, with his head low, trying to conceal himself from the orphans. The Keepers sprung into action and ushered the orphans away from the buffalo, not realizing that not too far from where the lone buffalo was, was a larger herd. The commotion disturbed the grazing buffalos and they took off running, but thankfully in the opposite direction to the orphans. The movement left a swarm of tsetse flies in its wake. To avoid being stung Murera quickly led the orphans towards a mud bath and got all the orphans to cover themselves in mud to avoid being stung by the flies. The Keeper’s sought refuge in the shade of some trees and remained there until the tsetse flies had disappeared.
Many animals had arrived at the water springs today. Some stopped to drink water and take rest awhile, whilst further down the spring was a herd of wild elephants; some were wallowing in the mud near the banks and others dusting themselves.
Shukuru had already caught scent of the wild herd and decided to keep her distance, but Mwashoti and Quanza were curious. They moved closer to the wild herd and observed them quietly so as not to attract their attention. On the other hand Lima Lima was happy to get very close to the herd. It seems as though she had spotted some wild babies and was hoping to entice one away from the wild herd to join the Umani herd. One of the female elephants must have realized Lima Lima’s intentions and blocked Lima Lima from getting too close the babies. Feeling rather dejected Lima Lima left the wild herd and returned to the comfort of the Keepers and her friends, where Luggard was waiting for her with Sonje and Murera. Murera was relieved when Lima Lima returned, which meant that Lima Lima could now take over Luggard duty from Murera and Sonje, giving the older girls a much deserved break to browse and mingle with their friends. Sonje thought perhaps her male friend Osama might be within the herd that was at the springs, but on closer inspection Sonje saw that the herd was comprised of mainly female elephants with little babies and just a few male juveniles, but no Osama.
Faraja and the night-clubber boys joined the Umani herd later in the afternoon. Mwashoti was happy to see Faraja and walked up to him to greet him. A playful fight ensued between Faraja and Mwashoti; they interlocked trunks and were seen pushing each other. After a few minutes, the Keepers heard loud elephant yells coming from the forest and upon arriving at the scene, they saw that Faraja had overpowered Mwashoti and was pushing him down to the ground. Zongoloni and the Keepers had to step in stop Faraja, in case he injured the younger boy with his strong tusks. Faraja realized he had gotten carried away and left Mwashoti with the Keepers and Zongoloni, he then disappeared into the trees.
Alamaya and his night-clubber friends arrived early this morning and waited at the stockade compound gates, whilst their friends had their morning bottles.
Zongoloni spotted her little friend Enkesha as she was running past the gate to her Keeper for her milk bottle. Zongoloni rumbled a greeting to her and Enkesha, as always, was overjoyed to see Zongoloni and rumbled a response in return. Once the orphans were done with their morning routine, they mingled with the semi independent orphans and set out together towards the browsing fields. The older girls decided they would browse along the Umani Hills.
Late afternoon, the Keepers saw two wild bulls approaching the wild herd and join them. They showed a keen interest in Lima Lima and Sonje and starting chasing the two girls. Initially Sonje showed some interest but after a while she rejected them, perhaps she might be waiting for her friend Osama to return. Lima Lima was quite enamored by the two wild bulls and returned their affections by going into the forest with them for rest of the afternoon, but she returned in the evening as the orphans were getting ready to return to the stockades.
Shukuru, Quanza and Enkesha found a nice quiet spot to browse today. Shukuru discovered some juicy fresh acacia branches which she pulled down to feast on. Shukuru was so engrossed in her acacia branches that she did not realize there was a buffalo just a few meters away from her. As soon as Quanza and Enkesha realized, they sounded a trumpet alerting Shukuru of the buffalos presence; Shukuru panicked and ran towards the Keepers trumpeting.
All of this commotion caught the attention of Ziwa and Faraja who ran towards the noise. There the found the Keepers trying to chase away the buffalo. The buffalo ran towards the waterhole but Ziwa and Faraja, who feel the waterhole belongs only to them, proceeded to chase the poor buffalo away from the waterhole. All of this running around got some of the orphans all hot and thirsty. Shukuru walked over to the water hole to quench her thirst whilst the rest of them cooled off by splashing mud on themselves.
When the boys were busy chasing the buffalo, Murera and Luggard retreated into the bushes to carry on browsing in peace. As the temperature continued to rise, Murera decided a little later to take Luggard to the mud bath where he could cool off. There she found Jasiri and Ziwa already in the water, and a fight had broken out between Faraja and Alamaya, as Alamaya had tried to pull Faraja’s tail. Ziwa tried to put a stop to the fight but Faraja was adamant and chased Alamaya away from the mud bath.
Umani Springs has now become home to many wild animals, they all turn up in large numbers to forage on the plentiful fresh foliage and drink water at the springs and water pans provided by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Swarms of butterflies, bushbucks, herds of buffaloes and wild elephants can be seen thriving in this oasis.
The orphans were in a relaxed and jovial mood this morning. The herd slowly made their way to water spring to enjoy the cool fresh water. A congregation of crocodiles has decided to bask on the banks of the springs, but they must have felt the soft footsteps of the elephants approaching, as they slid back into the waters to avoid being trampled on. Lima Lima waded into the water, kicking the water creating more waves to chase away the crocodiles, but all we could see were the tops of the crocodile’s heads. They seemed unbothered and ducked under the water. Lima Lima got bored with her game and walked back to where Luggard and Enkesha were standing with their ears spread looking rather bewildered, wondering what Lima Lima was up to.
Murera and Luggard were very happy to have the company of a young male elephant. The young bull joined them sometime in the morning and was very docile, and friendly. Luggard in particular was very pleased to have this young bulls company as they shared a similar temperament.
At the midday feed, Lima Lima is usually seen waiting around for the arrival of the milk truck, but not today; her and Sonje spotted their friends Zongoloni and Ziwa in the mud bath and ran off to join them. This meant that when the Keepers arrived with the milk, Lima Lima and Enkesha jostled to get the first bottles. Murera and Luggard were still in the bushes with the young bull and did not seem to be in any hurry to get to the milk bottle feed, so the Keepers instead drove closer to where they were browsing to bring their bottles to them. The sound of the approaching vehicle must have scared Luggard’s new friend, because as soon the car got close, the young bull ran off into the forest.
After the orphans had indulged in their wallowing and dusting activities, Zongoloni took the lead and decided what direction the orphans should browse in this afternoon. In doing so, she also managed to walk ahead of everyone else, with Enkesha in tow; it seemed like Zongoloni was planning on walking off with Enkesha, leaving the rest behind. Quanza quickly realized Zongoloni’s plans and so walked back to Lima Lima who was walking slowly with the Keepers. A few rumbles were exchanged between the two girls and Lima Lima promptly walked to Enkesha and ushered her back to the back of the herd to join the Keepers and her. After this Enkesha stayed with the Keepers and Lima Lima resumed the role of leading the Umani orphans to where they would be browse for the rest of the afternoon.
As the orphans were walking through the forest this morning, Shukuru and Alamaya spotted an owl sitting high up in one of the trees. Shukuru stretched out her trunk to trumpet at the owl to scare it off, but her trumpet was low and deep and did nothing to scare the owl. Lima Lima and Alamaya also tried scaring the owl, but it stayed in the trees, serenely watching the orphans walking by. Then Keepers walked by with Murera and Sonje and as soon as the big girls spotted the owl, they let out very loud trumpets, successfully scaring the owl who then flew off into another tree, and settled atop the higher branches.
The orphans came across a large herd of wild elephants, relaxing under the shade of some acacia trees. All the orphans kept a safe distance, but Ziwa and Faraja walked up to the herd and greeted some of wild bulls and stayed with them all afternoon. Sonje was quick to usher Luggard in the opposite direction; she was not interested in the wild herd and preferred to stay close to the Keepers. Zongoloni on the other hand seemed perplexed. She looked towards the wild herd and then back to her friends wondering which herd to join. She saw Shukuru was already in the mud bath, covered in the black mud, which helps elephants keep their skin soft and act as a barrier against tsetse fly bites. Zongoloni’s little friend Enkesha also seemed to be enjoying her mud bath, Faraja was nearby and showed the little girl how to rub her bottom on the rocks in the mud-bath. Zongoloni decided to join the wild elephant herd for the rest of the afternoon.
Today Alamaya got quite cross with Faraja, because Faraja pulled on Alamaya’s half tail. All the orphans know Alamaya is very sensitive about his half tail and doesn’t like any of the orphans touching it. Alamaya turned on Faraja and a very fierce fight broke out between the two boys. Although Faraja is older, Alamaya trumps him in size and strength. The boys took the fight into the Kibwezi forest and after a while we saw Alamaya emerge on this own, which probably meant that Faraja conceded and ran off to avoid further altercation.
Murera and Lima Lima decided to move the Umani orphans towards the Chyulu Hills today. Again they came across a wild elephant herd relaxing under the shade of some trees. They seemed like a different herd from yesterday, and were very welcoming towards the orphans, but Murera and Sonje decided against joining the wild herd. Instead they rumbled to Luggard and Shukuru to keep away and instead took a different route, which by-passed the wild herd.
On their way home, Lima Lima spotted a huge python near the stockades. She quickly alerted Quanza and Sonje to move the orphans onto a separate path and the Keepers followed suit. Everyone got home safe and sound without much ado.
The night-clubbers have maintained their routine of reporting to the stockades early morning, staying with the Umani herd until midday and then after enjoying their mud bath and dusting sessions, going their separate ways.
Faraja and Ziwa continue to be their boisterous selves, always engaging each other in pushing or strength testing games. At times the fights get quite intense and Zongoloni has to intervene to put a stop to them. As the boys grow in size and strength, Zongoloni is finding it more and more of a challenge to stop them, so sometimes she has to let the boys fight to work off the extra energy. Murera is not a fan of this behaviour; whenever the boys start their games, she and Shukuru take Luggard as far away as possible from all the commotion.
The same applies when Ngasha and Jasiri arrive. In the past Murera has been on the receiving end of the Ngasha and Jasiri’s attentions, but Murera isn’t interested in the boys wanting to mount her, so as soon as she sees these two boys joining the Umani herd for the day, she makes sure to put some distance between them and her. Ziwa and Faraja may spend a lot of their time being typical adolescent bulls, but when it comes to the rest of the heard, they are usually gentle with everyone. Faraja can be a little boisterous with Mwashoti, but they are usually fine with the girls.
Later in the afternoon a herd of six wild elephants joined the Umani herd, but because the bush was so thick the Keepers and the orphans didn’t notice right away. It was only when Zongoloni made her presence known that the Keepers realized that she had brought six wild elephants with her. Sonje welcomed the new comers but Murera didn’t want to mingle with Zongoloni’s new friends, so she left with Luggard and Shukuru. Lima Lima and Enkesha joined Sonje in welcoming the wild elephants, but after a while, left to join Murera where she was browsing with Shukuru and Luggard. Zongoloni and Faraja stayed with the wild herd and left with them later in the evening.
Sometimes Lima Lima’s curiosity gets the better of her. The herd was browsing at the foot of the Umani Hills when Lima Lima discovered a cave in between some rocks. Sonje, who can be just as curious, joined Lima Lima in investigating this new cave.
The girls had to climb over a few rocks to get to the cave, and some of these rocks had large cracks. Lima Lima put her trunk into one of the cracks which accidentally disturbed a small swarm of bees that must have been resting in the crack. The bees stung Lima Lima on the trunk, which sent her running with the bees chasing after her. Sonje got caught in the crossfire too and got stung on the back, but a quick detour saved Sonje from further stings. Lima Lima quickly waded into the nearest water pool she could find, and covered herself in thick mud. The thick mud acted as protection and the bees weren’t able to sting her.
When it was safe, Lima Lima exited the water in search of her friends Murera and Shukuru.
The orphans went through their normal morning routine today. Upon exiting their rooms, the Keepers were ready with their milk bottles, after which all the babies gathered at the Lucerne feeding area before making their way out to browse.
The matriarchs decided to lead the herd towards the Umani Hills. Those that had trouble climbing the hills stayed at the bottom and the rest carried on moving uphill. Zongoloni and her boys arrived and joined the orphans at the top of the hill. A little later, Quanza and Lima Lima made their way downhill to keep Murera and Luggard company. Shukuru separate herself from the rest of the herd, looking for a quiet place to browse. She tried to sneak away unnoticed but one of the Keepers caught her and followed her so that she didn’t get separated completely.
A huge bull appeared at the mud bath today and walked over slowly to Luggard. Murera, Sonje and Lima Lima were so intimidated by this bull that they all ran off not realizing they had left Luggard behind. The Keepers were nearby so they called out to Luggard to follow them, but the little bull remained where he was. The wild bull seemed rather curious and put his trunk over Luggard and sniffed him all over. All this time Luggard, our Lion-hearted boy, remained calm, and allowed the bull the smell him. After awhile the wild bull waded into the mud bath and wallowed, whilst Luggard stayed at the edge of the mud bath and splashed mud on his chest and back. When Ngasha arrived and saw the wild bull with Luggard, he managed to persuade the wild bull to leave the mud bath area and walked back into the forest with him, leaving Luggard once again safe and surrounded by his surrogate mother. It was such an incredible thing to behold and very beautiful; we are so proud of Luggard pushing his own boundaries and seeking new, wild, friendships.
The night-clubbers broke their normal routine of late, arriving at the stockades in the early morning, and instead they arrived after the midday feed.
Zongoloni walked up to Enkesha right away. She could see that her little friend was struggling to break off a very big and heavy branch, and so Zongoloni helped her. They browsed side by side for a while and then walked over to the water troughs together. Zongoloni then decided to browse deeper in the forest and as usual Enkesha wanted to do everything Zongoloni does, so she followed Zongoloni trying to keep up with her, but was lagging behind. Zongoloni saw Ziwa in the forest and decided to join him. Enkesha turned back and luckily Quanza was already walking up to her to lead her back to the Umani herd.
Shukuru and Murera left Sonje in charge of Luggard as they went to the mud bath to wallow and cool off from the scorching heat. A small family of elephants and their babies joined the orphans at the mud bath too. Lima Lima who loves little babies, spotted a little one and went to make friends with it, but the feisty little baby charged towards Lima Lima, blowing tiny but loud trumpets. This alerted the female elephants in the wild herd who ran to rescue their baby and chase Lima Lima away, trumpeting at her very loudly as a warning not to come near their babies.
Murera and Luggard were in a very jovial mood today, and Murera kept pulling Luggard close to her and rumbling at him gently. Whenever one of the other orphans, like Sonje and Lima Lima approached them, Murera would stop and then start again, when they left. It seems as though Murera had plans to browse alone with Luggard away from the rest of the herd, because as soon as all the orphans started to make their way out to browse, Murera made it look like she was following them, but stayed back and took a different route. The only other orphan allowed to join them today was Shukuru.
Zongoloni arrived with all her boys and before long as always a fight started between Faraja and Jasiri. Alamaya didn’t get involved and instead watched the two boys. Sonje and Quanza intervened and proved to be quite the mediators, because after a few minutes, the Keepers saw the boys following Sonje and Quanza to the mud bath and wallow and play with them.
Faraja, Ziwa and Alamaya were in the mud bath when they spotted two bush bucks walking towards the waterhole; the boys always feel that the waterhole belongs to them and no other animals are allowed at the waterhole when they are there. So Alamaya got up out of the mud bath and chased the bushbucks away. The bushbucks only returned when all three boys had had their fun and had left the waterhole.
Zongoloni is quite the disciplinarian, and today she meant business. She arrived with her boys, but it was clear that if anyone crossed the line with Zongoloni today, there would be repercussions.
First it was Ziwa and Faraja who got into trouble as they ventured into the bush, not knowing Shukuru was browsing there. The arrival of the boys startled Shukuru so she came running out of the bushes, trumpeting very loudly. After a while the Keepers saw Enkesha running out of the bushes, looking for Zongoloni to help her. Mwashoti had been pushing the little girl around and so when Zongoloni arrived, she found Mwashoti, as well as Ziwa and Faraja there. All three boys were chased away by Zongoloni and given a loud trumpet warning to leave Enkesha alone. Faraja is very scared of Zongoloni so he retreated into the forest not to be seen for the rest of the day. Ziwa kept to himself and did not come anywhere near Zongoloni or the rest of the Umani herd. Shukuru stayed very close to Zongoloni, for protection.
Needless to say the night-clubber boys avoided Zongoloni for the rest of the day, and stayed in the Chyulu Hills where they hoped Zongoloni would join them later; but the matriarch of the night-clubbers stayed with her favorite girl Enkesha, browsing together peacefully. Murera remained at a distance with her precious Luggard, browsing away with Sonje, but keeping an eye on Shukuru at all times
Today Lima Lima was on Luggard duty all day. Sonje and Murera were having a well-deserved break from their responsibilities but at the same time keeping an eye on Lima Lima.
Lima Lima was doing a great job, looking after the young bull. She kept Luggard close to her at all times, occasionally dropping acacia pods for little Luggard to enjoy. Ngasha arrived after they midday feed, but by himself; none of the other night-clubber members were with him. Ngasha looked rather hot and tired and so when Mwashoti approached him to engage him in some pushing and strength testing games, Ngasha declined the invitation and instead made his way to the mud bath where he proceeded to relax and wallow in the cool mud. The past few days have been quite hot and when Ngasha emerged from the mud bath his whole body was covered in mud.
Once Ngasha was done, the rest of the herd also decided to cool off in the mud. Enkesha followed everyone, but on the way got distracted by a low hanging tree. She proceeded to pull and tug at the branches and then rubbed her belly on the tree. Lima Lima also joined Enkesha in this game, which seemed like a lot of fun for the girls. Both Murera and Shukuru decided to wallow but Shukuru didn’t wade all the way inside, but stayed at the edges splashing mud on her chest. An eagle flew just over Shukuru’s head, scaring the girl and sending her running for cover under the trees. The rest of the orphans panicked without knowing what had happened, and ran out of the mud bath towards the trees to hide from whatever had scared Shukuru.
Towards the evening, when it was time to return to the stockades, Sonje resumed her duty of looking after Luggard, and Murera stayed with Shukuru, keeping her company; both girls enjoyed walking back to the stockades slowly.
Zongoloni arrived at the stockades with her night-clubber boys and two other wild elephant bulls. The visitors joined the stockade dependent orphans at the Lucerne corner and then all the orphans and the two wild bulls left together for the browsing fields.
It seemed as though the two wild bulls were very much like Ngasha and Jasiri; they too were interested in mounting the females of the Umani herd, Sonje in particular. When Zongoloni saw this, she decided to move further afield with Enkesha, hoping the bulls would tire out and leave the girls alone.
Faraja and Ziwa seemed to have had a disagreement, and their play fighting escalated into a serious fight. The Keepers wondered what might have transpired between the two boys to make them fight like this. Most elephant bull fights are either over female attention or male dominance for hierarchy. The fight carried on for quite a while but when Zongoloni returned, she could see that Ziwa had surrendered to Faraja and she hoped now that the two wild bulls had also left, then the night-clubbers and Umani herd could browse together peacefully. Zongoloni was relieved to find the wild bulls had moved on and Lima Lima resumed her role as leader, and led the orphans to the Umani hills.
Luggard and Murera walked over towards where they knew Shukuru was browsing. Shukuru welcomed them and showed them the acacia pods she had found. All three orphans feasted on these pods until it was time for their midday bottles, when Shukuru reluctantly left her secret stash of acacia pods to join the others for their milk feed.
The Umani herd exited the stockades, well rested, well fed and ready to start their day of browsing. They were a happy family today, with the addition of Alamaya who joined them later after the midday bottle feed. Murera was particularly pleased as Alamaya was on his best behavior.
The peace and tranquility was short lived as Murera spotted Ngasha emerging from the forest, making a bee-line for the older girl. Ngasha was intent on mounting Murera and proceeded to make his intentions known to her, but Murera didn’t return Ngasha’s affections as she was busy looking after Luggard. She managed to avoid Ngasha, by browsing in the thickest of bushes but somehow Ngasha found her. He started to chase Murera and for Murera the only failsafe way was to find the Keepers and seek refuge with them. The Keeper’s handled Ngasha quite tactfully, chasing him away back into the forest.
All this running around got Murera very hot and thirsty and once Ngasha was well out of sight, she returned to Luggard, who was now browsing next to Shukuru. All three of them proceeded to the water hole to quench their thirst. The rest of the day passed uneventfully.
Murera and Lima Lima had lengthy consultations this morning before leaving for their browsing activities. All the orphans were well behaved and left the stockades in a very organized manner, with Lima Lima leading the front of the herd and Murera bringing up the tail end with Luggard and Shukuru.
Zongoloni arrived with her five boys, and at first Murera seemed a bit uneasy when she saw Ngasha, but quickly relaxed when she saw that Jasiri was with Ngasha, keeping the young bull in check. Ngasha did not bother any of the girls today, but instead chose to browse with the boys. The herd maintained a good pace and arrived at the Umani Hills very soon. Shukuru and Alamaya were the first to get to the top of the hill where they found a few bush bucks chasing a family of rock hyraxes. Shukuru and Alamaya joined in the game and started to chase the rock hyraxes as well, after a while Shukuru tired of the game and went off to browse by herself, but Alamaya was having too much fun, running around and trumpeting at the rock hyraxes and scaring them. Eventually he had to stop as all the rock hyraxes retreated into their hiding places.
Murera, Sonje, Lima Lima, Quanza and their little boy Luggard remained at the bottom of the hill, very happy and content to browse, until it was time to go home and they saw the Keepers walking down from the hills with Shukuru. It has been a long hot day and the orphans were happy to be going back to the comfort of their stockades.
The orphans decided to browse in the Chyulu Hills today and luckily the night clubbers must have been nearby, because a few minutes after the orphans settled into their browsing, they were joined by Ziwa, Zongoloni and Alamaya. The stockade dependent orphans hadn’t seen their friends since the day before and were happy to connect with them. They all walked towards each other, trunks raised in greeting.
Ngasha was also with them, but kept at a distance until Lima Lima decided to walk up to him and greet him. Ngasha, very surprised but pleased to be receiving attention from one of the girls, did not waste time showing Lima Lima he was interested in her and started to chase her. Lima Lima also seemed to be enjoying the attention she was receiving from Ngasha, and ran into the forest, with Ngasha chasing her. The Keepers saw no need to rescue Lima Lima as despite Ngasha’s previous behavior, both elephants seemed happy being with each other.
Ngasha and Lima Lima returned to join the rest of the herd, and settled into browsing with their friends. A monitor lizard that must have been hiding from predators emerged from its hole and crawled over Lima Lima’s legs. Lima Lima couldn’t see what it was but immediately flew into a panic and started running and trumpeting, therefore scaring Ngasha and the other orphans too. The monitor lizard was long gone, no doubt, back into another hidey hole after all the commotion, but it took a while for the orphans to settle. On their way home, Lima Lima was at the front of the herd, and right away caught the scent of a wild herd. The Keepers quickly took a detour moving Murera, Shukuru and Luggard away from where the wild herd was and the rest of the herd followed suit.
Today only two members of the night clubbers arrived at the stockades. Alamaya and Ngasha met up with the Umani herd, browsed with them, but did not stay long.
Sonje and Lima Lima were on Luggard duty, these two girls absolutely adore the little bull and today they were particularly attentive towards him. Murera was on a much needed break. It has been a very hot day so far, and Murera wanted to cool off in the mud-bath, she managed to convince Shukuru and Quanza to join her. Murera waded deep into the waterhole, wallowing and relaxing in the cool mud. This meant that the Keepers could also take a break; they lay on the grass under the shade of some trees watching the orphans enjoy their mud-bath. Little Luggard also managed to get a mud-shower when one the Keepers splashed mud on Luggard’s back to keep him cool. We saw Lima Lima and Quanza leave the Umani herd and walk towards the Chyulu Hills, when they returned, with them were Zongoloni and Ngasha, but no sign of the albino elephants, Ziwa and Alamaya.
Luggard and Shukuru were browsing together when the Keepers spotted a huge wild bull walking towards the two orphans. The Keepers shouted warnings but it seems they could not hear the Keepers. Enkesha joined the Keepers in trying to alert her friends by trumpeting at her friends but to no avail, they were so engrossed in their browsing. All the shouting and trumpeting caught Lima Lima’s attention who understood the situation right away and walked to where Luggard and Shukuru were, and stood between her friends and the large bull, with her ears spread and raised head. The large bull must have understood this signal as he turned and walked away in a different direction. Lima Lima once again to the rescue!
It was a restless night for the orphans yesterday. A leopard made itself very comfortable on the tree outside Lima Lima and Quanza’s room.
Lima Lima took her time observing the leopard and once she felt it might be a threat, she started to bang on her gate to alert the Keepers. The Keepers came out running from their night quarters and saw the leopard in the tree. Whilst they were still discussing how to chase away the Leopard, Lima Lima and Quanza started trumpeting loudly and banging on their gate. Mwashoti, who is their neighbor, joined in as well and this joint effort saw the Leopard scamper from the tree and disappear into the night not to be seen again.
As the orphans were getting ready to leave the stockade compound, the night clubbers arrived, all in very good form. Zongoloni first stopped to greet Luggard, and then moved onto her little friend Enkesha, they exchanged greetings and then Zongoloni greeted each orphan individually. With the greetings all done, the Umani herd and night clubbers all left together for the browsing field. Shukuru was eager to catch up to Zongoloni and tell her about their adventures from the previous night, but Zongoloni was so engrossed with Enkesha to notice. Perhaps Enkesha was already Zongoloni what happened with the Leopard.
Sonje and Luggard were quite relieved when the Keepers kept Ngasha away from them. Ngasha has been troubling the Umani herd girls, trying to mount them. Sonje is not interested in Ngasha’s advances and the Keepers know that she would rather spend her time looking after Luggard. Today it seemed as though Murera and Lima Lima had decided to take a break and leave Luggard with capable Sonje.
Even though the girls all love Luggard dearly, it seems that when the midday milk bottles arrive, their duties are temporarily forgotten. Today both Lima Lima and Sonje ran first to get their bottles, leaving Luggard behind, but luckily Quanza was not too far away and kept an eye on Luggard. The Keepers walked over to where Luggard was so that he too could enjoy his milk. The night clubbers were all present at the midday bottle feed but because they know that there are no bottles for them, they made their way to the mud-bath, to wait for their friends to join them. Zongoloni came back to fetch Enkesha as she realized that the little girl hadn’t realized Zongoloni was at the mud-bath.
A female elephant, with one tusk arrived mid-afternoon as the orphans were taking a break from heat, under the shade of some trees. Quanza and Lima Lima walked over to greet the female elephant, but this elephant was rather hostile and started with fight with Lima Lima. Lima Lima knew she was not strong enough to fight this cow, and so trumpeted to the Keepers for back up. Ngasha, who was nearby, ran to scene to help Lima Lima but by then the female elephant had already left to return to her herd.
The Umani herd was visited by the night clubber boys. Ngasha, Jasiri, Faraja and Ziwa arrived after spending the night out with their wild friends. They arrived at mud bath time, Faraja and Ziwa joined their friends for a leisurely wallow, whilst Ngasha and Jasiri spotted Sonje and Murera. The older girls were browsing with Luggard.
These two bulls started to make their way towards Murera, but Murera had already noticed them and walked away with Luggard towards where the Keepers were resting, knowing that the Keepers would chase away the boys in case they bothered Murera, so soon enough, Jasiri attempted to mount Murera but the Keepers were quick to reprimand the bull and chase him away. Ngasha was chasing Sonje with the same intentions as Jasiri and once again the Keepers intervened to put a stop to Ngasha’s unwelcome behavior. The boys soon realized their actions were not welcomed and left the Umani herd and returned to the forest, leaving the rest of night clubbers behind.
Luggard and Shukuru were somewhat disturbed by the boys actions, but Zongoloni soon reassured both of them, that all was well. Without the two boys present, the rest of the afternoon passed peacefully.