The month began on an action-packed note, as our team received reports of an infant elephant who was stuck in a nearby water trough. At the time of the call, the mother wasn’t around, but when we arrived, she had returned! The team managed to retrieve the stricken baby from the trough and reunite him with his mother.
The orphans left the stockade compound this morning after spending the majority of their time playing since coming out of their night stockades, and they made their way up the slope of Msinga Hill where they settled to browse. Pika Pika maneuvered her way up to the top of the hill, munching as she went and while in the company of her elder adopted sisters Arruba and Embu. Mbegu and her young group spent the morning hours browsing at the foot of the hill instead. Thamana decided to spend more time with Sagala and Godoma, while Emoli started a wrestling fight with Ngilai and Murit.
Just before 11am, Tamiyoi decided to lead the group to the milk feeding area along with Thamana and Lemeki. The orphans then proceeded down to the water hole where they enjoyed a mud bath under the shade of the baobab tree. Instead of the mud bath, Arruba decided to get into the water trough, which is something that Pika Pika and sometimes Emoli do. Ndotto decided to join her and the two enjoyed their own little freshwater wallowing session.
The orphans resumed browsing along the open grasslands and spent the rest of the afternoon there, where they decided to concentrate on browsing and filling their tummies, rather than messing about in games before it was time to return home.
During the day the hand-raised zebra Diria came back to the stockade compound and surveyed the whole compound as usual, before briefly coming to poke his nose through the office door and walking off again.
It was a bright sunny morning today. The orphans were out of their stockades as dawn broke and were enjoying the lucerne pellets that the Keepers had put out for them. It was Tamiyoi who led the orphans out to the bush to begin their day again, but Mbegu remained behind playing with Ivia the buffalo, and a few minutes later Ngilai decided to return as well to play with Ivia too. Ivia and the two elephants spent a few minutes all playing with one another, before the buffalo decided to carry on with his morning and walked off. Mbegu then turned to Ngilai to continue their wrestling match alone, and all the while the rest of the orphan herd were making their way deeper into the bush. Eventually Mbegu and Ngilai caught up with the others where they had settled to browse on the slopes of the hill. Just before 11am, the orphans started browsing their way back down the hill, to make their way to the milk feeding area.
Suswa, Lasayen and Murit were all drinking at the baobab tree water trough as Mudanda enjoyed a mud wallowing session on this sizzling hot day, alongside Mbegu, Arruba, Pika Pika, Emoli and Embu. Lemeki opted for a clean bath in the water trough, but once again one of the older girls came to her rescue as they thought she might be struggling. This time it was Rorogoi who went running over to help her, as she was making some funny rumbling sounds while swimming in the trough. Godoma went for a dust bath on the loose soil to dry off after wallowing, and then the orphans started to leave one after the other to resume browsing. As the orphans left the baobab tree area, a group of wild elephants arrived to cool off as well.
The Voi dependent orphans seemed in an excitable mood this morning as they enjoyed their breakfast milk bottles and lucerne pellets. Suswa and Ndotto ate the lucerne supplements side by side, while Murit thought to take on the feisty Emoli in a stockade wrestling game. Lasayen chose to scratch against the orphans’ favourite rock, while Murit then turned his focus on Embu for another sparring game. As she started to make her way out of the compound, Arruba stretched her trunk over the electric fence to grab some of the nice fresh greens there, like Tundani used to do.
Suswa and Ndotto continued their day in each other’s company as they browsed across the open grasslands together. The rest of the orphans were scattered all over the place.
There wasn’t as much activity at the mud bath today after the noon milk feed. Only Ngilai started a wrestling match with Emoli, while Lasayen chose to scratch against the baobab tree and Pika Pika enjoyed a lone mud bath! It seems the orphans wanted to get back to browsing as quickly as possible, and that is what they did for the rest of the afternoon.
It was all fun and games in the stockade compound this morning; Thamana was rolling on the ground, surrounded by Sagala, Mbegu and Mudanda. Ngilai was having an early morning mud bath and running about in every direction, splashing and digging down in the mud hole, before throwing more mud around as if he were throwing a tantrum! His excitement drew Murit’s attention, and he came running over to engage Ngilai in a sparring match. Mbegu decided to explore what was going on with Ngilai too, and from outside the mud hole she had a short sparring moment with Ngilai too, before he went back to sparring with Murit. Godoma meanwhile seemed quite content on her own, stretching her trunk over the terraces to browse.
Murit withdrew from his game with Ngilai and Emoli stepped forward, daring to propose another sparring game with Ngilai which he duly accepted. Pika Pika wandered over to join in the game, so Emoli withdrew, leaving Ngilai and Pika Pika playing about in the mud wallow.
Later this morning we received a call of a baby elephant that was stuck in the Sentrim Camp water trough and the mother wasn’t around. We rushed to the scene to see if we could help but luckily when we arrived the mother had returned! We managed to rescue the baby from the trough and reunite him with his mother.
Later at the mud bath, Pika Pika was enjoying her second swim of the day, sandwiched between Embu and Arruba. Godoma rolled by herself at the edge of the mud wallow, before joining up with Mudanda to play with Pika Pika and Arruba in the middle of the mud wallow – they all clearly had a great time wallowing. Pika Pika and Godoma then had a short sparring game, and were the last to leave the mud bath area as all of their friends started to file out and continue on with their afternoon.
This morning the orphans chose to bond in the stockade compound after their milk and supplement feed. Ndotto has found a friend in Mudanda — who, through his engagement and perseverance, has become much friendlier than she was before! They spent most of this morning playing and wrestling one another. When the orphans left the compound to browse, they walked along the slopes of Msinga Hill in search of fresh foliage. Thamana and Lemeki teamed up with Sagala, Godoma and Suswa.
By 10:45am the orphans are already at the feeding area for their noon milk bottles. They later proceeded to the baobab tree water trough and mud wallow. Godoma, Lemeki and Thamana lined up at the water trough to have some fresh water, and were soon joined by Ndotto, Pika Pika, Mbegu and Rorogoi. While the others soon left and went to enjoy a mud bath, Lemeki was left behind drinking and splashing at the trough. She took her larking about a step further and decided to climb into the trough to swim, while the rest of the orphans swam in the mud bath where Suswa and Rorogoi were leading the wallowing session. Pika Pika tried to climb on Embu who was enjoying her cool mud bath, and Godoma started running about excitedly, from one side of the water to the other, splashing everywhere.
The orphans resumed browsing and decided to walk further into the bush, returning to the stockades as usual at 5pm.
The orphans were crowded around the gates of their night stockades, ready to sprint out for their morning milk feed. Pika Pika tried bullying Tamiyoi to be in front, but they both made it to the feeding area at the same time, where the Keepers were ready and waiting with their bottles. The orphans then made their way over to the lucerne feeding at the far end corner of the stockade compound. Once there, Arruba decided to lie down to relax and was surrounded by her friends. Pika Pika, who is known as the bossy one in the Voi dependent herd, decided to climb on her, but we think that is what Arruba wanted! After the orphans had enough of their supplement food, they decided to walk out to begin their day.
Upon arriving out in the bush, before the orphans had even settled to browse, Lasayen and Godoma immediately engaged in a wrestling fight. After a while, Godoma withdrew from the sparring fight and went to roll and play in a small trench which had been eroded into the hillside by rainwater. The soil is always soft and cool in those and the orphans really enjoy playing in them. Ngilai joined Godoma in the erosion gulley and the two ended up sparring. Godoma eventually withdrew again, leaving Ngilai posing there all alone. Meanwhile Mudanda decided to take on Ndotto in a sparring game of her own, for most of the mid-morning! Suswa lay on the edge of the erosion gulley which Godoma had been enjoying earlier.
After their noon milk feed, the orphans walked down to the mud wallow and stopped at the water trough for a drink, but as it was a cool day today they did a u-turn and walked back up the hill to resume browsing without swimming . Suswa decided to spend the afternoon alone, browsing herself around Msinga Hill until late in the afternoon, when she walked back down to join her friends and walk back with them to the stockade compound for the night.
Mudanda seemed excited this morning and she was walking up and down the stockade compound, bugging everyone as the rest of her friends concentrated on feeding on the pellet supplements. Godoma and Pika Pika engaged in an early morning wrestling game until finally the orphans left the compound to begin their day of browsing, and Mudanda could finally relax!
Suswa and Arruba led the herd to settle at the foot of Msinga Hill, browsing all through the mid-morning.
At the baobab tree mud wallow, as our orphans were having a good time wallowing and cooling off, a tuskless wild elephant family arrived and mingled with our orphans. As the wild elephant family was drinking from the trough, Lemeki boldly walked over and stepped right into the water trough to swim! Fortunately, the wild family did not seem to mind. When she was done, she stretched her trunk out to pat both the wild baby elephant and his mother, before getting out and sauntering off to join her friends. She has quite the character our little Lemeki! The orphans then continued browsing peacefully for the rest of the afternoon, before walking back to the stockade compound later in the evening.
The Voi dependent orphans had their morning milk feed and were messing around in the compound this morning. Some, like Mbegu, Sagala, Tagwa, Thamana and Lemeki, were busy feeding on the pellet supplements. Others, such as Rorogoi, Ngilai, Pika Pika, Embu and Arruba, were enjoying an early morning mud bath. Rorogoi really submerged herself and enjoyed the mud to the fullest. Mudanda seemed in a very happy mood again today, inviting Ndotto to a sparring match while Lasayen busily finished up feeding on the remaining pellets. Ngilai and Pika Pika were having a good time in the mud wallow wrestling and pushing until Ngilai started riding on Pika Pika’s back. When he was done playing with Mudanda, Ndotto went to splash about at the edge of the mud wallow.
Tamiyoi set off towards the browsing grounds in the company of Tagwa and Sagala, and soon the rest of the orphans followed them.
Just before 11am the milk-dependent orphans went for their noon milk feed and then all the orphans walked down to the mud wallow. Lemeki got straight into the water trough, as she has become accustomed to doing, while surrounded by her friends who were all trying to drink at the same time. Lemeki was the only one who chose to swim though, as when they were done drinking the rest of the orphans dodged the mud bath and resumed browsing, choosing to go deeper into the woods for the rest of the afternoon.
Early in the morning the Voi stockade vehicle went for a morning patrol as usual and came across a pride of more than eight lions laying in ambush at the baobab tree water hole. With this in mind, the Keepers chose a different browsing route for the elephant orphans today. They left the stockade compound as usual and settled at the foot of Msinga Hill to browse throughout the morning. Suswa, Arruba and Ndotto all settle to browse together while their friends, led by Embu and Rorogoi, opted to go up the hill.
Lasayen took a break from browsing to enjoy a lengthy scratch against a tree, the same tree that Arruba, Pika Pika and Mbegu were all peeling bark from to eat.
Later, the orphans went back to the stockade compound for their noon milk feed because of the lions down at the water hole. After having their bottles, they enjoyed a mud bath session there instead; Ngilai dug down into the banks of the mud bath with his tusks. Sagala chose to scratch on the orphans’ favourite rock, followed by Tagwa, while Ndotto was scratching against the terraces, before they all left the compound again to browse for the rest of the afternoon on the slopes of Msinga Hill.
After their morning milk feed, the orphans left the compound for their daily bush walk to the northern side of Msinga Hill, overlooking the baobab water hole. They all settled to browse calmly at the foot of the hill.
Shortly later, Ivia and Cheza, the two young buffalos, paid us a surprise visit; they had not visited this far from the compound since lions had become prevalent in the area, and the elephant orphans were all hyped to see them, and they ran about in all directions trumpeting and making such a racket. Ngilai didn’t take long to welcome his old friend Ivia with a sparring match, and this time even Mbegu came along and tried to take on Cheza in their own sparring game. Cheza never used to want to play as much as Ivia did, but today she didn’t mind and even joined in! Even Ngilai had a good time sparring with Cheza, and later Ndotto came over to join in, with Mbegu moving against Cheza again.
After the noon milk feed, the Voi orphans walked down for a mud wallow at the baobab tree water hole and later Rorogoi had a good time rolling in the loose soil before all the orphans slowly made their way back out to the bush to continue browsing for the rest of the day.
Tamiyoi, Tagwa and Sagala all lead the Voi orphans out of the compound today towards the open grassy fields where all the orphans settled to browse for most of the morning.
Later, Tamiyoi led everyone towards the noon milk feeding area. When the orphans walked down to the mud bath for a swim to cool down on this hot day, it was Mudanda who had the best time rolling around in the mud wallow. Arruba lay down next to her, and both Rorogoi and Pika Pika decided to climb on her, while Emoli then decided to climb on Pika Pika! It was like a pile of elephants all playing in the mud. Suswa was also having a good time splashing at the edge of the mud bath, and Rorogoi waved her trunk at her, splashing and trumpeting while still in the mud.
As the orphans were all enjoying a good wallowing session, a large herd of wild elephants were waiting patiently in the shade; waiting to approach and cool themselves down as well as the sun was really beating down today. Rorogoi was the first to get out and as she went to dry off on the soil pile, some of the orphans started to walk back out to the bush, giving the wild elephants the space to come forward and enjoy their own mud bath and opportunity to cool down.
It was a bright sunny morning today. The orphans had already had their morning milk feed and were hanging out in the stockade compound playing and bonding. Godoma was scratching against the twin trees while Lasayen was feeding on the lucerne pellets. Thamana and Lemeki were feeding next to him, just as Godoma finished her scratch on the trees. Tagwa was enjoying a morning scratch too, using the rock next to the stockade mud hole to scratch her tummy. Emoli and Murit were enjoying a wrestling game next to the water trough. Sagala walked over to join Godoma and use the rock for a scratch as well, just as Emoli and Murit’s sparring game intensified. Rorogoi had an early morning dust bath rolling on the loose soil and Mudanda walked over to watch over her so that none of the other orphans would bother her.
Lemeki decided to spend most of her morning hanging out with Tagwa and she kept patting her with her trunk. Thamana decided to hang out mostly with Sagala.
This afternoon something quite miraculous happened. Just as the dependent Voi orphans were finishing up with their noon milk feed and slowly making their way down to the mud bath, a wild elephant herd walked close by. Suddenly, one of the younger elephants broke rank and ran towards our orphans, trumpeting and with her trunk high in the air. We couldn’t believe our eyes but it was Tahri, one of our orphans who had left with a wild herd about a year ago now. She came running over to the orphans who welcomed her immediately. It seemed Tahri didn’t want to stay with the herd she had been with, but wanted to remain with the orphans and our Keepers. The wild herd walked away and Tahri happily stayed with the orphans at the mud bath. In the evening, she walked back to the stockades with the orphans and into a night stockade like she had never left! We couldn’t believe that Tahri had made her way back with the wild herd she had decided to leave with all those months ago. Despite her time away, it seems that we are the family she prefers for now. We are very happy to see her and in very good health.
As the orphans came out of their stockades to the lucerne feeding area this morning, Tahri looked like just one of the herd and she clearly hasn’t forgotten any of the orphans’ routines. Mbegu came around to show her some love and to reassure her that all is well.
The orphans then left the compound for their daily bush walks and settled at the foot of Msinga Hill to spend the mid-morning there before the noon milk feed. When the time came Tahri came down with the first group and gulped down her milk bottle before walking down to the mud wallow. She is clearly enjoying her milk bottles again and it will do her the world of good in these dry conditions. Lemeki relaxed and scratched against the baobab tree as the rest of the herd had a good time in the mud wallow. Tagwa and Ngilai seemed to be the most exuberant, splashing about everywhere, as Mudanda rolled around close by. Suswa decided to stand outside the mud hole and splash herself from there, as Godoma, Ndotto and Rorogoi ran past into the water to join Tagwa and Ngilai. All of them were having a great time. Murit went from rolling about at the edge of the mud bath to scratch against the baobab tree. Slowly but surely the orphans finished up their fun and games and started to saunter off across the grasslands to continue browsing, as the Keepers had their lunch close by.
Emoli enjoyed an early morning wrestling match with Murit this morning as the rest of the orphans settled for the lucerne pellet supplements. Tahri was with those enjoying the lucerne pellets; she is clearly having a good time since her return from the bush, with friends and everything at her disposal. Pika Pika scratched against the favourite rock while Murit had a dust bath on the loose soil nearby. Mudanda was being a bit mean to Rorogoi so Ndotto invited his new-found friend for a wrestling match to distract her, before they followed their friends out of the compound for the day.
It was Tamiyoi, Tagwa, Lemeki, Thamana and Sagala who were the leaders today, maneuvering the herd around the rocky slopes of Msinga Hill to finally settle along the open grasslands at the foot of the hill. Lasayen decided to take a break from browsing to hide from the scorching sun under a shrub. It wasn’t long before Tahri came round to oust him from his spot and take it for herself. Mudanda and Ndotto continued their sparing game out in the bush.
Just before noon the orphans went for their mud bath session after the milk feed and later on resumed browsing, going deep into the woods in search of fresh browse.
Later in the afternoon the Voi orphans made their way back to the stockades for the evening milk feed and settled in for the night.
It was a sunny but calm morning today and the orphans decided to hang out in the compound for a while after having their milk bottles. Tahri scratched on the rock next to the water trough while Lasayen posed with his ears spread out wide as he enjoyed some lucerne pellets.
Later in the morning as soon as the orphans arrived in the browsing area, Murit and Ngilai started a wrestling match within an erosion gulley; shortly later Ngilai quit the game and went looking for Emoli, leaving Murit behind in the gulley. Murit decided it was quite comfortable there and he lay down and took a little nap where he was. Ngilai on the other hand missed Emoli, who had walked off to browse elsewhere, so he invited Tagwa for a sparring match instead, who accepted; the two had a great time sparring throughout the mid-morning, while Lasayen had another pushing game with Godoma.
Ndotto is never left out when it comes to pushing games, so he decided to take on Mudanda for a short time too. Mudanda then went to join Thamana and Tahri who were browsing together, until later on when Thamana walked off to look for his friend Lemeki who was browsing elsewhere.
Before the milk vehicle arrived, a large group of wild elephants arrived at the baobab tree water trough. They were still there when the orphans finished their milk feed, and they walked down to join them for a short while, before they walked off to continue browsing, without wallowing in the mud bath today.
As they walked across the grasslands, Mudanda engaged Ndotto in yet another wrestling game, and their friends just carried on walking past them.
A wild elephant family visited the stockade compound at midday today. They were clearly very thirsty as they walked very quickly to the stockade water trough. After drinking they went for a short mud bath and after that, they decided to finish up all the leftover lucerne pellets the orphans had left behind this morning.
As most of the orphans were busy scooping up lucerne pellets after their milk feed this morning, Ndotto and Mudanda were already engaged in an early morning wrestling match.
The orphans later left for their daily bush walks and settled to browse throughout the mid-morning until their noon milk feed. After their milk the orphans walked down to the baobab mud wallow and enjoyed a fantastic mud bath session there, before a wild elephant herd arrived.
Godoma and Tamiyoi used their tusks to dig at the edge of the mud bath as the wild elephants moved in to dominate the while mud bath area. The orphans got to interact with over 50 wild elephants for over an hour, before they left to carry on with their daily activities around Msinga Hill.
Later in the evening the orphans settled into their night stockades after another lovely day out in the bush. Godoma posed with one foot up on the water trough inside her stockade as she calmly peeled the bark off the grewia branches the Keepers had placed in their stockades as supper.
As the orphans were feeding on some lucerne pellets after their first milk feed of the day, a wild elephant family arrived at the stockade compound for a drink of fresh water from the trough. The family then proceeded to share lucerne with the orphans, but the orphans didn’t want to stick around to share with a wild elephant herd, and feeling a little displaced, they quickly made their way out to the bush to begin their day of browsing. The orphans chose to settle on the slopes of Msinga Hill to browse their way along there as they slowly made their way towards the milk feeding area.
After the orphans had their milk feed they walked down to join some wild elephants who had already arrived at the baobab tree mud bath. Lemeki decided to get into the water trough for a clean bath as wild elephants surrounded her and continued to drink, seemingly unperturbed that a little elephant was swimming where they were trying to drink from!
After her mud bath in the main waterhole, Mudanda rolled around in the dry soil outside, as the rest of her friends tried to interact with some of the wild elephants. Suswa came around and joined Mudanda for a dust bath. Ngilai was pestering Tagwa for attention and trying to get her to play with him.
The orphans later returned to the stockade compound for the evening feed and settled into their stockades for the night.
All the orphan elephants were seriously concentrating on their supplement feed of lucerne this morning, which lasted for about half an hour until Murit decided to take on Emoli in a wrestling match, shortly followed by Ndotto taking on Mudanda. When they were all done, the orphans slowly filed out of the compound towards the Park, under the leadership of Tamiyoi and Tagwa.
The orphans had a peaceful morning of browsing, before they made their way to the noon milk feeding area. They went down in groups of four to where the Keepers were waiting for them with their milk bottles. They later had a lot of fun in mud bathing games after drinking some fresh water. Rorogoi teamed up with Pika Pika to roll around in the water, but when she was done swimming she joined Godoma and Arruba to continue guarding Pika Pika who was still wallowing. Mudanda, who was lying down and enjoying a mud bath, soon got up and engaged Embu in a sparring match while she was still seated in a sitting position. The orphans later resumed browsing after drying off at the pile of loose soil.
Murit took Emoli head-on in a wrestling match after the milk and supplement feed this morning. It is becoming very dry in the area at the moment, and Mbegu made the executive decision to lead her friends out to the browsing grounds early today, without much playing around in the compound. Thamana and Lemeki followed close behind, followed by the others in single file.
Sagala and Godoma browsed very closely with both Thamana and Lemeki this morning. After their noon milk feed the orphans had a wonderful time playing and mud bathing. A wild elephant herd approached to drink water and Emoli and Pika Pika moved forward to welcome them. Mudanda came out of mud bath and sat on the ground to dry off, enjoying a dust bath in front of all the wild elephants. Arruba later took Pika Pika and sneaked away from the wild elephants, with the rest of their friends following shortly behind, initiating the beginning of the afternoon browsing session.
Thamana screamed very loudly this morning because Pika Pika came running up close behind him as he was running for his own milk bottles. Lemeki and Sagala immediately gave up their own milk feed to come and investigate what was happening, but went back to their bottles upon discovering that Thamana had settled down to have his milk and was actually fine.
The orphans had some lucerne pellets before leaving for their day of browsing out in the Park. Sagala, Godoma and Mbegu had a wonderful time browsing close to Thamana and Lemeki.
As today was another hot day all the orphans decided to have fun in some mud bathing games at the baobab tree water hole after the noon milk feed. Suswa was extra excited today for some reason! She was certainly running the whole mud bathing event, running about and playing with Rorogoi, charging and splashing huge amounts of muddy water into the air with her feet. When she was done, and clearly a little tired from all her antics, she joined her friends to leave the mud bath area to continue browsing for the afternoon. The remaining half of the day was very peaceful.
It was a wonderful morning with the orphan elephants playing in the stockade compound after their milk and lucerne pellet supplement feed. Arruba went and kept herself busy with some climbing games on one of the stockade terraces. Lasayen kept pursuing Lemeki, requesting to play a sparring game with her, but Lemeki wasn’t interested and kept moving away from him.
The orphans later left the compound and moved up the eastern side of Msinga Hill to browse. Mbegu decided to remain downhill browsing with Lemeki and Thamana who decided not to climb the hill today.
There was a problem with the Mzima water flow again so there wasn’t very much water down by the baobab tree, so the orphans made their way back to the stockade compound for their noon milk feed and a mud bath today. Murit decided to play with Emoli just outside of the mud bath, until Ngilai came over to interrupt them and play with Emoli instead. It wasn’t long before Emoli gave up his game with Murit to play with Ngilai instead. As we know, Ndotto never likes to be left out of any fun and games, so he came to take over and play with Murit instead, so he wasn’t left standing on his own. Ndotto has always been a very caring elephant! Lasayen moved off with Thamana to see if there were any leftover pellets, as the rest of the orphans enjoyed a short mud bath before going back out to browse for the rest of the afternoon.
The orphan elephants left the stockade compound early this morning for their daily browsing bush walks. As the orphans left the compound, Embu decided to stay behind to collect up all the leftover lucerne pellets.
Out in the bush, Mbegu, Arruba, Mudanda, Rorogoi scattered separately to browse out across the open grasslands, overshadowed by Msinga Hill. Thamana hung back to browse side by side with Sagala. Lemeki wasn’t very comfortable with this and turned back to join them too.
Later in the morning, the orphans walked down for their noon milk feed and then down to the mud bath. Suswa spent a long time drinking water at the trough, before proceeding to the mud wallow. Ndotto and Mudanda enjoyed a sparring match outside on the edge, next to Rorogoi who was chilling there too. Arruba was enjoying a dust bath after her mud wallowing session. The orphan elephants then left the baobab tree area under the leadership of Tagwa who guided them back out to browse across the grasslands towards the woods.
The milk and lucerne pellet feeding was over and the orphan elephants settled into some brief games in the stockade compound before leaving for the browsing grounds.
Mudanda and Ndotto kept themselves busy in some wrestling games. Ngilai had a golden opportunity, while Arruba’s back was turned, to play with Pika Pika. He then tried to climb on her back which Pika Pika strongly objected to. This of course brought Arruba running over and Ngilai ran away pronto to avoid being punished by her and her sharp tusks.
The orphans browsed throughout the morning in single file. Later Thamana, Lemeki, Pika Pika and Tamiyoi took up position to be the first to have their noon milk bottles, followed closely by the rest of their friends.
The orphans only had a brief mud bathing session today, before Tamiyoi decided to lead them out of the water for the beginning of the afternoon browsing session.
The sun was shining bright this morning as the orphan elephants left the stockades soon after the milk and the lucerne pellet feed. It seemed some serious browsing business was on the agenda today, with Sagala giving Lemeki and Thamana some wonderful browsing company.
When it was time for the noon milk feed, Ngilai snuck behind the Keepers and managed to run down at the front with Lemeki, Thamana, and Tamiyoi to be in the first group! Even though he is one of the older orphans now, it just goes to show that the Keepers can never take their eyes off any of the orphans for a minute, as you never know when they might do something mischievous!
This was proven moments later again by Thamana who, after having his bottles and making a show of walking off down towards the mud bath, suddenly made a u-turn to return to the milk feeding area, where he peacefully sidled up to Mbegu to request some of her milk bottle. Mbegu treated him like a baby without getting angry with him, but simply responded by lifting her milk bottle up even higher so that even when Thamana stretched as high as he could with his little trunk, he still couldn’t reach Mbegu’s mouth or bottle.
The orphans later had a lot of fun in the mud bath before continuing with their afternoon of browsing.
The orphan elephants wanted to explore some playtime after the milk and supplement feed was over. Arruba intentionally lay down to create a platform for her adopted baby Pika Pika to play on, who indeed enjoyed climbing and sliding on her stomach. Tahri seemed a little jealous as she came over and pushed Pika Pika away. This meant that Mbegu and Emoli moved in and took advantage of the now available space to climb on Arruba instead, one after the other. Tamiyoi and Tagwa later both blew trumpets as they walked towards the gates of the compound, signalling to the others that it was time to head out for the day.
After the noon milk feed, Ndotto decided to lie right in the middle of the mud bath, displaying his spectacular rolling games, with Mbegu, Godoma and Lasayen reduced to mere spectators.
The rest of the browsing day continued to the south of the baobab tree water hole.
It was a slightly cooler morning today as the orphan elephants decided to play around after the milk and lucerne pellet feeding. Ngilai tried to climb on Tagwa’s back as he seems rather besotted with her, and eventually he managed until the Keepers told him to behave himself. Ndotto was pursuing his current best friend Mudanda and they were busy with their wrestling games.
Tahri was seen to be busy trying to work on her friendship with her old friend Arruba today, after rejoining the orphan elephants from the wild, but Pika Pika is Arruba’s darling and Tahri is finding it hard to find any time with Arruba on her own, without little Pika Pika being there too.
Pika Pika held Arruba hostage in the mud bath today and she clambered around on her stomach while Arruba lay down in the water. The other orphans were playing in different areas of the mud bath.
The orphan elephants then had a peaceful afternoon browsing until later when Arruba and Murit took a break to enjoy a short sparring match instead. The two stopped their game to join their friends who were starting to make their way back to the Voi compound for the night.
After they were done with the breakfast part of their day, the orphans again decided to play around for a bit before heading out to browse. Pika Pika reclined on a pile of dry dung that had been placed to the side after cleaning the stockades out. She enjoyed the soft cushioned pile so much that she closed her eyes and took a nap while Arruba stood guard over her. Tagwa and Ngilai held each other’s trunks as if they were in some kind of relationship. We are starting to think that Ngilai might really love Tagwa! He later climbed on her back and Tagwa didn’t try to move to get away, but the Keepers still told him to stop messing about.
The orphans then left for the beginning of a long day out browsing, but they ended up coming back to the stockades again for their noon milk feed and for some fresh water. They had a lot of fun playing in the stockade mud bath too. Tamiyoi took up position at the orphans’ favourite rock to enjoy a scratch, with Sagala moving in moments later to scratch against the same rock. All the orphans were having a great time but eventually it was Sagala who led everyone back out for the rest of the afternoon.
The orphans left the stockade compound early in the morning after they were done with their breakfast feed. After browsing for more than four hours, Mbegu took Thamana and Lemeki and lay down with them beside a very big rock where they enjoyed playing. Soon Sagala, Godoma, Tahri, and Tagwa joined them, but Mbegu still took centre stage, rolling around on the ground and encouraging everyone to play. Godoma got down on the ground too to play with her, but soon Tagwa became a little jealous and she went to lie on Godoma’s back, preventing her from being able to roll around and spoiling her fun. When Godoma yelled out for help the Keepers came to her assistance, but this also meant that all the other orphans got up and dispersed as well as no one ever likes to be blamed for bad behaviour among the group.
Soon it was time for the orphans to make their way down to the noon milk feeding area above the mud bath, and when they were done they immediately carried on with their browsing activities, choosing not to go for a swim in the mud bath today.
Lemeki was trying to keep Thamana close to her side this morning for the fresh and palatable lucerne grass we had today. After feeding, Sagala went to catch up with Pika Pika, and they ended up having a short pushing game , while Ndotto did the same with his friend Mudanda. Mbegu then approached Lemeki and Thamana to escort them out to the bush for the day. Mbegu, who at first seemed a little undecided about the two new arrivals, now seems to have a soft spot for both Thamana and Lemeki this month, and she has been trying to woo them to browse with her and play with her recently too.
Just as the orphans arrived out in the bush it started to rain, very lightly, but we were still very excited to receive some rain drops! Sagala got down on the ground to roll on the now damp soil, and she invited Lemeki to join her. Lemeki stood close to Sagala and watched her playing but seemed reluctant to join her. Mbegu and Godoma lay down on the ground to roll as well, just like Sagala, but they made sure to give each other space so they could enjoy messing about to the fullest.
The water bowser is at our Field HQ for repairs and the pipeline is still broken for the time being, so the orphans returned to the Voi compound again today for their noon milk feed and for some water. They resumed browsing to the south of Msinga Hill for the rest of the day.
The orphans finished their milk and the dairy-cube feed before settling for some fresh lucerne grass. Emoli went to feed next to Mbegu, but Thamana came over and replaced Emoli who shifted to a different area.
Soon after arriving out in the browsing grounds, Mudanda, Arruba, Pika Pika and Rorogoi went to lie down and play in one of the erosion trenches. After browsing for about three hours we received some light rain again. This spurred Ngilai and Godoma into playing a new game of sliding up and down on a steep slope, enjoying themselves very much.
The orphan elephants came back to the stockade compound for their noon milk feed, where the orphan buffaloes and Diria the zebra were waiting to play with them. In an effort to show off and get the elephants to play, Ivia and Diria started the pushing games.
Ngilai then invited his longtime friend Ivia for a wrestling match, but Ivia got distracted by some dairy cubes that he found on the ground and decided to eat instead.
The orphans left the compound to continue browsing for the remaining half of the day.
It was a calm and quiet morning as the orphans came to gulp down their milk bottles before going to feed on the supplement food put out by the Keepers. Some of the orphans decided to play, like Murit, who decided to catch up with Emoli in a wonderful wrestling match. Arruba lay flat on the ground to invite some of the babies to play, but Pika Pika decided not to join her.
The orphan elephant later left for the bush where they had a peaceful morning browsing. After about four hours, Ndotto and Mudanda took a break to have a sparring match before joining their friends who were moving towards the normal noon feeding area above the baobab tree.
When they had their milk the orphans walked to drink clean water from the trough and they had a very brief mud bath as the weather today was cloudy and cold. Mbegu opted for a dust bath where she was briefly joined by Sagala, before catching up with their friends who were leaving to continue browsing.