01 May 2015

The orphans headed high up onto Msinga hill under the stewardship of Wasessa, Sinya and Mbirikani. Lesanju kept the youngsters with her taking Wasessa’s “babies” Bada and Mudanda for a dust bathing game in the erosion trench at the base of the hill. Dabassa was a little jealous of the fun Lesanju was having with the youngsters and came to inject himself in the game and take her place. When he was unable to take over he went to Mudanda and tried to mount her digging his tusks into her back. Wasessa saw what was going on and charged down the hill, followed by her group, to discipline Dabassa and take back her babies taking the lead of the group out into the park. Later in the day the orphan group visited the middle water hole where they had a drink but did not have a mudbath as it was too cold. The afternoon was spent browsing close by with Tundani, Nelion and Lentili enjoying a lead of the group back to the stockades in the evening.

02 May 2015

It was a good morning as the orphans assembled for some supplemental goodies after having their milk bottle. Sinya took the opportunity to engage Mudanda, Bada and Ndoria in dusting games whereby the rolled around in the loose earth at the stockade compound. Lesanju decided to join the group but before she could get a good position Wasessa came and lay down, separating Sinya and Lesanju from her youngsters. Dabassa decided to engage Nelion in a strength testing game and the two began pushing one another. Tundani and Lentili stopped what they were doing to watch the game, but did so from a safe distance as they did not want to get drawn in. The journey to the field started with the orphans browsing in a single file for the better half of the day. They visited the big water hole where they enjoyed bathing before spending the rest of the day browsing close to the water pool.

03 May 2015

The orphans came running out of the stockade with the milk dependent orphans heading straight to their milk bottles downing them before joining their older colleagues for some supplemental treats. There was a brief stop at the foot of the Msinga hill, where some of the orphans played in the erosion trench while others enjoying rock scratching games. The browsing went on around the northern side of the park before the group slowly made their way to the big water pool for the afternoon. The small ones who had arrived first to take their noon milk bottle plunged into the water swimming like mud fish. Tundani, Nelion and Lentili exited the water when Mbirikani became rough in her games, striking the waters surface with her trunk, splashing anyone near her. Rombo was having a lovely time lying down in the water shining in his games which Kenia for some reason decided interrupt and bring to an end. Lesanju took advantage of Wasessa’s leaving the mudbath to engage Mudanda in some water bathing games which did not last long as Wasessa is overly protective of Mudanda and was quick to rush in and lead her away from Lesanju. The orphans had a wonderful dusting moment before heading towards the air strip to browse for the rest of the afternoon.

04 May 2015

The day started well with the orphans browsing at the western side of the park where there is a lot of long green grass. Tassia and Taveta separated themselves from the rest of the group joining them at the mudbath about twenty minutes after the rest had arrived there. Lesanju and Panda were both vying for Tundani’s attention and were able to spend some time with her mudbathing after which Lesanju was able to keep here away from Nelion, Lentili for a browsing session. Panda joined Lempaute for some tree trunk scratching, after which she joined Kivuko in some dustbathing games which got Mudanda’s attention who was quick to join in on the game. The orphans then browsed their way to the Voi river and they seemed to be on a mission to try and find Emily’s herd. Nelion took the lead home in the evening.

05 May 2015

It was a wonderful morning with the playing games at the stockade compound chasing one another as they headed to the browsing grounds. After an hour of a serious browsing, there was a quick build up of rain clouds followed by a light rain shower. Lempaute took Tundani, Nelion and Lentili to roll in a small water pan before rejoining the others for more browsing after which they all headed to the middle water hole where they had a drink but did not enter the water as it was too cold. Lesanju lady down on the soil close to Mudanda, Ndoria and Bada who were bumper to bumper with Wasessa. She stretched out her legs to touch the youngsters making sure not to bother Wasessa who was keeping a close eye on the youngsters and on seeing what Lesanju was doing changed position and came to lie down between Lesanju and the babies thus bringing a halt do her interaction with them.

06 May 2015

The orphans started their journey towards the field early in the morning arriving at the foot of Msinga hill where Mbirikani and Tassia tried to lead the group up the hill. Lesanju, Sinya and Lempaute took charge and kept the orphans on the lower, flatter areas. At the middle water pool Ndoria was the only one to brave entering the water while the others enjoyed soil dusting games. Early in the afternoon Mzima discovered a big hole in a tree trunk. Kivuko noticed the hole as well and the two went to investigate the contents. They stretched their trunks to the opening and smelt around before putting their trunks further into the hole. Satisfied that there was nothing in the hole they headed off to browse. The keepers also had a look and found that it was a horn bill’s nest that had been vacated a while ago. The orphans spent the afternoon browsing making their way to the big waterhole where Rombo had a quick wallow before rejoining the group who were browsing nearby. Nelion lead the milk dependant babies back to the stockade in the evening.

07 May 2015

It was a beautiful morning as the orphans left the stockade for a day out in the park. Nelion, Tundani and Lentili walked in single file making it difficult for Sinya to get close to Tundani and separate him from the rest of the group. The morning was spent browsing in the far northern side of the park before the orphans made their way to the big water pool. Kihari enjoyed some play time in the water with Bada as Wasessa lay down to play with her adopted babies. It was not long before Wasessa noticed what was going on and entered to water to fetch Bada. On seeing Wasessa Kihari charged out of the water so as to avoid a scolding and was followed by the rest of the orphans who were a little confused as to what was going on. The afternoon was spent browsing up until it was time to return to the stockades.

08 May 2015

It was a nice browsing day as the orphans browsed in single file before being divided into three groups to be led to the mudbath for their noon milk feed. At the waterhole they all had a drink of clean water from the barrels before enjoying a mud bathing session. Rombo was first to enter the water and sat on his buttocks in the middle of the mudbath looking as if he had just graduated with a master’s degree in swimming. His game was so amazing that it attracted the attention of all the babies who stood around and watched him. Kivuko became jealous of all the attention he was getting and interrupted his game by sitting on his head impairing his ability to continue what he was doing after which Layoni, Panda, Dabassa, Mzima and Lesanju all joined in to challenge Rombo in bathing games. Wasessa got it in her head that all this action was in an effort to impress her babies and poor Panda was on the receiving end of her anger as Wasessa pushed her into the water, making Panda scream which brought the keepers running to calm the situation as the rest of the orphans exited the mudbath. After the mudbath Mzima and Lesanju had a strength testing game before the orphans headed back to browse for the rest of the day. Lentili led the orphan herd home in the evening.

09 May 2015

The browsing day went well with Ishaq-B showing some love and affection to Bada who followed her around for the better half of the day. At the mudbath the two enjoyed some fun and games in the waterhole before engaging in a wrestling match followed by a quick tree scratching session. Naipoki attempted to join the two but was slow in doing so as they were already heading back to the browsing fields. In the afternoon Kivuko found a great scratching bush and enjoyed a scratch before moving aside for Mbirikani who then handed of to Dabassa who also had a quick scratch. The afternoon was spent quietly browsing before it was time to return to the stockades.

10 May 2015

It was a very nice morning with the juniors in Lesanju, Kenia and Panda’s herds leaving the stockade for the browsing fields. Emily and Edie’s herds arrived in style after the orphans had left. This is the first visit that they have paid us this month. Emma sneaked to the front of the ex orphan herd and ran to the water trough which had just been filled, wanting to make sure that she got some water before the older elephants in her group drank it all. Eden also enjoyed a drink and the entire ex orphan herd enjoyed some supplemental treats at the stockades where they remained for about an hour before returning the park. Seraa was seen to have taken on the role of nurse maid for Eden, while Sweet Sally stuck with Emma. Ella and Eve also kept a close eye on their respective little sisters.

11 May 2015

The orphans spent the morning all round Msinga hill before making their way to the mudbath for the 11am feed. Bada seems to enjoy the company of both Wasessa and Ishaq-B for different things. He seems to go to Wasessa for security and protection whilst he enjoys playing with Ishaq-B and the two had a lovely mudbath together which was interrupted by Naipoki who seemed jealous of the fun they were having and decided to break the two apart causing some commotion which brought Wasessa in who led Bada out of the water leaking Naipoki and Ishaq-B behind. The rest of the browsing day was spent browsing near the mudbath.

12 May 2015

The orphans enjoyed a warm morning as they were taking their milk share before joining their senior colleagues in the supplement feeding. Lolokwe arrived at the stockade and joined the juniors in the copra cake and dairy cube feeding before he was joined by all the other members in Emily’s ex orphan herd. Lolokwe came charging up which scared Tundani and Lentili who ran away from their copra cake pile. The two later rejoined the group when they saw Emma and Eden and came to greet them. Lesanju then led her herd away from the ex-orphans and out to the bush. The ex orphans were quick to follow and joined the babies in the browsing grounds where Thoma and Seraa tried to draw Mudanda, Bada and Ndoria away for the orphan herd which left Lesanju somewhat unsettled. An agreement seemed to have been reached however and Wasessa allowed Thoma and Seraa to interact with her “babies” as she touched and mingled with Emma and Eden. When it was time to return to the stockades in the evening Lesanju had to get the help of the keepers to call and get the orphans away from their older friends so that they could return for the night. The baby group was followed home by Thoma. Wasessa, Mzima and Tassia stayed with the ex orphan herd for a while and were escorted to the stockade by Seraa who after making sure the three were home safely returned to the park with Thoma to rejoin their group.

13 May 2015

Wasessa took the lead of the orphans this morning as they headed out to the park in search of Emily’s group. They walked all the way from the northern side of the park, via the middle water hole, arriving at the big water hole at noon where the milk dependant orphans were left to enjoy their milk bottle before the search continued. The two groups eventually met up at the Voi river where the babies were able to browse with their older friends for more than three hours. Wasessa and the others were in paradise, playing and socializing with Eden and Emma with no one showing an interest to return to the stockades. Mweya and Thoma were adamant that the babies would stay with them and did their best to prevent the keepers from taking the youngsters back to the stockade. It took some time by the keepers, with the help of the stockade pickup, eventually managed to separate the two herds and return the orphan group to the safety of the stockades for the night.

14 May 2015

It was a nice morning as the orphans enjoyed playing with ex orphans Lolokwe, Sweet Sally, Mweya, Ndara, Icholta and Eve who came to the stockades without the rest of Emily’s herd. Lesanju was caught un aware and felt a little uncomfortable as the ex-orphans seem to like to try and take her group away so she is always trying to keep her group intact. Mweya was playing on the rocks which got the attention of Kivuko who joined her for a little while before Lesanju led her group out to the bush. Lolokwe took Mzima and they went towards the southern side of the park where Emily and the other members were believed to be. Mzima spent the whole day browsing with the ex-orphans returning to the stockades at 7pm.

15 May 2015

This morning the stockade compound was full of activities which ranged from milk and supplement feeding to playing socializing games before the group headed out to the browsing fields. Lesanju was in full control wanting to be sure to leave the stockade compound early in an effort to avoid the ex orphan group who arrived soon after the orphans had left. Mweya seemed very sad to have missed the babies and her games at the rocks did not have the same enthusiasm as the day before. Lesanju concentrated on moving her herd as far as possible so as not to meet up with Emily’s group and as such the two groups missed each other today.

16 May 2015

It was a beautiful morning as the orphans headed out of the stockades. Lesanju had a bit of a task keeping her group together today as the ex orphans arrived at the stockade compound. Icholta was the first to arrive and got a warm greeting from Tundani and Lentili and Nelion all of which seemed to sadden Lesanju who feels as if her “babies” are being taken away from her. Lesanju managed to get her group together and out of the compound without any of the ex orphans following. Mweya tried to catch up but eventually turned around and rejoined her group who headed out to the park taking a different direction than that taken by Lesanju’s group.

17 May 2015

The day was good for Lesanju, Sinya and Lempaute as they didn’t have the headache of extricating their group from the ex orphans who did not come and visit this morning. The babies enjoyed some hide and seek games and did not seem in a hurry to leave the stockade compound. The orphan herd browsed their way to the big water pool arriving in the afternoon. Bada and Ishaq-B enjoyed some water games which were watched by Kihari who joined the two positioning herself between them. Ishaq-B was not happy about this and protested by leaving the water. Kivuko in an effort to show Kihari how Isahq-B felt decided to lie on her to prevent her from playing with Bada and brining and end to the mudbath games. Ndoria, Lentili, Tundani and Nelion all had a lovely time playing soil dusting games before rejoining the others who were browsing nearby.

18 May 2015

The orphans came out of their stables with the milk dependant orphans emptying their morning milk bottle before joining their older colleagues for some supplement feeding after which they headed off to the browsing grounds. Mweya, Thoma, Icholta and Seraa joined the orphans about three hours after they began browsing. They enjoyed feeding with them and escorted them to the mudbath for their noon milk bottle after which they led the orphan group to the Voi river where they joined up with the rest of Emily’s group. The two groups browsed together for the rest of the afternoon until in the evening Lesanju, Sinya, Lempaute, Ndii, Kenia, Naipoki, Ishaq-B and Kivuko detached themselves away from the ex-orphans and headed towards the stockade. Wasessa, Mzima, Tundani, Nelion, Lentili, Mudanda, Bada, Ndoria, Dabassa, Layoni, Tassia, Taveta, Kihari, Mbirikani, Panda and Rombo remained with Emily’s group not wanting to leave them. The keepers had to call the stockade pickup to assist them in getting the rest of the orphans back to the stockade safely leaving behind the ex orphans and some wild elephants.

19 May 2015

The orphans had some wonderful socializing games in the morning with Wasessa taking all the orphans up to the air strip where she hoped to find the ex orphans who love browsing in the area. The keepers and orphans stayed at the air strip compound for the better half of the day watching the orphans and ex orphans interacting which is a beautiful sight to witness. Today Wasessa spent a lot of time with Emma and Eden, and when it was time to return to the stockades she did all she could to stay with the ex orphans preventing the keepers from taking Bada and Mudanda back home and was assisted in this by Mweya, Thoma and Seraa. Eventually she let the two milk dependent babies return to the stockade with the keepers while both she and Mzima stayed with Mweya, Thoma and Seraa who showed their excitement by running around trumpeting. Mudanda and Bada who returned to the stockades with Lesanju, Sinya and Lempaute did not seem to notice that Wasessa was not with the group.

20 May 2015

It was a nice morning with Lesanju and the herd leaving the stockade early in the morning to try and find Wasessa and Mzima who had remained with Emily’s herd. Lesanju occasionally revealed her anxiety and discomfort by rumbling and took the lead in trying to locate the two missing colleagues. The orphans took a break to rest under a big acacia tree near the noon mudwallow before resuming their search and heading towards the Voi river in an effort to find their friends. While the orphans were bush searching both Emily and Edie’s groups arrived at the stockade compound at noon and with them were Mzima and Wasessa. Wasessa was enamored with the wild born babies and kept in close contact with them, constantly touching them with her trunk. The ex-orphan herd left the stockade an hour after their arrival. The ex orphan and orphan group did not cross paths today.

21 May 2015

It was a wonderful beginning of the day with Edie and her two babies, Ichota, Laikipia, Thoma, Seraa, and Lolokwe coming to the stockade early in the morning to join the juniors in the supplement feeding. With them they had Mzima who was reunited with the orphan group, greeting them excitedly as he regaled them the stories of what he had been up to the past two days. The two groups left the stockade together, with Lesanju, Sinya, Lempaute, Taveta, and Tassia following Mzima while the babies in Kenia and Panda’s herds lagged behind. The older ones seemed to want to test the waters in the wilderness and spend the night out but Lesanju, Sinya and Lempaute changed their mind and ran back to join the babies at the noon mudbath. Soon after they left the waterhole Emily’s herd arrived together with Wasessa. Missing from the group were Mweya, Irima and Morani. The group had a quick mudbath followed by a soil dusting session. Wasessa appeared to be in heaven as she enjoyed soil dusting games with Emma and Eden and was given the opportunity to help look after the two babies. Mzima and Wasessa continued to stay with the ex orphans and they appear to be very happy and comfortable among them.

22 May 2015

The morning began with the orphans exiting their stockades for their morning milk bottle and supplemental feed. Sinya took the lead this morning as the orphans headed out to the browsing fields where the group scattered. Bada stayed close to Ishaq-B who was happy to take over a “mothering” role from Wasessa who is still with the ex orphan group. The ex orphans arrived at the mudbath and Wasessa got quite jealous of the blooming friendship between Ishaq-B and Bada and decided to come between them in the water. Ishaq-B was having none of it and left the water followed by Bada. The two had a lovely time soil bathing before enjoying a wrestling game. Kihari engaged Tundani in some dusting games on the ground which was closely watched by both Nelion and Lentili. Mzima crowned himself the bathing star as he was all alone in the water rolling, charging and trumpeting in enjoyment. In the evening Nelion went to drink water from the stockade trough and did so by bending down and drinking from his mouth rather than drawing the water into his trunk first. An orphan male baby buffalo was rescued by the Makina KWS rangers while on patrol in the ranches. The KWS senior warden requested that he be collected from the Makina KWS outpost to be brought to the stockade with the orphan. Ngulia the orphan zebra wanted to keep the baby buffalo company but was prevented from doing so by the keepers who were worried she may kick him out of jealousy. The orphan baby buffalo had been named Makina.

23 May 2015

The orphans headed out to the browsing grounds in a nearly perfect straight line. They settled on the northern side of the park where they enjoying feeding on the long green grass shoots from the recent rain showers. Emily’s herd arrived at the big water hole half an hour before the orphans and hung around for half an hour to await the arrival of the stockade dependant herd. Wasessa was thrilled to greet her “babies” and seems to have been missing them as she ran right to them as soon as she send their arrival and there was a highly charged greeting which brought Lesanju, Sinya and Lempaute running from the back to see what was going on. Mudanda was equally happy to see Wasessa and kept touching her with her trunk as if unable to believe that she was back. Bada greeted Wasessa briefly before heading back to be with Ishaq-B. Wasessa did not seem too happy to see the developing friendship between Ishaq-B and Bada and remained behind when the ex orphans left so as to try and regain her footing as Bada’s “mother”. She returned to the stockade with the orphans in the evening but had to accept the fact it looked like she had lost Bada to Ishaq-B.

24 May 2015

Emily and Edie’s herds arrived at the stockade compound early in the morning to see if they could tempt Wasessa back to joining them. In an effort to temp her back they handed Emma and Eden over to her after they had drank some water and stood aside letting the other keeper dependant orphans interact with the babies, and touch and play with them. Lesanju who today got many opportunities to embrace the little ones was not in a hurry to lead her group out to the browsing fields. Ella later went to get Eden away from the orphans and got Ndara, Emily and Laikipia to watch over Eden who was tired and wanted to sleep. Lesanju took this as a queue to take her group away from the stockades and to the browsing fields. Wasessa seemed reluctant to follow them but did so as she wants to re-cement her relationship with her “babies” Emily and Edie’s herds left the stockade half an hour after the orphan group.

25 May 2015

This morning the orphans hung around the stockades longer than normal with the hope that the ex orphans would visit and they would get another opportunity to play with Emma and Eden. The milk dependant orphans enjoyed their milk bottle after which the seniors took them out to look for Emily and Edie’s herds and encountered them in the company of a wild teenage bull. Lesanju, Lempaute, Wasessa and Sinya all watched Eden suckling Edie and enjoying her milk. Laikipia and the wild boy gave each other some respect by keeping their distance from one another and browsing peacefully. In the Evening, Lempaute rounded up all the youngsters and led them to the stockades. Lesanju surprised everyone by staying with the ex orphans together with Wasessa, Mzima, Tassia, Taveta and Sinya. Lesanju, Sinya and Taveta returned to the stockades at 6:30 with Mzima coming back at 7. Wasessa and Tassia both opted to spend the night out with the ex-orphan group.

26 May 2015

It was a nice morning with Tassia coming alone very early in the morning to join the stockade dependant orphans for some supplement feeding. He left for the browsing fields before the ex-orphans in company of Wasessa arrived about four hours later. Following a drink from the stockade water trough Thoma, Ndara and Seraa took Emma and Eden for a mudbath in the lower water hole. Mweya was busy playing some scratching games against the rocks in the stockade and later allowed Eden so suck her teats even though she does not have milk. On seeing this Laikipia went over and mounted her in an effort to mate with her. Mweya was not happy about this and fought him so he quickly dismounted. The ex-orphans then left the stockades for the park but did not link up with the juniors. As the orphans were returning to the stockades for the night Tassia headed off towards the Voi river where the ex-orphans were believed to be browsing.

27 May 2015

It was a wonderful morning as Emily and Edie’s herds in the company of Wasessa and Tassia visited the stockade early in the morning to catch up with the juniors in Panda and Lesanju’s herds. After a cool drink of water at the stockade water trough, Emma ran to interact with the stockade dependant orphans engaging them in games. Ishaq-B showed her matriarchal role by showing Emma some games that she could play with the others. Naipoki utilized her close friendship with Ishaq-B to approach Emma to play with her as well. Thoma stuck with little Eden denying the juniors access to her for the entire time that they were at the stockade compound. Lesanju led her group away from the stockades accompanied by Wasessa and Tassia who followed them leaving the ex orphans behind. The ex-orphans followed and enticed Wasessa back to the group leaving Tassia behind who rejoined them three hours later after having spent some time with the juniors.

28 May 2015

It was a wonderful morning with the orphans walking out amid light rain showers as they browsed their way to the field. Ishaq-B and Bada who have become close friends enjoyed some stockade games before joining the others in the fields. Ndii and Mbirikani attempted to join the two in their games but did so too late as they were already on their way to the bush. They saw vehicles approaching and moved away from the road coming in as soon as they felt it was safe and headed straight to the stockade. The ex-orphan lesser kudu Chia came to the stockade with all three of her wild born babies who are all looking healthy and beautiful and are growing up fast.

29 May 2015

The morning was cool with the orphans browsing their way to the northern side of the park before turning and slowly making their way to the big water hole, arriving a few minutes before noon. Layoni and Mzima had a wonderful wrestling match after a brief bath, with Dabassa coming in to reinforce Layoni as Mzima was proving to be stronger in the pushing game. The orphans arrived at the big water pool, with the milk dependant orphans running to empty their delicious milk bottle before proceeding to have a drink of water. The weather was fairly cold today and no one partook of the mudbath choosing instead to enjoy some dusting games. Mzima and Rombo engaged each other in a tough head on encounter with Tundani taking his rightful position as the referee in their game. When the tough got going, Tundani was seen biting his trunk in anger as if he had seen mistakes in the game that needed to be corrected. Rombo later left the game in despair as he had lost to his opponent Mzima.

30 May 2015

It was a wonderful morning with Ishaq-Band Bada showcasing their dusting games before enjoying a wrestling match. Bada proved her strength by pushing Ishaq-B and ridding on her back. Later in the afternoon, the wild elephant cow that was seems very tame visited the stockade to drink water in the company of all the members of her beautiful family. She relaxed in the stockade after drinking not bothered at all by the keeper’s movements. They enjoyed staying in the stockade for half an hour before moving back to the park. This elephant cow left the keepers wondering if she might be an older ex-orphan as she has been a frequent visitor of the stockade her confidence with the keepers raises a lot of questions.

31 May 2015

It was a nice morning with light rain showers as the orphans browsed their way to the fields. They played some hide and seek games soon after arriving in the fields before continuing their browsing session. Later in the morning, Emily and Edie’s herds arrived at the stockade without a few of their members. Wasessa, Tassia, Mweya, Thoma, Lolokwe and Eve were missing from the group. After enjoying clean water from the stockade water trough it was playing time. Seraa took Emma to teach her some scratching game on the big rock builder close to the water trough. Emma was a quick leaner and went scratching away enjoying herself immensely. She then invited Eden to join her and the two had a lovely time. Seraa then tried to teach them other games but they are too small and short for them as they took place further up the rocks where they could not reach.