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We are starting to realise that Mukkoka has a similar character to Mapia. He is known to yell as he comes down for his milk feed, just like Mapia, and he did exactly that as he came for his milk during the public visiting hour today. He can also be a bit of a bully like Mapia can be as well. Dololo is his friend, having arrived at the Nursery around the same time, and his neighbour too. They automatically became friends as they settled into the Nursery together, but Mukkoka doesn’t like Dololo to share his greens and will push the wooden posts between them if Dololo tries. However, Mukkoka is happy to stretch his trunk through and take as many of Dololo’s branches as he can! This is the same thing that Mapia does with Ambo, as they are neighbours too and share a partition. 

During the public visit today, Mukkoka kept taking every branch that Dololo was trying to eat, bullying him when he tried to defend the branches he was going for. Back in the forest, he was giving Kiombo a hard time as well, to the extent that Jotto finally decided to instil some discipline after he pushed Kiombo whole he was watching. This is the responsibility of the older orphans around the younger ones; it is important they try and teach them some elephant manners!

Actions sometimes speak louder than words and because our orphans obviously can’t speak, they often tell us how they are feeling with their body language, or actions. Maxwell know how to tell visitors to move away from his stockade if he doesn’t want them there, he just sprays that area and very swiftly anyone who is standing there will move away!

Enkesha was also very funny today during the public visit. She is a very quiet and gentle girl, and there were a lot of people who touched her back as she chose to stand close to the rope cordon. It seemed at some stage she had enough however, as she turned with her hind facing towards them a released a stinky fart (having just finished her milk) and they all moved away pretty swiftly. Emoli was misbehaving at the public visit and pushed Dololo so he fell over, but the Keepers were very quick to move towards Emoli and send him away for his bad behaviour. 

The elephant babies were very happy today when they came running down to the mud bath area for their milk at 11am, and found lots of freshly heaped loose soil for them to play on. They had lots of fun, especially Dololo and Maktao who seemed to appreciate the soil the most. Dololo was much more active than usual, and went rolling on one heap of soil to the next, running away and then back again to roll on the next pile. Maktao had fun trying to climb on top of anyone else who tried to roll on the ground.

Emoli is still being a naughty boy and this might mean he is moved to Tsavo sooner than expected if he keeps up that kind of behaviour, just like Esampu and Mteto! He doesn’t seem to like poor little Larro very much, he keeps head-butting and pushing her, and is so bullish with the others. When he pushed Larro today it was Enkesha and Larro who ran to help the little girl.

Today the rain came out of nowhere and it rained quite hard for a short time. Larro decided to go and play in a stream away from the others later on, but Sagala walked away from the herd and came to stand by her side. Kuishi followed her and for a while the duo watched over the little one until she was done with her bath, and then they escorted her back to the stockades, as the others had already gone.

Ziwadi has started settling down in the herd. This morning when she reached the forest she was much more relaxed compared to previous days, and spent some time in the company of Luggard, Musiara, Dololo and Jotto. Jotto is a gentle young patriarch, full of affection for the younger ones and he enjoys protecting them. He enjoys holding Larro close to him and allows her to see what he is eating most of the time as well, as she stretches her trunk to his mouth to investigate. 

Malima is still not fully entering the translocation lorry. Mapia and Kuishi are walking on board without any hesitation for their milk bottles, but Malima is still very wary. It is going to take her some time to get used to it.

Recently, Emoli has been trying to test his strength against some of the larger boys such as Ambo. Ambo, who appears to know that he is bigger, enjoys playing with the young bull simply playing along with the game and standing his ground when Emoli charges or pushes. Young boisterous bulls such as Emoli and Mapia need strong matriarchs to teach them to respect their peers and be gentle with the younger smaller orphans. 

Recently Mapia has been enjoying chasing some of the younger smaller orphans such as Dololo, Kiombo and Larro. Today, however, he went a little too far with his game when he accidentally knocked over little Larro. Malima, who had heard little Larro trumpeting, came running over and chased Mapia away from the younger orphans. Once Mapia was far enough, Malima came back and appeared to console Larro. 

Jotto is a very gentle bull, who is always calm and knows how to handle the younger or smaller orphans with care. He is often seen caring for and waiting for Luggard when out in the field. This morning, after their 9am bottled of milk, the orphans moved off further into the forest looking for the thicker bushes. Whilst on their way, Jotto seemed to look for Luggard and when he didn’t find him amongst the herd, he went running back for him. On his way, he came across little Larro who he then decided to take with him and the two were then seen accompanying Luggard all the way back to where the other orphans were busy browsing. 

Tagwa didn’t seem to be in the best of moods this morning. Mukkoka, who can also be quite naughty and push some of the other boys around such as Dololo and Kiombo, was particularly mischievous whilst in the field and appeared to be upsetting Tagwa. He was continuously pushing Kiombo away from the herd before making his way to browse near Tagwa. As soon as he got near her, she turned and pushed him away; she was seemingly so annoyed that the Keepers had to intervene and help little Mukkoka. From that point onwards, she charged and rumbled at anyone who came near her, including her friend Sattao. Even Emoli got charged, but he had just been naughty and shoved Musiara. 

Before she had fully become used to the milk formula Nabulu was a shy and calm girl who never caused any problems at milk feeding times. Now that she is fully accustomed to the formula she finds it delicious, but this also means she has started causing trouble around the wheelbarrow at feeding times now. Today was one such example, as she chose to fight the Keepers around the wheelbarrow, demanding more milk. The same can be said for Dololo too. He used to be calm and gentle but not as much anymore. Today he had a fight with the Keepers and Sattao as well as he tried to grab Sattao’s milk bottle. The babies love the milk so much! Musiara however seems to have the same attitude towards feeding times however. He is unique when it comes to the milk bottles, and never fights with anyone over them.

Just as with humans, sometimes some of the elephants just don’t like each other, but for no particular reason really. This seems to be the case between Maisha and Musiara, and the problem might lie with Maisha as Musiara seems to get on and interact with everyone else. Today Musiara was enjoying dusting himself when for no reason Maisha came running over and started pushing him. It was not long before the Keepers intervened and sent them in separate directions.

When Luggard and Musiara came out of their rooms this morning before any of the other elephants, they decided to have some fun all alone before the others came out of their rooms as well. They engaged in a pushing game, before Musiara started what can only be described as a ‘you can’t catch me’ game. This went on until Jotto and Ambo came out, and interrupted their games.

Nabulu is still not being very nice towards Ziwadi. It is difficult when you see Nabulu running over and pushing Ziwadi for no reason at all, but we are always quick to reprimand her and tell her that is wrong. She was lucky that none of the other older girls like Tagwa or Kuishi saw her as they were leading the herd at the front, or she would have been in even more trouble. Tagwa, Sagala and Malima are very disciplinary older females and they don’t like any of the others picking on each other. 

Kiko was so naughty today. He usually comes out of his boma to go and join the elephants in the forest after the main visiting time, and today was no different. He knows that most of the elephants don’t enjoy his company so now he has decided to make a game out of it. Mukkoka, Maktao, Dololo, Larro and even Sattao keep running away from him and they did the same today. He kept coming back towards the elephants and the babies kept running away so there was no peace to be had. Kuishi, Malima and some of the other older ones, as well as some of the Keepers, kept driving him away as he was disrupting the younger ones from browsing, but he never listens to anyone! Eventually he decided to follow his own Keeper and they walked back to the stockade compound where Kiko started to browse.