Choose your region

It was a new day for all the elephant orphans and Maxwell the blind rhino today as they all played around the stockade compound. Ambo and Mapia were tackling one another and sizing each other up, while Jotto, Tagwa, Malima and Maisha were keeping Maxwell entertained with a game. It was all about pushing and pulling on his gates, and then running up and down on either side of his stockade. He enjoyed playing this game with the elephant babies, until they all walked out to the forest for the day, and Maxwell went to lie down for a nap after all the activity. 

It is interesting for us to watch and learn from the elephant babies. Some of them keep the same character as they grow up and never seem to change, while some of them grow and develop as they get older. Sattao has been a good and gentle boy, loved by almost all of the other elephants in the Nursery, but he seems to be developing a bit more of a bullish nature recently. On several occasions he has tried to push some of the other youngsters, and even some of the visitors who come to the Nursery, and you cannot kneel in front of him anymore or he will try to push you. He is turning into a ‘pusher’, just like our Ngilai! 

When Larro is out in the forest, she is everyone’s baby, though it is Malima who loves her very much. When it comes to her being around strangers, then Sagala is always the most protective; she doesn’t like anyone she doesn’t know being around the little girl!

Three elephants have started the process of becoming accustomed to the moving/translocation lorry, for the move to Tsavo at the end of this month. The elephants chosen to move to Ithumba are Malima, Mapia and Kuishi. Even though they are not quite the oldest, they are the right age, and most of all we feel they will benefit from the presence of the older orphans in Tsavo, as they are becoming quite unruly and not listening to the Keepers very well these days either. Malima can be very naughty around visitors, and so can Kuishi, but Kuishi is also a bit of a bully to the youngsters sometimes as well. During their first training session of having their milk bottles inside the lorry compartments, Mapia just walked straight on as he followed his bottle, Kuishi got about half way in but Malima didn’t want to get onto the lorry at all. She flatly refused and decided instead to walk back to the forest without having any of her milk at all!

Maktao doesn’t seem to like Kiko the giraffe at all. He seems very afraid of him, and whenever he sees him he runs away either towards the Keepers or towards the older orphans for protection. Sometimes Kiko doesn’t like to listen to the Keepers and likes do his own thing, and then the intervention from some of the older elephant orphans is much appreciated. Tagwa, Jotto and Ambo took it upon themselves to intervene today. When Maktao spotted Kiko approaching, he started rumbling and ran towards the Keepers. Jotto realized what had disturbed Maktao and responded by trying to warn Kiko from a distance. Kiko kept walking towards them however, and it took Tagwa and Ambo charging towards him to send him away back towards the forest.

Little Ziwadi was taken out of her stockade today to join the other orphans in the forest for the first time. She had a fabulous reception from the others in the herd, but that didn’t seem to matter to her as she was a bit overwhelmed and kept running away from the others, wanting to spend her time alone. Maisha and Kiasa have been trying to be by her side, but Malima was watching over her as well and would not tolerate any bullying from the naughty little ones. She disciplined Emoli immediately when he decided to get a bit rough with the new arrival and push her around. Tagwa and Sagala might decide to walk any victims away from the naughty perpetrator but Malima goes straight for disciplining any bullies. 

The orphans haven’t chosen to have a mud bath for some time as it has been quite chilly and rainy. With the recent rainfall there are so many natural pools and puddles out in the forest as well. In the afternoon, after their 3pm milk bottle, all the orphans decided to cool down in these natural puddles out in the forest as it became a bit warmer. We don’t make the orphans have a mud bath if they don’t want to, but rather we allow them to make that decision for themselves depending on how they are feeling. If their skin looks a little dry, we might put a bit of mud on them if we feel the need to.

Sagala is becoming closer to Larro and always wants to be around her. Larro has also realized that Sagala likes to mother and protect her, so often looks for her as well. Sometimes Larro will forget and will even try and follow Sagala into her room in the evenings as well, until she realizes she has to go to her own room and she will follow the Keeper there to where she has her evening milk bottle too.

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.

As the training continues for the three orphans that are becoming accustomed to the translocation/moving lorry, Malima continues to be as reluctant as ever to enter the lorry. The Keepers enjoyed watching her today as she stretched her entire body as far as possible trying to reach her milk bottle without entering the trunk. She stretched so far that she even came down on her knees and reaching forward with her trunk trying to grab her bottle from her Keeper. All her efforts were in vain as she had to stand back up and enter the truck to eventually enjoy her milk bottle. 

Mapia and Kuishi, who seemed to take no notice of Malima’s antics, enjoyed their bottles of milk happily within the truck. Mapia guzzled his milk and then tried to steal some of Kuishi’s through the bars but fortunately couldn’t reach. Kuishi seemed to get annoyed by Mapia and began to rumble at him, so the Keepers chose to move the young bull away allowing her to finish her milk in peace. 

Some of the orphans can be quite skittish when they are out in the field; one such orphan is Maktao. Maktao, who has become good friends with Emoli, will react to the smallest noise when he is in the field and will cause such a stir with the herd that all the orphans get a fright and charge off in different directions. 

Today, when the orphans were enjoying their afternoon mud bath, Kiko decided to join them. Maktao got the biggest fright when Kiko made his way down to the waterhole. He trumpeted loudly and darted off away from Kiko. This frightened all the orphans who began to trumpet loudly and run for safety. Jotto and Musiara seemed to be the first to realise that it was only Kiko as they started to rumble at him. Tagwa, Kuishi, Malima and Ambo appeared to notice Jotto and Musiara calmly rumbling at Kiko, so they calmed down too and moved closer to where he was standing. With all the orphans now resuming their normal activities, Kiko appeared to lose interest in the herd and decided to move off to another area and see what was happening there. 

We woke to another chilly day this morning as all the elephants walked to the forest as usual to browse, little Larro stayed behind to keep out of the drizzle. She stayed behind in one of the big stockades with Luggard and Ziwadi until the rain stopped later in the morning.

As the 11am milk feed approached, the Keepers realized Malima, Kuishi and Mapia were missing from the group. The Keepers looked in the bushes for them everywhere, only to discover that they had walked by themselves back to the stockades to the translocation lorry where we have been practicing their feeding, where they were feeding on the lucerne pellets on the truck which we have put there to encourage them on! Since they have been having their milk feed in that lorry, and after have been given some of the tasty pellets, they just decided to take themselves there a bit early and without their Keepers having to escort them; this is just another example of how clever elephants are, even our young babies.

It was a beautiful sunny morning as the orphans made their way out to the forest. Mapia and Ambo, and Jotto and Tagwa respectively started their own wrestling matches. The bulls were so busy with their games that they only stopped for a brief interim during their 9am milk feeding time. 

A few minutes before their midday mud bath the weather began to change, and some very heavy clouds began to roll in. The younger group managed to finish their milk and make their way back to the forest before the heavy rains began, but the older group wasn’t so lucky. With all the thunder Kuishi and Sagala were very apprehensive about coming down and kept trying to turn back to the forest. However, once they saw Malima calmly walking down, unbothered by the weather, they decided to follow her down and have their milk. Once Tagwa, Ambo, Kuishi and Malima had finished their milk, they suddenly became extremely playful and started to charge around the mud bath area in all directions. 

Maxwell had a very busy evening and morning. Throughout the night he enjoyed a very long mud bath thanks to the heavy rains and in the morning, he was having fun charging around his stockade as the orphans came out their stables. Ambo, Jotto and Musiara decided to join in on Maxwell’s games. They began pulling at the one gate of his stockade and as he would approach, they would charge off to his other gate and he would chase them. The four continued this game for a good few minutes, all enjoying running up and down after one another. When the orphans made their way out to the forest, Maxwell decided to have a little nap and fell asleep at the top of his stockade. 

During their midday mud bath, Tamiyoi was enjoying rolling around in the dust as Maktao ad Musiara began to climb on her back. The three played like this for the entire half hour, and when it was time to make their way back to the forest they happily got up and walked away. 

Malima has become used to the transportation lorry and she happily takes her milk within the vehicle these days. All three orphans, Mapia, Kuishi and Malima are now completely used to the lorry. 

As soon as the orphans made their way out into the forest Maktao and Musiara began their games. The two were spotted charging around in a game of hide and seek before they started a strength testing match, keeping the two busy for the entire morning. 

The three graduate orphans, Mapia, Malima, and Kuishi have become so used to taking their milk in the translocation lorry that they seem to have formed their own little herd and know that they will always receive their milk separate to the other orphans. The three have started to receive supplement Lucerne pellets after their bottles, which keeps them busy in the truck for a few minutes before they make their way back to the forest. Once back in the forest they are quite happy to stand back whilst the rest of the herd finish their milk bottles. 

Today, however, once Mapia, Kuishi, and Malima had finished their midday bottles of milk they went off further into the forest and the Keepers had to go look for them to get them to go down for their midday mud bath. When Tagwa and Jotto eventually saw the three running down to the mud bath, they trumpeted in excitement and went to greet them. 

The three went off on their own adventure again at 5pm and were found browsing some distance away with Ambo. The Keepers quickly ushered them back to the stockade compound where they all happily entered their stables for the evening. 

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. 

Mapia and Kuishi have never been particularly close or shown much interest in each other, but now that they have begun their training together to enter the relocation lorry this seems to have changed somewhat. Now you will find that Mapia, Kuishi and even Malima sometimes can all be browsing separately from the others, and Mapia and Kuishi are spending more and more time together. Mapia used to preoccupy himself with wrestling with Ambo, but now he prefers to spend his time in the company of these two girls.

Enkesha has always been a predictable baby, and we mean that in a good way. She has never caused any trouble and is a gentle little girl. Sometimes she can be happy and playful and interactive with the others, like today and how she was playing with Maktao, and sometimes she prefers to be on her own and browses quietly away from the herd.

Ziwadi has been so good today and has spent the whole day with the herd, without once sneaking off like she normally does. One reason she sometimes chooses to stray from the herd is because Nabulu bully’s her a bit. Her deciding to stay with the herd today is probably because Jotto, Sagala and Malima decided to protect the little one for the whole day today. They took it in turns, so that if one of them wasn’t beside her then one of the other three would be there for her. One Nabulu tried to push her when Malima was standing there and Malima acted right away and put Nabulu in her place.

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.

There was a lot of activity early in the morning today as everyone was up by 2:30am preparing for the move of Malima, Kuishi and Mapia to Ithumba. The day was finally here where we would bid goodbye to these babies, as they prepare for the next stage of their long journey back to the wild, in the fullness of time. All the babies noticed the activity however; Maktao and Kiasa were the first to notice that all the Keepers were up, and they alerted the others by rumbling, and eventually yelling. Kiasa would not settle down at all and was wondering up and down her room. By 3am everything was ready and the chosen three were brought out of their night stockades and followed their Keepers to the lorry where they knew their bottles would be, just like they had practiced. It was a very quick and smooth boarding of the three babies without any hiccups. Malima, who at first had been apprehensive about the lorry, was even ahead of the other two to board first and have her bottle. The door was closed behind her and still she showed no sign of concern. At 3:20am we bid goodbye to our Malima, Kuishi and Mapia as the wheels of the lorry began to roll away bound for Ithumba.

In the morning when the orphans came out of their stockades, they seemed crowded together out in the forest as if having conversations. All that time Larro was squeezed between Tagwa and Sagala. The whole herd was calm and peaceful and they carried on with their day browsing quietly in small groups.