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The orphans started their day as normal, leaving the stockade compound around 6am and making their way out to the forest. A number of the orphans have recently begun their training to be translocated to one of our Reintegration Units in Tsavo National Park. Musiara, Luggard, Tamiyoi, Tagwa, Dololo and Enkesha had their first training session this morning, during their 9am feeding time. 

With every training session some of the orphans will enter the translocation lorry immediately and without hesitation whereas other will be more reluctant. Tagwa, who knows all too well how the training goes, was amongst the first to refuse to step onto the translocation lorry and she was soon followed Musiara who refused to even come near the lorry. The rest of the orphans were all too happy to receive their milk bottles that they took very little notice of the lorry especially Tamiyoi and Enkesha. 

As this was day one, the Keepers are confident that the orphans will get used to the translocation lorry and will eventually easily walk into it. 

As the orphans continue to be trained on the translocation lorry, they have been coming back to the stockade compound several times a day to have their milk bottles at the translocation lorry, teaching them how to get onto the lorry and be comfortable with it. Most days when the orphans make their way down to the lorry, they will walk past Maxwell’s stockade and this seems to always catch his attention. As the orphans walk past, Maxwell can be seen standing at his gate smelling and listening to what is happening and when he appears to notice that it is some of the orphans, he returns to his pellets or greens. 

Tagwa was a bit more relaxed today, and happily walked up to the lorry but was still apprehensive about stepping into the lorry. She quickly finished her milk at the edge of the lorry and then started walking back to the forest. Musiara, however, still had no interest in getting anywhere near the lorry and stayed far away, waiting for his Keeper to eventually come over and give him his milk. Enkesha, Dololo, and Tamiyoi all happily walked onto the lorry to have their milk and when they were done, they calmly walked back to the forest, joining Tagwa and Musiara who were already on their way. 

This morning, as some of the orphans were busy with their training, the other orphans enjoyed their 9am bottles right near the top of Maxwell’s stockade waiting for Dololo, Sattao, Musiara, Tagwa, and Tamiyoi to join them again. With all the commotion, Maxwell was very unsure what was going on and he seemed to get a little worried and came rushing over to see what all the noise was about. As he got to the top of his stockade he began to smell around and pace up and down. Once he realised it was just his friendly elephant neighbours, he went back to enjoying his Lucerne pellets. After enjoying his pellets, he walked over to a sunny spot and lay down for his mid-morning siesta. The orphans had a great day browsing playing out in the forest.

It was a big day for all the orphans as Tagwa and Tamiyoi started their journey to the Voi Reintegration Unit in Tsavo East National Park. It was a very early start with the Keepers getting the translocation lorry ready at 2:30 in the morning and once everything was prepared, they got Tagwa and Tamiyoi out of their stockades. Tagwa was leading, with Tamiyoi close behind, but when she turned the corner to where the translocation lorry was parked, she became a bit more hesitant. Tamiyoi proceeded with caution as she seemed apprehensive to continue without Tagwa but with her Keepers nearby and her milk bottles waiting for her, eventually Tamiyoi proceeded without any hesitation. 

Once Tamiyoi was safely in the lorry, the Keepers could now assist Tagwa on. Tagwa was far more hesitant and she took quite a bit more encouragement from her Keepers but after a couple of minutes she was safely on the lorry within her compartment too. 

Later that morning as the rest of the Nursery herd made their way to the forest, Roho Larro, Naboishu and Mukkoka kept looking for Tagwa and Tamiyoi. This is normal, especially when the older girls leave, as the Nursery herd must readjust to a new order. By 11am however, the orphans were back to their normal routine and Kiasa, Maisha and Dololo happily lead the orphans back to the forest after their midday bottles of milk. 

As the orphans re-adjust to a new herd without Tagwa and Tamiyoi, Maisha seems to be taking over as new matriarch even though Enkesha could also assume this role. When the older orphans graduate to one of our Reintegration Units, the orphans know that the herds dynamic will now change and that the role of some of the younger orphan will change too, as they assume the roles of the older orphans. In addition, some of the orphans graduate from the smaller stables to the larger stockades. 

As Dololo is now older and getting ready for his translocation to one of the Reintegration Units he has been moved to one of the larger stockades and Maktao was moved to Dololo’s old stable. Dololo showed no protest to his new room and settled quite quickly but Maktao was not so happy with the change. In the middle of the night he became quite restless and kept trying to get to Mukkoka so the Keepers felt it be best he move back to his old room. 

Enkesha continues to be independent and she has formed her own little group with Mukkoka, Naboishu, and Naleku. She is often happy to do her own thing and is always happy to have some of the orphans from the Nursery herd with her. 

Musiara has always been a calm and friendly bull and he has recently taken on the role of protector of the Nursery herd. He has never been a greedy orphan and one to push the younger orphans for more milk. Having begun his training to follow a milk bottle into the translocation lorry, at first he was very hesitant to even get near the translocation lorry, but nowadays he will quite happily follow Sattao and Dololo to the lorry. 

He is, however, only happy to enter one specific room on the lorry and doesn’t accept to get in to just any of the rooms. As he is now easily getting into his preferred room on the lorry, he is now ready for his graduation and the Keepers are confident it will go well. 

Naleku still enjoys Mukkoka’s company even though the young bull isn’t always so welcoming. Today, he seemed to want to be on his own with the bulls and he kept pushing at the little girl. Naleku, however, knows all too well how to stand her ground and will often push back at him, forcing him to move away. This afternoon, she did just that and Mukkoka eventually gave up trying to chase her off. 

It rained overnight last night and Maxwell decided to have a mud bath first thing this morning, covering his entire body in mud. Once he was finished with his mud bath, he walked over to his pile of Lucerne pellets and began to enjoy his morning feast before settling to lie down in the morning sun. 

We continue to learn from elephants and the dynamic of the herd. The orphans always seem to know when a move is about to happen and the three boys Dololo, Sattao and Musiara appeared to know that their big journey back to the wild would commence tomorrow. All three were in an exceptionally friendly mood and they could be seen spending most of their day with their friends. Sattao and Musiara remained close to Maktao and Dololo spent his entire day with Mukkoka. They could also be seen all together sizing each other up and playing some wrestling games but for the most part, they were just keeping each other company. 

Today was the big day for Dololo, Sattao and Musiara as they began their journey to the Ithumba Reintegration Unit in Tsavo East National Park. The Keepers were up early preparing the lorry and their rooms for the journey. As soon as Musiara heard the lorry start he seemed to alert the others and they all began to rumble at each other and their Keepers; they even caught the attention of Mukkoka who could also be heard rumbling. At about 2:30am, the Keepers were now ready to lead each of the boys to the translocation lorry. 

Sattao was the first to get on the lorry without any hesitation; he happily followed his Keepers and enjoyed his bottles of milk on the lorry within his room. Once Sattao was on, the Keepers turned their attention to Musiara who was a little hesitant as he stopped and the door of the lorry unsure about whether or not to get on. With his milk bottle in front of him and his Keepers encouraging him on, he eventually took that last step and entered his room. Dololo, however, was apprehensive from the beginning and he needed the help of his Keepers to get on. After a couple of minutes, the Keepers managed to get him safely onto the lorry and the boys were now ready for their journey. 

The orphans had a quiet day in the forest, adjusting to the new dynamics and spending most of their day very close to their Keepers. Mukkoka, Naleku, and Naboishu seemed to be oblivious to the three boys not being around and they carried on with their day as normal. 

After their midday bottles of milk, the orphans happily settled back in the forest to continue with their afternoon browsing activities. Maktao was in a great mood this afternoon and he was very eager to start a strength testing match with one of the other orphans. Since Dololo has gone Maktao seems to have gained confidence as he no longer must challenge larger bulls and is now the big boy in the nursery herd. He could be seen trumpeting and charging from one side of the forest to the other. He was so excited that he managed to persuade Kiasa, Maisha, Larro, Naboishu, Roho and Mukkoka to start running around with him. They were having the best time charging through the forest. 

In all the excitement Roho accidentally bumped into Mukkoka and slightly stumbled. This seemed to have caused some panic as Roho yelled out and as soon as Maisha heard him, she, Kiasa, and Larro came running over to see what had happened to the young little boy. When they realised that everything was okay, they seemed to no longer be as playful and chose to rather browse.