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It was another cold and quiet morning as we received another 15mm of rain last night. 

The orphans were very happy to enjoy playing around on the wet soil and in the mud today. Naseku was the first one to start rolling with Wanjala, then the rest came to join them. Sattao came later and he started to dig at the ground with his tusks to make more loose soil to play with. Malkia came to join them with Pare, but Pare started mounting on Mteto while Rapa climbed on Jotto. Olsekki climbed on Sana Sana as she rolled on the ground too – it was a pile of very happy babies.

After browsing throughout the morning the orphans then made their way to the mud bath for their noon milk feed. It was still cold so none of the orphans chose to play in the water. They had their milk and then walked back out to browse. Maramoja was guarding Musiara and was always with him. 

Out in the bush, Esampu, Sapalan and Rapa were browsing together while Ambo and Musiara also browsed together and strengthened their relationship. As the orphans prepared to return home for the evening, Barsilinga, Siangiki, Tusuja, Olsekki, Kauro and Oltaiyoni walked away as they weren’t ready to return yet, but they arrived back at the stockades half an hour after the others. 

It was a lovely morning today as the orphans came out of their stockades after having their milk bottles. They had some Lucerne then started walking out to the bush to browse.

Out in the bush, Mapia started playing with Pare. A group of orphans walked to the nearby Kone dam and drank water there. Esampu and Enkikwe started playing in the sand alongside the dam. Enkikwe started digging down on the ground with his tusks while playing. Later Olsekki and Enkikwe started a play fighting game, and to take a break from the fight Olsekki backed off to a tree for a bit and pretended to push that, before heading back to push Enkikwe for a bit. Esampu was scratching on a tree stump while Malkia and Musiara were busy browsing on some green grass together. Galla and Ndiwa were both pushing against the same tree from opposite sides. The babies later walk to mud bath for their milk.

At the mud bath it was cold and no one bothered to swim after having their milk bottles, and instead they all walked back out to browse.

In the afternoon all the orphans were enjoying browsing on the fresh green shoots sprouting everywhere after the rain. These days they like to search for these shoots rather than looking for leaves, as the grass is so nice and soft. Ndiwa, Kuishi and Sapalan browsed together throughout the day today and it was so nice to see them spend all this time together. This evening Naseku led the herd back home for their milk. We didn’t see any other elephants again today.

The ex-orphans joined the orphans in the morning. Dololo as usual had his big sisters waiting to take him out. The orphans headed north east of the stockade. Barsilinga and Tusuja, who have become great friends these days, parted ways with the main herd and left to an undisclosed location, only to show up again at the mud bath when their friends were preparing to leave. 

Out in the bush, Esampu and Mapia had an argument that ended in a fight. Mapia and Esampu used to fight in their stockade at night so Mapia graduated to the next class. Something Esampu did seemed to anger Mapia so he decided to fight the naughty girl this morning, and when the going got tough for Esampu she surrendered and ran away. Enkikwe engaged Lemoyian in a pushing game to let Lemoyian know that despite his bad leg, he can handle any pushing game with any age mates. 

At mud bath time, Enkikwe decided to stay and stand in the spot where he had his milk bottles. This was so he could wait for the Keepers to leave so he could root through the crates to confirm that all the milk bottles really were finished, or perhaps the Keepers were hiding a few extra bottles. He was making a mess of the bottles so one of the Keepers went back to push him away from the crates to carry on and join his friends. 

Although the sun was shining there was a slight breeze, so all the orphans except for Kanjoro decided not to mud bath. Kanjoro is a little water boy these days and loves wallowing no matter the weather. In the afternoon, the herd headed to the slopes of the Ithumba Hill where they settled to browse. Olsekki had a strength testing exercise with Kilaguni but ended up losing the game. In the evening, Mutara and her herd escorted the dependent orphans back to the stockades. 

The orphans stayed to feed close to stockade compound as today is the day Nabulu and Maisha are arriving from the Nairobi Nursery to come and start a new life at Ithumba. Shortly before eight o'clock in the morning, the truck carrying the two girls arrived. After being offloaded, Nabulu saw Musiara, Dololo, Ambo and Sattao approaching. These were the boys that had been sent by the Keepers to first welcome the girls. Nabulu took a bold move of walking to meet the boys and there was evident joy amongst them as Sattao, Dololo and Musiara reunited again with the two girls they remembered. The girls entwined their trunks with the boys in greetings and later walked to the water trough with them. The rest of the herd arrived later. Kilaguni was the only ex-orphan who came to witness the arrival of the new babies. Some of the boys like Mundusi, Galla and Enkikwe were a bit naughty and were pushing the girls around whenever they came close to them. Surprisingly little girl Esampu was being naughty and pushing them as well, but the two girls were clever and learned how to avoid the trouble makers. Nabulu didn't like the way Galla welcomed her either. Instead of welcoming the two girls nicely, Galla decided to climb on Nabulu and Nabulu wasn't happy about that. Since there was nothing she could do, Nabulu just moved on and avoided Galla.  

Maisha and Nabulu certainly felt the change in temperature and were feeling the heat of Ithumba, and so couldn't wait to get into the mud bath to cool themselves down after having their noon milk bottle. After swimming, Jotto came out and enjoyed whipping a tree stump using his tail as he waited for the decision to be made about which direction they were going to go in. 

In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse south of the mud bath and Nabulu and Maisha continued to settle into their new surroundings and life at Ithumba. Having friends there certainly made it all easier. In the evening, Mutara and her team joined the orphans on their way back to the stockades. In their stockade, Nabulu and Maisha looked content and fed on the branches as if they had already been around for a long time. 

Mutara and her herd were waiting to receive the orphans outside the stockades in the morning. The ex-orphans shared lucerne with the dependent babies and later they all walked out together to browse. It was a quiet morning as Maisha and Nabulu acclimatize to the ways of the area. The orphans settled to browse north of the stockade where Nabulu teamed up with Malkia to browse. 

At mud bath time, Nabulu and Maisha were at the front of the group to head for their milk; they didn't want to be second but wanted to lead! At the word go, Nabulu set the pace and led the first group to the mud bath. The weather wasn't appealing and so only Esampu together with ex-orphans Kanjoro, Kalama and Garzi decided to wallow. Esampu headed straight to the piles of loose soil soon after wallowing, and there she joined the other orphans who had preferred soil bathing to wallowing. Siangiki and Enkikwe, who happen to be longtime friends, had their own private conversation.  

In the evening ex-orphan Rapsu and a wild friend showed up at the stockades and joined Mutara and her herd briefly before leaving.