Choose your region

Chemi Chemi, Melia, Kilaguni and Kandecha joined Mutara’s herd in welcoming the orphans out in the morning. As soon as the orphans were out, Sities and Suguta whisked Dololo away to find out how he was doing and to ask about his night. The jovial Ambo decided to lead the group out soon after he had some water from the water troughs. Ambo headed north east rumbling in a low tone which was requesting everyone to follow him. The orphans responded by following Ambo and they settled to browse in the Kone area. 

Olsekki decided to test his strength by engaging 11 year old Chemi Chemi to a pushing game. Obviously seven year old Olsekki was no match for Chemi Chemi and he couldn’t keep up, so he ended up running away. Kauro, who was limping this the morning due to a sprained front leg, walked behind the rest of the herd but later his leg felt better and he was able to catch up with the rest. 

Again only Kanjoro decided to wallow in the mud bath when the orphans went there just before noon so the babies could have their milk feed. In the afternoon, the herd settled to browse west of the Ithumba Hill but later they chose to pass by the mud bath again as it suddenly warmed up. After cooling off, the orphans started to make their way home for the night. 

It was a cold and quiet morning. The orphans left the stockades soon after the morning milk feed and headed straight out to browse. Kamok settled to feed with Ambo and Musiara and perhaps was guiding them on how to be good babies, because although she is quite naughty she is very good with younger elephants! Ambo and Musiara have been chosen to keep the new babies, which will be coming from Nairobi soon, company. We are so excited to receive more babies from the Nursery, and they will remember Musiara, Ambo, Jotto, Sattao, Dololo and others from the Nursery too! 

Maramoja and Mundusi were engaged in a deep conversation; perhaps as Mundusi wanted to know from Maramoja why she and Enkikwe had been moved up to the next class. The Keepers know the move was both to make room for the new arrivals and also because Mundusi has been a trouble maker recently, and has been verbally warned by the Keepers several times! Maramoja didn’t want to stay talking with Mundusi for long as they were supposed to be seriously tucking into browsing to avoid going back home without enough to eat. Later, Musiara joined his friend Maramoja and they walked slowly together as they concentrated on browsing. 

Mutara, Kainuk, Suguta, Sities, Turkwel, Orwa, Kithaka, Garzi, Lemoyian, Kalama, Melia, Chemi Chemi and Kibo joined the dependent orphans shortly before mud bath time. The herd walked to the mud bath together where Lemoyian engaged Tusuja in a pushing game while Wanjala played with Kuishi. Garzi couldn’t stand seeing Wanjala pushing the little girl Kuishi. Garzi confronted Wanjala and demanded an explanation why he would pick on someone like Kuishi instead of someone his own size. Wanjala sensed trouble and decided the best thing to do was to turn and run away from Garzi. In the evening, two wild bulls joined Mutara’s herd at the stockade water troughs. Later, Kilaguni emerged from the south east and joined his friends. 

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.