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Today Zongoloni and Alamaya thought they would be a bit cheeky and join the dependent orphan herd by sneaking in from behind the stockades.

Their plan worked with the Keepers as they didn’t notice them, but didn’t fully success as of course Zongoloni’s little friend Enkesha caught scent of Zongoloni and ran up to her to give her trunk hugs. Enkesha is quite tiny compared to Zongoloni’s big frame so it was very sweet to see Enkesha reaching up and trying her best to give Zongoloni trunk hugs. Zongoloni saw that her little friend was struggling so she stooped a little lower so that she too could envelope Enkesha. For Enkesha this is always the highlight of her day; seeing Zongoloni and browsing with her. These two are often seen side by side, Zongoloni with her head bent towards Enkesha as though imparting pearls of wisdom to her - maybe about her own adventures at night with wild elephants - all the fun, excitement and some dangers that come with being a wild elephant, and maybe all the best spots to browse in too.  

Alamaya walked over to Mwashoti, looking to engage him and a pushing and strength testing game. Normally Mwashoti obliges the other bulls, but not Alamaya so much. Alamaya’s playing methods have always been a bit on the rough side and more so now as he has picked up habits from the wild bulls he meets out in the forest. Mwashoti is bit more mild mannered and is a gentle bull, and so when Alamaya saw that Mwashoti wasn’t interested, he left Mwashoti alone. 

Later the orphans came to a clearing where it seems as if other wild elephants had dug up some roots but not eaten all of them, and the orphans scrambled to see who would get to them first. Because of all the commotion Shukuru decided to move away from the herd and find a quiet spot away from all the ruckus. 

There was a power cut in the middle of night, caused by a fault in the wiring. All the lights went off, leaving the area around the stockade and the compound in darkness.  

The orphans have become accustomed to having lighting around the compound and so when the compound went dark, some of the orphans woke up in a panic, trumpeting and waking the others, causing some of them to get up and walk up to the gates of their rooms. The Keepers came out of their quarters right away to check on their babies, and soon realized they were only jittery because it had gone dark and this was unusual. They walked up to each orphans room to talk to them and soothe and reassure them. The Keepers also found it very interesting that the night-clubbers appeared as well. The Keepers have always assumed that the night-clubbers venture far out into the Kibwezi area but perhaps they heard their friends trumpeting and came to see for themselves what the matter was. Zongoloni in particular wanted to check on Enkesha, whilst Faraja wanted to know if Quanza was okay. Once they saw that the Keepers were there and that the orphans had started to settle, they turned back and returned to the forest.  

Enkesha and Luggard were the first to settle and then eventually the other orphans too, the rest of the night passed peacefully, but the Keepers did continue to check on their babies.

Shukuru, who has a tendency of wandering off on her own, failed to join the rest of the herd when it was time to go home; she’s usually the one to bring up the tail end of the herd, or is leading the orphans home in her calm and patient manner. 

All the orphans were starting to settle in their rooms and that is when the Keepers noticed that Shukuru’s milk bottle was still in her room, untouched, and a quick look around the compound confirmed she was not there either. The Keepers decided to check just outside the compound in case she had stopped somewhere to browse. They called out her name, but there was no sign of Shukuru, so they decided to form small groups of two and three and start combing the area and walk back towards where they had come from. As they were calling out Shukuru’s name, Ngasha appeared out of the bushes and it seems he must have realized that the Keepers were looking for Shukuru, and he led the Keepers to where she was browsing. To the Keeper’s surprise and delight, there was Shukuru, browsing happily, oblivious to the worry she had caused. She was just as happy to see the Keepers and follow them home. Ngasha seemed sad to see his friend go so he decided to accompany Shukuru and the Keepers to the stockade gate and once there, he turned around and returned to the forest.

At the stockade compound gates Murera and Lima Lima were eagerly waiting for their friend to return and upon seeing her, they trumpeted in excitement, welcoming Shukuru back with trunk hugs. After having her bottle, Shukuru settled in her room and her neighbour Enkesha was pleased to see her friend had returned too.

As the sun was rose over the Chyulu Hills, all the orphans woke up in a jovial mood, busying themselves with their daily routine of having their milk bottles and some lucerne grass before making their way out to browse.

This morning Lima Lima had been appointed on Luggard duty by Murera. She stood by the young bull, watching over him as he had his fill of water from the stockade water trough. After a few minutes, the orphans were joined by the night-clubbers. They seemed very thirsty and headed straight for the for water trough. Lima Lima was very pleased to see them and exchanged pleasantries, but as soon as they turned to leave, Lima Lima trumpeted at them, as though beseeching them to stay. Lima Lima’s old friends were happy to oblige, in fact, they stayed quite a while with the Umani herd and joined them for their browsing session. The older boys took a keen interest in Luggard, which pleased Lima Lima, and Luggard seemed to enjoy being in the company of the older bulls too.  

By midday, the night-clubber boys decided to go their own way, but Zongoloni stayed back to give her little friend Enkesha, as well as Lima Lima and Luggard, some company. By 5pm, as the orphans were getting ready to return to the stockades, Zongoloni left, walking in the same direction as the night-clubber boys, no doubt with the intention of linking up with them for their night adventures.  

Murera is the matriarch of the Umani herd, very much the leader, but perhaps even matriarchs have a mischievous side, and we saw Murera’s today at the midday bottle feed.

All the orphans had finished their bottles and were getting ready to walk to the mud bath. Shukuru found a tree stump and was scratching her belly. The Keepers were watching Enkesha and Mwashoti chasing each other and Lima Lima was looking after Luggard, which left Murera quite free. Without anyone realizing, Murera snuck away from the herd towards the milk vehicle, and started rummaging around the back of the van to see if she could find any spare bottles of milk, but the big girl made so much noise that it caught the attention of one of the Keepers. He started walking towards the van thinking that perhaps a baboon had got inside, only to find Murera with her trunk rummaging around in the bottles in search of milk! Murera was so startled, and perhaps a little embarrassed at being caught, that she ran off trumpeting.

As Murera ran off she somewhat lost her way and ran in the opposite direction of where her friends were, embarrassed and now lost too, she trumpeted, calling out to Lima Lima who responded right away and ran in the direction of her friends trumpets. After a few minutes the two girls walked back and walked towards the Keepers who were looking after Luggard.  

Luggard hadn’t been feeling well today, and therefore we had to call the vet to attend to him. The vet instructed the Keepers to keep a vigilant eye on the little boy and there was medication to be administered via injection.

As soon as the orphans were done with their morning routine and were getting ready to leave, the Keeper decided this way the best time to give Luggard his injection as Lima Lima was already quite far ahead. As soon as the Keepers tried, Luggard cried out for help, alerting Lima Lima, who came back running to see why Luggard had trumpeted so loudly. Then she wouldn’t let the Keepers near Luggard. The Keepers tried to pacify Lima Lima to allow them to give Luggard his medication but Lima Lima wouldn’t let them. The Keepers had to finally prepare a bottle of milk and entice Lima Lima away from Luggard at which point they were able to successfully give Luggard his injection.

At the mud bath Mwashoti and Enkesha were up to their games but this time they were chasing a pair of crane birds; we are sure they were guarding their nest nearby, but for these two cheeky characters, it was just another game. Once the orphans left the mud bath area, we saw the cranes return to the same spot where the Keepers are sure there is a nest with their eggs in it.

Today Lima Lima and Quanza had a bit of a quarrel. Over the past few months, Mwashoti and Enkesha have become very good friends and they enjoy browsing together, chasing butterflies and also engage and friendly pushing games. Lima Lima and Quanza were not very happy about this, and kept on trying to convince Mwashoti to join them instead. Mwashoti ignored the girls and continued to enjoy Enkesha’s company.

When the night-clubber boys arrived, to make up for Mwashoti rejecting her, Quanza decided she wanted to spend time with Ziwa. Ziwa is a very gentle bull and happy to oblige the girls. He was happy to have Quanza’s company, but it seemed as though Lima Lima wasn’t and tried to push Quanza a few times. Quanza did not back down and pushed Lima Lima back and a fight broke out between the two girls, which resulted in Lima Lima walking away.

When it was time to go home, it seemed as though Lima Lima was still a bit sore from her earlier defeat from Quanza, so when Quanza tried to enter the stockade compound, Lima Lima blocked her and kept on pushing her out. Ziwa was not too far behind and when he saw what Lima Lima was doing he chased her away, towards her room, so that Quanza could enter the compound.  

There was excitement in the air at the Umani stockades today. Somehow the older girls must have sensed that something was happening, as all of them were restless and pacing the stockade compound. Today is the very exciting day that some new babies are arriving from the Nairobi Nursery, the Kibwezi Forest and Umani stockades having been decided as the perfect environment for them, especially considering the dry conditions in the Voi area. As the lorry from Nairobi appeared around the corner, the girls went right up to the loading bay, led by Shukuru, as though they already knew that the truck was bring them babies from the Nairobi Nursery. We have often marveled at the capabilities of elephant communication and how they know things ahead of time, and today was no exception! 

Today Kiasa, Kiombo and Maktao arrived at Umani, and stepped off the truck slightly apprehensively and somewhat taken aback at the size of the orphans at Umani before them. The Keepers tried to keep the older orphans back for as long as possible, to give the babies time to come off the lorry and acquaint themselves, but when Shukuru broke through the human barrier there was just no stopping them, they were too excited! 

At the Nairobi Nursery Kiasa, Kiombo and Maktao were part of the largest group of babies, and they were not used to seeing elephants as big as Murera and Lima Lima, who with Shukuru were amongst the first to welcome the babies. They started to fuss over them and the Keepers could see how all the orphans were jostling to get close to babies. In a few minutes the night-clubbers arrived and joined in the greeting party too! The girls were delighted to have a little girl to welcome into the fold and night-clubber boys immediately started to fuss over Kiombo and Maktao. Enkesha was a little jealous of the new babies and ran around with her tail in the air showing off! But we are sure she will settle down soon.

The night-clubber boys immediately started to single out the boys and lead them away from the herd and Zongoloni was already eyeing up Kiasa, but Murera managed to keep the young girl close to her. As soon as the Keepers noticed what the night-clubber boys were up to, they ushered Kiombo and Maktao towards the Umani herd.  

The orphans must have communicated their schedule to the newcomers as the three new babies seemed to know exactly where to go when it was time for the midday bottle. The arrival of our three new babies has certainly helped the Umani family deal with the loss of Luggard and already there is a huge change in spirit at Umani.

As we let out the orphans this morning, Murera was already on high alert as she spotted Zongoloni, outside the stockade compound gates with her night clubber boys.

Once the orphans had their milk and lucerne, Murera tried to chase away Zongoloni, but Zongoloni did not relent and fought back. Murera was not about to give up so easily either and also fought back, the fight carried on for about fifteen minutes after which Murera could see she was losing, so she called in her back-up in the form on Sonje, Lima Lima and Quanza. The three girls teamed up with Murera and even though Zongoloni tried her best, she saw that she was outnumbered and ran away. 

To stop Zongoloni from getting to Kiasa, the older girls came up with a plan, they recruited Enkesha to be on “Zongoloni watch-duty”. Whenever Enkesha saw Zongoloni approaching the orphans, she would trumpet alerting the older girls of Zongoloni’s presence. This tactic worked and somehow Zongoloni kept her distance.

A wild elephant herd joined our orphans at the mud-bath today, and the Keepers are always happy for the orphans to mingle with wild herds, but this time, because of the new babies, they knew they would need to be vigilant as female elephants are notorious for stealing small babies.

The matriarch of the wild herd was playing with Kiombo and the young bull was very much enjoying the attention he was receiving from the older female. Murera and Sonje were browsing nearby, keeping an eye on Kiombo, but when they saw the matriarch was just playing with him, they got busy with their own browsing. No one noticed that the matriarch had snuck off with Kiombo, except for Enkesha, who is ever so vigilant and alerted the Keepers right away by letting out a very loud trumpet. The Keepers walked towards the wild herd, but were finding it difficult to spot Kiombo, so instead of scaring the wild herd by approaching them, the Keepers called out Kiombo’s name several times and soon enough we saw our little boy emerge from the herd and run towards Sammy. 

Sammy is one of the Keepers from the Nairobi Nursery who accompanied the babies to Umani, to ensure they have a smooth and happy transition. Kiombo knows Sammy very well and ran straight towards him. After that the wild herd moved on and the orphans went back to their normal daily routine.