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The sky was clear and blue this morning so we knew it was going to be a hot day ahead. The orphans settled for their morning lucerne grass soon after finishing their bottles. Ndiwa, Malkia, Kuishi, Esampu, Mapia and Pare walked down to the water trough and helped themselves to enough water that would take them through the entire morning. Karisa, the ‘street wise’ boy led the way and decided which direction the orphans should take this morning.

It was a quiet morning as the orphans concentrated on finding enough food before the end of the day. Mother nature has still not yielded any rain in the area, and the drought continues.

Ambo led the first group to the mud bath while Nabulu led the second one. After finishing their noon milk bottles, Kuishi, Mukkoka, Dololo, Musiara and Maramoja settled for soil a dusting exercise. The afternoon was quiet and hot too. This prompted the orphans to head to the roadside mud bath to cool down. Later the orphans took a break and relaxed under a tree for some time before resuming their browsing activities. In the evening, Larro led the way back to the stockades for the night. Malima and Mteto made a brief stop as they walked in to interact with some wild babies who were in the company of their mothers. 

Naboishu led the way out of Class One’s stockade this morning. Ambo turned right as soon as he came out of his room and headed to the lucerne store. What he didn’t know is that the Keepers were ready for his antics and that there was a wire put across the lucerne store. Upon seeing the wire, Ambo turned around and walked back to join his friends. Sana Sana and Kuishi walked straight down to the water trough, but they got a fright from two Egyptian geese when they made a funny loud noise. Sana Sana, with her ears raised, retreated whilst trying to find out where the strange noise had come from. As Naboishu was heading down to the water trough as well he was held back by Sana Sana as she made sure the area was safe for everyone. The Egyptian geese then flew away, giving Sana Sana the confidence to continue walking down to the water trough, followed by Naboishu and Kuishi. Mutara, baby Mambo, Sities, Turkwel, Suguta, Kainuk, Kalama, Kilaguni, Kandecha and Chaimu joined the orphans and shortly later they all left together to browse, except for Kilaguni and Kandecha who had a brief strength testing exercise before disappearing off in a different direction.

The orphans settled to browse at in the Kone area. Rapa and Karisa decided to sneak off without Dololo this time. The two boys understood that if they took Dololo with them, then they would be tracked down by the Keepers and made to come back to join the others. As the orphans headed to the mud bath, Rapa and Karisa, who looks like twins, were on their way back to the stockades. Mutara and her herd escorted the rest of the dependent orphans to the mud bath. Malkia had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with little Mambo, much to her delight. The orphans had their milk bottles and some water before heading straight back out to continue browsing. Though it was dry it wasn’t very sunny, so it wasn’t enough to convince the orphans to use the big mud bath to cool off. Instead, together with Mutaras’s herd, the orphans walked to the smaller roadside mud bath where they just splashed themselves. The rest of the afternoon was quiet. Mteto, Esampu, Malkia and Malima stayed close to baby Mambo and in the evening, as Mutara’s herd escorted the orphans back to the stockades for the night. 

A gentle wild bull joined the orphans in the morning to share lucerne grass with them. Mutara and her herd were also present. Ex-orphan Tomboi showed up a bit later too. Ambo and Musiara had a light strength testing exercise, while we watched as Kuishi put some lucerne on her head after she had finished feasting on it and started playing about with it. Malkia, as usual, stayed as close to Mambo as possible. So far, only Malkia has shown the most interest in Mambo out of the dependent orphans, and she strived to get to that position due to the very vigilant nannies in Mutara’s herd! Finally, her patience paid off as the nannies are comfortable walking a slight distance away form Mambo and leaving him in Malkia’s hands. Mambo briefly walked over to Kauro where he touched his trunk then turned and then he walked back to his mother. Moments later, Malkia managed to convince Mambo to walk away with her again. Ndiwa, Maramoja and Musiara were happy to see Mambo walking with Malkia, and they decided to take the opportunity to get involved and follow Mambo too. The nannies Chaimu, Suguta, Kainuk and Kalama understood that the orphans just wanted to spend sometime with Mambo and so they decided to pretend that they couldn’t see what the orphans were doing. Malkia makes Mambo feel comfortable around her and he likes spending time with her, but their fun came to an end when Mutara, Mambo's mother, arrived. She rumbled to her son and Mambo heeded her call. The main nannies followed too, and Malkia and her small team turned to rejoin their friends, hoping to meet up again with Mambo later in the day. 

Larro led the way out to browse where Ndiwa decided to soil dust. Sapalan teamed up with Jotto while Sana Sana stayed with her favourite Naboishu. Shortly before mud bath time, the late-night gang joined the orphans. The Keepers find it funny how they just arrive with no explanation of where they have been or what they have been up to! 

Despite it being quite hot at the mud bath, most of the orphans only washed their feet before coming out the water. Only Larro, Mukkoka, Naboishu and Esampu fully participated in a wallowing exercise. Forty wild bulls were present at the mud bath today – both drinking water and swimming in the waterhole. Turkwel, leading Mutara’s group, arrived at the mud bath where they joined the dependent orphans too. Moments later, the entire team headed west of the Ithumba Hill where they settled to browse for the rest of the afternoon. 

The temperature was still high and at one point the orphans converged under a tree to escape the scorching sun. Later, they passed by the roadside mud bath to cool off. Enkikwe teamed up with the late-night gang and ended up reporting back to the stockades late in the evening.

A wild herd and Mutara’s group joined the orphans in the morning to feed on lucerne. Ambo once more took a right turn straight to the lucerne store but unfortunately the gates to the lucerne store were locked. Ambo walked down reluctantly to join his friends to wait for it to be distributed as normal. Half an hour later, the wild herd left. Mteto, who adores babies, decided to follow the some of the wild babies in the herd along with Esampu and Kuishi. They followed the herd for about 50 meters before they decided to turn back and rejoin their friends. 

Karisa led the way out to browse today. Rapa tried to grab hold of and bite Sattao’s tail when Sattao tried to overtake him. Sattao quickly turned to the left to avoid being bullied by Rapa. Karisa teamed up with Pare to browse together.

Today the orphans arrived at the noon milk feeding area early, before the vehicle bearing their bottles had even arrived. Once the vehicle arrived they had their bottles and then walked to have some fresh water. Only one wild bull showed up to share water with the orphans.

In the afternoon the orphans attended a roadside mud bath then headed towards the airstrip in search of nice vegetation in a different area to where they usually walk, before turning back and making their way home just before 5pm. 

Six wild bulls arrived early before dawn and found that the water troughs were empty as elephants had visited throughout the night and finished all the water. The bulls waited patiently until daybreak because they knew that the water troughs would be refilled! At six o'clock in the morning the water bowser arrived and refilled the troughs so the wild bulls had their fill of water before walking off into the bush. A wild herd and Mutara’s herd joined the orphans in the morning for lucerne again. The girls, Mteto, Esampu, Malima and Nabulu, occupied themselves by taking care of the babies within the wild herd. When all the elephants finished the lucerne, the different herds parted ways. Mundusi and Sapalan led the dependent orphans out to browse today.

It was cloudy morning which was perfect weather . The orphans browsed quietly up to mud bath time when pare led the first group to the mud bath. Larro and Naboishu tried to snatch two bottles left on the ground for Kauro and Enkikwe who had lagged behind. The keepers were alert and managed to spoil their attempt of running away with the milk bottles. Only Jotto, Ambo, Dololo and Maramoja that participated in wallowing. The rest led by Musiara and Mukkoka participated in a soil dusting exercise. Kauro led the way to the browsing field. The rest of the afternoon was quiet as the orphans concentrated more on browsing. 

Chyulu, Cheka, Narok, Wendi, Wema, Lualeni, Lulu, Lexi, Kibo, Lenana, Lapa, Olare and Mutara’s herd joined the dependent orphans in the morning. Lexi ran into trouble with our unfriendly Kamok when she tried to walk over to her to say hi. Instead of Kamok acknowledging the baby's greetings, she pushed her out of the way. Lexi cried as she looked for her mother who had walked down to the water trough to have some water. Mteto and Esampu stepped in and guided Lexi to her mother as they looked disappointed in Kamok for being so ruthless towards Lexi. Kamok didn’t seem bothered by her friends angry glances. The ex-orphans left immediately after they had finished their share of lucerne.

The dependent orphans settled to browse in Kone area, coming to terms with the idea that the rains have failed and that they should brace themselves for an imminent drought, with no idea of when it might end. At mud bath time, the temperature was moderate and only Pare, Naboishu, Larro and Esampu participated in wallowing. The rest of their friends decided to soil dust instead. In the afternoon, the orphans settled north of Kalovoto seasonal river where they browsed calmly for the rest of the day.

Wendi, Wema, Lualeni, Lulu, Lexi, Narok, Olare, Mutara’s herd and an aggressive wild bull that was coming into musth were present at the lucerne feeding time this morning. The aggressive wild bull was making it very difficult for the orphans to enjoy their lucerne. The orphans trumpeted and bellowed as they disappeared off into the bush to begin their day instead, leaving the ex-orphans with the aggressive wild bull.

The orphans walked off and settled to browse north of the Kalovoto seasonal river. They browsed calmly without any major distractions. At mud bath time, the orphans were joined by the ex-orphans and the aggressive wild bull again, who kept charging at everybody in sight. Pare, Sapalan, Larro, Naboishu and Malkia managed to have a brief swim before joining their friends in a soil dusting exercise.

In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse west of the Ithumba Hill . The ex-orphans joined the orphans briefly before parting aways again. Jotto teamed up with Dololo, Mapia and Mukkoka to browse while Esampu teamed up with Kuishi, Mteto, Maramoja and Musiara. In the evening Larro led the way back to the stockades but was overtaken by Nabulu as they got closer, but Larro didn’t seem to mind.

The orphans left their stockades early as usual. Naboishu, closely followed by Nabulu, were the first ones to come out and the others soon followed. The compound looked deserted simply because there were no ex-orphans or wild elephants around. The orphans settled for their lucerne and later, Ndiwa, Malkia, Esampu, Mteto, Jotto, Sattao and Musiara passed by the water trough to drink enough water to see them through the entire morning. Karisa decided which direction the orphans would take and led the herd out to browse. 

The sky was clear which indicated a hot day ahead. The orphans settled to browse in the Kanziku area where Kauro took a break from feeding to participate in a soil dusting exercise. On the way to the mud bath the orphans were joined by Tomboi. Mundusi, Sapalan and Jotto raised their trunks up waving a greeting to Tomboi. Tomboi didn't respond but overtook the orphans as he hurriedly walked to the mud bath.

After finishing their milk Pare led his friends to wallow as Musiara and Kuishi led in the soil bathing exercise. Shortly later, the orphans walked to the water trough and joined Tomboi to drink water. Shortly before walking back out to browse, Naboishu engaged Malima in a light strength testing exercise. Malima made sure to play with Naboishu gently, before they followed their friends. The orphans settled west of Ithumba Hill and they had a quiet afternoon.

In the evening, Sapalan, Nabulu and Mapia walked far away from their friends. The Keepers gathered the orphans together to prepare to take them back to the stockades. On the way, Kamok realised that Nabulu, Sapalan and Mapia had lagged behind but the Keepers, who were ahead, failed to notice the missing ones. Kamok turned and went back to call the three orphans to come home with them, but when she arrived where the missing orphans were, Kamok joined them to browse and forgot that she had come to call them back! Just before the Keepers reached the stockades they realised that the four orphans were missing, so half of them went back to search for the missing babies while the others continued ahead with the orphans. The Keepers in the search party found the orphans feeding peacefully, totally oblivious to the time! The Keepers called them and they all walked back to the stockades together.  

It was a beautiful morning today as the orphans walked out of their stockades after their milk bottles, to feed on lucerne. A wild elephant was present, alongside a pack of wild dogs, who were all drinking from the water trough. The orphans had their lucerne and when they were done they walked out to the bush to browse. They all looked busy and active browsing because it is still very dry and they wanted to make sure they found enough food to eat. Malkia, Sana Sana, Mteto and Esampu all led the way to the mud bath for the noon milk feed.

The orphans all played at the mud bath peacefully after having their milk bottles. Some wild elephants were also present having some water, as well as ex-orphan Wendi the trouble-maker, and her baby Wema. Later Ndiwa led the way back out to the bush. It was a very hot afternoon and once again the orphans focused on their browsing activities and not playing any games.  Sapalan and Jotto browsed side by side as Kamok took Ambo to some shade where they stood relaxing for some time. Musiara and Dololo looked as though they might start a wrestling match, but they thought better of it and continued browsing until all the orphans and Keepers started to make their way home for the night.

Rapa and Karisa returned to the stockades this morning with Oltaiyoni’s late-night gang. The other dependent orphans woke up as usual to find that their milk was already ready for them. They had their bottles and walked down to the lucerne feeding area. Musiara started scratching his bottom on the rock while Mteto and Kuishi patted one another affectionately. The babies ate their lucerne supplements in peace and walked down to have some water before walking out to the bush for the day.

No sooner at the orphans settled in a particular area to browse that Enkikwe and Mundusi started playing a pushing game that went on for quite some time. Their friends concentrated on browsing for the whole morning however, right up until it was time to go for the noon milk feed.

After having her noon milk bottles, Mteto stopped to scratch her bottom on one of the nearby trees. A few wild elephants also arrived at the mud bath to have some water and wallow in the cool mud bath.

It was a very hot and dry afternoon and the orphans busied themselves trying to look for enough food to eat. Larro and Kuishi browsed together and flapped their ears to keep cool. Ambo stretched his trunk high into the trees to reach some green leaves he found there. Esampu decided to copy him and do the same. Later the orphans made their way back to the Ithumba stockades for the night. Oltaiyoni’s late-night gang arrived later and stayed for the night too.

Some of the orphans walked to the water trough and shared water with a buffalo. Nasalot and her two babies Noah and Nusu were around too, with Noah playing and walking on top of one of the rock boulders. There was a wild female with her new-born baby here as well. The baby looked to be about only one week old. The mother used to accompany Narok's herd and later Mutara's herd sometimes as well. Eventually the wild female and her baby walked away and the orphans walked in their own direction to begin their day of browsing. 

It is still very dry out in the bush but the orphans did their best to browse and they chose not to play many games this morning. None of the ex-orphans followed them today so they were on their own and browsed peacefully. Later they walk to the mud bath for their noon milk bottles.

There were some huge wild elephant bulls at the mud bath who had come to drink water. The orphans had their milk and walked straight back out to browse. As usual it was a very hot afternoon, but Esampu and Jotto decided to start a wrestling game while others were busy browsing despite the hot weather. Sana Sana was spotted breaking dead branches and peeling the bark, which is something the orphans do especially in the dry season. The babies later started walking back home in the evening for their milk bottles and to do to bed for the night.

A number of wild elephants and ex-orphans visited the stockades today with Wendi and Kibo among them. They drank water and walked off into the bush in the late evening.

There were some wild bulls in the compound today who came for water but chose not to share the lucerne grass supplement with the orphans. They were busy sharing water with some buffaloes from the same trough.

The orphans looked very active this morning. Sattao and Musiara were the most active as they were playing and pushing each other for a long time. Jotto and Sattao were busy browsing together.

When the orphans arrived at the mud bath for their milk bottles it was quite cloudy and none of them wanted to get into the mud bath to swim. They had their milk and walked to drink some water and they walked straight back out to the bush to continue browsing. Not a single wild elephant or ex-orphan showed up at the mud bath today. Jotto and Sattao started playing and later Jotto went on to play with Esampu too.

The orphans continued their afternoon of browsing. Mukkoka and Larro were browsing together before joining their friends to head back home in the evening. Ndiwa led the way.