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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. 

The late-night gang arrived at the stockades early before dawn after spending the night out. Mutara and her small herd, who had not been seen the previous day, arrived shortly after the orphans had settled for lucerne. One wild bull briefly visited for some water. Sapalan joined the bull and seemed to be asking some questions from him – perhaps he was wondering why there aren’t as many wild bulls turning up. It's not clear what response Sapalan got from the wild bull as he turned and returned to join his friends feeding on lucerne. When they were finished eating the different groups parted ways; Mutara’s herd headed north while the late-night gang headed west. The dependent orphans, led by Larro, headed towards the Kone area. Mundusi and Kauro had a brief strength testing exercise that ended when Mundusi surrendered.

The orphans had a quiet morning as they concentrated mostly on browsing. Siangiki, Olsekki, Oltaiyoni, Roi, Naseku and Wanjala decided to walk to the mud bath early and wait for the juniors to arrive. It was hot and after their bottles all of the orphans got in the mud bath to swim! Ex-orphan Kilaguni joined the orphans later for a soil dusting exercise.

Later when the orphans were back out in the bush, Kauro and Rapa continued to soil bath in some small holes that had been dug out by other grown elephants. The rest of the afternoon was quiet as the orphans concentrated mostly on browsing again, trying to fill up their tummies before their return home. 

It was quiet today as the babies walked out of their stockades to feed on lucerne after finishing their milk bottles. Jotto scratched his bottom on the terrace wall while Nabulu was scratching hers on a rock. Some wild elephants and ex-orphans in Wendi’s herd arrive and started sharing lucerne with the Ithumba dependent orphans. Just as the dependent orphans were starting to leave the compound for the day, Musiara and Ambo started playfighting. Mapia still looked very sleepy, as if he had had a very active night and didn’t get any rest at all, and we found him with his head resting on a tree.

Later, while the others were concentrating on browsing Mundusi was spotted playfighting with Kauro. Ambo was watching their game as a spectator. Later Karisa, who likes to lead from time to time, took the orphans in the direction of the mud bath for their noon milk bottles. When they were done feeding the orphans decided to swim in the mud bath and they played there vigorously, all swimming and rolling and slapping their trunks in the water, having a great time. There were a few wild bulls around who were enjoying wallowing too. When the orphans came out they had a dust bath to dry off. Ex-orphan Kilaguni was around too, and he went for a long scratch on a tree stump. Sapalan, Kauro and Naboishu walked over to the water trough for a fresh drink of water. A wild bull came over and started sharing water with Kauro and Enkikwe.

Later on back out in the bush, the orphans concentrated on browsing despite how hot it was. Later, Karisa led everyone back home in the evening. Mutara's herd visited the stockades this evening as well, along with a big group of wild bulls who came to drink water.