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The orphans settled down out in the forest this morning and playful Ngilai, Ndotto, Sana Sana, Lasayen, Murit and Godoma were all charging around and chasing after the warthog babies. The tiny warthogs were giving them quite a challenge though and kept running into the thicket; this made Ngilai and his little company trumpet in protest as they could not reach them to chase after them! Suddenly the warthog babies got all confused by the trumpeting and bush bashing and ran out from under the bushes between Ndotto’s legs making their funny snorting noises. This gave Ndotto a fright and he ran off looking for Oltaiyoni and the rest of the herd. His yelling frightened the rest of the group and they followed him and when they reached the rest of the herd they all stood together with their ears held high; even little ones like Jotto, Ambo, Tamiyoi, Esampu and Malkia were seen with their ears held high but standing tight in the middle of the group, in the midst of Roi, Mbegu, Oltaiyoni, Kamok, Kauro and Maramoja. Oltaiyoni marched out to see what had caused the disturbance but was happy to find it was just the warthogs and she just blew a loud trumpet and kicked dust towards them to scare them away before turning back to rejoin her orphan family herd.

The orphans were not playing many games this morning but rather concentrated on browsing. Galla, Wanjala and Naseku were much further ahead than the rest of the group, as they are always fond of being in the lead and browsing out in the bushes. As they enjoyed their browse, a light shower started and this prompted the little ones like Tamiyoi, Jotto, Ambo and Esampu to all run back to their stockades to seek shelter! Their rumblings and obvious distress meant that Mbegu and Oltaiyoni escorted them back, but once they arrived at the stockades Oltaiyoni and Mbegu were directed back out to the forest, leaving the little ones in their rooms out of the rain and the cold weather which they are so susceptible to. Oltaiyoni protested for a little bit as she wanted to stay with her adopted baby Ambo, but eventually she walked back out to the forest too. As the showers continued some of the orphans like Ngilai, Ndotto, Lasayen, Sana Sana, Tagwa, Godoma and Murit were all seen busy rolling in the wet soil and really enjoying the rain drops on their bodies; Ngilai, Ndotto, Lasayen as usual were all enjoying targeting Godoma and Sana Sana and climbing on them, though Godoma is a strong minded young girl and can stand up for herself when she does not want to play! She roughly turned against them and disciplined the three, and they ended up not enjoying their climbing game as much as they first expected!

Out during the public visit today Malkia, Esampu and Tagwa finished their milk bottles and were running around in an unrestful mood, moving from one point to another trying to see who they could challenge for their milk bottle whilst they were trying to drink! Failing to find any milk bottles they could take and being warned off by the keepers, they displayed their truly greedy character by going to hang out by the wheelbarrow carrying the empty bottles causing a moment of chaos. Esampu struggled and tried to push the keeper pushing the wheelbarrow, whilst Tagwa tried to push down on the wheelbarrow and Malkia tried to pick up bottles which she struggled to do and thus started yelling in protest! These three sweet little girls really have some strong characters of their own. When the keepers tried to caution them away they just yelled in objection and they did not want to leave the wheelbarrow. This left the keepers with no option other than to use an empty bottle to lure them away so the keeper pushing the wheelbarrow could leave the feeding area. This settled the situation almost immediately although Malkia and Esampu had other moment of trying to sneak under the rope cordon to try and reach where they could see the keeper walking off with the bottles. Their unique and greedy personalities really made the visitors laugh today.

This morning we watched as little Tamiyoi led Malima and Jotto to settle to browse near the stockades as the rest of the orphans walked out into the forest. She led them next to Maxwell’s gate which is usually where she likes to browse in the morning as she can feed on Maxwell’s leftover lucerne. It seems they were trying to wait here and buy time before the milk bottles came out for their 9am feed, and when the keepers tried to lead them out to the forest, Tamiyoi shouted in protest and at one stage even tried to run towards the milk mixing area. During public visiting today it was very wet and chilly which meant the orphans enjoyed a lengthy soil bathing activity – the little ones like Tamiyoi, Malima, Esampu and Jotto were held back in their stables during this cold weather. Playful ones like Ngilai, Ndotto, Rapa, Lasayen, Sana Sana, Tagwa, Malkia, Godoma, Mbegu and Pare were all busy rolling, bumping and sliding off one another as they piled up against each other in the wet earth, having lots of fun. At one point playful Ngilai got up and ran away from the group and starting running along the rope cordon, bumping into members of the visiting public , before turning back to rejoin the group again and play climbing on Tagwa , who yelled out in protest. He immediately tried to get off her, but it took some time as they were all slippery and he kept sliding as she struggled to get up from the ground.

As the first group of orphans were running down for their milk bottles during public visiting today it was lovely to see little Tamiyoi running down as fast as she could, struggling against her competition of Malkia, Esampu and Tagwa to get there first. She is in fine spirit and has such confidence; she really seems to have overcome the illness that held her back for so long. Once all the orphans were done with their bottle feeding, some went to browse on the greenery laid out for them whilst others like Tamiyoi, Jotto, Esampu and Malima went to enjoy drinking water from the same water troughs – their little trunks doing the best job they could at drawing water for them to drink. Their happy time drinking though came to an end when Sana Sana walked over and did not respect the little ones drinking and she pushed Malima into Tamiyoi and they both fell on the ground shouting loudly, prompting the keepers to warn Sana Sana to be nicer to the babies. Before the keepers reached her however she had already run away, knowing she had done something wrong! Along the rope cordon Ambo and Ngilai were challenging each other and pushing each other as they locked trunks and tussled; though Ngilai knew Ambo was still little and he should not use his full strength to play with him. Ambo however, was fully strong-minded to push Ngilai as hard as he could, with his ears spread wide and obvious determination in his efforts, which the visiting public thought was very sweet from such a little thing.

Kamok seems to have a character like our older naughty Ex Orphan Wendi in Tsavo. In the morning there was a vehicle that drove by close to the elephants in the forest as they browsed, as it was going to dump left over greens. Kamok heard the vehicle approaching from a distance and went into the bushes to hide as it came closer. It seemed like she wanted to block the car, but she got her timing wrong and the driver saw her going into the bushes. By the time she got there the vehicle had already passed and instead she ran after it trumpeting and charging all the way up to the stockades! Her trumpeting attracted Oltaiyoni and Roi who responded very fast. When they got to where Kamok was with the vehicle they realized it was one that was very well known to them and they didn’t see any problem; Kamok was just being naughty! So they turned and made their way back to the herd to carry on with browsing. Right after their 9am milk feed Oltaiyoni led some of the orphans back to the stockades to collect Ukame for her first day out in the forest since we last tried; which ended up with all of the elephants charging around and not quite going according to plan! Ukame’s door was opened and at first she didn’t want to come out, but then Oltaiyoni, Roi, Dupotto, Mbegu, Lasayen and Ndotto went into her stockade as well and with the help of a keeper too they finally managed to walk her out. Instead of accompanying the herd to the forest though this time she tried to go into Pea’s stockade. With the help of a milk bottle directing her where to go, finally she started to follow the keepers and the other orphans. Eventually she settled and stopped trying to run into the bushes, and started to communicate with Oltaiyoni and Wanjala who were so nice to her and would not leave her side. There was a bit of drama today at public visiting when accidentally more orphan were released from the group waiting in the forest than there were keepers waiting to feed them! The noise Tagwa, Esampu, Malima and Jotto were so hard to control and shouted for their milk as they followed the keepers around who were trying to feed others, and remember who had already been fed as well!

We finally received some rain last night and it was quite cold, so when the orphans came out this morning they looked quite dull. But this morning was also Ukame’s first early morning visit to the forest – she appeared very comfortable in the company of Ndotto and Mbegu, who are always so welcoming. But after the 9am milk feed this big girl made the keepers take to their heels again as she disappeared from the herd. But thankfully she was located not that far away and she was happy to join the herd again. It had been easy to track her because of the muddy ground and the keepers could see her footprints. Mbegu, Tamiyoi, Murit and Jotto played a big role in helping the keepers calm her down this morning. Mbegu is such a super girl, and with her small group she ran ahead of Ukame as the other smaller ones surrounded her to keep her from running away. From that moment Mbegu would only leave Ukame’s side for the visiting time and her milk bottle, the rest of the time she stayed beside her. The rest of Ukame’s day was fine all the way up until it was time to return home in the afternoon. Malkia was very badly behaved during the public visit today and she had to be moved to the last older group to come down for feeding. Esampu also wanted to cause problems and she had to be stopped by Tamiyoi after she attempted to head butt Ambo while he was drinking his milk. Apart from those incidences all was okay and there was good interaction among all of those in the first group. Malkia came down last in the company of Oltaiyoni and by then all the others had finished their milk so it was only her and the matriarch Oltaiyoni drinking at the same time, and she would never dare think of pushing her. When Malkia finished her bottle though she walked straight to where the wheelbarrow is always parked, and she was furious when all she found was empty bottles! She was so angry she started pushing the speaker stand and pushed it down, and started kicking it like a ball. She was only calmed down when she was offered a finger to suckle on by one of the keepers, before Kamok stepped in and invited her for a mud bath until they left the area to go back to the forest. In the evening it was Kamok, Pare, Esampu, Rapa and Mbegu who escorted Ukame back home for bed early, before the usual time at the 5pm visit, so it is a quieter and swifter environment for her to return to her stockade.

The rain started pouring soon after the first group of three elephants had finished their milk bottles during the public visit this morning, complicating the situation for both the keepers and the orphans. It was even worse that the three who had arrived were Esampu, Jotto and Tamiyoi as Esampu is always a trouble maker at feeding time. Tamiyoi is always slow to drink her milk while Esampu drinks her so fast, so after she finished hers she wanted to snatch Tamiyoi’s. Tamiyoi had to abandon her milk bottle for a moment to stop her, but she pushed Tamiyoi back which Jotto saw and he ran over to help his friend Tamiyoi and the whole situation became complicated for the keepers trying to separate them as it continued to rain heavily. Ngilai, Sana Sana then Godoma arrived in the rain while the other three were still causing problems. The only good thing is that Tamiyoi doesn’t like the rain that much, so she gave up the fight and went to shelter herself under the acacia trees, which meant Jotto also gave up the fight upon seeing his friend was now okay. With the presence of the rough boy Ngilai, Esampu also calmed down. After everyone had finished their milk, Malima led Rapa, Mbegu and Murit to the mud bath. They wallowed in the muddy pool right up until the end of visiting time, even whilst it was pouring with rain! Meanwhile Tamiyoi, Jotto and the rest enjoyed rolling in the wet earth.

The milk formula is the orphans most favourite food and some will try and fight to get more than their fair share of it! Despite being older, Roi is another one that will not leave the milk wheelbarrow alone unless it is taken away. After finishing her share she keeps hanging around and shoving everyone as she tries to steal more milk from it. If the milk bottles are not guarded well she will always manage to sneak away with an extra bottle which means another orphan gets less milk until more is mixed for them! If she doesn’t manage to steal one from the wheelbarrow she will target one of those that can hold their own bottle and if they are not holding firmly enough that one will certainly be snatched too – leading to a fight between her and the milk victim. This happened today during public visiting time. The keepers were guarding the wheelbarrow very well as they waited for the elephants to come down for their bottles. Roi had tried a couple of times to steal a bottle from the wheelbarrow but had been unsuccessful and had turned her attention to Tusuja who is able to hold his own bottle and feed himself so well. Today he was caught off guard however and Roi came over and snatched his bottle from his mouth, running away with it. Tusuja ran after her yelling but in vain. The keepers tried to help Tusuja get his milk back but Roi dodged all of them, drank all the milk and threw the bottle down. Earlier in the day, Esampu had also given the keepers a hard time as she seems to be in a bad mood today. She went on pushing everyone she came across including the keepers too. The most difficult time arose when she pushed Tagwa who pushed her back too. Tagwa has seen her head butt Ambo, Jotto, Sana Sana and Malkia too so she decided to teach her a lesson and even the keepers could not separate that fight! Eventually Mbegu came over and brought peace between them.

Amongst elephants it is not only the female elephants who love and protect the younger ones, but males can have this kind of caring heart as well. When the orphans were walking out to the forest this morning, the weather was very misty. The older females were concerned about their younger adopted babies moving in different directions in their small groups. There was one small group of younger orphans left behind some meters back without any older elephants to look after them – Malkia, Tamiyoi, Esampu, Tagwa, Sana Sana and the little girl Malima were without anyone to care for them. But then along came Kauro. Kauro is very polite and caring and he had gone ahead of the herd, but after realizing that young group were all alone he walked back and spent time with them. Before leading them away he had to inspect and pat each of them with his trunk to make sure they were all alright. After that, he led them out to the forest making sure they were altogether. He took care of all of them until the milk arrived and this is when he went back to the rest of the group.