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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.

Poor little Wacha spent the whole previous day supported on a drip which perked him up a bit and he looked a little better, but today his health took a turn and he did not have energy to feed or even drink his milk. His condition deteriorated and we decided to take him off the drips which were supporting him and he faded away this morning in the company of his keeper; we are very sad to lose him after all attempts to save his life. We have noticed recently that Wanjala and Galla who have similar folded ears are always playing and hanging out with each other and they are becoming fast friends. This is nice for Galla who has always seemed to browse on his own or slightly away from the others. Sometimes out in the forest during the day, these two are accompanied by Pare who likes to join them and test out his size and strength on them too. Malima has also really settled out in the forest with the other orphans. After her first integration with them proved a bit of a challenge, now she is fully settled and enjoys wondering around with the herd and her keepers, looking out for milk bottle time and suckling on her keepers fingers in the meantime!

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.

Nothing major happened during public visiting today, only that Malkia and little Malima were causing trouble by the wheelbarrow, trying to steal milk that bottles and shouting in protest when they were cautioned away. Ukame has been in her stockade for a couple of weeks now whilst she gets used to her keepers and today at around 2pm she was let out to integrate with the others so she can fully be a part of her new family and their routine. However when the gates were opened she was very reluctant to walk out and join Roi, Mbegu, Oltaiyoni, Kauro, Tusuja and Dupotto, who were also quite shy of walking into this stockade of this large elephant to take her out! The keepers walked in to help her follow them out of her stockade and suddenly she ran out but in the opposite direction to her elephant friends, as she ran into the bushes near the parking area instead – the group followed her but she ran away from them! Due to this effort today we decided she was not ready to join them yet so she was guided back to her stockade with a milk bottle, to try again another day.

Just as the orphans had settled out in the bushes today, near the top of Maxwell’s stockades, the keepers were amazed to see 5 lionesses just stroll through the group without caring about either the elephants or the keepers! The orphans showed a bit of restlessness and Galla, Maramoja, Wanjala, Sana Sana, Rapa and Malkia were frightened by the big cats. Their scampering about saw Oltaiyoni, Roi, Mbegu and Kamok react by trumpeting loudly with their ears spread wide to try and find out what had scared the younger ones, but by the time they came over the lions were already deep in the bushes. Due to the presence of the big cats, Kiko had to stay in the stockade area and Pea was happy to stay with the little orphan baby group seeing as she loves the babies anyway. It was funny to watch new little baby Malima, who is new and still learning the daily routine of all the babies, sneaking away from the other orphan group today and going back to the stockades early to try and look for some more milk! Thus she is quite a challenge for the keepers who have to keep an eye on her just before the 9am, 3pm and 5pm bottle feeds as these are her prime sneaking off times. Sometimes the keepers cannot see when she sneaks off as for a long time she stays close to them until they are comfortable and think she will not leave, and then before they know it she has disappeared and they are alerted from the stockades she has arrived there already!

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!

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.

In today’s morning drizzle Maxwell was very happy to play up and down his stockade. None of the baby elephants were interested in his games, even when he tried to reach those through the bars of his gate who were trying to share his lucerne grass. Dupotto, Roi and Lasayen had been feeding on the lucerne for awhile, as Max tried to tease them through the gate bars, but today they paid no attention to him! They finally all walked out to the forest in a very dull mood. Max was in such a happy mood though and went to wallow in the mud forming in his stockade, before running up and down in circles enjoying the rain. He later retired to his bedroom, having tired himself out having so much fun. As time for the public visit approached, the keepers realised that Oltaiyoni was missing with her adopted baby Ambo. By the time the keepers found them, browsing deep in the thicket, it was almost time for the second group to come down for their milk! Ambo then had to stay and come down with his adopted mother and the older elephants for his milk instead. During the whole time they were down there, the two never strayed from each other’s side- she is like a real mother to him, or perhaps older sister. Malima and Ukame are also becoming good friends and funnily enough it is the older and bigger Ukame looks for Malima – the little girl leads Ukame everywhere and they do seem to enjoy each others company.

Ndotto and Mbegu were in a great mood today and were entertaining the rest of their orphan family by wrestling with each other. Godoma kept interrupting them as she wanted to play with Ndotto too. Ndotto is always one to please and was happy to invite her into the game but Mbegu wasn’t happy about the way Godoma was approaching them and kept warning her away every time she came over. Godoma was persistent though and kept approaching but each time Mbegu warned her away and eventually this resulted in Mbegu pushing her away. Godoma shouted and ran away which brought the other older females to come out of the bushes to see what was wrong. Oltaiyoni, Roi and Kamok all came over to find out what had happened and when they arrived Roi rumbled and Mbegu responded with another rumble. Oltaiyoni and Kamok also rumbled to Mbegu and then went back into the bushes to carry on with what they had been doing before. We have found on other occasions like this that if anything happens and the older females find Mbegu already at the scene, they will not respond or do anything as they all respect each other and their disciplinary roles. For the first time today Ukame accompanied her peers to the mud bath area for the private visiting time today. She hardly wonders far at all from her little friend Malima, and she followed closely behind her as Malima led the way down to the feeding area. When they first arrived Ukame looked a bit nervous and confused, but then Malima ran to the wheelbarrow where the milk was and Ukame decided to follow her, leaving the keeper who had her bottle of milk ready just standing there. Another keeper had to feed her one directly from the wheelbarrow to avoid any drama. After their milk Ukame followed her friend again and Malima led them to the mud bath and they both got in and started playing in the mud. Luggard, who loves the mud bath too, also joined them and all three had a lot of fun, only leaving once it was time to return to the forest and they had a quick soil, drying session before they left.

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.