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Out in the bush this morning all the orphans were browsing on the fresh green vegetation that has grown since the rains started. There were no games this morning, even from the boys who usually enjoy pushing games to test their strength against each other. There was chilly weather this morning with frequent showers which meant none of the orphans dared to go into the mud bath. Some were seen along the rope cordon trying to shelter under people’s umbrella’s! Youngsters like Musiara, Sattao, Emoli, Maisha and even Jotto ran to shelter under the Keepers’ umbrella’s when the rain got very hard. Emoli and Maisha then struggled to find shelter together with one visitor who had an umbrella. As some were searching for shelter from the rain, others like Tamiyoi, Malima, Esampu, Ambo, Murit, Godoma, Kuishi and Enkesha were playing on the soil pile; dusting, rolling and bumping into one another. In the afternoon we received a new young bull from the Tsavo Conservation Area, who had been found in a collapsed state. He was rescued and brought to the Nairobi Nursery by the DSWT helicopter and was immediately put on an IV drip to try and bring him back.

Mapia spent the night well and looked in good condition, enjoying his milk bottle and the greens as well; thus he began the new day looking pretty good. The orphans were in a very playful mood during the public visit and we watched Malima, Tamiyoi, Jotto and Esampu running and charging around, but at what we were not quite sure! As their game reached its climax, Malima and Esampu turned towards the rope cordon and bumped into the visitors standing there, who seemed to enjoy their game. The school children were more afraid and ran back shouting; having never seen an elephant before and now being face to face with one! Esampu then ran over to poor Enkesha and sat on her hard, causing Enkesha to yell out and the keepers came running over to help her.

Just before 6am it started to rain and as the orphans were due to come out it got even harder. Most of the like Murit, Tamyoi, Emoli, Maisha, Maktao, Musiara, Luggard, Enkesha, Sattao, Malima and their tall friend Kiko were reluctant to come out of their rooms. Murit came out of his and swiftly went and hid in Ambo’s stockade hoping the keepers hadn’t spotted him. Unluckily for him they had and he was moved out to join the other orphans who were on their way out to the forest. Malima moved from the back stockades to the front ones in another attempt to dodge the keepers but all in vain. Enkesha is the one who managed to trick the keepers in the end as she moved behind Maxwell’s stockade without being noticed and his in the far pens which are currently housing Ndiwa and Mundusi. As the orphans went deeper into the forest and the keepers warmed themselves with some hot tea, the naughty Enkesha hid herself from the rain in those rooms. When the keepers noticed they had not seen her for awhile they began searching and went back to the stockades to look, but they did not look in those two far rooms and thus thought she was not in the compound. When another keeper went to get an umbrella he eventually found Enkesha as she had begun to complain that she was on her own and not with her friends!

Today was baby Mapia’s first day to join the orphans in the forest. This crucial moment for Mapia came after public visiting. A small group of orphans were brought back to the stockades to accompany Mapia for her first time out to browse. Godoma, Mbegu, Jotto, Ambo, Maisha, Malkia, Tagwa, Malima, Ngilai, Mteto, Tamiyoi, Enkesha, Maramoja, Sana Sana and Murit all came back for the occasion. Mapia was very calm and he joined the other orphans, and as expected the matriarch Mbegu was most receptive to him - hugging and patting him with her trunk. Malkia joined Mbegu in escorting Mapia into the forest. Godoma kept touching the new baby from behind, as Tamiyoi, Jotto and Ambo fought amongst themselves to touch the new baby as well. When this group met up with the other orphans, Ngilai raised his ears and trunk to smell the new one. Ndotto did the same and then all the others took turns in coming to meet their new friend. As the others babies continued to greet Mapia, Rapa as usual was naughty and came over pretending to greet the little one but instead pushed him, causing him to stumble and yell for help. This annoyed Kauro and the big boy pushed his tusks into Rapa, who ran away to avoid further discipline.

There is always one remarkable rescue story every year, often more than one! But this little baby that arrived yesterday is truly memorable and she is the smallest baby we have ever seen, let alone rescued. The little girl spent most of her morning on a drip since she arrived, as she had been considered practically dead when she was found in the Masai Mara. Later in the night she seemed to recover from her almost coma like situation and regained some of her memory. She could smell the others orphans around and started calling out for her mother and family. Both Sattao and Emoli, who the little one had been placed between in the stables, were woken when she started yelling. They were very concerned and each one tried to climb their walls to get to her, and put their trunks through the bars to comfort her. She is still not very strong but is looking better this morning. This tiny elephant has a long road ahead full of obstacles and we just hope that she will make it. It has been awhile since the orphans have had a mud bath because of the weather and today was only slightly different. The first group of 15 babies was led by Godoma with Maktao being the youngest. Almost all of them settled to browse on the greens after their milk but then Enkesha and Malima decided to go into the mud pool. They went over to it and after stepping in and testing it with their trunks they decided it was too cold and they went back to browsing. Maktao on the other hand had other ideas and he just walked to the edge of the mud pool and jumped in, wallowing and having the most fun on his own in the mud. He stayed there right until the end of their time and he had to be forced out to leave. Godoma takes her responsibility of the younger group very seriously and when she saw Murit take a branch away from Enkesha that she was enjoying, she didn’t hesitate to go over and take it from him and give it back to Enkesha, before sending Murit away.

The orphans woke up in a happy mood this morning. When Tagwa came out of her room she ran over to the room where the tiny baby from the Mara was. Unfortunately, she found the door closed and she let out a loud rumble in protest. This sound attracted the attention of the other big girls like Mbegu, Malkia, Mteto, Sana Sana and Godoma. They all tried to squeeze through the narrow corridor close to the little babies stable while the other group, headed by the big boys, walked out to the forest. The girls scrambled to see the baby but the keepers escorted them out to the forest with the others. Out in the forest while the others were busy browsing, Enkesha came across a small pool of water and she seemed delighted with her find. She got in and happily splashed her legs with the water before she started wallowing. After some time Jotto joined her and they started fighting until Kusihi came over to separate them.

It has not been usual these days for the elephants to have a mud bath in the morning and especially before public visiting time, but today proved to be different. After the 9am milk feed and as the orphans were moving out deeper into the forest, Esampu came across some warthogs and charged over to them where they had been laying in a small pool. After the warthogs moved away Esampu got into the small pool and started wallowing, which then attracted the attention of Enkesha and Kusihi. The two girls joined her and stayed rolling around in the mud for some time. Esampu and Kuishi then decided to go and browse, leaving Enkesha enjoying the mud right up until it was visiting time! Ndiwa managed to sneak away from the second group, which is her speciality, and join the first group down at the visiting area, thus she had her milk bottles slightly earlier than usual.