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This morning after the 9am milk bottle feed, lovely Kiasa happily came out of her stockade for the first time and was warmly welcomed by some of the other orphans like Godoma, Maramoja, Tagwa, Malkia, Esampu and Tamiyoi and Malima as well. All the girls were milling around Kiasa all trying to get as close as possible to touch and pat the new little girl. Kiasa walked out with them to the bush, sandwiched between the lovely caring and protective girls. The leader of the herd, Mbegu, could hardly get close, though at one stage she did come over and check on the little girl before she went back to browsing. Still, boys will be boys and when the herd has settled out in the forest Ngilai and Lasayen tried to chase poor Kiasa and climb on her, but they were not able to achieve their goal as the keepers kept a close eye on her and so did the other protective girls in the group. Both were very quickly warned and when Ngiali spent a few minutes browsing next to Kiasa he was quickly pushed away by Maramoja, Godoma and Malkia who drove him away far off into the bushes. Kiasa was very well behaved during the public visit and remained tucked between Godoma, Kuishi, Tamiyoi and Malima throughout.

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.

Today Mapia joined the orphans right out in the forest. He interacted so well with the others, mostly with Kuishi, Kiasa, Maisha and Maktao, and he wasn’t bullied by any of the naughty ones either. He was always on Godoma’s mind as well, and she kept coming out of the thicket just to check on him. Sattao’s relationship with Mbegu is growing all the time, although he always faces a challenge with Ambo as he is very protective of Mbegu and her attentions. Today he kept following Mbegu and trying to suckle on her ear, so had to face Ambo several times. At one point, Mbegu had to intervene to control Ambo’s jealousy as he attempted to push Sattao away from Mbegu. Tagwa and Ndiwa are two girls you would not normally find paired up together but today these two decided to wonder off together into the thicket to browse. The keepers found them when they were scared by a herd of impalas and they came running out of the bushes shouting with fright, looking for their friends and the keepers. Malkia, Ndotto, Jotto, Malima and Tamiyoi came running over to ‘save’ them and the duo were very relieved to be back in their company.

Today there was a pushing game between Kauro and Maramoja which lasted for some time before Kauro surrendered and headed into the bushes to browse. After the 9am feed as the orphans were moving out to browse, Esampu pushed poor Mapia and then ran away from the group as she knew what she had done was naughty. In the bushes, while the rest were busy feeding, Kauro, Mundusi, Rapa, Ndotto and Ndiwa sneaked away from the group and walked some distance away were they settled and started browsing peacefully. As the keepers were having their lunch this afternoon, Musiara charged at some warthogs whilst trumpeting and stamping his feet, attracting the attention of Kuishi and Godoma who came running over. The warthogs had a rough afternoon as the small group chased them around for a very long time.

The weather looked good when the orphans came out of their stables this morning as it was sunny and warm. The orphans showed their appreciation by enjoying different games; Ngilai and Jotto were busy sizing each other up, while Mbegu played on some loose soil whilst allowing the likes of Ambo, Malima, Tagwa, Kuishi and the big boy Ndotto to roll and slide down her. When the first group of orphans made their way to the mud bath led by Godoma, the weather changed suddenly and it clouded over and started drizzling. All of a sudden there was a thunder clap which sent the orphans running in all directions. They raised their ears in fright and each sought out a keeper for protection. It took the keepers awhile to help them settle again as they had been frightened by the sudden and unexpected sound of the thunder. When the second group came down for once it was Mbegu who we found tricky today! All the orphans know that it is her role to clean up all the spilt milk on the ground, and sometimes from the wheelbarrow as well. Although since Namalok has arrived however, he has never taken the milk from the bottle so his two bottles are poured into the wheelbarrow and he drinks it from there. Mbegu decided to take advantage of Namalok’s shy character and habit of drinking slowly. She pretended to help and drive away all the other naughty orphans who wanted Namalok’s milk, but it was she who ended up drinking almost half of Namalok’s share from the wheelbarrow!

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.