Choose your region

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.

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.

As the orphans were walking out to the forest this morning, we watched as Tagwa showed her love and affection for little Sattao. Sattao didn’t want to cross a stream of water and he started yelling as he saw all his friends cross to the other side. His yelling brought Tagwa running back and she carefully walked up beside him and kept close to him so that they could cross the water together. As they were reaching the other side, Tagwa stayed behind Sattao, gently nudging him forwards so that he could do the last bit. When he reached the other side he playfully ran towards his friends, with his adopted mother Tagwa following behind trumpeting with delight at seeing Sattao happy to rejoin his friends. During the public visit today Jotto and Malima were really challenging each other. The keepers tried to separate them but without success. Jotto just head butted the ground in defiance and when he got up Malima came running over to push him. When Jotto’s strength got too much for Malima she would run away from him towards the audience, who would step back and then she would turn and run back to Jotto again! It was very entertaining for all the visitors.

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.

With the ongoing drought across the whole country, ticks have become a real pest for the orphans and we work hard to control them. The application of coconut oil helps this, but new arrivals like Sapalan, Namalok, Sagalla and the little girl Kiasa are not yet used to this funny and unfamiliar procedure. Normally this application takes place on a Friday but to help control the ticks we decided to apply it today, a Wednesday, as well. The new arrivals were not at all pleased with the process and kept the keepers on their toes running all over the place to avoid the oil. In the end, they got the oil coating as well! Mapia joined the orphans later in the morning today as he is still not that well so he only joins them when they are not browsing too far away. After having his 9am milk feed with the rest of the orphans, he collapsed and was immediately set up on a drip. He got back to his feet later after a little rest and a few drips. Naughty girl Esampu is still being mean to new arrival Kiasa. Today she walked up to Kiasa as she was enjoying some green browse at the mud bath and head butted her heard without warning. It was a big push and Kiasa yelled loudly which brought the attention of Tamiyoi, Godoma, Malima and Jotto. They ran over to Kiasa to help her and find out what happened, but by the time they got there Esampu has already moved away to browse innocently. It was only the keepers who saw was happened and they told Esampu off and moved her away from the herd in punishment. Luggard decided on his own to return early to bed this afternoon around 4.30pm, and the keepers let him stay there before the others returned at 5pm.

Before 6 o’clock in the morning, Kiko woke up and started pushing on the door of his stable, wanting to come out. The pushing became harder when he started to hear the orphans coming out and the keepers were forced to just let him out then. He went past Musiara’s door where Musiara was just standing waiting for Luggard. When he saw him pass he ran after him trying to charge at him, but Kiko just ignored the tiny elephant. Out in the field Kiko was very comfortable, browsing high in the trees surrounded by the elephants, but Musiara still seemed upset with his presence and kept on trying to charge at him. Kiko continued to ignore him as Musiara is so tiny to him, and so he went on paying him no attention and moving about amongst the herd. Maramoja and Malima took the responsibility of taking care of Kiasa today and made sure that she didn’t sneak away back to the stockades or towards the mud bath. When she attempted to leave, either Maramoja or Malima blocked her and pushed her back towards the herd.

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.

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.

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!