Kipekee continues to be quite a rascal. Oftentimes, the only orphan who misbehaves is our tiniest girl! While she has bonded with her Keepers, she likes to push anyone else if they get too close. The girls encourage her behaviour by refusing to discipline her in any way — to them, precious Kipekee is above reproach.
Mischievous Pardamat is still up to his usual tricks. One morning, he woke up and decided to cause some chaos. On exiting his room, the rascal hung left and positioned himself in front of neighbour Talek's door, blocking her exit. Talek pushed and tried to squeeze her way past him — but this was impossible. Luckily, Latika dealt with the situation and so we did not have to intervene. She forced the boy right into the girl's room, creating a space for Talek to run out, leaving the naughty boy in her stable.
Beautiful Kerrio is growing up. One afternoon, the herd returned to the mud bath for another milk feed. Kerrio, Kamili, Taroha, Latika, and Wamata were in the second group sent down the path. Five elephants left us at the top of the path, but only four arrived at the wallow. Along the way, Kerrio took a left and disappeared into the bush — where we found her browsing happily. Kerrio is growing up and becoming less bothered about milk feeds.
Muridjo is preparing to take up the mini matriarch mantle when Kerrio graduates. She is kind and caring, especially towards the youngest orphans. One morning, Daba was out of sorts after a restless night. While the others headed out to the forest as usual, Muridjo chose to stay back, knowing that the new boy was not having a good morning. We were impressed with her behaviour.
Quiet, demure Arthi is finding his voice. One afternoon, as the others were browsing, he snuck down to the mud bath, hoping to find some delicious milk. When he found neither a wheelbarrow full of bottles nor a Keeper ready to feed him, he made an enormous fuss. Two of us ran to the wallow to find Arthi sulking under the tree.
In fact, Arthi is becoming the new timekeeper of the Nursery herd. One morning, we were slightly late opening the orphans' gates. The five-minute delay didn't escape Arthi's notice: he started trumpeting loudly, again and again and again!
Nairobi National Park is as wild as any other national park, with lions, rhinos, leopards, hyenas, and other creatures. But it is the most innocuous that give our herd the biggest fright! One morning, a group of impalas sprinted through the bushes. Predictably, the elephants overreacted and began charging and trumpeting and bush bashing in every direction. Even Kipekee was running fast on her very small legs, doing her best to keep up with the others even though she is not big enough to bush bash. Even as she dashed to and fro, she still had a tight guard from Mzinga, Muridjo, Nyambeni, Kamili, and Latika. Somehow the older girls charged around while keeping the little girl between at least two of them at all times!
Our two new rescues from Voi are settling in well. After a few days recuperating in her stockade, Alia was ready to join the herd. We escorted her out to the forest and the older girls welcomed her with rumbles. Nyambeni and Mzinga were especially welcoming — they touched her and encouraged her to join them. At two years old, it will likely take the newbie a bit longer to become part of the herd.
In contrast to Alia, Daba — the new boy from Voi — is already part of the pack. He is still thin with sunken cheeks but has adapted well to his new family. The older girls are protective of him but fuss over him much less than they do Kipekee. He's a few months older but also a more independent elephant. Daba is very friendly to the Keepers and often chooses to browse either next to them or next to the mini matriarchs.
Kerrio is the Nursery greeter — anyone, of any species, gets a warm welcome. One morning, she was having a nice time greeting Maxwell, the big rhino, until the warthogs took his attention. Kerrio moved on to Tytan, our little rhino. She shook his gate to rouse him, which caused Tytan to leap to his feet and charge over. He didn't quite know what to make of the big elephant giving him a wake-up call!
Some days, the orphans wake up in an infectious mood. One such morning, Mzinga started the party. Apropos of nothing, she began trumpeting in her stable. As soon as we opened her door, she ran around the compound, waking up the others. Soon, everyone was rumbling and shouting. Mzinga headed up the path followed by a sprinting Latika and many others. They ran past Max, who was standing at his gate with head held high, waiting for a greeting. But that day, no one even slowed down on their way past the large rhino — they had a mysterious mission to attend to!
Different orphans have different personalities. Although Wamata is a feisty character, she is quite reserved with her Keepers. By contrast, Arthi is very affectionate. He often chooses to greet the Keepers in the forest, standing close for a few minutes and then wandering on. One afternoon after an affectionate rub from Peter, Arthi walked over to browse with Taroha. The youngest and oldest bulls in the herd spend lots of time together.
Wamata always has places to go, as quickly as possible, and often zips out of her stable at top speed. One such morning, she wasn't looking where she was going and had a collision with a mother warthog and her piglets. Both animals got a big shock. Trumpeting, Wamata reversed into her room while the warthogs about-turned and ran for cover. Caring Olomunyak and Kerrio rushed over to find out what was happening and found their friend cowering in the back of her stable, recovering from the run-in.
Kamili continues to impress. Nowadays, we rarely see the impatient, independent girl who used to bully babies — she has been replaced by a nurturing girl who looks after the little ones. In the morning, she often makes a point of greeting Kipekee, Arthi, and Wamata as they emerge from their stables, then chooses one baby to shepherd into the forest.
As is so often the case with low-key elephants, Talek is a quiet girl who suddenly finds her voice when milk is involved. One afternoon, we found her hovering around the wheelbarrow, trumpeting as she picked up empty bottles in the hope of finding leftover milk. The Keepers whistled at her to move on, but she was struck by a sudden bout of selective hearing and completely ignored them.
Talek has also learned a lot from her 'big sister,' Mzinga. One thing she has mastered is the art of multi-tasking: Following Mzinga's famous trick, she twists up clumps of dry grass while relaxing on her belly. Not every elephant can manage the skill of lying-down eating!
We love watching slightly older boys mentoring little boys. Taroha is an excellent role model and friend to the young bulls — especially Olomunyak. They play together, they browse together, they simply coexist together! Taroha always wins the strength-testing contests with Olomunyak, because he is bigger, but the younger boy does not give up. Olomunyak prefers playing with Taroha or Mzinga or Arthi rather than with Pardamat, who tends to play rough.
Our elephants have a milk feed every three hours. They know when it is time and they do not like any delays! If any Keepers dare to be a minute off schedule, the orphans will wake them up one way or another. Muridjo's tactic is to stand beneath her Keeper's bunk and push upwards, as if trying to carry the bed away on her back. A 700-kilogramme push from an elephant is an effective wake-up alarm!
Little Daba has his own strategy — he is a quick learner. His first tactic is to stretch up his trunk and pull the blanket off the sleeping Keeper. If this is not successful, he moves on to Plan B. Somehow (as this is a skill that most elephants of his age have not yet mastered), he balances on his back legs and puts his forelegs on the edge of the raised bed. His Keeper will be woken by a wet trunk on his cheek!
Male black rhinos are very territorial — so the arrival of Tytan has led to lots of interesting dynamics. Maxwell has changed the place of his day midden, moving it to the fence next to the path the orphans take into the forest. Our old rhino is marking his territory. At first, Tytan used to sprint past Max's enclosure, especially the corner with the midden. But no longer. In recent days, Tytan has started to challenge Max's dominance by leaving his dung on the other side of the fence. He pauses on most days to defecate in the same place, asserting that he belongs and that this is also his territory.
One day, as Tytan plodded up the path, Max was standing on the other side of the fence. When Tytan defecated, Max charged at the fence. We urged him to stop, but he was determined to put the young rhino in his place. Of course, there was no danger, as a very strong fence stood between the big and the little rhino, but Max got his message across loud and clear! The boys will adjust to each other’s presence with time.
Other rhino relationships are less tempestuous. While Max enjoys the company of his resident warthogs, Tytan is best friends with Notty the zebra. The pair walk out into the forest together, a bit later than the elephants, and usually settle to graze a short distance from the stockades. After filling their bellies, they lay down, not actually sleeping but just resting together on the grass. Our unlikely pair spend most of their days within metres of each other!