Choose your region

Bomani, Orwa, Narok, Kandecha and Kibo joined the juniors for lucerne pellets in the morning. Ten wild elephants were drinking water at the stockade water trough and in the group there was a mother with her two calves. The wild herd left immediately after drinking enough water. 

The orphans settled to browse along ‘hyenas hill’. Esampu spent the better part of the morning trying to put her small tusks into use by trying to peel bark from trees. The tusks were too small still, so she had to surrender and concentrate on what she could easily manage to feed on. Namalok, who is very active these days, tried to entice Pare into joining him for a strength testing exercise but Pare declined. Namalok then proceeded to take on Karisa who responded positively but their game came to an abrupt end when Turkwel passed by and separated the two boys. 

At mud bath time, twelve wild bulls were present and as usual, used one side of the mud bath while the orphans used the other side. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse in the Kanziku area where they were joined by Mutara’s group and enjoyed peaceful quiet browsing. Later, the group took a break from feeding to relax under a tree following the rise in temperature in the afternoon. Two hours later, the group resumed browsing on their way back to the stockade. 

The orphans today met with Tomboi, Orwa, Narok and Bomani outside their stockades and started interacting around the lucerne cubes. We had also two wild bulls at the water trough who were drinking water, but one came and joined in with the orphans to eat the Lucerne as well. It was a beautiful sunrise this morning, and we enjoyed seeing the sun start to shine off the backs of the elephants browsing there. Mundusi came out of his stockade and started scratching his neck on the wall. Tomboi started play-fighting with one of the wild bulls before heading off out into the Park with the others.

In the bush, all the dependent orphans browsed with Bomani, Orwa and Narok staying with them the whole day. Namalok was checking his front feet and removing some thorns. The rest were busy browsing. They started walking towards mud bath for their noon milk bottles and the three ex-orphans accompanied them. 

At the mud bath, two wild bulls were busy playing in the water while some others stood under the trees in the shade. The orphans went straight to the mud hole after their milk as it was very hot, and started playing in it. Some walked to the water trough and met the wild bulls but there, but they were not scared, and they managed to share water with them. 

Back in the bush, Kamok was playing with Ukame and putting her trunk into her mouth. Rapa was on his own, busy browsing separately with Sapalan. The rest were under the shade resting and later they all walked back to the stockades for the night. 

It was a cool and quiet morning today after we received some 10 mm of rain last night. It also meant the wild elephants dispersed and we had Orwa, Narok and Bomani alone as the only ex-orphans with us today. Pare and Kithaka started scratching their neck on the wall while Orwa and Narok drank water before walking out to the bush. The orphans also had some water before following the ex-orphans out too. All the orphans browsed peacefully. Turkwel and Oltaiyoni browsed together and away from the others. It was quite cold and the orphans were not very active or playful. 

At mud bath the dependent orphans had their bottles and they all then walked to the water trough to have some water. After a few minutes, they started filtering back out to the bush as they wouldn’t play in the water as it was still chilly. No other wild elephants or ex-orphans visited the orphans, except for Orwa, Narok and Bomani who stayed with the orphans for the whole day. Roi and Narok were drinking rain water along the road and later they invited Ukame and Mteto to join them. The rest started playing in the muddy puddles along the road, and later they all walked back home for their milk. Only three wild bulls came to drink water today. We are still waiting for more rain, but we are sure this is the start of the short rains.

It was a less busy morning with only a few wild elephants visiting. The ex-orphans present included Meibai, Kibo, Murka, Narok, Bomani, Orwa, Naisula, Chemi Chemi and Melia. The ex-orphans joined the orphans to eat some lucerne pellets. One of the wild bulls also joined in for the breakfast party, and only left after making sure all the pellets were gone. The ex-orphans accompanied the orphans out to browse and spent the entire morning feeding together. At mud bath time, twenty eight wild bulls were present and had fun wallowing and drinking water for nearly three hours. The orphans found them at mud bath and left them there too once they walked back out to browse again. Roi briefly had a soil dusting exercise, a game which attracted Melia, Kibo, Murka and Tusuja. Later, Tusuja joined two wild bulls to drink water before following his friends into the bush as well. The afternoon was quiet and the orphans didn't waste much time to waste in playing, but concentrated on browsing.

Karisa led the way out soon when the gates were opened. The orphans joined ex-orphans Kenze, Orwa, Bomani and Narok who had reported early before dawn. Wanjala and Ukame settled to feed on one pile of lucerne pellets with Kenze. Kenze didn't entertain the two orphans but told them to look for another pile since that one wasn't big enough for the three of them. Wanjala persisted, which forced Kenze to push him away. Shortly later, the ex-orphans and the orphans together walked out to the bush. The inquisitive Wanjala settled to feed with Kenze as he tried to understand how life is out in the wild. Kenze was not that keen on entertaining Wanjala, as shortly later he walked away. 

At mud bath time, the orphans participated in wallowing soon after having their milk. The competition was between Ukame and Esampu as each tried to get to the finish-line first; that being where the Keepers are standing with their milk bottles. When Ukame saw that Esampu was about to win, she tried to block her by pushing her from behind. Esampu didn't fight as she knew she would be fighting a losing battle, and so she surrendered and followed behind Ukame slowly. The lone and independent Sapalan joined a wild bull to drink water and later followed his group. Sapalan looked a bit tired and in the evening on the way back to the stockade he was unusually slow. Yatta and the entire ex-orphan group reported for water in the evening. Missing were Bongo and Teleki who have attached themselves to Nasalot’s group for the time being. 

The senior ex-orphans led by Yatta joined the orphans for pellets early in the morning. The little rascal baby Nusu had a small disagreement with Pare and Rapa as he tried to push them away from their pellets. The two boys couldn't retaliate because Nasalot, Nusu’s mother, was close by and they feared being reprimanded by her. Rapa and Pare just walked away, probably silently swearing to themselves to teach the little rascal a lesson if they met him without his mother and nannies. 

Out in the bush, the orphans were joined by Chemi Chemi, who has nearly healed from his lion attack, Murka, Orwa, Bomani, Kibo and Narok. The sun was really hot and at mud bath time, the orphans headed straight to cool-off in the mud, without having to be directed by anybody. In the afternoon, the temperature became unbearable, forcing the orphans to seek shelter under some trees to avoid the scorching sun. The orphans resumed browsing when the temperature dropped to a favourable level.