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The big girls Tagwa, Malkia, Sana Sana and Kuishi decided to keep their distance from the rest of the herd this morning. Jotto was the only boy browsing near them, but even he was not very close. Ndiwa, Sagala and Malima must have decided to keep Tamiyoi company and help look after the rest of the herd while the big girls were off on their own. A few meters away from the older girls, Luggard’s small little group were staying beside their Keepers.

Merru these days is becoming known to the Keepers for his yelling; for such a little chap he has such a loud, strong and high voice. Sometimes he just yells for no reason at all, but the older females seem to understand him. He started complaining when with Luggard, Dololo and Mukkoka today, but they didn’t take any notice of him.

As he carried on eventually Jotto, a very soft and caring boy, did not disappoint him and he decided to go and find out what was wrong with little Merru. As he reached where Merru was yelling away, the little one just walked up to him and settled under Jotto’s neck. Jotto showered him in affection, and this was enough to calm Merru down. 

After the orphans left for the forest this morning, Tamiyoi decided to return home to check on the three little ones and perhaps to find some leftovers from her friends that she might be able to enjoy. She was very determined this morning, as she was driven back to the forest several times, but she kept returning. She was so happy when she Merru, then Dololo and finally Mukkoka walk out of their rooms, that she escorted them out to the forest. The rest of the herd had already walked quite far in, and Luggard was the only one left hanging around; they decided to join him and they all walked to the main herd together. 

During the public visiting hour today, Tamiyoi’s younger group spent most of their time feeding on the vegetation put out for them. None of them showed any interest in wanting to mud bath. Just as it was nearing their time to return to the forest and allow the older ones down for their milk bottles, Maisha walked over to the mud pool. She felt the temperature of the water with her trunk and decided to just stand in the middle of the water. While she was there, a warthog also got into the water, had a drink, and started to roll around. Maisha did not want to share the mud bath and she tried to scare the warthog away, but was unsuccessful. Musiara, realizing that Maisha was scared, also stepped into the water to help her, and charged at the warthog, managing to send it away. As he was already in the water, he decided to start swimming, and rolled around in the mud. Maisha decided to join him and she too began swimming. 

Tamiyoi has developed a habit of first thing in the morning, or after any of the milk feeds, leading a group of orphans like Sagala, Kuishi, Ndiwa, Ambo, Sana Sana, Malkia, Mapia and Malima far deep into the forest. When the Keepers search for them, it is interesting to see Tamiyoi some yards in front of the group in the lead. She seems to have usurped Ndiwa and Sagala who used to be the main leaders who would take some of the orphans off deep into the forest. We are not sure how or why she developed this new habit but she seems to have been influenced by Ndiwa and Sagala as she used to accompany them on these little forays. 

We are often reminded how clever elephants are, but we like sharing these moments with you as well! Despite being a new little orphan to the Nursery, Dololo is very clever and knows all the routes back to the stockades. Sometimes when the orphans are out in the forest browsing in the early morning, towards 8am Dololo will try to sneak back from the forest to the stockades to wait for his next bottle of milk right in his stable! He has developed this funny new little habit of sneaking back to the stockades before some of his feeding times, and even though these all take place out in the forest apart from the ones at night, the Keepers are so impressed that he can find his way back home no matter where they are in the forest, using his incredible memory.

This morning the orphans were very calm and settled, busy browsing without showing off in any playful games. However just as the orphans were walking deep into the forest, Sana Sana realized that none of the little ones like Merru, Dololo and Mukokka were with them. She took control of the herd leading them, and all of a sudden reeled around and began trumpeting and charging back towards the stockades because she did not want to go any further without the little babies. When the other orphans saw Sana Sana running back towards the stockades they all turned and started following her trumpets, following the lead of Ndiwa and Sagala. Sana Sana looked much more relaxed and happy when she met up with Merru. The Keepers watched her happy and slowly leading them out into the forest to browse on the bushes where the others were, along with what seem to be the nannies Kiasa and Enkesha, merrily guarding Merru. Sana Sana slowly walked out rumbling her content and calling Merru and the others to follow her, as Kiasa and Enkesha walked along on either side. 

There is the saying ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ and our orphans seem to think this is the case as well. Mukkoka and Dololo were very busy stealing branches through the partition between their stockades this afternoon. Dololo set the ball rolling when he started pulling Dololo’s branches and Mukkoka did the same in retaliation, and also so as not to miss out on his greens! Other neighbours nearby were also having the same tussle. Ambo pulled a big branch through from Mapia’s stable as his unsuspecting neighbor was munching on a branch on the other side of his room. It was when he tried to pull the second branch that Mapia realized what Ambo was doing and he tried to pull the branch back again. A tug of war began as the two boys pulled branches back and forth between the partition of their rooms, instead of just enjoying the branches they did have! There was a loud thump as eventually Mapia charged at the wooden partition to chase Ambo away from his share of greens, which rocked the whole structure.

Luggard’s friendship with Dololo is growing every day and this is for a number of reasons. First and foremost neither of them walk very deep into the forest with the others, and they both walk very slowly, which means they spend a lot of time together every day. Today when Merru and the other newcomer Mukkoka walked off with the other orphans, Luggard and his new friend decided to stay on their own in their own area, browsing from one bush to the next and taking short breaks in between. 

When it was time for the 11am public visit today, Kuishi’s love for her milk bottle was very evident when downed her share quickly and then she tried to suck the leftovers around the bottle, before moving to the wheelbarrow to do the same, as there is always spilled milk at the bottom. This ended up with her being pushed out of the way by Ndiwa however, as she moved closer and tried to have some of Ndiwa’s share. Ndiwa turned in circles to try and discourage Kuishi, and when she finished her bottle she gave Kuishi an almighty push, which even left a mark on Kuishi because of her tusks! Kuishi hurried away and began to browse on the greens, rather than get in trouble again.

It was a chilly and cloudy morning this morning as the orphans made their way out to the forest. Tagwa and Malima led as the elephants as they spread out in the bushes to begin their morning of browsing. The little ones Dololo, Mukkoka and Merru wore their blankets as usual to protect them from the morning cold. Luggard, who is always determined and lively, was still at the back of the group with Dololo, Musiara and Maktao. The bigger orphans like Sana Sana, Tagwa and Malkia pulled down some of the branches of the taller trees for the little ones standing beneath like Sattao, Kiasa and Maisha.

During the 9am milk feeding, Kuishi showed off her greedy character again as upon finishing her bottle, she was reluctant to move away from the wheelbarrow, and all of a sudden she picked up an empty one and put it in her mouth, trying to lick the last remnants of milk that might be found there. The Keepers were telling her off and to put the bottle down, which she eventually did drop but just to suck up the spilled milk she could find at the bottom of the wheelbarrow. Eventually she was moved away from the area by the Keepers instead she decided to knock the whole wheelbarrow over.

This morning was misty and then it started to drizzle. By mid-morning it was full on raining. Most of the babies were enjoying the rain but a few of them decided to take cover under some trees. Dololo, Mukkoka and Merru are not very strong enough to withstand the bad weather so they were led back to their rooms and provided with greens to browse on. Kiko decided to make his own way back to the stockades as well and stand in his own room too! The rainy weather however is certainly Maxwell the rhinos favourite and he was rolling on the heaps of soil in his stockade and running up and down, his whole body caked in mud. Kiasa was in a very calm mood again today, and remained sandwiched between Ndiwa and Malkia. Sattao and his good friend Musiara were enjoying the body warmth of the Nursery matriarch Tagwa, who took cover from the rain beneath some trees. The chilly and rainy weather seemed not to bother the two good friends and age-mates Ambo and Jotto however, and they braved the rain whilst playing in a ‘push and pull’ fight. Ambo was a bit more boisterous in the game, compared to Jotto who known to be more polite, earning him the title of ‘little mellow boy’ from the Keepers. 

Malima and Tamiyoi seem to be quite close friends, and we have seen this bond developing recently. Although the mini-matriarch Tamiyoi likes to spend most of her time with the little ones, she also spares some time to play and browse close to her friend Malima. It is also evident that Malima is learning how to play the more ‘motherly’ role from her friend, and today she spent a lot of her day with Musiara, helping him pull branches down that were too high for him to reach. She was also seen twice defending him from the little bully boy Mapia. 

Kuishi and Sagala are both neighbours and friends, but when it comes to the milk bottles they seem to have a bit of a rift. This was evident during the 9am feeding today. Kuishi was the first one to finish her bottle and due to her love of the milk formula she tried to get an extra drop from her friend. Sagala turned in circles in protest to sacrificing any of her milk, even for her friend. 

All the babies love their milk bottles so much they will always come in running for them to be the first to reach the Keepers holding them, and Luggard doesn’t want to be left out, despite his limp. He was seen rushing in with the others and to the Keepers astonishment, and his friends, he overtook Dololo and Musiara to reach the bottles first – that earned him several cheers from the Keepers that morning!