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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. 

Malima enjoyed some charging games with Maxwell the rhino this morning before heading out to the forest. She was trumpeting and pushing Maxwell’s gate from the outside, as Maxwell charged and ran in circles, pushing from the inside of his gate too. The warthogs interrupted the game however as a large number of them decided to enter Maxwell’s stockade to steal his Lucerne pellets, and Max decided to chase them all over the place. Malima tried to convince Maxwell to come back and play but he was too preoccupied, so she left for the forest to join her friends. 

Mukkoka joined Tamiyoi’s young group for the mud bath visiting hour for the first time today. He was very calm and very well behaved during the visit. He arrived with Tamiyoi, Kiasa and Merru from the forest, and no one would have been able to tell it was his first time. Tamiyoi was going to push Mukkoka at one point for taking some greens that Merru was eating, but Enkesha came over to protect Mukkoka from Tamiyoi. Sattao and Maktao were very happily engaged in a pushing game, but this was eventually brought to an end by Emoli who separated the two with the interest of playing with Maktao himself. 

During the 9am milk feeding time, the orphans were in high spirits and in a very playful mood. Tamiyoi is very well known for her big caring heart. She never really engages in wrestling games. Today however and during this feeding time, she was the one initiating all the games. She engaged Ambo in a very lengthy pushing game that was only brought to an end by Ambo’s friend Jotto, who came over and took Ambo away for a wrestling game. Maktao was also doing the same with his best play mate Emoli. 

Kiasa almost got herself into trouble. With the very jovial mood all the orphans were in, Kiasa was trying to make friends with Merru. She approached him trying to invite him to a game but the little boy ran off complaining. He is a bit of a complainer and will shout for no reason at all sometimes. Sana Sana and Malima were browsing on some bushes surrounding the mud bath area and they abandoned their feeding and came rushing over to see what was troubling the little one. When Kiasa saw the older females running towards her, she ran for safety behind the Keepers as she knew they might think she was bullying Merru, when in fact she was only trying to be friendly. 

Today Luggard woke up in a very happy and playful mood. When his stable door was opened he came running out to catch up with his best friend Musiara who had walked out just a few minutes before him. On his way out he was greeted by Malima, Ambo, Jotto and Maisha who were also on their way out to the forest. Because of his happy mood, Luggard greeted Jotto with a friendly head-butt, which was well-received by Jotto who loves playing, and the two enjoyed a happy pushing game of the kind that is so enjoyed by young growing bulls. The two bulls really took their time mock-charging at each other and retreating, before charging to take each other on again. Tiny Musiara who adores Luggard, was busy scampering about in the adjacent bushes cheering Luggard on in his game. The game eventually wound down and came to an end as the Keepers walked the orphans deeper into the forest.

Sana Sana and Kiasa seem to be the two girls who really look after Merru these days. During one of the bottle feeds today, Sana Sana and Kiasa were allowed to run down with the others to where the other Keepers were waiting with their bottles, but they were very hesitant and didn’t want to leave Merru behind. They didn’t leave, so eventually the Keepers allowed them to escort Merru down to the feeding area. They happily did so, and stayed close to him as he drank his bottle before walking off to browse. For Kiasa to think of another little baby and not cause any problems at milk feeding time is quite huge; it seems this little baby has really changed her character. 

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.

Kiko has been in a very naughty mood recently – both with the Keepers and the elephants as well. One of his recent favourite naughty things to do is snatch the hats off the Keepers’ heads!

As the orphans were browsing in the forest today, the ever-playful Malima didn’t seem interested in feeding but instead wanted to start a game. No one was interested in playing with her as they were all happy browsing on the vegetation. In the end she opted for rolling on the ground and throwing dust on herself, trumpeting at times to clear her trunk. Suddenly she changed tactics and tried to lure Tamiyoi to join her in her fun, but Tamiyoi was content with just browsing. To express her annoyance at not finding a playmate and being rejected by Tamiyoi, Malima took Tamiyoi’s tail and bit the end of it. Tamiyoi shouted with pain obviously, drawing the attention of the other babies who came running to help her and find out what was wrong. Seeing the others come running over, Malima quickly got up and moved away to avoid being disciplined, and the peace was restored.

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.

It was a sunny day today which meant the orphans looked happy and ready to enjoy their mud bath after their 11am milk bottle. As the first group finished having their bottles, the little mini matriarch Tamiyoi was the first one to get into the muddy water hole. There she happily sprayed herself with the muddy water. Maisha and Emoli went into the water second and then most of the others followed. Mukkoka and Merru decided to not go in the water, and stood on the edge trying to spray their bodies with their little trunks before the Keepers helped them have a bath by putting some mud on their backs with the spade. The two little boys who are fairly new to the Nursery and mud bath visiting time really enjoyed their bath, although Merru was still a little quiet and slow in his activities. 

When it came time for the older orphans to have their mud bath the activity was taken up a level as they rolled and splashed mud everywhere. As usual Malima was the most boisterous and playful, and came out of the mud hole covered from head to toe with mud, and ran along the rope cordon trying to get as many of the visitors muddy as possible, before running back into the mud bath again. She is such a funny and naughty character! 

Last night’s food feud between the neighbours Ndiwa and Malkia spilled over into this morning. The two girls pushed at the posts partitioning their stockades as they fought over the leftover branches. Malkia provoked her neighbor first by stealing one of her leftover branches. As soon as the gates to their stockades were opened, they both came out and within second they had begun tussling with each other, Ndiwa probably wanting to take revenge for Malkia stealing her branch. A push and pull fight ensued as they followed the rest of the group who were walking slowly out to the forest. Ndiwa looked a bit stronger, and pushed Malkia so hard that she stumbled and fell into Maktao, knocking him to the ground. This prompted the matriarch Tagwa to step in, who wanted no harm to befall one of her precious babies, and she came between the warring girls to separate them. Ndiwa tried to turn her anger on Tagwa as Malkia walked away, but Sana Sana then came over to back Tagwa and in the end Ndiwa left in the company of Malima and Enkesha to walk off deep into the forest.

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!