Choose your region

Ex-orphans Melia, Olare, Chemi Chemi, Naisula, Kitirua and Kalama were amongst some wild elephants that showed up for water at the stockade water troughs early in the morning. Once the orphans were let out, Olare and her group joined them to feed on lucerne. The two wild elephants were not left out either but also joined in on the feast. Olare was greeted by Tusuja and responded well without aggression, while Kalama had a moment with Enkikwe as she communicated by rumbling affectionately at him, as if enquiring how his leg is doing. One of the wild bulls walked down to have more water after he had enough of the lucerne. The orphans followed him and shared the water before bidding goodbye to the wild bull who appeared to be in a hurry to catch up with his friends who had already left. The orphans returned to pick whatever Lucerne they had left behind and it when it started drizzling, the orphans left for browsing in the company of Olare’s group. 

When the drizzle stopped, Tusuja, Olare, Sapalan, Kithaka, Naseku and Karisa settled for soil dusting as they tried to dry themselves. Kauro found a suitable rock that he used to scratch himself on, while Maramoja had fun rolling on the ground. Galla picked up a branch that had been broken by a wild elephant, and then walked to stand under a tree to enjoy its flavour. 

On the way out to brows, Ambo carried a branch with him that he had broken himself and continued to enjoy feeding on it as he tried to catch up with his friends. 

At mud bath time, only half the group decided to wallow in the water hole. When Esampu got out from the water, she trumpeted and ran around as if she was being followed by something, but she was just messing around. Her actions however prompted the other orphans to run too. Esampu felt happy as this was just a ploy, which was successful in scaring her friends. The Keepers intervened by calling the orphans and the orphans eventually all calmed down, leaving Esampu thinking up what to do next to see her friends running around again. In the afternoon, the temperature soared making the orphans take a break from feeding and relax under some trees before resuming browsing. In the evening, the orphans returned back to the stockades for the night. 

The sky was clear after the rain yesterday and we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. It was still wet following the previous days rain. The orphans as usual settled for lucerne before heading north to browse. It was a morning without much fun as the orphans mostly concentrated on browsing without any distractions. Tusuja settled to browse with Oltaiyoni while Enkikwe teamed up with Turkwel. 

After the orphans had their 11am milk bottles, they decided to just walk around the mud bath as if pondering whether or not to go in the water or just go back out to browse. After some time, the orphans left for browsing after Wanjala tested the water for them using his trunk and found that it was too cold for a swim. Sapalan scratched his neck against a nearby tree before settling for a pushing game with Namalok. Mundusi held a brief conversation with Esampu before heading to catch up with his other friends. Olsekki appeared to be unwell as he looked dull and walked slowly but still keeping pace with his friends. He did spend some time relaxing under a tree.  

The weather was chilly in the morning when the orphans were let out. As they waited for lucerne, Kamok, Esampu, Mapia and Turkwel kept themselves busy by scratching on the nearby rocks. As the orphans were leaving for browsing led by Karisa, two ibis flew past making a lot of noise. The noise scared the orphans prompting them to run back to Keepers. Only Karisa didn't run and he turned around to wonder how his friends can be scared just by a couple of birds. Karisa stood his ground and when the tension was over, the orphans turned again to follow Karisa. 

The soil has softened due to the rains and the orphans were happy as they uprooted shrubs and roots with ease and feasted on them. Wanjala settled to feed with Kauro, Kuishi and Mapia while Ndiwa teamed up with Maramoja. On the way to the mud bath it started raining lightly promoting Kauro to dig at the moist soil with his tusks and throw it on his back. It was chilly and none of the orphans dared to step into the mud bathing water. The rest of the afternoon was chilly with frequent showers as the orphans browsed calmly throughout. In the evening Olsekki was given injections since he was not feeling well.

We were visited by Kilaguni and Chaimu again today in the early morning. They went down to the Lucerne feeding area to wait for the orphans to come out and share with them. Esampu and Galla led their respective groups out of their stockades after their bottle of milk. Kamok started sharpening her tusks on a rock and rubbing her eyes. The orphans walked to the water trough to drink water and then they all walked out to the bush, together with Kilaguni and Chaimu.

As they were all busy browsing, Barsilinga was spotted climbing on a rock to reach some green branches. Enkikwe was being funny and rolling around in the dust waiting for all the orphans to walk to the mud bath for their milk bottles. They came across a puddle of rain water on their way and most of the orphans started playing in it. 

After their bottles, they felt the main mud bath was too cold and none of the orphans bothered to play in it, they all just walked back out to browse. Very little green shoots have just started sprouting which the orphans love to eat. Pare and Namalok were sucking rain water from the rocks as they felt thirsty, the rest were busy searching for food. Later, Sapalan and Namalok led the herd back home in the evening. Barsilinga, Kithaka Garzi and Lemoyian were left behind and came from a different direction an hour later. We had no proper rain today but little drizzle.

The sky was partly obscured by clouds when the orphans left for browsing early this morning. The ground was still wet and the orphans looked forward to a good day ahead. New shoots have started to emerge and the orphans really enjoy feeding on them. The orphans settled to feed north of the stockade where Esampu had a private time rolling on the ground. Mapia came across a bent tree that he used to scratch his thighs on, as Kamok settled on some rocky terrain to feed. Barsilinga, Kithaka and Lemoyian parted ways with the rest of group and walked off. 

At mud bath time, the Ithumba dependent orphans only had their milk bottles and some water from the water troughs before walking back out to browse. Galla tried to dig soil using his tusks for soil dusting but found it was still quite wet and he wasn’t able to use it properly for dusting and so gave up the exercise. Mapia was seen playing around on the side of the road which has a raised edge and which he was using to roll against. Garzi settled to feed with Roi as Wanjala pushed Namalok away from the shrub he had settled to feed on. Namalok had no option but to leave and search for another nice shrub to feed on. Shortly later the orphans came across a muddy pool that they enjoyed wallowing in for quite some time. In the evening on the way back to the stockades, Malkia scratched against a tree as Ambo dusted himself with some wet soil. Lemoyian and Kithaka reported back to the stockades late, at around nine o'clock at night.