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The ex-orphans arrived early in the morning before the orphans were let out. Orwa and Bomani lined up along the wall with Pare, Mteto, Sapalan, Karisa and Maramoja, thinking perhaps that the Keepers might make a mistake and give them some milk too. The two boys forgot that they are big and have long tusks so it was easy for the Keepers to distinguish them from the others, unfortunately for them! Bomani and Orwa shook their heads in disappointment when the Keepers skipped them. They walked down to the water troughs to console themselves by drinking water. It appears Pare and Sapalan were laughing at them, but they made sure that they were not facing their direction otherwise they would have faced it rough from Bomani and Orwa! Lucerne was distributed and all the orphans shared it equally. Mapia and Jotto briefly engaged in a strength testing exercise but were stopped by Bomani who pushed the two boys away.

Kamok had a tough time when she walked close by Ithumbah’s baby Iman. Ithumbah, apparently aware of Kamok’s reputation of pushing youngsters, thought it best not to let Kamok close to her baby, and whipped Kamok with her trunk to avoid seeing her only baby being knocked down by Kamok.

On their way to browse the orphans came across some guinea fowl. Esampu, Mundusi, Sattao and Dololo decided to chase them out of their way. The birds didn’t hang around to be trampled on by the baby elephants and flew away leaving the orphans charging and trumpeting. Jotto met with a buffalo and tried to charge at it, but the buffalo stood its ground and even threatened to push Jotto. Jotto retreated. Ndiwa saw Jotto and decided to come and help him. When the buffalo saw that Jotto had back up from a friend it immediately changed its mind and decided to run off, knowing it couldn’t stand up to two young elephants!

Orwa and Bomani followed the orphans to the bush and browsed together with them for the better part of the morning. Kuishi and Pare had a brief conversation with Bomani and shortly afterwards resumed browsing. Kauro, Mteto, Malima, Sapalan and Jotto took a break from browsing and had a game of rolling on the ground. Rapa came over and picked Sapalan for a pushing game.

At mud bath time, Kauro came in carrying a bigger stick than usual, as is his habit before having his milk bottles. The weather was chilly and none of the orphans wanted to wallow in the mud bath. In the afternoon Malima settled to browse with Larro while Mteto, Sapalan and Mundusi teamed up together to browse. In the evening, Sattao led the way back to the stockades for the night. 

Some African Wild Dogs visited the compound this morning for a drink on their way out to hunt but the Ithumba dependent orphans weren’t afraid of them. They continued feeding on lucerne and didn’t seem bothered at all.

The dependent orphans met with some ex-orphans and wild elephants at the lucerne feeding area. Ithumbah and her baby Iman were among them. They interacted while feeding on lucerne until it was time for the dependent orphans to begin their day of browsing out in the bush. Esampu stayed behind as she was captivated by Iman and Noah, Ithumbah and Nasalot’s babies, and was enjoying looking after them. Esampu walked with them for a bit towards the bush, but the babies came back running towards their mums. Iman went straight to her mum and spread her ears in excitement.

Out in the bush all the orphans were busy searching for something to eat. There was quite a wind blowing so when they made their way to the mud bath for their noon milk feed, none of the orphans opted to swim and there were no wild elephants present there either. The orphans had their bottles and a drink of water before going straight back to browsing. Mapia started playfighting with Rapa while Pare engaged Esampu, and later they followed their friends to the bush.

As the day progressed it warmed up somewhat, so the orphans opted to visit the small roadside mud bath to cool off. When he came out Sapalan opted for a dust bath to dry off. Nabulu was struggling to get out as the edges were very slippery, and she had to find a different place to exit. Mukkoka led the herd back home in the evening for their milk bottles.

Back in the stockades Kithaka is still improving slowly but surely and is positively responding to treatment which is wonderful.

It was another lovely morning today with the dependent orphans drinking their milk as usual around 6am and walking out to join the ex-orphans and wild elephants present for lucerne. There wasn’t much commotion however as there weren’t many other elephants around this morning. Pare, Kuishi and Esampu started playing after they had their fill of lucerne, before following Larro out to browse.

Just after the dependent orphans left, twenty-year-old Wendi and her herd arrived with a tiny baby at their feet. We couldn’t have anticipated that today would be the day that Wendi would arrive with yet another wild born baby! We did know she was pregnant but thought she might not be due for some time yet! Wendi’s herd arrived slowly and started looking for something to feed on. We started serving them with lucerne immediately after they arrived and confirmed that indeed it was Wendi’s baby. We decided to name her Wimbi. Now Wendi has three children Wiva, Wema and Wimbi. Wendi is a bit of a troublemaker. Yesterday, we had been wondering where she got to — and it was clear she had been busy having her baby! The baby looks healthy and strong, but it was interesting to see that Wema, Wendi’s second born is still breastfeeding too, even after the birth of Wimbi. The two are competing over the right to nurse, with Wema even trying to push Wimbi away. We are happy to see that Wiva, the oldest, is taking very good care of the situation, even pushing Wema away for the newborn baby to get space to breastfeed! We are so delighted to welcome our 52^nd wild born elephant baby.

While the orphans were at the mud bath a group of wild bulls came to drink water. They waited patiently for the orphans to have their fill of water before moving in to have their share. The orphans decided not to wallow today and started to walk back out to the bush to continue eating. Kauro and Mundusi chose to browse together. Pare and Rapa took a break from feeding and started playfighting. Later the babies slowly started walking back home in the evening for their milk bottles.

In the stockade compound today, we had some wild elephant bulls visiting to drink water, and a few ex-orphans. Wendi was among them with her new baby. They were lucky today as we fed them a lot of lucerne supplemental food due to Wendi being there with her newborn.

The ex-orphans were visibly excited to see the dependent orphans coming out of their stockades this morning after their milk feed, as they knew that it would soon be lucerne feeding time! Wendi and her new baby Wimbi were among the ex-orphans. Wimbi was nursing and at times Wema was also trying to breastfeed; sometimes they were both nursing at the same time, so it is good that Wendi is getting the extra supplemental food. When they were done the dependent orphans walked off to begin their day of browsing, leaving the ex-orphans behind.

Ndiwa and Dololo decided to browse together this morning while Esampu concentrated on stripping some bark off a tree branch to eat.

Later in the morning they walked to the mud bath to have their milk feed, after which some of the orphans decided to wallow. Musiara was the most playful today, together with Mteto. A wild bull with one tusk arrived and when he got into the mud bath as well, most of the orphans decided to come out and give him his space. Mteto came out of the water and started drying off by rolling in the loose soil. Mundusi came over next to Mteto and started playing and climbing on her. Ex-orphan Challa showed up, walking slowly and majestically towards the water trough for a drink where he met with some wild bulls. Later some of the dependent orphans joined the wild bulls for a drink as well, which they didn’t mind and they interacted freely around the water trough, each elephant being able to quench their thirst.

It was very hot in the afternoon and Maramoja, Sana Sana, Ndiwa and others decided to stand and relax in the shade for a while. As they made their way slowly back towards the stockades, Rapa decided to deviate to the small roadside mud bath where he started playing to cool off.

In the compound today we had a large group of ex-orphans decide to visit us with Wendi and her babies among them. At one point Wendi’s baby Wimbi fell in the water trough but we managed to get her out okay. She walked off with Wendi into the bush.

The dependent orphans interacted with the ex-orphans present as usual, like Wendi and Ithumbah with their babies, before walking out to the bush when they had their fill of lucerne. Oltaiyoni’s group including Roi, Olsekki, Tusuja, Naseku and Galla still show up on a near daily basis to share lucerne with the dependent orphans too, but they choose to sleep out at night nowadays.

Out in the bush some of the orphans were peeling tree bark from trees, while others were digging up roots for food using their front feet to slash and their trunks to pull. This is a very hard time for all wildlife but luckily our orphans will be okay. When they arrived at the mud bath the orphans only found a few wild bulls there enjoying a drink. Only a few of them wanted to wallow in the main mud bath; Rapa, Jotto and Musiara were the most playful today as they splashed and rolled around in the deepest part of the water.

The orphans had a peaceful afternoon of browsing but they felt very hot, so decided to pass by the waterhole along the road before heading home in the evening. A number of them stayed there to wallow for a little while longer, like Ambo, Jotto, Mundusi, Esampu and Malkia. These days Karisa doesn’t stay with the dependent herd during the day and prefers to hang with Oltaiyoni’s group, but towards this time in the afternoon he leaves them to make his way back to the stockades to feed on the supplements of lucerne pellets and dairy cubes before being locked in for the night with the other dependent orphans. Kithaka is still on medication and thankfully seems to be improving every day.

Enkikwe walked right up in amongst some wild elephants as they stood drinking from the water trough this morning, which they didn’t seem to mind and let the young elephant share water with them. As usual these days Ithumbah and Wendi with their babies were among the ex-orphans present, who shared lucerne with the dependent orphans, as well as some wild elephants too! Everyone is appreciating this extra bit of help at the moment.

The orphans continued their method of browsing these days which includes stripping bark and digging up nutritious roots for sustenance – very normal dry weather habits for elephants. Mteto used her trunk to stretch up high into branches as well. Mukkoka decided to take a break from browsing to play with Naboishu, and Jotto decided to do the same with Kauro. Kauro is very playful these days and later he switched to playing with Ambo. It’s as if he is trying to test his strength against different elephants, as he changed again to playing with Esampu, and finally to Mundusi. Some African Wild Dogs who have a den nearby passed by the orphans, who didn’t pay them any attention and continued browsing. Just before going for their midday milk feed, Pare decided to start a game with Musiara and settled the wrestling match by climbing on Musiara’s back to show him who was boss.

Only Lenana and her baby Lapa were at the mud bath when the orphans arrived. The orphans found them busy playing in the shallows of the water and enjoying cooling off. Larro, Malkia, Esampu and Rapa enjoyed the mud bath as well.

It was a hot afternoon and many of the orphans sought shade for a while. They resumed browsing a bit later but once again made sure to pass by the small waterhole on their way back to the stockades. Maramoja, Mukkoka, Mundusi, Ambo and Kamok splashed about excitedly, before following their friends. Karisa is still arriving back at the stockade compound before any others as he believes he might get extra supplements that way!

Nasalot, Nusu, Noah, Sunyei, Siku, Saba, Makena, Mutara, Mambo, Turkwel, Sities, Suguta, Kainuk, Kanjoro, Taita and several wild bulls joined the orphans this morning. The vocal Naboishu was the first one to leave his stockade whereupon he met with Nusu, who was trying to block his way from the exit. Naboishu didn't want trouble with anyone, especially a baby with his mother in the vicinity, so he walked past Nusu very quickly, keeping a safe distance. Maramoja, Esampu and Mteto appeared to be competing over who was best suited to look after little Mambo. When it was time to leave, both Mteto and Esampu refused to go with their dependent friends and instead stuck with Mutara’s group, acting as young nannies. Mteto eventually decided to leave and follow her friends, but Esampu remained behind and enjoyed spending time with Mambo without any other competition. Mutara and her group headed east into the bush, taking Esampu with them.

Out in the bush, Jotto engaged Pare in a pushing game while Dololo played with Ambo. The orphans enjoyed feeding on trees that have been felled by bigger elephants, incidentally providing food for the orphans who are not strong enough to do so, and other species too. The drought has forced elephants to knock down some bigger trees so they can get enough food as we all await the rains.

At mud bath time, only Mapia, Rapa, Enkikwe, Pare, Dololo, Malkia, Sana Sana and Malima wanted to swim in the mud bath. Mapia and Rapa had an argument soon after leaving the mud bath which resulted in a fight. When the going got tough for Mapia, he turned around and showed Rapa his back as a sign of respect and surrender. In the afternoon, Kamok teamed up with her Ambo and Nabulu to browse, as Sapalan and Enkikwe browsed a short distance away from the others. It was very hot and the orphans decided to pass by the road side mud bath to cool off before heading back to the stockades for the night. Esampu stayed out with Mutara’s herd and didn’t return this evening.

Esampu, who had spent the night outside with Mutara’s herd, arrived back at the stockades early before dawn in the company of Nasalot, Nusu and Noah. They relaxed outside waiting for daybreak and for the dependent orphans to be let out so that they could share lucerne with them. After the orphans were let out, naughty Nusu tried to block them at the exit point. Rapa and Mundusi were annoyed by this small boys’ actions and ganged up to drive him away. Nusu couldn't match the strength of the two boys and decided to surrender and ran to his mother Nasalot.

When the orphans were done with their supplemental food, Sana Sana led the way out. Jotto and Malkia had a private meeting which soon turned into a pushing game. Kauro passed by and intervened, separating the two from fighting. Rapa engaged Sapalan in a strength testing exercise that ended in a draw. Later, Malkia settled to browse with Maramoja, and we wondered if they were scheming on how to best punish Jotto. Jotto saw the two girls together and seemed to think the two girls were discussing on how to gang up against him as well, and he walked off far away, concentrating on reaching leaves high in the trees to get enough strength to defend himself in case the two girls attempted to ambush him! Karisa teamed up with ex-orphan Kibo and walked off into the bush. Ndiwa settled to browse with Larro as Kuishi took care of Naboishu.

It was very hot when the orphans were at the mud bath and all of them decided to get into the water to wallow. Challa joined the orphans briefly, before disappearing again. In the afternoon, the orphans settled to browse west of Ithumba Hill and later they decided to pass by the roadside mud bath to cool off before making their way home for the night.

Soon after leaving the stockade compound, Mukkoka decided to keep himself busy by playing on the ground as he waited for lucerne pellets. Mteto came over and picked Mukkoka up and walked him over to the lucerne feeding area. Shortly later, the orphans were joined by some ex-orphans. Pare had a disagreement with Kinna’s baby Kama which escalated into a fight. Rapa, Mundusi and Sapalan decided to help one of their own by ganging up against Kama. Kama had no option other than to quit and run away, while Mteto led the Ithumba dependent orphans out of the compound and into the Park.

Pare and Musiara took a break from feeding to have a game of rolling on the ground. Sapalan came across an acacia tree that wild elephants had already started to feast on, and he was delighted to so easily be able to pull the bark off left behind.

At mud bath time it was cloudy and none of the orphans dared to step into the mud bathing water. After finishing their noon milk feed, the orphans joined several wild bulls drinking water before heading back to the browsing field. The afternoon was quiet as the orphans concentrated mostly on browsing. In the evening, Sattao led the first group home while Esampu led the second one.

It was a cloudy morning when the orphans left the stockade and settled for lucerne. The vocal Naboishu led the way out, followed by Mukkoka. Maramoja walked over to Musiara's night stockade and collected him so that they could walk out together. The orphans enjoyed lucerne without any disturbance from the ex-orphans as none of them showed up this morning; only five wild bulls were present at the water trough. Three of the wild bulls joined the orphans briefly for

Later in the morning, Mukkoka engaged Sattao in a pushing game while Dololo played with Sapalan. At mud bath time, the cloudy sky opened and finally gave way to a small shower that was enough to settle the dust. Kamok, Malkia, Rapa, Mukkoka, Larro, Pare, Jotto, Malima, Mapia and Nabulu all lay down to play with the damp soil. Later, Sana Sana led the way back out to browse, followed by Naboishu, Kuishi and Esampu.

In the afternoon the clouds cleared giving way to sunshine again. Musiara and Pare paused from feeding to enjoy a pushing game. Maramoja teamed up with Mukkoka to browse while Kamok settled to browse with Ambo. When it was time to return home, Jotto led the first group back to the stockades.

It was a cloudy morning today which gave us hope that we might receive more desperately needed showers soon. The Ithumba dependent orphans settled for lucerne soon after leaving the stockades as usual. The cloudy morning appeared to have delayed wild elephants from coming to drink water. Shortly later, ex-orphans Loijuk, Lili, Lulu, Kilabasi, Kofi, Makireti and two wild elephants emerged from the east. Mteto and Maramoja ran to meet and welcome them with their trunks in the air for the morning lucerne breakfast. Upon meeting them, Maramoja and Mteto exchanged morning greetings with the wild born babies Lili, Lulu and Kofi before escorting them up to the lucerne feeding area. Sapalan shared lucerne with Pare as Loijuk shared it with her daughter Lili and a wild bull. Nabulu moved closer to Lulu and perhaps questioned her on the whereabouts of her mother Lualeni. Lulu ignored Nabulu and carried on feeding on lucerne. Nabulu didn’t like being ignored and pushed Lulu before walking off. Malkia came over and comforted Lulu as she saw what Nabulu had done.

When they were ready, the orphans, led by Larro, headed south of the stockades and ended up settling in the Kone area. It was a quiet morning as the orphans browsed calmly without any major distractions.

At mud bath time the weather was cloudy but warm. Pare, Rapa, Malkia, Mundusi, Esampu, Dololo, Musiara, Enkiwe and Ambo all decided to wallow while the others just had a dust bath and some fresh water. The afternoon remained quiet, and the orphans concentrated on browsing hoping the rain would show up again sooner rather than later. 

The morning began as usual with the ex-orphans and some wild bulls joining the orphans for the lucerne feeding and other wild bulls drinking water at the stockade water troughs. Shortly before seven o'clock in the morning, we suddenly felt slight tension around the water trough as some of the bulls retreated suddenly, giving us the full view of a newborn baby on the ground. We were surprised to find that Melia had given birth! Melia herself was also metres away after getting a fright when the baby dropped to the ground. Kitirua, Olare, Kinna, Wiva, Loijuk and the wild mother walked down to see the new baby. Melia just stood there not really knowing what to do at first, but a few minutes later, Loijuk offered to assist Melia in getting the baby up on its feet. Slowly but surely, Loijuk managed to get the baby up and guided it to its mother. She stayed for a while to make sure that the baby was stable, the baby wobbled as it walked, then Loijuk left after making sure that she had played her part well. 

From there, Olare, Kitirua and Sities took over from there and stayed with Melia to make sure that the baby was safe. Melia chose to stay close to the compound as she tried to come to terms with becoming a mother. In her teenage years, Melia never played nanny to any baby and she was never vert interested in learning how to nurture youngsters or on becoming a mother. We will see how she will do as a mother, but we are sure she will be okay, and she is lucky that she will always be surrounded by competent and experienced nannies who are always willing to help – such is the way of elephants! Nannies like Olare, Sities, Kalama, Kitirua and even our small orphans Malkia, Mteto, Maramoja and Esampu are always delighted to play nanny to youngsters. We decided to call Melia’s little boy Milo.

The orphans settled to browse in the Kone area. Ndiwa teamed up with Mukkoka and Dololo to browse while Sapalan settled to browse with Enkikwe. When the orphans made their way to the mud bath it was very hot so all the orphans wanted to wallow in the waterhole. Soon three wild bulls showed up however and this prompted the orphans to finish wallowing and give way to their seniors and make space for them.

In the afternoon, Rapa engaged Mapia in a pushing game while Jotto settled to play with Pare. Shortly before evening, Sapalan, Enkikwe and Karisa left their friends and Keepers, returning to stockades early before the usual time to be first to the supplements!

Malkia, Mteto, Maramoja and Esampu had the first opportunity amongst the dependent orphans to interact with baby Milo. Melia gave them the opportunity as she was busy feeding on the lucerne supplements. Olare, who has taken over as the main nanny, had no problem with the young girls spending time with Milo, much to their delight. Maramoja felt happy when Milo attempted to nurse from her. She put her leg forward, just like mothers do to lower themselves for babies to feed. The four girls will make excellent mothers in the future since they are learning so fast about taking care of young babies! Milo walked towards Rapa, unaware of Rapa’s nature, and Rapa threatened to knock him down. Maramoja and Malkia were quick to act and whisked Milo away before Rapa could make his threats real. Naboishu and Kuishi walked down to the water trough to try and get some water. Several bulls had occupied the water troughs however and gave the two menacing looks. Kuishi advised Naboishu that if they wanted to stay out of trouble, then they should not squeeze themselves in between the bulls and so they decided to continue out to the bush instead. 

Out in the bush, Jotto engaged Sapalan in a pushing game as the rest of the group settled into a serious browsing session. At mud bath time, the temperature was moderate and only Pare participated fully in wallowing. Malkia got in but only wet her feet. The rest of the group joined several wild bulls who were drinking water at the trough.

In the afternoon the orphans settled to browse west of Ithumba Hill. Kamok teamed up with Ambo and Esampu to browse. Mteto and Sapalan came across an acacia tree that had been stripped of its bark and continued to pull at the leftover pieces of hanging bark as they enjoyed its delicacy.