Keepers' Diaries, October 2022

Umani Springs Reintegration Unit



Zongoloni seems to think she can have her cake and eat it too. She is enjoying a largely wild life, but she is constantly trying to recruit new members for her ex-orphan herd. Unfortunately for her, the older dependent females are wise to her kidnapping ways and are now on the offensive when she’s around.

01 October 2022

Kapei has developed a strong bond with Sonje and Quanza, Lima Lima has also tried to adopt Kapei but she is at a disadvantage because she is a nightclubber and doesn’t get to spend as much time with Kapei. Kapei is a happy young boy, he loves being looked after by the older girls and is very happy to have more than one ‘mother’. 

When Faraja and Jasiri came to visit this morning, they went to greet the tiny new Kapei. Zongoloni left Kiasa, turning all her attention to Kapei. Zongoloni walked with Kapei to the waterhole, wanting to help give him a mud bath. Sonje no longer trusts Zongoloni after she tried to take Kiasa off with her into the bush, so Sonje blocked Zongoloni from interacting with Kapei. Murera agreed with Sonje and loudly rumbled a warning to Zongoloni. 

02 October 2022

Even early this morning it was very hot. The orphans went straight to the mud bath to cool off. Kapei walked in front of all the elephants, Sonje and Quanza like him at the front as they can see him and make sure he is safe. The orphan herd entered the mud bath the older orphans splashed their bodies with mud and started throwing mud over the younger orphans to help cool them down as well. 

Alamaya and Mwashoti were struggling to get space in the mud bath, as the younger orphans had taken over. Murera and Quanza were watching closely to make sure they didn’t push any of the babies. Kapei was especially protected by his ‘mothers’.

After a long day of patrolling and browsing it was time to go back to the stockades, as we started back, a wild herd joined the orphan herd and they all mixed in together. The Keepers tried to call the orphans away, especially worried that Sonje and Kapei could be taken away in the confusion by the wild herd. 

03 October 2022

Because of the drought, there is not enough food available for all the wildlife. The bushbucks, baboons and buffalos come in large numbers to the lucerne pellets and hay drop. The Keepers have realised that the wildlife is no longer fearful of humans or the elephants, perhaps just the need of food overpowers their usual fear. Maktao and Kiombo were not very friendly to the wildlife, as they do not want to share their feeding place with the other animals. Kiombo whispered to his friends and joining together, they started trumpeting and chasing the bushbucks and baboons. The buffalos stood their ground, because they do not feel threatened by the orphans. Maktao tripped over a log and fell down on his knees. He was embarrassed and stopped chasing the baboons going instead to his friend Enkesha for some sympathy. 

The Keepers found Murera and Mwashoti hiding from the buffalos. Murera loves peace and quiet and is afraid of getting hurt, so she avoids confrontation, protecting and caring for her body and not being close to all the action. Instead, she stayed a safe distance away browsing with her friend. 

04 October 2022

Ziwa and some of his wild friends came to join the orphans. Ziwa was very curious when he realised there was a new baby in the herd. Alamaya and Zongoloni spent some time with him, filling him in on their new member, Kapei. Quanza and Sonje keep a very close eye on Kapei, but Murera prefers to be free from the responsibility. Enkesha and Kiasa have become loyal friends to Kapei. Kapei loves all the attention and is happy to be friends with everyone. The older boys, Alamaya, Mwashoti, Ngasha and Faraja are not interested in Kapei, they generally get on with their own business, unlike the girls in the herd. 

After a long hot day of browsing, the orphans had walked quite a far distance. Sonje decided to stop the group under this big tree for orphans to have a much needed a break and to cool off and rest before their walk back to the stockades for their evening milk feed. The Keepers agreed it was a good time to take a rest and especially for little Kapei.  

05 October 2022

A big herd of wild elephants reported to the stockades very early this morning. By the time the orphans had finished their milk feed and were waiting at the stockade gates to get out, two wild mothers with tiny babies were waiting on the other side of the gate for the orphans to join them. The nightclubbers Lima Lima, Mwashoti, and Zongoloni were also mixed in with the wild herd. Zongoloni and Lima Lima followed the wild herd in hopes of spending time with the tiny ones. The nightclubbers must have told the wild elephants not to fear the Keepers as they didn’t run away from the Keepers when they came to open the gate. The Keepers had to be careful that Kapei did not leave with the wild herd, although they did not have to worry as Quanza and Sonje shielded Kapei and guided him back to the Keepers and the rest of the orphan herd. 

The orphan herd went on patrol around the Umani hills and the Umani springs. Lima Lima spotted a crocodile outside the water and all the orphans got scared and started trumpeting very loudly. The crocodiles seem to have learnt that the noise means the elephants are unhappy and may come to charge at them so the crocodiles went back into the safety of water pools. Maktao, Enkesha and Kiombo kept on trumpeting and charging at the trees and bushes. The orphans moved away from the springs and the tense situation calmed down.

As the day started to get hotter, the orphans were forced to look for a mud bath to cool off. Sonje and Lima Lima moved the babies straight to mud bath, Kapei jumped into waterhole first then the others followed, and the fun swimming time began. All the orphans really enjoyed the afternoon playing together.  

06 October 2022

The Keepers were very happy to see a full house this morning. Only Ziwa was not present; he seems happy with this wild family. It was nice to see Faraja and Jasiri back. The two boys walked in together from the same direction. Jasiri spotted Ngasha immediately coming over to where he and Faraja were standing. Jasiri knows that these two don’t get along well, he saw that Ngasha wanted to start a fight with Faraja, so he was ready on standby to intervene. Luckily Jasiri didn’t start a fight, maintaining the peace. Alamaya and Mwashoti had also noticed what was going on and they followed Jasiri, ready to act as back up if a fight started. 

Some buffaloes came and mingled around the herd. Murera, after realising that the buffaloes were all around her, got scared, she felt very threatened. Murera is always very cautious, knowing that her body is not as strong as the others and that she needs to protect herself, she kept her distance and went to browse within the Kibwezi forests. 

The little boys Kiombo and Maktao started their daily sparring session. Maktao has won the last few games but today Kiombo seemed determined to break his winning streak. Kiombo pushed hard but Maktao stood his ground and put that little extra effort not wanting to lose either. Quanza saw that the boys were being very rough, she decided to intervene and got between them before it could turn serious. They accepted that the fight was over; Maktao moved away first then Kiombo went over to where Sonje was browsing with Kapei.

07 October 2022

Little Kapei has developed a close relationship with Sonje and Quanza. He is a very good and friendly little boy. Lima Lima has been very busy, patrolling the area, although she still comes back to the stockades every morning. The Keepers have noticed that since Kapei joined the Umani herd, Lima Lima has been very loyal and comes back to check on ‘her little angel’ every day, she is worried that Sonje and Quanza will become Kapei’s favourites. Zongoloni also wants to be involved with Kapei but she is having a hard time convincing Sonje and the other older girls that she will not take Kapei away. 

It was a happy moment when Keepers saw little Kapei trying to suckle Sonje, looking for milk. Although she is not producing any milk, Sonje allowed him to relax between her front legs and suckle.

Little Kapei took longer to get to the waterhole today. By the time he arrived, the other orphans were already wallowing in the mud bath. Kapei normally waits for the bigger orphans to finish before taking his turn to go in, but today he couldn’t wait and joined in swimming with all the other orphans. The Keepers kept a close eye on him to make sure he was okay, and they made sure to keep Ngasha away from him. Sonje, Lima Lima and Quanza all stood guard, also keeping a close eye on him. Kiasa and Enkesha also want to be friends with Kapei. They were very excited to have some time swimming with him. Kapei is loved by all the elephants in the Umani herd.

08 October 2022

Hearing Kapei scream, Quanza and Enkesha ran over to where little Kapei was to find out what was going on. When they got there, they found nothing scary, Kapei had just tried to chase the crane birds away. The crane birds were nesting in the grass, so they were very reluctant to move off and because Kapei was a little too close for comfort they decided they needed to defend their nest and they tried to scare Kapei off. He was not familiar with crane birds, so he screamed and ran off.

Some buffalos walked towards the corner where the Keepers have been dropping lucerne and hay. With the drought and the wildfires in the Chyulu area the buffaloes have become more frequent visitors as they look for food. Today there were about ten buffalos, and five bushbucks waiting for the Keepers to bring the hay. When they saw the vehicle approaching with the hay, they followed it and patiently wated for the food to be spread around. 

The orphan herd later met up with Faraja and Zongoloni at the waterhole. They had brought two wild bulls with them. Sonje and Maktao walked into water hole ready for wallowing. Murera found it hard to get into waterhole as it was bustling with elephants, and she couldn’t find any space without getting pushed around. Murera took her time and waited for her own space, she is also wary of the wild bulls, so she patiently waited for them to move out of the mud bath. Mwashoti being good friend waited for Murera to finish her mud bath, then they walked together behind Sonje and the other babies. Sonje chose the direction to walk in and none of the babies questioned her they all just followed.

09 October 2022

Many buffalos and some bushbucks were waiting again today at the hay drop. Sonje and Lima Lima followed by Enkesha and Kapei walked straight into mix, into the lucerne corner looking for food. Kapei raised his trunk, smelling the scents of the different animals, then he wandered a couple of metres away. Sonje and Lima Lima kept a very close eye on him. When a bushbuck came running out of the bushes, Kapei got such a fright and trumpeted loudly. The older girls walked over to comfort him. After all the commotion was over, Murera and Mwashoti arrived. Zongoloni walked over to the buffalos, who got nervous and disappeared towards the Umani hills. 

At the midday waterhole, the orphans were very hot. None of the babies skipped their mud bath, but instead all eagerly jumped in to cool off. Even Kapei got straight in without any hesitation or worry of getting squished. Sonje made sure Kapei was in front of her so that she could make sure he was safe, especially as Ngasha was in the mud bath with them. 

Enkesha and Maktao kept an eye on Kiasa, who was also swimming with everyone, but she kept close to Sonje and Kapei for safety. Then the orphans all went over to have their dust baths. Murera was very happy, throwing big dust clouds over her back. Alamaya copied Murera, throwing dust on himself, then he also started throwing dust on Murera. 

10 October 2022

The orphan herd headed out towards the Kenzili area this morning. Along the way, they smelled a wild herd. The wild elephants had been browsing here the night before but had already moved on by the time the orphan herd walked through. 

Late morning, Faraja and Jasiri joined the herd and immediately tried to take over leading the babies. The babies were not interested and instead stayed with Sonje and the older girls. Faraja tried hard to convince them to follow the trail the wild elephants were taking, but the big girls remained on their own path, happily browsing. Faraja went off tracking the wild herd and he quickly found them not too far away. Then the arrival of two wild bulls with big tusks changed everything. The boys were chased away by the older females in the wild herd. There was lots of loud trumpeting and pushing as they tried to chase the boys, including Faraja, away. Murera could hear all the commotion and she was not happy with Faraja. Murera rumbled to Mwashoti and after some consultation, Mwashoti followed Murera, and they started to move away from the mess that Faraja had unknowingly created. 

A troop of baboons came out of the bushes yelling loudly. This scared the orphan herd and made them all scatter, running in different directions. Zongoloni and Kiasa ran away in one direction far from the Keepers, while Maktao, Enkesha, Lima Lima and Quanza ran towards the Keepers for protection. Once things had calmed down, the Keepers started calling all the orphans back to them so that none of them would get lost. Luckily, Zongoloni was not up to her old tricks of trying to steal Kiasa.

11 October 2022

The orphans climbed the Chyulu hills looking for green vegetation. There is no greenery because of the drought. Zongoloni headed over to Kiasa, who was standing with Maktao. Kiombo saw Maktao relaxing under some shade and decided it was a good time to start a pushing match. Maktao was not ready for the pushing game, so when Kiombo pushed him, he fell over. Maktao then got up and was ready for a challenge. In fact, he had cleverly tricked Kiombo by taking the upper side of the hill, giving him an advantage over Kiombo on the lower on the slope. In the end, Maktao won and pushed Kiombo down.

12 October 2022

Some crocodiles came out from the Umani springs. Alamaya and Mwashoti were the first to spot the two crocodiles. They got scared and stopped, looking around to find an escape route from the crocodiles. Then the baboons and vervet monkeys in the bushes behind Alamaya and Mwashoti started alarming loudly; they must have seen the crocodiles too. All this noise scared the other orphans, who started trumpeting and running away from the Umani springs. Kapei fell down in all the fuss, but all the older girls came rushing over to help him. Sonje became frantic and chased away all the other babies, until eventually she and Lima Lima escorted Kapei away. 

At the waterhole, it was all fun and games! The orphans were all very happy playing in the mud bath, swimming and wallowing for ages. No one wanted to leave. Murera, Enkesha and little Kiasa moved to the dust pile for their dusting session. All the babies followed, blowing cloud dusts over her head! Even Ngasha and Faraja joined in, enjoying the dusting. Eventually, Sonje as the leader, moved off and the babies followed her to the bushes. Little Kapei was flanked by Kiasa and Enkesha, who were assigned to being his protectors. Sonje kept a close eye on Zongoloni, worried she would try to take Kiasa away with her, as Kiasa is still Zongoloni’s favourite.

13 October 2022

Mwashoti and Enkesha approached Kiasa, Faraja and Jasiri, where they were pulling down branches to eat. Jasiri was not happy about this; he did not want Mwashoti to join them. He was being protective over the space worried that there would not be enough food for all of them to eat under the same tree. Mwashoti was moved off and escaped unhurt.

Enkesha was lucky, because Jasiri allowed her to stay. Maktao was also allowed to join in. This made the Keepers wonder why Jasiri was being so hard on Mwashoti. Alamaya sensed danger after seeing how Jasiri chased Mwashoti away, so he stayed away from Jasiri. 

The orphan herd started heading towards the Kenzili area. Kiombo and Kiasa took a wrong turn following some wild elephant scent trails and got lost. They realised that they had gotten lost and started trumpeting. The Keepers heard them, but Lima Lima and Enkesha had already realised that it was Kiombo and Kiasa and went rushing off into the bushes to bring their friends back to the orphan herd.

14 October 2022

The morning started very well, all the babies were happy, ready to come out from their stockades. Sonje was first out, and she walked round all the stockades checking in on everyone. She also wanted to get to Kapei before Quanza did. After doing her checks she stopped at Kapei’s door waiting for him to be let out. As soon as he was out, Quanza arrived, so Sonje ushered Kapei in the opposite direction towards Lima Lima instead. Lima Lima rushed over to give Kapei lots of hugs and happy greetings. Lima Lima now tried to block Sonje from Kapei. Sonje watched in disbelief as she was the one who led Kapei to Lima Lima. 

Sonje then joined up with Enkesha, and soon all the babies were following Sonje, as she is the only one that they all trust. 

At midday in the hills, the orphans got too hot and some of the babies were tired. Murera and Mwashoti rested under a big tree and the babies copied them. There was not enough space for all of them, so Enkesha and some of the other older girls had to find another shady tree. Later at the mud bath, Ngasha started pushing his way into the water, spoiling the fun the other orphans were having. All the orphans decided to get out and Ngasha was left to swim on his own. 

This afternoon, we welcomed a new rescue named Amali, who was found on her own in Rukinga Ranch. She is another victim of the devastating drought that has swept across Kenya.

15 October 2022

Lima Lima and Mwashoti were waiting outside the stockades in the morning, Alamaya and the other nightclubbers arrived much later this morning, and Zongoloni was not with them. 

Amali, who is the newest rescue to join the Umani herd, is not ready to join the others outside the stockades. She is still under close monitoring by the Keepers. The Keepers are worried about the fighting that will break out between Quanza, Lima Lima, and Sonje when Amali is allowed out with them, as they will all want her to be their baby. Little Amali is already loved by all the girls, including Enkesha and Kiasa. 

The orphans came out with Sonje leading the herd. They stopped by the Umani springs to get a drink. Ngasha blocked the path, he was trying to block Sonje from moving off. Jasiri saw this and rumbled a warning to Ngasha. Ngasha listened and moved away from Sonje, not wanting Jasiri to get angry with him. Sonje got her way and then led all babies to the Kenzili area. 

16 October 2022

The waterhole was full of activity! There were wild elephants and orphans all in there together. A wild elephant family had arrived before the orphans, and they were happily swimming when the orphans arrived. It is so hot and dry that everyone is taking advantage of the cool water that is at the mud bath and around the Umani Springs. The chance to swim made the wild elephants and the orphans happy to mingle and share the space. They all knew this was the best place to be and none of them wanted to leave.

After their milk feed, Quanza and Enkesha led the babies back to the waterhole. They found that the wild herd had left. Zongoloni tried to follow their smell and take Kiasa with her to join them. Luckily the Keepers noticed and called Kiasa back ruining Zongoloni’s plan. At first Kiasa was hesitant to come back but when Enkesha, Kiombo and Maktao joined forces to get Kiasa back, she re-joined the orphan herd. Zongoloni was not happy with Enkesha taking Kiasa back, and she started to come after Kiasa so the Keepers intervened. Zongoloni left to find her wild friends in the Kenzili area. The orphans browsed in peace under the careful watch of Sonje and Murera.

17 October 2022

A wild family arrived behind the stockades early in the morning. They were looking for hay and lucerne pellets. They linked up with the nightclubbers and some other wildlife all looking for food. Unfortunately, the buffaloes had been in the night and finished the hay. The elephants would not leave, instead waiting for the Keepers to bring more. The Keepers were unaware that the hay was finished until one of the wild elephants started trumpeting. Once they saw all the animals waiting for food, the Keepers took more hay out.

Sonje walked to the top of the Umani hills with half of the herd, looking for better browsing. The babies, including Kapei, followed Sonje, Quanza and Lima Lima up the hill. Kapei is very active and likes to walk up front. Sonje is still the most loved by all babies and she remains the one with the largest following and control of the orphan herd. Murera and Mwashoti remained lower down on the hills. They get along well and prefer to be a little separate from the whole herd. Although they always stay close, and Murera is always quick to respond if any of the babies are in trouble.

18 October 2022

There was some noise coming from the hills. Some of the orphans were not sure what the noise was, but then Ziwa appeared from the bushes. Ziwa knew that his orphan friends were close by and he came to say hello, while his wild family stayed in the bushes not far away, watching him interact with the orphans. The wild herd feared the Keepers; they didn’t want to get close and even ran away, further into the bushes.

Ziwa stayed with Murera and Sonje for some hours, not worried that his family had left him, then his wild family came back to get him, before they walked towards the Chyulu area. Enkesha, Kiasa and Kiombo tried to follow Ziwa and his wild friends; they didn’t want to say goodbye to Ziwa. Zongoloni also wanted to join the wild herd especially if Kiasa was going to be with her. Murera started trumpeting warnings and communicating with Sonje to bring the orphans back to the herd. Only Zongoloni went with Ziwa.

19 October 2022

Zongoloni led the nightclubbers back home this morning, but she looked very upset with Alamaya and Lima Lima. They are usually very good friends, so this left the Keepers wondering what had happened. Zongoloni ran after Alamaya, but he managed to get out of danger by hiding in the bushes. Zongoloni also tried to charge Lima Lima, but she stood her ground. Sonje and the other little girls managed to move to where Zongoloni was standing with Kiasa. Sonje tried to ask her why she was so angry, but she didn’t get an answer.

Sonje moved away with all the tiny babies following her. Enkesha and Maktao also moved off, but they took their own path leading them towards the Kenzili area. The orphan herd settled and they walked along browsing. Zongoloni joined them but seemed happy now in the presence of Sonje and Murera. Alamaya decided to stay away and he joined they boys club with Ngasha, Jasiri and Faraja. The Keepers thought Alamaya was safe but Zongoloni even went to chase him out of the boys’ club.

Murera, Sonje and Quanza raised their trunks up, smelling something. The Keepers suspected it was wild elephants or buffaloes as they went back to browsing peacefully. Then some clip springers crossed the path in front of the orphan herd. Enkesha opened up her ears and trumpeted loudly to alert the others, all the babies flared their ears and raised their trunks in alarm. Maktao spun around ready to run in the opposite direction even though he didn’t know what he was running from.

20 October 2022

There was a wild herd of elephants approaching, but the Keepers could not tell if it was Ziwa’s herd from so far away, so they were cautious as they did not want to be in danger from a wild herd. Ziwa has changed so much; he is much bigger and his ears have been torn by torn bushes, making it very hard for the Keepers to recognise him from far away. Luckily today Ngasha was with Ziwa, and he brought him closer to the Keepers so they could recognise him. Ziwa was happy to greet his Keepers as they looked after him very well when he was with them. After having their greetings, Ziwa moved away because his wild family was ready to move on. Ngasha was not ready to leave the orphan herd, so he stayed longer. He later left with a team of four wild bulls.

21 October 2022

The drought in the surrounding areas has forced a lot of wildlife and wild elephant herds to move into the Umani Springs area. This has meant that the orphan herd is meeting many new wild elephants for the first time. Mwashoti was happily relaxing with Murera in the shade after his mud bath, then all these wild elephants arrived. One bull elephant walked to where Mwashoti was, but this junior bull raised his ears as a signal that he was not friendly. Murera went running off in the opposite direction, but Mwashoti froze, almost as if he was confused about what was happening. He couldn’t run away and now the wild bull was trumpeting and charging at him. This seemed to scare Mwashoti into action, so he ran back to the Keepers and to Murera, who was very happy to have him back safely.

Enkesha and Maktao had to walk back to the wild elephants to collect Kiasa, who had stayed with Zongoloni and her new wild friends. Kiasa did not want to leave and was not happy to see Enkesha come back for her. Kiasa even tried to refuse Enkesha’s request to go back to the orphan herd. Enkesha called Maktao over for reinforcements and they managed to get her back. The orphan herd were trumpeting and celebrating the return of Kiasa. This made Sonje come running with Kapei, as she thought the trumpeting was because of some danger, but then she realised it was a celebration.

22 October 2022

Lima Lima and Quanza ignored Sonje’s direction. Instead, they went to the hay and lucerne corner looking for food, but they found that the wild elephants had finished all the hay. Since these two girls wouldn’t follow the rest of the orphan herd, the Keepers decided to persuade them to walk to the Umani hills by giving them more hay from the store. Lima Lima was very happy to hear the tractor bringing hay, except the tractor kept going past her to the slopes of the Umani hills, so she eagerly followed the tractor until the Keepers offloaded the hay. The Keepers though this was the best plan as it also meant the babies didn’t have to walk all the way back to the stockades for hay.

Sonje took Kapei over to the hay, but she was careful to keep him between her two front legs so that Quanza and Lima Lima could not take him away. Sonje is especially protective over Kapei, while Kiombo has now been forced to be more independent.

23 October 2022

Kiombo and Kapei are not getting along very well. Whenever Kapei moves closer to Sonje, Kiombo becomes upset, and starts feeling left out. Kiombo is now big enough to be more independent, but he likes being Sonje’s favourite, a title that Kapei seems to be taking over. When Kiombo is with Sonje and Kapei approaches, Kiombo chases him away and is very possessive over Sonje. Sonje and Quanza were not happy to see this behaviour from Kiombo.

Ngasha and Faraja arrived at the waterhole together. When Lima Lima went to join them, Ngasha turned against Faraja. He was trying to get Faraja to leave the waterhole, but Faraja was not ready to move away, it was very hot and he was enjoying the cool water. Ngasha got annoyed and went to charge Faraja, but the Keepers started shouting at him and he stopped. This gave Faraja courage, and with Alamaya as backup, he stood up to Ngasha. Ngasha left Faraja and Alamaya to enjoy the mud bath in peace.

24 October 2022

The newest arrival, Amali, is still not strong enough to walk out with the other orphans. The orphans go and check on her before they leave for the day, but this morning the Keepers let Amali interact with the others for longer. Sonje and Quanza went to greet her and comfort her, while Murera was not really interested. The Keepers noticed that Murera only went to pick up pellets that the Keepers had given Amali. Amali is not very good at picking up pellets as the tip of her trunk is damaged, so there are usually lots of pellets left for Murera to rummage. This is very different to Kapei, who always finishes all the pellets he gets given. The Keepers decided it was time for Amali to go back to her stockade after her time with the orphan herd, but it was very difficult to convince Sonje to leave little Amali and go out browsing with all the other babies. Amali also didn’t want to return to the stockades, but the Keepers persuaded her with milk bottles. Eventually Sonje also moved off with the herd, as she knew she would see Amali later when they returned to the stockades.

25 October 2022

The Umani herd has grown bigger since the drought started. In the last two months we have gained two new babies, first Kapei and the newest Amali. With the new babies and the nightclubbers the Umani herd seems very big with 17 orphans in total. 

Sonje, Quanza and Murera they really love the new babies. They never want to leave them, but if all three girls have to leave, Lima Lima acts at the babysitter. She is very protective of them, especially if the older boys are being unfriendly. Amali went over to where Mwashoti and Alamaya were pulling down branches to eat, but they were not happy about sharing with her and they were a little aggressive towards her. Amali noticed that they were not happy and she turned to find one of the older girls to protect her. Sonje rushed over to help and Quanza also came over to comfort her.

The afternoon was very hot and the babies were trying to find shade under Sonje and Quanza’s tummies, so Sonje led the herd down to the mud bath. The orphans had a very good time swimming and cooling off. Kapei was showing off all his swimming talent, it was a very relaxed and peaceful afternoon with no fighting.

26 October 2022

The orphan herd was browsing on the top of the Umani hills today. Some buffaloes also made their way up the hill to find some food. Enkesha blew her trunk as a warning that there were buffaloes around. Not long after Enkesha warned everyone the Keepers heard another trumpet. This was Murera trying to scare the buffaloes off. The buffaloes did not react, they were not ready to leave as there was not enough food anywhere else and they were desperate for the branches that were on the Umani hills. The Keepers got a little worried, but luckily Faraja, Jasiri and Lima Lima came as backup. The whole orphan herd was now stronger in numbers and they managed to scare the buffaloes away, leaving the hills free for the orphans to browse.

A wild family of elephants with their babies joined the orphan herd at the top of the Umani hills. Murera and Mwashoti realised that the wild her was intermixed with the orphans, so they kept their distance in case the wild elephants were not very friendly or gentle.

There was a pair of crane birds nesting in the grass, when they heard the elephant footsteps they stood up and opened their wings to make sure the elephants didn’t come to close to them. Quanza got a bit of a fright and changed her path to avoid the birds.

27 October 2022

Any new orphans that come to the Umani reintegration unit find themselves in the very good and welcoming hands, Murera, Quanza, Sonje, and Lima Lima are all very willing caregivers. Murera has taken more of an interest in Kapei and demanded that he move into her stockade, so now Murera and Kapei share a room.

Alamaya and Mwashoti have been missing Lima Lima; she walked to the Chyulu area and has not been back yet. After the mud bath the orphans headed back to the stockades, Murera went with them while Mwashoti remained at the mud bath with Alamaya. The two boys were trying to decide on a plan of action. Mwashoti was worried about leaving Murera, but Alamaya told him that Murera had already gone back to the stockades with the others, and not to worry. Alamaya and Mwashoti walked in the Kenzili direction. Mwashoti browsed along the way. In the Kenzili area, they found Ziwa with his wild herd resting under the shade.

Today, we rescued two new orphans, Sibu and Olapa.

28 October 2022

Kiasa, Kapei, Kiombo and Maktao walked over to where Enkesha and Amali were relaxing far away from Ngasha. Amali is a quick learner; she already knows to avoid Ngasha. Ngasha gave a warning to the little Amali, she took the message very seriously and she stays away from him. Ngasha’s behaviour towards the new babies has reinforced the way the other orphans do not trust him and do not like being close to him.

Sonje decided it was time to move and all the babies happily listened to her. They followed in a straight line behind her.

Jasiri and Faraja showed up late today, after being away for some time. The arrival of these two boys made Ngasha uncomfortable, as he knows they can stand up to him and correct his bad behaviour. The other orphans were happy to have Jasiri and Faraja back.

29 October 2022

When the orphans arrived, the waterhole was busy with buffalos that were trying to cool off. Instead of swimming, the buffaloes just lay down in the water, with their bellies underwater. It was very hot, which meant the orphans were desperate to get into the water. They were very forceful about getting the buffaloes out of the mud bath, but the buffaloes were reluctant to move.

Quanza was the leader this morning, when she got to the waterhole and saw all the buffaloes she stopped and made sure all the orphans grouped together. Before Sonje could get to the front of the herd, they started trumpeting and charging at the buffaloes to get them out of the water. The buffaloes realised they were outnumbered and eventually disappeared into the bushes.

30 October 2022

This morning, Murera and Sonje did the rounds, checking on all the babies and finding out how their night was. The Umani herd has another new orphan, Olapa, who came charging to the gate and then stopped abruptly putting her tiny trunk between the posts to greet Sonje. Next Sonje walked over to another new arrival Sibu, but Sibu did not come up to greet her, so she moved on to Amali and Kapei.

The orphans all headed out to browse, via the pellet corner. Murera followed slowly and as she was leaving Mwashoti and Ngasha joined them. Mwashoti took this chance to move away from Ngasha, not wanting to get in any fights.

The area around the stockades had no soft vegetation, as the orphans had eaten most of it. Zongoloni came over to Sonje and whispered that they should go to the Kenzili area, as they would find more vegetation to eat. Zongoloni persuaded Sonje that they would find soft vegetation that would be very good for Kapei and Amali. The smaller babies do not have strong digestive systems like the older orphans. The Keepers have also been looking for soft vegetation for the younger elephants.

When the babies arrived for their midday bottles, the Keepers saw Kapei leading. He took the task very seriously and ran quickly towards the Keepers. Once he got there, he tried to pick up his own bottle, as some of the older orphans like Lima Lima do, but his trunk was not strong enough to hold it. The Keepers watched on with joy, they like to see how smart Kapei is, and with time he will be able to hold his own bottle.

31 October 2022

Zongoloni arrived at the stockades late last night. She was in the company of a big wild herd; the Keepers had not recognised her, they thought she was a wild elephant, until she came to the stockage gate to demand lucerne pellets. The Keepers went to the store to get pellets, for Zongoloni and her new friends. Zongoloni was very happy to receive pellets from the Keepers, but the wild elephants were too cautious of the humans. Instead, the wild elephants joined the buffaloes that were eating hay just around the corner from the stockades. The wild herd waited for Zongoloni to finish her greetings with the Keepers and join them, but she took too long, so they started trumpeting and calling her away. She listened and left immediately.

After the orphans had finished their milk bottles and were swimming in the mud bath, Jasiri and Zongoloni appeared. Zongoloni took to Amali very quickly; she really likes her. Jasiri was not very interested in the new babies and walked straight over to join Sonje, Enkesha and Quanza in the shade, not paying the babies any attention.