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Mwashoti had been carried away by the girls for several days, but today he decided to come back. He went straight to Maktao, only to find Maktao busy playing with Kapei. The two tried to avoid Mwashoti, but he forced himself into their games. Eventually, he joined them in the bushes as comrades. Then, Kapei turned his attention to listen to Mwashoti, who was explaining where he had been for the past few days before returning with Lima Lima and her team.

Later, Amali came up from behind Kapei, but he turned and blocked her path, preventing her from going beyond where Mwana and Enkesha were. Quanza and Sonje held a brief meeting with the younger sisters, after which both decided to head for the Chyulu Hills. Sonje and Zongoloni agreed on the direction, and the herd lined up behind them. As they walked and browsed along the way, a group of buffaloes suddenly appeared, surprising the younger orphans. The lead girls quickly responded, blowing their trumpets and scaring the buffalo away to clear the path back to Chyulu.

The nightclubbers showed up late today after changing their usual schedule. In the morning, Enkesha and Amali were not as joyful as usual when Lima Lima and her friends failed to bring their babies home early. Both searched around, hoping to see them, but without success, which made them quite unsettled.

Later, Amali heard elephants trumpeting up on the Umani Hills and thought it might be Sulwe, Lenny, and Zigi coming down with their mothers. She and Enkesha headed towards the hills, but when Enkesha realised the distance was too far from Murera, she gave up and returned to join Murera and Mwana. Amali continued searching, only to find that the elephants on the hills were wild-borns — and she was a stranger to them. She quickly turned back and came running to rejoin the herd.

By then it was nearly time for the midday bottle feeding. Everyone was ready — Murera and Mwana walked slowly, while Enkesha, Kapei, and Maktao hurried ahead. Murera complained to the younger babies for rushing, but they were eager and arrived first, finding Lima Lima and her team already at the feeding point, enjoying themselves at the waterholes.

Alamaya again decided to show up today, but this time he came along with his wild bull friend, who escorted him home to see his other family of orphans. Alamaya was leading the bull, and it seemed as if he had already done some talking to reassure his friend not to be afraid of the Keepers who would be there with him. The bull was very calm and composed — one would hardly have known he was wild — and he was also friendly to Lima Lima and her team.

At first, the Keepers were quite wary and stood at a distance, but later, as they saw how gentle the bull was, they felt comfortable. The bull joined Alamaya in enjoying hay before Murera and Sonje decided it was time to head out for the new day. All were headed to the hills when they found two buffalo blocking the way. This made the orphans blow loud trumpets to chase the buffalo away and clear the path for the babies — a very clever idea by Sonje and Murera. When the way was finally clear, Mwana and her mother got back in line behind the others, following the Keepers and Enkesha who were leading towards the hills.

By afternoon, it had turned chilly. Some of the babies went to drink water, but found it too cold, so instead of drinking they dipped their trunks to clean them before returning to browse. As evening approached, Amali and Kiasa went to where Sulwe and Zigi were still playing and told them it was time to go home. The little ones stopped their play and followed Amali and Kiasa, while Sonje and Murera came slowly from behind.

A little disagreement came up between Amali and Mwana over a stick that everyone seemed interested in. Amali had picked up the stick to use it to scratch an itch on her chest, but Mwana spotted it and tried to grab it from her. Amali wasn’t ready to lose the stick to little Mwana, so when Mwana pulled on it, Amali stopped her by stepping on the stick — either to break it or to keep her from getting away with it. Some pushing was witnessed by the Keepers before Enkesha stepped in to help the little girls stop fighting over the stick. Kiasa joined Enkesha in separating them.

Kapei then moved towards Amali, but Amali saw him coming before he could reach her and quickly took refuge among the older girls, slipping between Lima Lima and Quanza for protection. She was lucky — Kapei was denied entry to where Amali was hiding with the older head girls.

Lima Lima and her team failed to report this morning in the early hours, as Murera and her group, together with Amali and Enkesha, were eagerly waiting and looking forward to meeting Sulwe and her little brothers. As soon as Enkesha and Amali came out, they waited expectantly to see them, but none showed up. Kapei then took off and grabbed Maktao, and the two began play-fighting. They tried to hide in the bushes so Murera wouldn’t see them pushing each other around near Mwana.

Quanza later emerged from the bush, and all the Keepers hoped the babies would appear, but none came. Quanza left them behind near the Umani Springs, giving the little ones more time to finish their morning naps. This caused the nightclubbers to miss joining Murera’s group, even after Quanza came ahead. They then came later in the day.

Early this morning, Amali rumbled very loudly, raising her trunk as she tried to catch the right scent of the nightclubbers while the Keepers were still bottle-feeding the others. Suddenly, she yelled and rushed towards the gate, followed closely by Enkesha. From deep inside the bushes, more trumpets were heard — it was Lima Lima and her team of nightclubbers, who had left the previous evening and were now returning home.

Murera went ahead to receive Lenny, who had been eagerly searching for his mother. The whole night away with Lima Lima hadn’t been good enough for either Lenny or Murera. As soon as Lenny saw Murera, he knew it was his chance to nurse, and Murera was equally happy to have him back. Mwana didn’t seem bothered by Lenny suckling from Murera — she instead chose to walk away with Enkesha towards Zongoloni and Kiasa.

Meanwhile, Sonje and Quanza had a quiet conversation with the other older girls, discussing which direction they should take for the new day. Quanza had a different opinion from the rest, but eventually, Sonje and Murera agreed to follow her choice, as the area she suggested had plenty of food on top of the hills.

Mwashoti, together with Alamaya and Maktao, decided to leave the crowded spot — preferring their own company rather than staying close to the girls. Alamaya looked calm and composed as he walked with Mwashoti towards Kiasa. The Keepers joked that Kiasa might try to scare him despite his large size, because she is such a feisty girl. However, Alamaya wanted to show respect; when Kiasa did attempt to scare him, he simply ignored her and walked away, leaving Kiasa to continue on her way beside Zigi, who was browsing quietly nearby.

The orphans had a good night until around midnight, when a leopard visited the stockades, moving along the outside fence line through the trees nearby. Enkesha, together with Kapei and Maktao, picked up the strange scent and immediately became alert. When the babies grew suspicious of what was happening around them, Enkesha began pulling and banging her gate — her typical way of alerting the Keepers when something unusual was going on.

Her noise woke Murera and her baby Mwana, who joined in the commotion. Murera gave her gate a strong push, which quickly brought all the Keepers out of their tents to see what was happening. Outside, they spotted the leopard walking around the fenceline. Enkesha had managed to raise the alarm just in time, and as soon as the Keepers appeared, the leopard disappeared into the night.

Although they were never in any real danger, it showed good instincts to be aware of the leopard. Once he went on his way, the herd settled again. Amali returned to her bedding to sleep soundly, reassured that all was well and the place was safe. However, Kapei and Maktao remained unsettled until morning, still thinking about the leopard. They kept blowing trumpets and charging at shrubs as they made their way out to the forest to browse.

Quanza, along with her close little friends Zigi and Kiasa, went straight to the waterhole for a drink of clean water, then dusted their faces before moving on with the little ones. The nannies — Amali, Kiasa, and Quanza — led the babies to the shade when it became too hot, followed by Murera and Mwana. The nannies were walking quickly, which did not please Murera. She rumbled loudly to signal them to slow down and wait. Quanza and the others stopped until Murera and Mwana caught up, and only then did they continue their journey together to the shade.

The nightclubbers reported early at the gate, waiting for the others to come out and share the morning pellets together. Murera came out in a bad mood and immediately chased everyone who was already waiting outside. She was very determined to make space for herself and Mwana so they could have a bigger share to eat.

Mwashoti arrived late; he was not with Lima Lima’s team. He came afterwards and went straight to the stockade water trough, stretching his trunk down to drink. Murera and Mwana were watching him closely, and then Murera — in her bad mood — struck out at him with her trunk. By good luck, Mwashoti quickly moved behind Sonje and saved himself from being hit by Murera. Maktao went over to comfort him and say sorry for what had happened, and Kapei followed to do the same. Later, the three boys decided to leave the girls and head off together, as everyone was now moving towards the Umani water springs. There, Kapei and Mwashoti found Kiombo with his wild friends. Kiombo and the wild bulls were not bothered to join them and soon walked away, leaving Mwashoti, Maktao, and Kapei alone. The three boys then decided to rejoin Murera and her team.

Kiasa and Amali were assigned to walk closely with Zigi while Zongoloni was off on her own. Quanza also joined them for a while before leaving with Lima Lima and her baby Lenny.

Later, Murera and her baby Mwana had a small disagreement over a stick. Mwana was trying to eat it, but Murera was also interested in the same stick and took it from her. This made Mwana scream loudly in protest, demanding it back, but Murera ignored her and continued eating. Mwana kept complaining until she gave up. Amali came over to see what was happening but, after seeing it was a family matter, decided not to interfere — understanding that Murera was simply disciplining her daughter to behave and show respect to her mother.

Alamaya came this morning and joined the herd at the Umani Hills with Mwashoti, Lima Lima, and her team. It was hard to know how or why Alamaya joined Lima Lima and her team, who have always remained steady under Mwashoti’s leadership. Since Mwashoti joined the nightclubbing team, he has been very loyal as the girls’ security and caretaker. When Alamaya decided to join Mwashoti and the girls today, the Keepers were surprised, as this was not normal behaviour for Alamaya. He didn’t stay with the herd for long — it was a quick visit.

While the orphans were busy browsing, one of the babies made a loud screaming noise from deep within the group. It turned out to be Lenny, who had been pushed aside by Sonje. Sonje loves her own baby, Sulwe, but not her friends’ babies. Lenny had been trying to pass under Sonje, but she thought he wanted to nurse. It wasn’t the case — he was simply trying to pass through. When Sonje kicked him, Lenny yelled, which made Murera and Lima Lima rush to rescue him.

Mwana and Amali teamed up as sisters to go about their morning activities. After failing to see Lima Lima and Zongoloni, the little girls decided to see if they could find them. But today, it wasn’t possible to find the nightclubbers — they didn’t report on time. This forced Murera to call Mwana and Amali back by rumbling, then trumpeting as she waited for her to return. The girls joined Enkesha and Kapei, who were under some trees pulling down branches to eat.

Unfortunately Kapei later had the bad idea to try to chase Enkesha away, but he soon discovered that Enkesha was very strong. His plan failed, as his older sister proved too tough to push aside. Realising this, Kapei left and went to find Maktao, who was busy playing with butterflies, trumpeting as he chased them out of his way. When Kapei joined him, the bushes became very noisy with the two charging elephants trying to chase the fluttering insects, which were too quick to catch. In all the excitement, both lost control and balance, and Maktao fell to the ground. Kapei then jumped over him and climbed onto his back, riding on him playfully.

By the time all the babies arrived for their midday bottle feeds, only Murera and her small team showed up — Lima Lima and her team didn't appear today. This gave Murera’s group a good opportunity to celebrate with extra bottles that had been left over by those who didn’t come for their midday feeding.

When the Keepers spotted Alamaya around the area coming to join the orphans, they had to be very careful, as Alamaya is always accompanied by wild bull guests. Alamaya came alone, and when he was seen from afar by the Keepers, they stayed on alert — it was not normal for Alamaya to visit without wild friends.

As the Keepers had predicted, when Alamaya came closer to the herd, two very large bulls were seen approaching from a distance. Maktao and Kapei walked back to welcome them into the herd. The Keepers fled and watched from afar as Maktao, Kapei, and Alamaya welcomed the wild bulls. Murera sensed their presence and left with Mwana, Enkesha, and Amali — all the girls moved aside, leaving Maktao, Kapei, and Alamaya to handle the meeting as the boys.

Lima Lima and her team then arrived, with the little babies running in front of their mothers, showing great joy for the day. The mothers ran after them, together with their nannies, to be sure all the babies were safe. They went to drink clean water from the water trough, then the babies returned to the waterhole and swimming began.

Amali and Enkesha were the first to test the water for the babies, then Sulwe and Zigi joined them, and a swimming competition followed. When they stopped swimming, Murera and Sonje were the first to come out and encouraged the others to follow. Everyone then headed to the dust pile, where they all enjoyed dusting. Amali and Mwana climbed to the top of the dust hill so they could watch the others from above.

Today, the Kibwezi Forest was blessed with many wild elephants roaming around the orphans. It was a hot day, and on the other side, some buffaloes were also crossing into the open fields, heading to the same waterhole where Murera and her friends had planned to go for their mud bath. When they met with Lima Lima and her friends, a struggle over the babies was witnessed. Kiasa and Enkesha were not happy to see Zigi, Lenny, and Mwana interacting with wild playmates — despite the fact that they were under the close watch of their mothers.

Seeing how hard Kiasa and Enkesha were trying to wrangle the babies, the Keepers and Zongoloni eventually stepped in. Seeing the effort afoot, Lima Lima and Sonje also joined in to help. Together, they managed to return Lenny, Zigi, and Mwana safely to their mothers.

Afterwards, Murera — with the help of her Keepers — was able to relocate all the babies away from the wild herd and towards the safer sides near the Chyulu Hills.Maktao and his close friends Mwashoti and young Kapei decided to wander off by themselves, leaving the girls to move on with the babies.

While Mwashoti was still navigating the bushes, he came across Faraja with Alamaya, who were also trying to join the herd from another side of Chyulu. The Keepers were surprised to see Alamaya and Mwashoti reuniting with them. After some hours, Alamaya disappeared again, but Mwashoti seemed to know where to find him and later rejoined the herd as everyone continued heading towards Chyulu for more food.

As the heat grew stronger, the leading females stopped briefly under the shade to cool off and nurse their babies before moving on again. Quanza and Enkesha found a nice patch of loose dust and turned it into a play area, where little Lenny was brought to roll in the dust bath while Quanza and Enkesha watched over him carefully and kept him safe.

Ziwa and his team of wild friends, a full female herd, reported back for the midday session and found the other nightclubbers. The wild herd just escorted Ziwa back to his original family to come and say thank you and let the orphans know that Ziwa was fine with them in the wild.

Keepers could not recognise Ziwa until they had a closer look and called his name. He came with torn ears, making him not easy to identify as we used to know him many years ago. He was very gentle and still came when the Keepers called his name, walking close to them.

However, his adopted family did not give him the time he wanted to stay with the herd. Instead, a female wild elephant rumbled — a warning for Ziwa to walk away with them or be left behind. Ziwa did not stay after the warning. Mwashoti tried to go away with Ziwa’s team, but Maktao and the junior boy Kapei stopped Mwashoti from leaving with Ziwa and his group.

Zongoloni and Kiasa took off with Zigi, as both the nanny and the mother patrolled away with him. Amali was not happy when she saw little Zigi going off, leaving Amali and Enkesha looking desperate. This made Enkesha and Amali walk away together. Lima Lima with Lenny then followed, and this made the whole herd move in one direction, forcing Murera to join them too.

Lenny did not want to keep his distance from Murera — he kept going under her belly whenever she slowed down, thinking she had stopped for him to nurse. Sometimes he had to be disciplined by Murera, who kicked him aside to give her space and remind him that not every time was nursing time.

The nightclubbers team, mostly new mothers with all their babies, did not show up in the morning, but all came later in the afternoon. The Keepers wonder what caused the delay, which again affected Amali and Enkesha, who are true nannies and love the little babies. When they fail to come on time, Amali and Enkesha always have a bad day.

Amali and Enkesha could be seen searching all the places they thought they might find Lima Lima and her team. It is always Amali’s duty — she is very good at sniffing and sure of the direction they will come through.

Sonje with Quanza and Sulwe moved to the swimming area but first went to drink clean water before returning to the waterhole to cool off, as the day had turned very hot. Sulwe was trumpeting as she ran back to the waterhole, and her little trumpet motivated both Lenny and Mwana to return too, welcoming her with loud trumpets. The herd became very energetic, charging at everything that came their way.

Kapei with Mwashoti then went off to their own side to start their pushing games near the bushes, where buffaloes were sleeping under shrubs. Mwashoti and Kapei were unaware of them, and the buffaloes scared them all back to the orphans for safety. Murera was already aware of what was going to happen — when Kapei and Mwashoti got scared of the buffaloes and ran, Murera was just watching comfortably, knowing she was safe and far from them.

All the orphans decided that the Chyulu Hills would be their browsing ground for the day, away from their usual areas around Umani Hills and Kenzili. Sonje and the other girls picked up the scent of a wild herd that had passed through overnight, and this morning they followed the pathway in search of them. As they walked into the deeper valleys of the Chyulu Hills, they came across several huge bulls waiting nearby. Sonje, Lima Lima, and Quanza joined them and moved around together. It is normal for Lima Lima to get along well with the bulls, and these ones were calm, agreeing to browse with the girls without disturbing them.

Murera stayed close to her Keepers, watching from a distance but showing no interest in joining Sonje and the bulls. From the look of things, the bulls meant no harm — it was more of a friendly family gathering inside the Chyulu Hills. The peaceful interaction went well until the bulls eventually decided to go their separate way after spending some time browsing together. Sonje and the others then turned back to rejoin Murera after the bulls had left.

When the Keepers called out, each elephant emerged one after another. Lenny and Kapei, together with Mwana, spotted Murera resting under a tree. Lenny ran to her first, eager to nurse, and Murera did not disappoint him, allowing him to feed as Mwana watched helplessly from the side.

The distance between the elephants and the midday bottle-feeding point was quite far, so this time the Keepers had to drive the vehicle carrying the bottles to where they were. Amali and Enkesha spotted the vehicle early and blocked the road, demanding their bottles first. The Keepers had planned to drive up to where the rest of the herd was waiting, but the two became very stubborn, so they were given their bottles first to clear the road before the vehicle could proceed.

Elephants were heard blowing trumpets from the Kibwezi Forest, making everyone alert and carefully scanning the bushes to see if it was a wild herd trying to join the orphans. As the Keepers were still looking around, Jasiri suddenly appeared from behind them. Behind him, they would still hear elephants trumpeting loudly, and it soon became clear that a wild family was joining Jasiri and the orphan herd.

This brought back memories of the days when Lima Lima was the Keepers’ saviour during her youth, before she became a mother to Lenny. The Keepers always relied on her to alert them when things weren’t right, showing them which direction to go to stay safe. But today, it was Murera who took that role. After catching the scent of the wild family making the loud noise, Murera came along with her baby Mwana to alert the Keepers. Together they moved away, leaving Jasiri and his wild friends in peace.

Afterwards, everyone made their way home, and later the other nightclubbers with their little babies arrived from the hills, joining the herd as all headed home for lucerne and bottles.

The orphans were visited by Jasiri and his friends in the afternoon. The nightclubbers went the whole day without showing up, which made Murera and her team, especially Enkesha and Amali, increasingly impatient as they kept looking around in the hope of seeing Lima Lima and her lovely group arrive. When a wild baby elephant began screaming in the distance, Amali became confused and thought it might be little Sulwe and friends. She decided to go and investigate, hoping to find the babies, but she discovered it was not them and came running back to where Mwana and Murera were browsing within the Kibwezi Forest.

Buffaloes approached the open fields near where the orphans were browsing. Some strayed close to the herd, startling the babies and causing them to retreat towards Murera and her friends. When Maktao and Kapei saw a pair of buffaloes walking towards them, they bravely tried to chase them away to prevent them from getting too close to where Murera and Mwana were peacefully browsing. Murera and her baby were unaware of the intrusion until Maktao and Kapei alerted them and continued pushing the buffaloes back into the bushes. The Keepers then went to where Murera and her baby were and called them closer, ensuring Murera was safe before everyone returned to the stockades for the night.

Murera has been developing morning bad moods. The only elephant Murera still respects and consults is her close friend Sonje — the one she never fights with. This morning, Murera disagreed with Maktao and Enkesha to the extent that she didn’t even want to see them near her. She kept her ears raised, watching their movements carefully to ensure they stayed away.

Later, Quanza and Lima Lima went to Mwana, who was close to Murera, so that they could walk away together. Quanza was careful not to get too close to Murera while collecting Mwana. They rumbled softly, and soon Mwana followed them. Seeing everyone leaving, Murera decided to follow the herd into the Kibwezi Forest rather than be left behind. Mwana was already in the middle of the group, walking next to Amali and Kapei.

Lima Lima’s team later arrived from the opposite side of where Murera was standing with the Keepers. As soon as they arrived, Lenny didn’t stop but walked straight towards Murera and stood pleading before her, asking for permission to nurse. Murera allowed him, and he suckled happily after being granted permission.

The day began as normal, with the babies up early and crossing the Kibwezi Hills happily in search of fresh browse around the valleys. Mwashoti and Alamaya also crossed the valleys and joined the herd, accompanied by wild friends who were young bulls. Alamaya has never been seen visiting in the company of female elephants — whenever he comes around, he is always with bulls.

It was interesting to see that today Kiasa turned against Alamaya and chased him away. Keepers watched with curiosity to see how Kiasa, who is younger, would manage to chase Alamaya, who is older and a bull. It was surprising and rather unfortunate for them to witness Alamaya running away from Kiasa.

Despite this, Alamaya remained his usual loyal self to everyone, including the Keepers. Whenever he visits, he always greets his Keepers warmly and allows them to take photos with him, since it can be many weeks before he returns again. After being chased, Alamaya left the area, leaving Mwashoti behind with the girls.

Murera has begun to develop a high temper these days, which has not been very normal within the orphan family. She started showing herself to be in a bad mood this afternoon after the midday bottle feeding. She came last for her milk, and after finishing, followed her friends to the waterhole where everyone was lined up to drink before heading for mud bath time.

As she approached, Murera went behind Quanza and Lima Lima and pushed both girls into the waterhole, trying to create more space for herself. It didn’t end there — when she followed everyone again to the big waterhole, she found Mwashoti and Enkesha wallowing peacefully together, enjoying the cooling off time. Once again, both babies had it rough as Murera jumped into action as if to swim and pushed whoever was in front of her out of the way.

The Keepers tried to stop her, calling out for her to stop, but Murera ignored them completely. When she finally realised she had done wrong — not only against the other orphans but also by ignoring her Keepers — she seemed to feel sorry. She later walked back to her Keepers as if to apologise, then moved away quietly with Mwana and Amali. The other babies, however, were now very afraid of her and didn’t want to come near. Her sharpened tusks, which look like spears, made the orphans even more wary.

These recent bad moods are thought to be the result of Murera’s pregnancy, which has made her more irritable — something that is natural for females during this period and will pass in time. Despite this, Murera remains a respected, though now feared, leader among her friends.

Mwashoti, always cautious, tried to gauge Murera’s mood from a distance by raising his trunk. When Murera didn’t react, he knew she was calm and would approach slowly, realising it was safe and permission was granted for him to proceed.

The elephants had a very good morning celebration after a long night’s rest, while the nightclubbers were away on their usual overnight adventure in the park. Murera and the remaining babies enjoyed a peaceful night, though it was rather long for Kapei and his neighbour Amali, who were restless and noisy, pushing at the walls and gates as they tried to get out to look for their friends Mwashoti and Quanza. They could hear them passing by the side of the stockade, and when they caught their scent, Amali and Kapei became even more unsettled, eager to get out and bring the babies home.

Amali could hear trumpeting outside but could not see them, and with the gate securely fastened, she had to wait until morning. When the gates were finally opened, Amali rushed out, overjoyed to reunite with her friends. She played happily around Sulwe and Zigi, who had missed her throughout the night.

Later in the morning, Sonje was spotted escorting little Sulwe to the pellets and water trough to drink. She was accompanied by a young wild girl, but the visitor soon began to feel uneasy under Murera’s watchful gaze. The wild calf seemed fearful and eventually decided to leave, disappearing back into the bushes to find her family, while Sonje remained behind with the other babies.

For a few days now, Murera has been in a bad mood and has not been as friendly towards her little friends. Although she continues to give Sonje the maximum respect she deserves, Sonje knows better than to cross Murera’s path.

Today, when things did not go right between Murera and Enkesha, Murera became very angry and went to lift Enkesha using her beautiful tusks. When Enkesha stood firm, refusing to move, Murera applied more force — but bad luck struck when she tried to lift Enkesha again and discovered she was too heavy. In the process, Murera broke her right tusk, giving her a new look.

Since becoming pregnant a few months ago, Murera’s moods have continued to change, and she has not been in good spirits with her friends. Even on her own, Mwana sometimes finds it hard to understand her mother. Since that day, Enkesha has avoided getting close to Murera, and the other babies have done the same, making Murera a very feared matriarch. Only little Lenny seems unbothered, often pestering her — something Murera tolerates, knowing he is still a baby and means no harm.

Later, Amali walked away with Kapei and Maktao back into the Kibwezi Forest, with Sonje following behind to offer support if needed, while Murera remained behind — feared by everyone for her harsh moods and unwillingness to tolerate any misbehaviour in her presence.

For many days, Alamaya and Ziwa had decided to take a long break away from home. They did not visit their orphan friends, but today Alamaya decided to come back home — very innocently, in his usual style of arrival into the herd. Kiasa and Quanza got scared when they saw him. When Quanza raised her big ears at Alamaya, it also made Alamaya raise his ears as he walked into the herd. He was later received warmly by Mwashoti, his long-time friend. Mwashoti tried asking him about life in the forest, but Alamaya did not have much to tell.

He later left and walked back to the Umani water springs to join his wild friend who was at the swimming pool. The head girls then led the other babies to the Kenzili area for more browsing, leaving Alamaya alone with his wild friend. Mwashoti decided to leave him and joined Murera, who was already at the back with Mwana. Mwashoti is always loyal to Murera.

Because of Murera and her swinging moods, which are picking up now that her pregnancy is progressing, every baby elephant walks closely but very carefully around her. At any moment, Murera could fight anybody — today, she cared not even for little Lenny. When he bothered her by pestering her to nurse and not taking no for an answer, he too got his lesson. Murera had to push him aside so he could go back to his mother, Lima Lima. But Lenny never went to Lima Lima — he just kept coming back to Murera.

This morning, Alamaya appeared, and just behind him came a large wild family with little babies, walking close to the stockades. It was the same family that Alamaya has been travelling with. When Alamaya came into the orphans, some of his wild friends tried to follow him, not realising that Alamaya was now with his Keepers. When the wild family spotted the Keepers among the elephants, they all backed away and moved off, but Alamaya remained behind with Murera and her team. They were happy to greet him and ask where he had been, and who the wild friends were that had left instead of joining them. Alamaya looked calm and unbothered that the wild herd had gone, as he was content to be back with his orphan family.

Murera approached Alamaya, seemingly wanting to ask him a few questions, but Alamaya thought she was in one of her tricky moods and did not feel safe. Before Murera could get too close, he moved away and walked back into the bushes.

Meanwhile, Mwana and Kapei went to join little Lenny. Kapei began to misbehave, trying to climb on Lenny to play, but before his legs could get over Lenny, Mwana pushed him sideways, making him fall to the ground to leave Lenny alone, as Kapei was too heavy to jump on him. Lenny ran off trumpeting to report Kapei to the nannies. Hearing his cries, all the nannies together with Murera rushed over, but by the time they arrived, Kapei had already disappeared into the bushes.

When Lenny saw Murera and his mother Lima Lima coming towards him, he chose to go to Murera instead of his mother. Murera was ready to receive him, as during the day she often takes over caring for Lenny, while at night he returns to Lima Lima for nursing.

Alamaya and Faraja came in the morning before the orphans left for the day. Behind them was a wild friend who was accompanying the two boys. When the wild bulls heard the Keepers talking, he moved away with Faraja. This was his end to the visit — and Murera welcomed the idea of him leaving. Faraja decided to go with him because they seemed to be buddies.

Alamaya stayed close with Mwashoti, who wanted to play around with him and Maktao. Sonje, and Quanza looked for the little babies. When Sulwe was warned by Kapei not to play around with him, she made a rumbling sound, as if she was reporting to her mother what Kapei was doing to her. This got Kapei into trouble, and he was chased away by the mothers and nannies.

Mwana, Amali, Enkesha, Zongoloni, and Kiasa were enjoying themselves climbing over a small anthill with Lenny and Zigi. The little nannies were doing their best to look after the babies, but Zigi was having his own issues with Mwana. He was not calm and did not listen to Mwana very well. This made Mwana apply a little discipline on him. Zigi was not happy about this, because he thought that Mwana should not warn or discipline him. He listened to Amali afterwards, as Amali found a softer and better way to pass him the information about what he was doing wrongly.

The Nightclubbers team were on a very different side of the Kibwezi Forest and did not arrive on time this morning. After a long search, Amali came back looking disappointed for not finding Kiasa and Quanza with the little babies. Enkesha stood with Murera and Mwana, waiting for the others to arrive.

Then, they heard some small elephants blowing their trunks — it seemed to be the sound of little babies running. This motivated Amali, and she took off to look for who was trumpeting. She found it was Lenny and Sulwe running as they led the mothers back to the Keepers. Sonje arrived, and lastly came Alamaya and Mwashoti at the back. Both were welcomed by the little babies and Kapei, who was happy to play around with Mwashoti. They did not want to play with Alamaya — they prefer Mwashoti as a good friend, but not Alamaya, who intimidates them with his serious face. They are mistaken, as Alamaya is a very calm and gentle boy who handles those not of his age group well and never scares the young babies.

A giant bull elephant came and tried to chase after Quanza today — something the Keepers had never seen happen with Quanza before. Quanza did not welcome his advances, so the females walked away and left the bull with Alamaya, Mwashoti, and Maktao, so they could plan their own boys’ affairs. Lenny and Zigi, with Kiasa, went for a walk away from their mothers and found a nice waterhole to swim in. Zigi showed off his swimming tactics and was the swimming star of the day.

This morning was very cloudy, and the hills were full of mist as if it were about to rain, but no rain came. After some time, the mists cleared, and the elephants walked to the top of the Umani Hills to browse. Downhill, some buffaloes tried to block Murera and her Keepers. The Keepers then called the orphans to come in large numbers to help scare the buffaloes away.

Maktao and Kapei came down the hills, blowing loud trumpets, while the nannies circled around the Keepers. Enkesha and Kiasa followed the boys to where the buffaloes were, but they found none — the buffaloes had already left after hearing the bushes rustling and the elephants charging. The Keepers thought that Kapei and Maktao did an excellent job handling the situation.

At midday bottle time, Zongoloni and all the babies arrived running straight to the bottles, which were lined up and waiting in a straight row. As usual, Kapei was first, followed by Maktao. After Maktao, there was strong competition between Amali, Kiasa and Enkesha. Then the little boys, Zigi and Lenny, competed with the nannies as if they too were going for their bottles. Lenny ran at top speed and could not stop in time — he ended up kicking the bottles down before the Keepers could stop him. Perhaps a little embarrassed, he started charging around to cover his mistake. Zigi was smarter; he got close to the bottles and stepped carefully to the side so as not to knock them over.

It was cloudy and windy when the orphans started their day. As the Keepers got ready for the midday bottles and the usual mud bath, all the babies arrived in a hurry, but Murera slowed down and came far behind everyone, leaving all the young babies with their nannies, led by Amali and Enkesha, at the front line for the bottles.

Murera knew her bottle would be waiting for her, so she was in no hurry. With the mood swings she goes through, she often changes her mood throughout the day — but never towards her baby, Mwana. Sonje blocked her way, and Murera gave her a gentle push from behind so Sonje would move aside and let her through to her bottle, which the Keeper lifted and poured into her wide-open mouth, ready and waiting. Sonje gave her space, then led the babies to the water trough to drink, leaving Murera alone at the other waterhole, standing but not splashing any water. The weather was chilly, and none of the elephants felt like getting into the waterhole to swim. They all drank, then left for the dust hill before heading back into the bushes of the Kibwezi Forest.

Kapei and his friend Maktao took off with Mwashoti to play around the bushes. Kapei was not steady on the ground when he was pushed and fell down, and Maktao climbed over him while he was still on the ground. This was not a good thing for Mwashoti to see — Maktao still pushing Kapei while he was already asking for help — so Mwashoti stepped in to make peace and stop the rough game, giving Kapei space to stand up. But once Kapei was back on his feet, he didn’t stop; when Mwashoti tried to intervene again, Kapei turned on Maktao, and this time Mwashoti didn’t allow him to push anymore.

Quanza and her team of young nannies moved to be with all the babies together. Sulwe, Lenny, and Zigi, together with their older sister Mwana, joined them. It was like a babies’ meeting, discussing how the day would be planned. When Amali sneaked into them, the meeting ended, and later Quanza walked to Amali and warned her for ending the meeting before the resolutions were reached.

After that, Zigi and Lenny moved with Amali to the bushes, back to where they had left Murera and Kapei browsing. Then Mwana also moved back to where her mother, Murera, was having some good time alone after the other babies had left her due to her mood swings. This had driven many orphans to keep away from Murera because sometimes she hits them hard with her sharp tusks, and this made the other babies fear her. This time, only Lenny and Mwana were browsing close to Murera, as they are her favourites. But Murera’s favouritism is never guaranteed — she can change to be good or bad to anyone at any time.

Lima Lima and her team took another direction away from Murera’s team after realising Murera was not in a good mood. They walked away with all the little babies to the Chyulu Hills, leaving Murera with only a few babies. After Amali also sneaked off with Zigi, only Enkesha, Mwana, and Murera were left. Before it was time to go back home, Mwashoti was seen coming back, and behind him were Faraja and Alamaya, joining Murera in readiness to walk back to the stockades. Some minutes later, Amali and Lima Lima came and got their bottles. Lima Lima walked out again for the night partying, and Amali was then left to her room next to Kapei.

Quanza came first this morning, standing at the stockade gate entrance waiting for Murera and her team to get out. The Keepers wondered what was happening, seeing Quanza without Lima Lima and her team as usual. Murera and Amali reached the gate and found Quanza waiting, while both Mwana and Kapei followed the wheelbarrow very closely as the Keeper was pulling it, full of pellets.

As it turned out, Quanza just wanted to be ahead of Lima Lima and her team. She headed to the stockades after realising that the babies were still asleep, which delayed the mothers from walking them on time. This made the night-clubbers late, and that was why Quanza left the babies to finish their morning sleep.

Amali spotted the little babies starting to arrive into the herd. She moved to receive Sulwe and Zigi, but Lenny dodged her and went to Murera for breastfeeding, which Murera welcomed. Mwana wasn’t bothered; she allowed it and just watched Lenny and Murera.

The orphans went into the Chyulu Hills, trying to find fresh greens. By good luck, Ziwa appeared with friends and joined them. Rain started to fall within Chyulu, and the elephants, who were not expecting it, began running under trees. Little Zigi could be seen under Zongoloni, shielded from the rain. Kapei, with his friend Maktao and Ziwa, did not go under a tree and instead found a good mud bath. They played in the mud until their bodies were completely muddy. Ziwa then left with his friends, going deeper into the Kibwezi Forest.

This morning, Lima Lima and her team of young mothers with their siblings never came to report back to the herd. It was only Murera and her friends at the stockade this morning as all were getting ready for their new day in the Kibwezi Forest. Some light rain was experienced, making Mwana and Amali try to get back under the roofs for more shade, but Murera refused and whispered to Enkesha. Later, we saw Mwana and Amali running to join Murera.

The day began with Murera leading all the babies to the Kenzili area, while Amali and her friend Enkesha were still searching around to see if they might meet Lima Lima and her friends. Amali found it very hard to be away from the little babies she used to walk around with, as she felt she was a good nanny.

While on the hills of Kenzili, some elephants were heard screaming around the hills, which made Amali and Enkesha think these were Lenny and Sulwe crossing the bushes to find them. Amali took off, and Enkesha followed her from behind, running to help Amali get to the babies. Again, from another side of the Kibwezi Forest, they heard another herd of elephants blowing trumpets, which made them turn that way, thinking they would now find them—but all their efforts bore no fruit, and they ended up failing to locate them.

By midday bottle feeding, Lima Lima and her team had still not come back. When the babies returned home after the whole day’s drama, Murera and her team had already taken their bottles in the evening when Quanza and Mwashoti were spotted running through the thick bushes, coming to the stockade fenceline. Shortly after, Sonje, Lima Lima, and the little babies came running and found Amali and Enkesha already in their stockades. They only raised their trunks to wave to them, wishing to meet again the next morning.

Sonje and her friends then left and disappeared back into the forest for their night parties. We wished them well—they deserve such a good life full of freedom, and it is their choice to visit us or not, as they please.