Keepers' Diaries, September 2005
Ithumba Reintegration Unit
Our latest arrivals at the Ithumba Unit, Sunyei, Madiba, Ndomot and Galana have really settled in wonderfully and absolutely love their new environment and friends. Despite it being a very dry season, they all look as fat as butter as there is so much browse for them, and all extremely nutritious. The heat has been a factor for the younger orphans, sometimes having the resort to drawing water from their stomachs in order to cool behind their ears, but this is a common sight amongst wild elephants in hot climates, and it is amazing that our young ones instinctively know what to do. They are all ably guided and disciplined when necessary by Yatta who is fast turning into a very impressive matriarch. She takes her responsibilities very seriously, but still lets the two budding mini matriarchs namely Wendi and Sunyei have their spells of leading the group out to the grazing fields or back to the mud bath or stockades in the evening viewed by all as a special privilege. She is helped by the other three older elephants, Mulika, Nasalot and Kinna, who keep a close eye on all the naughty boys, and there are many in the Ithumba unit. However, none quite so mischievous and so regularly in need of discipline as Napasha. He is larger than life and if left unchecked would fast become something of an irritation to many of the others, but the older orphans ensure that this doesn’t happen, but there is seldom a day that goes by without an incident involving Napasha! Tomboi and Taita are rambunctious little bulls now, and their antics are usually observed keenly by two other budding naughty little boys, Madiba and Ndomot. Olmalo is still Yatta’s favorite calf, privileged with preferential treatment, but she is a gentle and caring little elephant in her own right and is very quick to assist the newcomers never taking too much advantage of her privileged position. Interestingly the four babies, Madiba, Ndomot and Sunyei and Galana remain a close tight unit, all deferring to Sunyei for guidance and leadership, so she still has the privileged position of mini matriarch to them. Ndomot and Wendi’s relationship is as strong as it used to be when they shared the nursery together, and I am sure this will remain a strong bond for life. Galana took a while to settle, which is understandable since she did not know any of the older ex nursery elephants, but she did have the advantage of being born a Tsavo elephant, so the vegetation, the heat and the wild inhabitants are all familiar to her. On one day during their feeding travels around Ithumba Mountain they discovered a watering point for poachers snaring for bush meat, water hidden under boulders deep in the chasm of some rocks, and with closer investigation the keepers found water containers kept high in a nearby tree – all empty. This of course was reported immediately to the KWS field force who have followed up on the lead. The midday mud bath in these hot months has been a celebration – the little water babies Olmalo and Selengai but the ultimate water baby Napasha is always reluctant to leave when the time comes. Their red dust pile is a daily treat, a light powdering of Tsavo’s bright red earth creates an impressive body painting job, the taupe clay color with the red earth texture on top forms a picturesque covering.
01 September 2005
It drizzled in the early hours before dawn and as the orphaned herd left the stockade the ground was wet. Soon after entering into the grazing fields, Mulika dug soil with her front foot for Selengai to play with. Tomboi and Napasha who were just a stones throw away became jealous as a result of this special attention, so driven by jealously they began to chase Selengai so as to play with the already dug soil. Tomboi and Napasha’s joy soon subsided when Mulika after realising their intentions came in between them and Selengai. Napasha at first tried to force his way but Mulika could not tolerate the naughtiness of the two boys and therefore knocked them in turns, this caused them to flee before being humiliated further. At mud wallow Wendi time Napsaha and Galana to lay into the water, that’s when she came to relax on top of them.
02 September 2005
The sky was clear once again and the morning was windy. Nasalot and Wendi who were the group leaders that morning made the Keepers curious when with their trunks raised continued to sniff through the air for quite a considerable time. The Keepers followed them for about fifty meters and then they smelled something ahead of them too. Upon arriving at the scene they came across a dead puff adder partly eaten by a mongoose. The journey to better pastures continued. At mud wallow Madiba enjoyed chasing two warthogs that had come in search of drinking water. It was not until the orphans left the mud wallow that the warthogs got a chance to quench their thirst.
03 September 2005
Chilly weather characterized the morning as orphans strolled to the grazing fields. Once there the orphans concentrated mostly on feeding. On the way to the midday mud wallow, Madiba showed his young friends the way, followed by Sunyei and Ndomot. At mud bath time, the chilly weather rather inhibited the bathing, and after a short while the babies took their noon milk and the older orphans their water, and Yatta steered the whole group east of the mud wallow for further browsing.
04 September 2005
From mud wallow, the Keepers led the orphans to the browsing fields. On the way Tomboi battled Galana who tried to overtake him. Galana stood her group and tried as hard a possible to over power Tomboi but she wasn’t lucky since she didn’t have the experience of these pushing tactics. So Tomboi won and Galana had no other option but to fall back behind Tomboi.
05 September 2005
Selengain came out of the stockade first followed closely followed by Mulika, and then the rest streamed behind them. On the way to the grazing field, Selengai trumpeted and swung her trunk sideways gamboling. When the sun became extremely hot Mulika checked in under a shady tree where she dug cold soil to play with and also cool herself with by throwing it onto her self and rolling on top of it. At mud wallow, all the orphans participated in mud bathing apart from Tomboi who chose to soil bath instead.
06 September 2005
Napasha opened the day’s activities by pushing Selengai about. This didn’t go down well with Nasalot and Kinna who were both some meters away. Kinna strode forward and went straight to Napasha to punish him. She pushed Napasha violently until he could no longer take the humiliation and ran away. Selengai felt very good about this protection, swinging her trunk and trumpeting.
07 September 2005
The orphan herd had a happy morning, whereby they spent some time playing the usual pushing games, but Napasha tried his luck against Kinna, but came off second best again. The mudbath was a fun one with lots of interaction and playing, and then after the mudbath Galana and Ndomot lagged behind under some shade. Yatta noticed this and turned back immediately rumbling to them. This drew the attention of Mulika and Nasalot who followed Yatta charging and trumpeting. Ndomot and Galana herd the commotion of the older orphans and left the shade of the tree to head off in their direction, and there was great joy when the five met up and Yatta took them to where the rest of the group was.
08 September 2005
There was a chilly morning, but the orphaned herd looked more impressive than ever as the roamed around the grazing fields. Olmalo and Selengain remained close to their favourites Yatta and Mulika respectively throughout the day. During mud bath Napasha go stuck in the wallow and was successfully lifted up by the matriarch Yatta. Wendi and Ndomot had a wonderful time playing together in the mud and Madiba too looked totally content slapping around in the grey clay. The group Ndomot, Sunyei, Madiba and Galana are still very close despite being diluted by all the older orphans.
09 September 2005
The day had a very clear blue sky and this cautioned a very hot sunny day, and before eleven in the morning the entire orphaned herd did their browsing under shade due to the rising temperatures. Mud bath was done with great enthusiasm. They spent a lot of the day resting under the shade of big trees. Napasha couldn’t help himself and began pestering Olmalo again, but Yatta put him in his place by biting his tail and pushing him out of the shade into the hot sun. Tomboi and Yatta enjoyed boy’s games, shoving each other around despite the heat.
10 September 2005
The day had a cool morning. In the morning the orphans came into contact with a troop of baboons who were enjoying their mud bath. This caused great excitement with all of them charging after scattering baboons. The trumpeting and ears spread wide was too daunting for the baboons to stick around and soon the herd had their mud bath to themselves.
11 September 2005
Another beautiful clear day. The orphans spent a quiet morning concentrating on feeding. Galana left holding her empty milk bottle eventually depositing it next to the water drums.
12 September 2005
Today was a windy day and a very hot one indeed. Kinna who was the group leader today steered us all westwards. The orphans browsed and played, the groups being Olmalo playing with Sunyei lightly so as not to hurt her, Wendi, Ndomot and Madiba had fun together, Tomboi and Taita too. Galana was concentrating on food.
13 September 2005
The day began with a golden sunrise and the orphaned herd looked more excited as they enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun. Off from the stockade compound, Keepers headed the orphans eastwards to an area well pastured beneath a rocky hill. At a few minutes after eight am while the orphans busied themselves feeding the keepers spotted a human footprint on a trail that they followed and later came across a natural water trough between two rocks estimated to be about twelve feet deep. It had some water and was wisely covered by a poacher with stones. Amazingly enough, a few meters from the water trough at a nearby tree Keepers again spotted five plastic containers hidden on top of a tree. Four containers had water that had been drawn from the rock. The Keepers poured out the water and then carried the empty containers and handed them later over to the KWS personnel so that the rangers could investigate. At the grazing fields while the babies were enjoying a soil bath, Wndi, Tomboi, Taita and Selengai laid on Napasha making him scream for help. Yatta heard the cry and came over to help by dispersing the group and assisted Napasha back to his feet again.
14 September 2005
As the orphans were taking water early in the morning at the stockade a jackal appeared from the nearby thickets and this suddenly frightened them all. It frightened the jackal too, elephants trumpeting and flying around and he soon disappeared back into the tickets from where he came from.
15 September 2005
The day had a clear blue sky that indicated high temperatures. Yatta and her group had such a wonderful and playful mud bath, savoring every minute of it, respite from the hot weather, and their mud bath went on for a very long time. Selengai then go stuck in the muddy water and screamed for help. It was Kinna that rushed to her aid, supporting her with her hind legs and managed to get her back onto her feet.
Galana and Sunyei had great fun chasing after al little dik dik that dashed out of a thicket close to where they were feeding.
16 September 2005
The morning was cloudy predicting chilly weather unlike yesterday. The orphans seem to enjoy this. They browsed very actively, with Tomboi and Wendi testing their strength by pushing one another with Wendi emerging the winner. The mud bath was much more subdued due to the cold weather.
17 September 2005
Again another chilly day which was conducive to enthusiastic feeding. Soil bathing dominated today rather than the mudbath due to the temperatures. All the orphans had great fun flopping around in the red earth. Napasha went on a charging spree knocking down dry bushes and branches as a sign of exercising his strength as a young growing bull
18 September 2005
Yatta headed her group straight to the water trough, and before accessing the water a porcupine ambled across in front of them. Yatta along with all the others charged towards the direction where the porcupine had disappeared. As the Keepers headed to the grazing fields the little orphans, Sunyei, Madiba and Galana and Ndomot all stayed close to the keepers touching them from time to time to get reassurance, all still nervous from their porcupine encounter.
19 September 2005
Mulika led the orphans to the mud bath before the usual time. Madiba spent a lively time wallowing while the rest took water and headed for the bush to browse. Galana and Sunyei demanded more bottles of milk at noon but were driven to the water by the Keepers instead.
20 September 2005
Ndomot and Galana charged pushing each other around a small bush. Madiba was scared by a dik dik making him run for the safety of the Keepers. Sunyei and Madiba had a great time at the mud bath as they wallowed happily teasing each other.
21 September 2005
The orphans left the stockade early as usual and headed eastwards of Ithumba Hill. Shortly after eight in the morning, chattering baboons jumping from one tree to another scared Madiba, Sunyei and Ndomot who quickly turned and ran towards their Keepers for safety. The Keepers calmed them down after which they went back to feeding. Mudbath was full of fun and games due to the warm weather, all the orphans joining in the slipping sliding and splashing games.
22 September 2005
In the dead of the night light showers started and persisted until morning. The morning was extremely cold as the orphans strolled nonchalantly out from the stockade. Just immediately after entering into the grazing fields, Madiba and Sunyei started it all by skidding on the wet earth, then they rolled around in it, slapped around in it, and generally frolicked around in it. Soon the entire herd followed their lead and couldn’t resist savoring of the damp earth, relieved to have what was the day before parched earth now a slippery playground. Yatta eventually called an end to the game, insisting the herd start to feed again. Wendi was the first to obey Yatta’s rumblings and then the whole herd followed, and all scattered and browsed. At mud wallow time the orphans concentrated on the soil bathing rather than the mud wallowing having had their fill earlier.
23 September 2005
In the morning the orphans passed by the water trough as usual and after taking their fill of water the younger babies warmed themselves up by charging and trumpeting and running around the bushes before settling down to the serious business of feeding. Around mid day Kinna and Nasalot enjoyed the soil bathing most, with Taita and Tomboi more interested in climbing all over each other. After the noon feed Galana caused some disturbance with some very loud demands for more milk, but was warned by the Keepers and calmed down when she realized that it was not to be forthcoming.
24 September 2005
Bright and burning sun greeted us on this morning. Before the mud wallow time the orphaned herd led by Yatta and navigated by Mulika and Kinna and Nasalot browsed under the shade of the thickets. They seemed aware that today was a day to be spent in the shade. Even getting to the mudbath was rough for the orphans with the burning and unrelenting sun. The young babies, Madiba and Sunyei and Ndomot drew fluids from their stomachs and sprayed it under their ears in an effort to regulate their body temperatures. Before taking their mid day bottle feeds they first all rushed to the mud wallow to cool themselves. The mud bath was a prolonged one, all savoring the cool water.
25 September 2005
Just prior to 11 a.m. Taita and Tomboi enjoyed a dustbath. At the noon milkfeed, Napasha, Galana and Tomboi held their own bottles, returning them empty to the Keepers. Because it was cool there was no mudbath today, but Sunyei and Wendi had a wonderful dustbath whilst the others scratched themselves on trees.
26 September 2005
It was a very hot day today, so all the orphans had a wonderful time in the mud. At 3 p.m. Taita and Tomboi enjoyed a pushing game which ended when Taita tried to mount Tomboi.
27 September 2005
It was a blisteringly hot morning, forcing the orphans under shade early. Ndomot, Sunyei and Madiba drew water from their stomachs, spraying it behind their ears to cool themselves. The orphans had a wonderful mudbath when Tomboi rubbed himself against Nasalot whilst she was lying down.
28 September 2005
A slight shower of rain fell during the night, and continued throughout the day, so the orphans had a wonderful time rolling in the puddles and playing in the wet earth. At the mudbath they took water and their milk, but did not wallow.
29 September 2005
Mist covered the landscape today, accompanied by light showers of rain. The younger orphans had a jovial morning of mud bathing and playing whilst the older set concentrated on feeding. Taita and Napasha enjoyed a pushing match, which was, of course, won by Napasha.
30 September 2005
Yatta led the orphans to feed up Ithumba Hill and they all returned there after the mudbath.