September 1st
Eight wild elephants were at the stockade compound when the orphans were let out. As soon as the juniors settled for lucerne, the ex-orphans that appeared to have been hiding somewhere waiting for lucerne, emerged running from the bushes. The feeding turned chaotic as each one tried to get more lucerne than the other. The juniors withdrew from the feeding and left with bits of lucerne in their trunks, heading to the water trough. Kithaka tried to take some lucerne from Orwa's mouth but he soon regretted it. Orwa took this as a lack of respect for a boy that only arrived recently and, angrily, Orwa dropped the remainder of his lucerne to teach Kithaka a lesson. Kithaka tried to defend himself but he was overpowered by Orwa and he ran away bellowing. On returning to collect the lucerne he had dropped, Orwa found that it had been taken. Vuria, who was close by, collected the lucerne and left the scene knowing that Orwa would eventually come looking for it. Vuria watched from afar as he enjoyed the lucerne whilst Orwa tried to see if there was anyone hiding lucerne nearby. There was none and Orwa walked away cursing Kithaka who had made him drop the lucerne. Lenana heard Kithaka's bellowing and so ran to meet him to find out what had happened. Lenana placed her trunk on him for comfort and assurance.
Once in the bush Garzi browsed with Sities while Vuria spent much of his time feeding with Suguta. At 11am, the temperature was moderate and only Kanjoro, Teleki, Bongo, Vuria and Laragai participated in any wallowing. During the mudbath Kithaka and Shukuru raised their trunks in the air which meant someone was coming and a few minutes later, Kilaguni emerged from north of the mud bath. Amazingly, Kilaguni was on his own. He didn't interact with the juniors but walked straight to drink water and then left again.
The juniors headed for soil dusting where Shukuru took advantage of scratching on those who were rolling in the soil. On the way to the browsing field, Sities collected a branch that appeared to have been broken and dropped by a wild elephant. To her it was a blessing since the wild elephant hadn't eaten much of it and so as she walked she peeled the bark off from the branch. Back in the browsing field Bomani decided to spend much of his time feeding with Suguta, something that Suguta welcomed. Later in the evening, the orphans converged under a tree to cool down before heading back to the stockade.
Wild elephants at the stockade
Vuria and Suguta browsing together
September 3rd
In the morning, the stockade was flooded with wild elephants and ex-orphans. Among them were two new wild bulls with arrow injuries that arrangements were made for them to be attended to by the DSWT funded Veterinary Unit. The stockade compound was full of activities as four wild dogs came for water as well but they were chased away by Tomboi. Kenze played with Zurura as two wild bulls were engaged in a strength testing exercise. Shukuru and Orwa entwined their trunks in greetings and later Orwa engaged Ololoo in a pushing game. When Orwa surrendered and turned to leave, Ololoo held his tail to stop him from leaving and then mounted him. A war erupted between Lualeni and Taita when Taita attempted to mount Lualeni without seeking her permission.
In the browsing field, Bomani tried to invite Garzi in a pushing game by placing his trunk on Garzi's head. Garzi refused and walked past Bomani as he headed east. At mud bath, the juniors were joined by six wild bulls. Soon after mud bathing, Barsilinga went to scratch against a tree stump a few metres away. Laragai wanted to use the same tree stump that was being used by Barsilinga. Barsilinga hesitated in giving Laragai access to the tree stump. The small rough Laragai took this as lack of respect from Barsilinga. She raised her ears and moved a few steps backwards so as to gain momentum. Upon seeing this Barsilinga slowly started retreating, but before he could move away, Laragai, who punches like a wasp, sprang and pushed Barsilinga. Barsilinga increased the speed of his retreat, because he didn't want to be pushed again. Laragai then used the tree stump for as long as she wished. The angry Barsilinga left to join his friends and the first orphan he met was Bomani. Barsilinga decided to vent his anger on Bomani by pushing him. Bomani appeared to have been anticipating this from Barsilinga and so he didn't hesitate in retaliating.
As the mud bathing was coming to a close, Kilaguni, who for the last two days has turned himself into a lone ranger, reported for mud bath. As the juniors headed north of the mud bath, Kilaguni headed south. The orphans had a quiet afternoon and in the evening only four wild bulls reported for water at the stockade.
Wild elephant being treated
September 11th
Twenty minutes after the juniors had settled for lucerne in the morning, Rapsu, Ololoo and Madiba joined them. The three former orphans shared the lucerne peacefully with the juniors. Later, Ololoo invited Orwa to a strength testing game in which Orwa obliged to join him. On the way to the browsing field, Garzi blocked the way for Bomani thinking that it was the Barsilinga that he usually pushes. Bomani wasn't in the mood to entertain such nonsense and so pushed Garzi out of the way. In the browsing field, Teleki spend some time challenging Ololoo and finally surrendered after Ololoo proved to be too strong for him. Vuria teamed up with Bomani in feeding while Turkwel and Sities shared food from the same tree.
At mud bath time, the juniors were joined by Loijuk, Galana, Meibai, Madiba, Lualeni, Ololoo and Rapsu. Only the ex-orphans participated in wallowing. Ololoo engaged Orwa in a pushing game and later tackled Kanjoro. Meibai played with Suguta while Rapsu got a free ride from Lualeni. After mud bath, the ex-orphans headed towards Imenti while the juniors headed to lower Kalovoto area where they settled to browse. The orphans had a quiet afternoon and in the evening, Narok and Orwa spend some time in soil dusting. Kilaguni, Chaimu and Ishanga visited the stockade in the evening and left at dark after taking enough water.
September 20th
Kilaguni, Chaimu and Ishanga were at the stockade compound early before the juniors were let out. Twenty five bulls were standing by waiting for water. As soon as the water was turned on, the wild bulls started drinking. Ishanga, Kilaguni and Chaimu, all initially rescued from Tsavo West, stood at the entrance waiting for the juniors. Once the juniors were out, the three from the partially independent group happily joined them and settled for lucerne.
Later, Kithaka and Narok wound up the feeding of lucerne by scratching on the nearby rocks. The juniors then passed by the water trough to arm themselves with enough water to take them through the entire morning. Before leading the group to the browsing field, Mutara stood head to head with Orwa, having a quiet conversation. The orphans had a quiet morning as they carried on with browsing without any major events.
At mud bath time, Vuria opted to relax under a tree instead of joining his friends in mud bathing. Bongo and Teleki had a light pushing game while they were wallowing. In the afternoon, the juniors settled to browse at Kanziku area and since the temperatures were still high, Mutara stood under a tree and took a nap as she waited for the temperatures to go down.
In the evening, Garzi couldn't locate Sities and so rumbled loudly. Sities responded quickly by rushing to check what was the problem. Sities arrived at where Garzi was feeding and calmed him down by touching his mouth. Sities apologized to him for not paying attention and browsed by his side until five in the evening, time for going back to the stockade.
Chaimu, Ishanga and Kilaguni
September 21st
The partially independent group was at the stockade compound early in the morning. Orwa was happy to have the group around since it meant strength testing exercises were inevitable. Orwa started his games with Kibo but soon after he was defeated. He decided to go and relax, thinking of which technique to apply so as to overpower Kibo another time. Meanwhile, Kibo, after flooring Orwa, met with Suguta that he tried to fight. Suguta showed Orwa that he was only a boy and he was supposed to show respect; he pushed Orwa away. Kibo walked further away and met with Vuria where he tried to take the lucerne that Vuria was eating. Vuria wasn't happy about it and so carried his lucerne and ran away. Kibo didn't know what to do next but after turning, he met with Sities and decided to vent his anger on her. Sities tried to defend herself but she was overpowered. Kibo even went to the extent of attempting to mount Sities too.
Kasigau had a light pushing game with Kitirua and a short while later, the ex-orphans showed up. The first thing that came to Orwa's mind was to get one of the ex-orphans for further training. Orwa settled on Meibai who taught him some new pushing tactics. After finishing his lessons with Orwa, Meibai met with Suguta and had a brief strength testing exercise before moving on to drink water. Orwa met with Melia and opted to put into practice what he had learned from her earlier. Melia didn't give Orwa a chance to play with her for long though. She pushed Orwa away so as to attend to more important things, such as feeding.
At the time of leaving for browsing, the herd split into four groups. The orphans led by Mutara headed to Kone; the ex orphans led by Yatta headed west towards mud bath, while the partially independent group split into two. One group of ten was led by Olare whilst Chaimu led the orphans originally rescued from Tsavo West. These included Makireti, Kasigau, Kilabasi, Kilaguni and Ishanga. Only time will tell if this is another alliance in the making since Makireti leads a group of three while Chaimu leads another group of three. In the field Lemoyian, Bomani and Vuria teamed up together in browsing while Sities browsed with her Garzi as the rest of the herd scattered across the field. Prior to the arrival of the orphans at mud bath, baboons were ruling the area. As soon as Kithaka, Lemoyian and Barsilinga arrived at mud bath, they spotted the baboons and walked towards them with their ears raised. The baboons saw the orphans approaching and slowly started to leave to avoid a confrontation. Orwa, turkwel, Barsilinga and Lemoyian boycotted the wallowing exercise. Orwa stood under a nearby acacia tree waiting for his friends to finish whatever they were doing so as to go back to the browsing field. After mud bath, Shukuru and Sities participated in soil dusting and on their way to the browsing field, Sities found a suitable tree that she used to scratch her buttocks.
In the afternoon, the sun was still hot and Teleki decided to relax under a tree that had a good shade while Bomani and Barsilinga shared shade under a different tree. In the evening, Olare’s group in the company of four wild bulls reported at the stockade for water. Later the herd of the Tsavo West orphans, Makireti and Chaimu groups, showed up at the stockade and joined up with Olare’s.
Kasigau plays with Kitirua
September 27th
Very early in the morning, we woke up and found a large group of ex-orphans and wild elephants mixed together in the stockade area. Mulika with her baby Mwende, and Yatta with her baby Yetu were among them. It is good to see the little calves have weathered the dry season well, as have their mothers. The dependent orphans joined the group. We also had the younger ex-orphans among them: Melia, Tumaren, Kalama, Kandecha, Kibo, Chemi chemi, Ishanga, Olare, Kilaguni and Chaimi. Tumaren started playing with Orwa and Olare was very active and jovial delighted to have her company and then began to coax Murka into the games by trying to sit on her back and roll down to the ground. Orwa later started play fighting with Kandecha, who is bigger and stronger but patiently obliged without being overly rough on Orwa, and later that group followed the older ex orphans orphans into the bush for browsing with with their Keepers faithfully watching and looking on surveying the scene.
During mudbath, a group of orphans were playing together; Shukuru, Laragai, Narok, Sities, Vuria, Garzi, Kithaka, Bongo and Bomani. Vuria, Narok and Sities were later enjoying a dust bath after their mudbath, tossing chunks of soil in the air. After the orphans had returned back into the bush, two strong and spectacular wild bulls came in, drank water and left. Back at the stockades, a big group of ex-orphans and wild elephants arrived late in the evening; they rested, had their fill of water, communicated amongst each other and then quietly left.
Orwa plays with Chemi Chemi
September 30th
It was a very cool and quiet morning today when we woke up and found a big group of wild elephants with our ex-orphans outside the stockade waiting for water. We immediately opened the valve and water started flowing down to the two troughs simultaneously. Among the group we had the immediate ex-orphans Kibo, Kandecha, Olare, Chemi chemi, Kilaguni, Chaimu, Makireti, Kasigau, Kilabasi, Ishanga, Kitirua and Naisula with Wendi's group. They drank water and left.
The orphans on the other side politely ate their lucerne and near to them were Olare’s group, who joined them later for water. We left with the orphans to the bush for browsing but we were followed by a group of ex-orphans with Lualeni and Ololoo among them. Ololoo was browsing next to Bongo and was enjoying a ‘rubbing shoulders’ game. Kanjoro later join them and the whole group started walking towards the mudbath.
By midday and mud bath time it had become very hot and the babies all ran into the mudhole and started thrashing around enjoying themselves. No one came out without mud covering their entire body. Later they all ran towards the trough to drink water, and then ambled away to concentrate on feeding. Later we had big 5 big bulls come to the mudbath to drink water, after which they left. Back in the stockade, we also had a big group of ex-orphans and wild elephants come late in the evening, with Wendi among them.
Chemi Chemi having a drink of water