Keepers' Diaries, September 2015

Umani Springs Reintegration Unit



September began with our Umani orphans being trailed by three wild bulls, who kept approaching them throughout the day, trying very hard to keep company with our babies; but the orphans were weary and chose to keep their distance. The month has been extremely hot, and our little albino boys, Faraja and Jasiri, instinctively know they need to take shelter during these scorching days and choose to spend much time in the shade, understanding that is what they must do due to their sensitive skin. The thick grey mud from the waterholes acts as a helpful sun shield and they both love their mud baths, so are seldom without a generous layer of mud over their fair skins.

01 September 2015

In the early morning, when Murera and Sonje took off leading the babies out towards the Umani Hills, it seemed the other orphans had no option but to follow obediently. On their travels today came across a big tree that was pushed down by wild elephants in the night so there was much browse for the elephants to enjoy because of it. The tree was turned over leaving its roots exposed; the orphans surrounded the big tree and Limalima and Ngasha tried to fight for the roots. Later on in the day, three wild bull elephants approached the babies, trying to follow Murera and Sonje who were a little further away. The bulls tried hard to mix with the orphans but, when Limalima got their smell, she rumbled to the other babies to be aware of the wild bulls around them. Quanza, Ziwa and Faraja sped off quickly after getting their smell, running towards their keepers. These close encounters are getting more and more and the fact that the wild elephants are looking to join the babies by day is testament of how much tamer they are becoming.

02 September 2015

The hottest weather started in the early morning hours, when the babies started looking for some big trees for shade, especially Jasiri and Faraja as they are the most affected due to their albino light skin. They looked for what could help them fill up their empty stomachs after the morning bottles. Jasiri and his friend Faraja kept flapping their big ears, cooling themselves as they continued to browse on the dry grass and leaves from the acacia trees. Faraja was trying to hide under Zongoloni’s big ears to cover him from the direct sunlight. As he is getting older he is too tall to fit under Zongoloni’s belly because their height is just the same, although they would like to help one another like wild elephants do in the wild. When the babies started their journey to the midday bottle feeding, Lima lima started to lead the whole big group. She was stopped by the keepers to go behind them though, as she likes to disturb the other babies when they are feeding by grabbing more bottles after finishing her share of two bottles.

03 September 2015

Lima lima and Zongoloni left for the forest, walking towards the Umani hills. They were following the baboons that were jumping on the big acacia trees and dropping some pods down which the bushbucks were savouring too. The bushbucks wait below the baboon to benefit from the fallen pods dislodged by their activity. Also both provide security for each other, the baboons with the elevated views and the bushbucks with their keen eyesight at ground level. Zongoloni and some of her friends knew that when they follow baboons they would also get some of the pods so there was an ulterior motive today. Lima lima tried many different techniques of how to reach the tall trees even deciding to step on some rocks so that she would be higher off the ground; she did not want to wait for the baboons to drop the pods; she wanted to reach them before they fell to the ground and have the lion’s share of them before the bushbucks, and the rowdy elephants like Murera and Sonje. Sonje and Murera a known to chase the other babies away from the delicious pods, except Ziwa who is their favourable baby boy, and they are more tolerant of him. After finishing up the dropped pods, the babies walked to the wallowing point where they all lined up to roll in the mud. After the swimming competition, Murera went to the soil dusting point to enjoy the warm ground and dry her body.

04 September 2015

After splashing water on her body, Murera decided to walk away to the dry palms to relax, leaving the other babies to wallow. A little while later Ziwa was heard screaming very loudly, which surprised Murera and Sonje who thought that some of the rowdy boys might be pushing him whilst he was on the ground. Murera and Sonje ran back to the mud bath but there they found he had got stuck in the mud and was screaming for help from his keepers. It was incredible to see their immediate reaction and concern. Murera with Sonje used their tusks and along with their keepers came and supported where they could. Eventually Ziwa got up and ran to Sonje for comfort.

05 September 2015

The orphans scattered all over the forest, each one to his or her corner busy looking for the greenest pastures to fill up empty stomachs. This was before making their way to the waterhole to drink clean water and wallow in the muddy water to cool down their burning bodies; mostly Jasiri and Faraja were feeling the hottest because of the skin colour and texture they have. After drinking clean water, Murera began walking to the other side of the waterhole, stretching her long trunk trying to test the water temperature first before deciding to wallow. She found it warm enough for wallowing but the tractor was still off-loading more water to fill up the waterhole. She waited till the tractor left before jumping into the waterhole, followed by some of the other babies like Zongoloni and Ziwa. It was serious fun in the waterhole with each baby showing different swimming styles, but Sonje remained the star of the day.

06 September 2015

Following the dry season, now the keepers and their babies walk very long kilometres in the forests looking for greener branches and pods to browse on. Today Murera, Sonje and their mini matriarch Lima lima made their way together with the keepers to the Chyulu Hills National Park, looking for more food to browse on. The Chyulu Hills borders the Kibwezi forest and Umani Hills, where Murera and the other babies make their home near the springs. Faraja took off walking along a different path away from his other friends, up to the very rocky place in the Chyulu Hills. Lima lima began moving the orphans on, thinking of the bottles and the waterhole that feels so good after a long walk on a hot day. Murera and Sonje were walking so fast over the sharp stones you could not even tell it was them; all they cared about was reaching greener pastures.

07 September 2015

Lima lima moved the orphans to another new place that would help them with lots of greener branches. Quanza, who is her roommate, followed her very closely and kept up the walking pace of Lima lima who is always a fast walker. After a short while, Lima lima moved from walking beside Quanza and joined Jasiri, who was pushed away from Zongoloni who did not want Jasiri to grab her tail. When Jasiri was chased away by Zongoloni , Limalima went and joined him to lead the other babies to the waterhole. She was confused by the rocky area of the Chyulu Hills, but when she realised where the path was she led the babies to the waterhole to have their bottles and also wallow in the muddy waterhole.

08 September 2015

The wild elephant cows together with some few bulls migrate to the top of the hills, looking for food before walking down to the water springs to get clean water to drink. Zongoloni with Ziwa while on the slopes of the Chyulu Hills, began twisting her trunk trying to smell some wild elephants that were around them in the forest. Their wild friends were breaking branches which Ziwa heard, and made sure the Keepers were aware too. Sonje began to patrol, going down the hill communicating with the whole herd telling them it was time to go and that they should follow her down for some clean water. Lima lima got the signal from Sonje and started to walk down. The boys Ngasha, Jasiri and Faraja were behind, being pushed hard by Zongoloni. They all went to the bottle feeding ground and also spent some time wallowing and having fun. Then Lima lima walked aside to the dusting soil and started blowing huge dust on her face, covered up to the head; no one could see her face and it was hard to even know it was Lima lima!

09 September 2015

When Murera came out from her stockade in the morning, the other young elephants followed her to the acacia trees where the baboons had dropped more pods during their evening session up in the trees. The pods remained undetected by the bushbuck and this made Murera a happy girl in the morning sharing the spoils with her herd. After finishing up the pods Murera went to the dusting soil and lay down, rubbing her itchy chest on the soil and doing some body exercises, stretching her legs to straighten the nerves. Then she took off on patrol, looking for some branches and leaves before making their way to the bottle feeding ground. When Lima lima realised that it was time for bottle feeding, she took another path from the normal one so that she could sneak to the bottles before others reached there. The Keepers saw her running like a crazy elephant and stopped her to wait for Murera and Sonje, and to remember her manners. The boys together with Zongoloni, who don’t disturb the others and drink their own bottles before dropping them and leaving the ground peacefully, were given the okay to go first by their keepers. Lima lima, if given a chance to lead them, would disrupt the peaceful environment at the feeding point by grabbing some bottles from the other babies who drink slowly. At the mudbath, Murera got stuck in the slippery mud and couldn’t get up. She started screaming and the keepers ran to see what was Murera screaming about; they found her struggling to get up and needing support from the other orphans. Sonje came together with Jasiri, our only big boy, to help together with keepers. We pushed and pushed and then she came out feeling relieved!

10 September 2015

Jasiri was very much concentrating in the bushes, trying to smell out the dropped acacia pods lying on the ground but hiding in the grass – they were very hard to see but he could smell them in the thickest grass. The other babies got down to serious business along the slopes of the Chyulu Hills feeding together. Murera and Ziwa kept away from the greedy elephants Zongoloni and Lima lima. These days they are the greediest girls who demand more than their share and look for the other orphans’ food. Lima lima and Zongoloni were feeding so quickly Murera and Sonje pushed them away from the others feeding slowly. Later, Ziwa peeling off on his own wandering a bit further down the slopes of the Chyulu Hills, Murera was not near to him. He found himself surrounded by three big wild bulls who raised their big ears curiously viewing him. This frightened him and he ran away looking for the keepers for support, but the keepers also got scared and called the whole herd to follow them to the waterhole to take their afternoon bottles . Quanza raised her ears and the keepers shouted loudly“ come, come, and Murera come”. Quanza led Zongoloni running while making very big trumpeting noises which echoed through the forests and the whole group ran to the bottle feeding ground. After finishing their bottles they went to wallow, forgetting their earlier ordeal.

11 September 2015

The Umani water springs has become the wild elephant’s paradise. The wild cows and their calves come there regularly to get clean water, soft grass and lilies floating on the water. The babies started their long day walking to the springs water point. Zongoloni and Quanza started lifting up their long trunks, trying to smell away their wild friends. All the babies’ trunks were in their air and the keepers wondered why today. But after a few minutes the keepers heard a baby elephant shout and they realised that Zongoloni and Quanza had a reason they were holding up their trunks up. Lima lima tried to walk over to the wild herd and baby elephant spotted earlier. Lima lima loves babies and she was going to try and grab the baby, but was detected before she could reach the calf. Her mission failed when the wild cow realised that Lima lima was getting much closer to her baby and that she had a slightly human smell, so she was turned away back to her own family. After that, all the orphans walked off to the waterhole to wallow and drink clean water, and later continue with their day of long patrols for browsing.

12 September 2015

It had become a trend for the Umani orphans to take more time walking, looking for acacia pods; the babies thought that the pods were everywhere without knowing that they are only there once a year, during a dry season like this; baboons, bush bucks and the baby elephants enjoying having pods. Today after the orphans walked to the bottles, Jasiri and Quanza went straight to the dusting soil where they had so much fun playing on the soft dust. Big balls of dust were blown in the air. Murera went to her own place which was not crowded by the babies, to play joyfully in the dust on her own. Then the other orphans went to the big waterhole to wallow with baby crocodiles and terrapins; the terrapins and baby crocodiles had difficulty keeping their bobbing heads above the waves made by the frolicking babies because the likes of Lima lima kept kicking the water with her foot, forcing terrapins to run away and the baby crocodiles to jump on the elephants’ backs. When Zongoloni felt her body get cold she stopped wallowing immediately and jumped out of the waterhole, leaving the baby crocodile on the grass running away for safety.

13 September 2015

The dry season continues but the babies are used to it, busy foraging in the forests. Zongoloni with her best friend Sonje was busy making sure they left no green leaves on the ground. Ngasha took off to the waterhole very quickly, as he felt his throat was very dry. Ziwa followed him from behind together with Sonje to drink clean water. The swimming started almost immediately. Murera arrived at the waterhole with the remaining babies behind, flapping their big ears ready to wallow. Murera led by example and got into the waterhole first showing the babies how to swim. The keepers carried some pods to the bottle feeding ground and spread them out for the orphans to pick up with their trunks. Lima lima came with Quanza from the swimming pool almost immediately after smelling the pods were lying on the ground. Then Jasiri came with Ngasha, pushing for space, but was blocked by Sonje who was saving some pods for her baby boy Ziwa. Lima lima, as usual, was picking up the pods very quickly and moving very fast, smelling all corners to get more before her other friends could get to them. Some seed pods were hiding in the grass which they could smell but not easily see to reach. After that Zongoloni and Quanza took the leadership roll of taking the babies for second round of wallowing, the first having been interrupted by pods.

14 September 2015

The fighting broke out between the two albinos, Jasiri and Faraja, after some disagreement that happened between them whilst playing. Jasiri wanted to mount Faraja’s back but Faraja declined and used his strength to defend himself. Faraja started pushing Jasiri away to stop the misbehaving adamant he should not try to mount on him anymore. Murera was not bothered by the fighting boys, but more bothered about what to browse on and time was running out to get the soft branches. She just walked straight to the bushes following Sonje and Ziwa who were on their way to the water hole cooling their backs. As soon as Sonje and Ziwa finished wallowing, the whole herd went to the dust bath blowing big dust in the air; with their long trunks raised high in the air above their heads, some of the babies mixed the air with loud trumpets, charging some oncoming baboons.

15 September 2015

The babies had a very peaceful night last night and came out with joyfully readiness to welcome a new day and fill up their empty stomachs. Some of the orphans started by scratching their bottoms on the scratching rock just outside their stockades. Murera was busy rubbing her big bottom on a small tree which was bending precariously due to her heavy body weight. When the orphans’ finished their milk bottles, Lima lima turned away to the water troughs looking for clean water to drink. After drinking her fill she began testing the water using her feet and trunk to feel if it was cold or warm, contemplating enjoying a little swim. Sonje, Zongoloni and Lima lima then trooped to the water pool to try and scare away the terrapins they saw the previous day, they wanted to be sure to get them out of the swimming pool. They began making vigorous kicks in the water so that they would get frightened and evacuate. After a few minutes they saw results with terrapins jumping out for fear of being squashed by their big feet; after making sure the terrapins were out they began swimming with abandon.

16 September 2015

Lucerne had become the order of the day whenever the babies came out from their stockades. Without seeing Lucerne outside the fence, some of the babies were grumpy and rumbling, complaining until they got it. They put their heads together on the ground feeding on the lucerne when it was brought. Ngasha and Zongoloni then went ahead looking for greener branches, but they could not really find any. As they continued walking around looking for branches, Murera rumbled to them so that they could come down the slopes to where she had found some fresh branches. The day turned hot again and all the babies went straight back to the waterhole to have another mudbath, before walking to the dusting soil where Lima lima got excited, showing a very big smiling face when on the ground performing different dusting styles.

17 September 2015

All the babies came rushing out from their stockades after the gates were flung open for them by their keepers. When Murera came out she looked around for where she could find her baby boy Ziwa, but Ziwa had already gone together with Sonje to drink water from the stockades waterhole. Outside the gate Sonje, Ziwa and the other babies found no water left by the wild elephants’ that came in huge numbers overnight. Their keepers soon rectified the situation and released more water from the pipeline for them to drink. The wild herds were with their young ones and one of the babies touched the electric wire fence during the night in an effort to reach our orphans and got must have got a shock; screaming out, so the wild herd left quickly. The day patrol continued with the orphans together with their human families in the forests walking towards the Chyulu Hills National Park where they would find some fresher branches. While walking, the babies strayed into a herd of buffaloes and they were right in the middle of them. The keepers stayed back, calling them to come back and the buffaloes also started running away after hearing people talking near them. The Keepers brought the orphans to the bottle feeding ground where they took their bottles and went straight to the water pool. Sonje, Lima lima, and Zongoloni performed a wonderful swimming style in the water pool.

18 September 2015

The naughty boy Ngasha parted ways with his roommate Faraja, because Faraja likes pushing games which sometimes result in a fight. Ngasha did not want to play pushing games all the time and left Faraja to be with Jasiri who is the dominant bull. They began their pushing game but Ngasha left and walked in the forest to look for soft, green branches to fill up his empty stomach. Murera also did not bother noticing the fighting but continued with her browsing silently in the forest, picking some soft branches to chew on. When Faraja was defeated by Jasiri and the fight stopped, he walked alone along the road following Murera who was following the younger babies walking towards the bottle feeding area; also the keepers did not allow the greedy Lima lima to go ahead before the other babies could get there. When Murera arrived, they bottle fed and walked to the water troughs for clean water. From there Lima lima went to the water pool, testing the water and looking to see if the terrapins had returned after Sonje and the others had chased them away the day before.

19 September 2015

The babies were very thirsty in the early morning, which forced all of them to go and look for the water tank. After drinking, Sonje went to go and look for some acacia seed pods that had been dropped by the baboons playing in the big acacia tree. As Sonje was picking up seedpods from the ground, Murera led the other orphans away from the hot sun, looking for where they could splash some water on their burning bodies and cool down from the hot sun. As soon as Sonje, Zongoloni and Lima lima finished their bottles, they jumped straight into the waterhole as the swimming stars of the Umani orphans; the boys were very lazy and reluctant to go swimming, but only splashed water on their chests. More interesting was to see how Sonje was using her front foot to kick water, after realizing that the terrapins were inside the pool once again she clearly wanted them out. They all played the hide and seek games there with terrapins. Today the terrapins were in a very hard dilemma, they were well aware that if they came out from the water they would be more exposed’ but if they stayed in the water they might be trampled!

20 September 2015

The elephants had a very difficult time last night when two leopards came near the stockades and began making a lot of noise from the top of the trees within the forest, near where the keepers put the lucerne for the babies. The leopards knew that might be a place they would get some of the antelopes that come and feed on the left over lucerne. The orphans didn’t know what all the noise was about and when Ngasha and Jasiri were browsing in the forest and heard a bush buck barking, they remembered all the noise from the night before and headed quickly to the Keepers. The Keepers gathered all the elephants together for safety, including Murera and Sonje, to move for a mud bath. When all of them arrived at the mud bath point Lima lima, Zongoloni, and Sonje walked straight to the water pool to swim; the weather had turned very hot for the babies to wait any longer as their bodies kept on burning. As Faraja was walking back he came across two big trees and walked over to have a rest between them. He hung his head down, looking tired and sleepy, before resting his head on the tree for a few more minutes .

21 September 2015

Lucerne became the order of the day before walking out to the forest; the babies must report there to the feeding corner before their normal long day of patrols in the forest. Some bush bucks also made their way over to the lucerne corner but they were not received very well by the elephants. When Zongoloni and Ziwa spotted the bush bucks coming to joining them, Zongoloni started very loud trumpets and then Ziwa took over trumpeting much louder, as he chased them from behind. The poor bush bucks were very scared and went very far away. Buffaloes came in very large herd, walking to where the orphans were getting some branches off the bushes. Ngasha was the first to see the buffaloes walking over to them, so he with a few friends changed direction to go towards Quanza, who was on the other side not far from them. After communicating some words to Quanza, all the babies came together to look for their keepers and Sonje led them all to the waterhole, leaving Murera with some keepers coming slowly behind. When Sonje finished swimming, she went ahead for the dust bath, where she blew very big clouds of dust from her trunk.

22 September 2015

The elephants heard the tractor coming to the stockades in the morning, to take away the leftover branches that they fed on during the night. When Ziwa saw the tractor and the noise, he went running to the lucerne feeding corner, where his adopted two mothers Sonje and Murera were busy clearing up the remaining lucerne on the ground. Quanza together with Faraja walked to a different side of the forest, looking for the keepers who sat under the shade. The keepers looked on happily at the orphans enjoying their browse together with a few trusting bush bucks who were trying to be friendly. Jasiri came over to try and play a pushing game with Sonje, but found it very hard because Sonje is much stronger with very long tusks - not easy for him to keep pushing on. He surrendered the fight and ran away over to Zongoloni and Lima lima who he knew were very easy to push. Some of the babies decided to go over to the bumpy hill of grass, lying and rubbing their bellies which felt nice. Murera was happily enjoying the grass but later she had a problem getting up. She was lying on her bad leg which could not support her to get up smoothly; she screamed for more support from the keepers and also Sonje came with Ziwa to help Murera get up from where she was on the ground.

23 September 2015

Ngasha and Sonje got very scared by the rowdy and noisy baboons crossing their path, making a lot of noise running into the bushes. They made Ngasha and Sonje very fearful and they decided to move away from the noisy place full of baboons. After running away, Murera turned around to go to the wallowing point, splashing her body with muddy water to cool her back which was burning due to the bright sunshine. But the other orphans decided on a different course and walked to the other big waterhole that could accommodate them all together, before making their way back home. When Quanza came out of the water, she looked very tired with sleepy eyes. Near to her Sonje was chasing away some of the baboons who were walking on straight path to the water hole to drink. Ziwa was then stranded helplessly out in the field, surrounded by all the baboons. He screamed loudly followed by low rumbling, which alerted Murera and Sonje that there was something wrong and they should go to see him. They helped him find his way through the troop of baboons and they all walked away.

24 September 2015

A large number of buffalos appeared in the bushes, outnumbering the orphans who were walking through there. Ngasha and Jasiri got closer to the buffaloes, thinking in their minds they were the biggest boys to protect the Murera family, but they found it hard when some of the buffaloes tried to charge at them. Today Ngasha and Jasiri were scared away and did not want to move closer to the rowdy buffaloes; this surprised the keepers who did not expect babies of their size to be scared of the buffalos! Quanza forced her way on; she came up with the idea that if they all walked to the bottle feeding ground and kept away from the buffalo’s territory then the babies would not be scared anymore. After getting their lovely two bottles of milk, all the babies walked to the mud pool where Sonje, Zongoloni and Lima lima joined the other babies in swimming and began showing them their swimming methods.

25 September 2015

Ziwa came out following the naughty Ngasha, walking over to the waterhole to look for clean drinking water in the morning. The babies were feeling very thirsty after enjoying some lucerne and seed pods in the morning, which they feed on during the dry season but which leaves their mouths feeling a little dry. At the bottle feeding ground in the afternoon, some crane birds were flying around the waterhole, and some of the orphans were still hanging around there too. The cranes flew high above the elephants, but they wanted some water and to hunt some of the grasshoppers around there too. Ziwa and Lima lima got a fright the flapping of their wings in the air as they came down Lima lima began charging around, trumpeting loudly which caused the whole herd to run towards their keepers.

26 September 2015

Zongoloni walked off on her own and began looking around for some sweet, dry branches to chew on in the forest. When the other babies began feeling the hot sunshine burning their bodies, they went to the water hole to swim immediately after bottle feeding. Sonje prepared enough dust using her trunk to throw on her back and repel the stinging tsetse flies following them; Murera also joined Sonje from the other side of waterhole. When the babies started walking back over to their keepers, Faraja was quick and found their keepers still having their lunch under the trees and storytelling under the shade. Ngasha thought it was wise for them to keep walking and go towards the water pipeline area, to see if there was some water spilling through. Jasiri and Ngasha were at the fore front of leading the big group of orphans, as if they were the matriarchs instead of Murera or Sonje or Lima lima.

27 September 2015

The babies were very happy in the early morning hours after coming out from their night stockades, walking all the way into the forests looking for some greens. They began the new day encountering all kinds of other wild animals around the forest too. As they continued walking in the forests, looking for what they could eat, an antelope came running very fast and jumped over their heads, running away from a leopard that was barking in the forest. The keepers heard the leopard too and worried for the orphans, so they called them all close before continuing on their walk. Quanza then came with Zongoloni to an open area where they could see very far; it was within the grasslands where it was easier to smell any new smell very quickly. Sonje and Ziwa went with the other babies directly to the water pool to go swimming; they needed some mud on their back to cool them down from the hot sun.

28 September 2015

The hot weather started in the early morning before the babies could walk very far, immediately most of the babies started flapping their big ears, signalling that they could really feel the heat already. The wild elephants today were just around the stockades, not far from the fence line. They were not far from where the orphans were relaxing and enjoying their lucerne and some broken soft branches, which they had found bent down by the wild herds during overnight. Quanza together with her friends were very busy struggling to break down some branches, without knowing that there were wild elephants with their young ones close by. Only Lima lima and Sonje detected the smell of wild herd and moved over towards them. Upon reaching a wild bull that was waiting under a big tree, Lima lima touched him with her trunk. Sonje, the big mother, stayed slightly further away. The bull elephant pushed Lima lima back a bit and Sonje ran all the way back towards their keepers. The keepers and the other young ones went in the opposite direction from where the wind was coming from, so the wild elephants would not get their scent and block their way. The big bull elephant attempted to charge after getting the human smell, but when the keepers started shouting for the orphans to follow them he disappeared into the forest. The orphans kept running up to the water hole in all the excitement of meeting the wild elephants, as well as being in a hurry to cool their hot bodies.

29 September 2015

As she walked out of the stockade Sonje spotted some soft acacia seed pods and some good soft branches that looked very delicious for browsing on. Murera was walking to the other side of the forest towards the Chyulu Hills, but a water buck confronted her on the way running towards her, after it heard the keepers who were following the orphan’s approach where it was sleeping under a tree. Lima lima, Ngasha and Zongoloni blocked its way and the water buck could not easily get past. Zongoloni began trumpeting loudly and Lima lima tried to charge the waterbuck but he changed directions and disappeared into the trees to get away from the orphans. Zongoloni tried to keep following the bush buck, trumpeting as he went, to make sure the area remained free from other animals that might disturb them. Sonje, Ziwa and Murera remained in the forests charging on and breaking down even quite big trees.

30 September 2015

At about 8am, all the elephants came out and walked straight to the forest, ready to start their new day of browsing. Quanza and Lima lima spent a lot of time in the bushes trying to find nice vegetation and soft branches to fill their bellies, while Ziwa did not want to go very far from his adopted mother Murera. He decided it was better to stay away from the greedy girl Lima lima. Murera took her time nicely showing Ziwa some soft greens to look for during the dry seasons like this. When the babies came to the water pool to have some clean water to drink, and Lima lima was still at the edge of the water pool waiting for some of her friends to come, a few terrapins started showing their heads on the surface. Lima lima saw their heads coming up and used her trunk to smell them. She began looking for the terrapins running all around the water pool trying to get them out, but the terrapins were also very clever and refused to walk out from the water pool fearing for their safety because they knew if they came out, they might get stepped on!