Choose your region

Oltaiyoni, Mbegu, Dupotto, Roi and the little babies Ambo, Jotto, Tamiyoi as well as Murit were all crowded around the new babies stockade this morning. We have called the new baby Wanjala from where he was rescued. The older females were ready and prepared to give a warm welcome to the new baby boy, who they had not really seen in the excitement for their milk in the evening before. But Wanjala was staying well back from his gate obviously still getting accustomed to his new surroundings and the strange faces. He looked nervous and after trying for some time to coax him to the front of his stockade without success, they started to walk away to the forest. Mbegu, Jotto, Luggard and Tamiyoi stayed a little longer and after seeing most of the bigger ones move away, Wanjala at last moved towards his gate. Luggard was the first to communicate with him, then Mbegu as she is the one who can welcome new babies the best. After some time they decided to catch up with the others who were already in the forest. Mbegu opted to stay back and hang with the little babies. She was later joined by Ambo and Esampu and only later joined up with Oltaiyoni’s group at milk feeding time. When the orphans returned home that evening Oltaiyoni wouldn’t go into her stockade until she had communicated with Wanjala; she spent almost 5 minutes at his stockade gate communicating with him before proceeding to her room.

Sana Sana missed running out in the first group for her milk bottle at the 11am feed today. She is normally one of the first and later she came charging down, shouting in protest at having been left behind. Arriving in the mud bathe feeding area she started rumbling as she saw the keeper ready and waiting, holding a milk bottle for her. She was happily welcome by Mbegu, who embraced her as she enjoyed her milk bottles. Sana Sana’s milk feeding time was interrupted however by Tagwa and Esampu who are becoming troublesome these days at feeding times. Sometimes they are forced to be the last ones down to the feeding area to avoid them interrupting others. During the visit they are seen to be hanging around by the wheelbarrow holding the milk bottles, trying to snatch some of the bottles and feed themselves – though they are too little! Some of the keepers have to stand guard and make sure they do not try to steal any and drop them in the process.

Early this morning the orphans were very active, charging and scampering into the bushes. Led by Rapa, Naseku, Dupotto, Kamok and Ngilai they were charging around the dense bushes and trumpeting, prompting the others who were trying to browse there to do the same. Even the young ones Esampu, Jotto, Ambo, Tamiyoi and Pare joined in. They enjoyed the energy and reaction in the older elephants and wanted to be a part of the scene. The happy game took a turn though when Kauro accidentally bumped into Murit and knocked him down. He shouted out which drew the attention of Oltaiyoni, Mbegu, Roi and Dupotto who came running over to assist poor Murit. They rumbled loudly and checked him over to make sure he was okay; elephants are such caring creatures towards each other.

The two great friends Lasayen and Ndotto were allowed at 11am to head out with the first group down to the public visiting and milk feeding area. They took the lead of Esampu, Ambo, Jotto, Sana Sana and Tagwa but just before they were going to arrive at the feeding area, cheeky Ndotto and Lasayen blocked the path, preventing the others from going down to get their bottles. The keepers in the mud bath area were waiting for them but no elephants came down the path, and then they could hear some yelling from the bushes on the edge of the forest. The keepers communicated with the ones in the forest who said they had already sent Ndotto and Lasayen down with the young ones, and when they walked up the path they were amazed to see naughty Ndotto and Lasayen blocking the way there! They wouldn’t let any of them past and would head butt them to prevent them! Esampu and Sana Sana who were very eager to run down for their milk bottles were the ones yelling due to being blocked. The keeper warned Ndotto and Lasayen and they ran away, finally allowing the others past for their milk.

It’s quite rare for Murit to be involved in any serious active play with his friends at the nursery, but this morning was different and we wondered if he had had a really good night’s sleep! When he came out of his stable this morning he walked straight over to Maxwell’s stockade and started sharing his lucerne that had been put out the previous evening. Maxwell was sleeping by his gate and Murit started pulling on his ears using his trunk to wake him up to play. It worked and Max seemed to have been waiting for someone to play with as he started running up and down in circles and pushing on the gate. Murit started pushing the gate from his side too and they both had a lot of fun in this charging game for a few minutes, before they got too tired and called it off. They had had a lot of fun, and Max went to go and rest in his bedroom whilst Murit walked off to catch up with his friends in the forest. When he reached there it seemed he was still in a playful mood. He found Luggard and started a small wrestling match with him, but he is so good and knows the weaknesses of the others like Luggard, with his broken leg. The two had a lot of fun playing and were soon joined by baby Jotto. Jotto also happens to like pushing and climbing games. Murit and Jotto ended up rolling in the fresh, loose soil dug from the warthog holes. Their fun time only ended when the 9am milk feed arrived in the forest. When we increase the milk feed of an orphan we need to be prepared. They are aware of the change and will expect it to increase every time! Then you end up with one greedy elephant. Tagwa and Esampu’s milk feed was increased a few days ago and since then he duo have caused a lot of problems at milk feeding time. Tagwa is getting the maximum two bottles but still fights to demand for more! Esampu now gets one big bottle for a small elephant of her size, but this little girl is just greedy and becomes pushy at milk time. Today at the 11am feed she caused a lot of drama, forcing Mbegu to intervene by driving her away from everyone! She had been pushing everyone around including Mbegu, demanding more milk when she saw others still having theirs.

We think Ambo is becoming a slightly spoilt little boy, from all the love, care and protection he is receiving from Oltaiyoni. He is almost over protected, and if anyone is found pushing him they will e severally disciplined by the likes of Oltaiyoni. This has led to Ambo believing he is the baby of the ‘big’ mama and no one can touch him! Oltaiyoni will even decide who can play and interact with the young boy. If the boy ever complains or shouts, that always reaches Oltaiyoni’s ear and whoever is standing near him will be roughly pushed away, even if it is Ambo who is antagonizing them! For this reason if he is ever in the charging mood or mock charges anyone, most of the time the other young ones will just ignore him and walk away. Today Ambo was very hard on Godoma and Ngilai. Although these two can be quite pushy, Ambo was pushing them every time he walked past them. At the public visit he kept going after these two and provoking them. Ambo even head butted Galla, who turned around for revenge but luckily a keeper was there to prevent him from doing anything to the boisterous but still very young Ambo! Ambo can even push his keepers and they need to be ready when he comes running down for his milk bottle or he can just push them over. This morning during visiting we had some other guests as well; the first of which was a tortoise who walked into the feeding area from the bushes. He bumped into Tagwa and Esampu who were browsing on some branches laid there. Tagwa looked down and must have thought he was a kind of rock but when she put her trunk out to touch the back of the tortoise it raised its head high in the air. This gave them both a fright and Tagwa and Esampu ran shouting for help from this strange creature they had not seen before. This drew everyone’s attention and the keepers carried the tortoise back to the bushes whilst others tried to settle the orphans down. A few minutes later a warthog jumped into the mud bath without the orphans knowing. Mbegu and Jotto turned and got a fright, and ran out of the mud bath. When they realised it was just a warthog Mbegu, Godoma and Ngilai drove it away back into the bushes.

At milk feeding time even the quieter orphans can turn aggressive! There was a bit of drama during the 11am public visit between Ambo, Esampu and Jotto today. Everything was okay before Esampu arrived at the feeding area. Jotto and Ambo had arrived a little earlier and had their milk feed. They then went to dust in the red soil away from the milk wheelbarrow. When Jotto saw a keeper go to the wheelbarrow and pick up a bottle for Esampu, he went running over in order to hopefully be the recipient of this bottle! He pushed Esampu so she couldn’t have the milk, and the keeper was stuck in the middle of the two pushing each other, while he tried to hold the milk bottle. It turned into a fight and Esampu ran shouting and fighting to have her milk, whilst Jotto charged after her. Ambo became concerned and joined the struggle, and he is very strong and very fast too and he pushed the keeper, not understanding if he was saving his friends from the keeper or what. This forced the other keepers to stop what they were doing and come to help, but none of the three babies were ready to give up their fight! The milk bottle had to be put down aside so that the keepers could calm everyone down, so that Esampu could finally have her milk. However, as the saying goes, an elephant never forgets. Usually Jotto is the last one to leave the feeding area and Esampu knows this as well. Today she hung back to walk behind Jotto and before they crossed the water, she pushed him hard so he fell in. Jotto is a strong boy though and tried to turn back but Esampu grabbed his hind leg with her trunk. He over powered her turned back to charge, pushing her back into the line when a keeper saw what was happening and came to save the situation. Mbegu had heard the shouting and ran back to find out what was happening. Wangala came down to the show for his first visit today with the other orphans. He looked very comfortable and opted to play in the mud bath which he really enjoyed from the start until the end of the show.

Sana Sana is such a little sweetie and she seems to be stealing everyone’s heart! Every morning when her gate is opened she doesn’t hang around in the compound but she walks straight out to the forest. She doesn’t seek company from anyone and is happy to do this on her own, and this is how her day began today as well with her friends joining her later. She browsed this morning until it was milk feeding time and she seemed not to have an appetite for her milk. She only came over and tasted it which was very strange, and she is one that usually loved her milk! She mingled with her friends browsing and played with them for a bit, and around 10.30 in the morning she snuck off and led Esampu and Rapa to the mud bathing area. When they found the area vacant of people and the milk bottles Sana Sana started shouting. This caught the keepers by surprise as they had not realised she had left! The trio were led back to the group so they could wait altogether for the right feeding time. Her time might have been a little off because she rejected her 9am feed, so when she heard the radio noise signaling the time to the keepers, she shoved past the others and ran down to the feeding area. She overtook them all and ran the whole way right up until she got to her milk bottles! By the time the second baby arrived which was Ambo, Sana Sana had already finished her two bottles! She was fine the rest of the day until it was the next feeding time at 3pm. Again she didn’t want to wait and she ran all the way down to the stockade area. When she got there and found no one again she started shouting and calling for the milk. She was again led back to the group and made to wait for the right time. During the 3pm private visit Ndotto was in a very good mood and played with Tusuja and Kauro. They enjoyed rolling in some loose soil and wrestling games from the beginning of the visit right up until the end.

The orphans had settled out in the field in the early morning and many enjoyed browsing quietly. Sana Sana however led Esampu, Tagwa, Malkia, Pare, Wanjala and Murit through the forest down to the mud wallow, and failing to find any keepers there with the wheelbarrow she started shouting. She and Esampu both yelled to get the keepers’ attention to bring them some milk bottles, but their timing was very off as it was only just past 7am! When the keepers walked down to herd them back to the forest, they found Sana Sana and Esampu still standing their shouting, with Murit leading Pare, Wanjala and Malkia back into the bushes. As the keepers tried to sake Sana Sana and Esampu back they started bellowing loudly and trying to run back to the mud wallow. They gave their keepers a tough time as they firmly resisted return. This promoted the keepers to lure them back to the forest with empty bottles, which saw the girls happily run after them believing it was milk. When Esampu realised the milk bottle was empty she got angry and started pushing the keeper. She kept demanding milk even though it wasn’t time yet! After awhile she relaxed when she realized the keepers were not going to pander to her and she had to wait until 9 o’clock like everyone else for her milk.

Recently Jotto has had loose stools and woke up this morning looking dull and quiet, certainly not his usual playful self! As he came out of his stockade he was spotted by caring Mbegu who quickly ran over to check on him. She tried to embrace and cuddle the boy but Jotto did not respond as usual with a rumble, something which made sure that Mbegu stayed put for some time and then slowly escort him out to the forest where she browsed shoulder to shoulder with him. Jotto was given some medication to treat his symptoms and did not come down for the public visit. This made Mbegu restless and she continued to walk between Esampu, Ambo and Malkia looking for little Jotto until she went back out to the forest.

Jotto has been unwell for almost two days, however today he woke up looking much better and back to his usual antics. He came out of his stable and went to look for Tamiyoi, Esampu and Tagwa and upon seeing them he ran after them, playing a chasing game with Tamiyoi and Esampu and trying to climb on them; definitely back to his usual self! Today we were very happy that Pare joined the public visit for the first time. He was very happy walking out and about and walking along the rope cordon greeting the public. However whilst he was walking along enjoying the attention, naughty Ndotto and Ngilai were watching and became jealous. They came over to bully and bump against him, though Ngilai’s mission was actually to bump against those who were next to the rope cordon! At one point he spotted a lady, who was very low under the rope cordon with her camera, as she tried to capture Rapa playing with Lasayen. Ngilai ran over quickly and bumped into her camera with his hind, before running off quickly to avoid being told off, leaving the lady laughing over his cheeky behaviour.

Out in the bush today the orphans were all enjoying calming browsing. Most of the morning passed by in this fashion and no one really played any games. During the public visit however, soon after finishing their milk those in the first session like Godoma, Rapa, Ambo and Esampu were busy enjoying the mud bath. Young Ambo rolled in the mud bath and then quickly ran out to avoid being bumped into by the naughty bully Rapa, who was doing just that and bumping into Godoma. During the private visit at 3pm poor Luggard and Tamiyoi also joined and Luggard proved to be a real mud bath lover, despite his injured leg from a bullet wound. It was amazing to watch him roll around in the mud with no difficulties at all, and then walk out without being assisted to roll in the soil for a happy dust bath.

Malkia is settling in very well and has learnt all the daily routines of the nursery orphans. She has been showing a happy and contented mood amidst her human and elephant family too. She is mostly seen with Tagwa, Pare, Sana Sana, Luggard and Tamiyoi – a group that all seem pretty polite, calm and always welcoming. This has helped poor Malkia settle in quickly and recover from the trauma of losing her maternal family. She has become another great milk lover and she is picking up some bad habits from the others especially Esampu! When she finishes her milk she yells out and starts pushing the keeper towards the wheelbarrow to demand more. When she is warned away by the keepers she yells out in protect. Sometimes she tries to sneak up on the wheelbarrow and run off with a bottle though she is not very good at holding a heavy bottle yet. Esampu is now last to the bottle feeding area as if she comes down any earlier than that she is a great trouble maker and creates a chaotic scene! She does not allow any of the others to enjoy their milk and demands theirs too. She is the greediest little girl in the orphan herd!