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As most of the orphans settled down to browse in the forest in the early morning, a few of the orphans like Enkesha, Kiasa, Tamiyoi, Malima, Emoli, Sattao, Maisha and Musiara were spotted scampering around in the thicket and charging. They were in a very excitable mood as they had been trying to play with a small group of impalas. When Malima, Tamiyoi, Emoli and Enkesha tried to play with them, they all just sprinted off kicking their heels in the air, leaving the orphans in the empty bushes, which is when they started charging and bashing around in protest at losing their new playmates. Their hyper activities which grew in tempo and ended up with them trumpeting in excitement scared poor Maktao who was browsing close by, and he ran towards where the Keepers were standing. As soon as he had settled next to the Keepers, who he loves so much, Tagwa and Sana Sana also arrived as they had heard his rumbles. When the others had calmed down, Tagwa and Sana Sana escorted him back to the rest of the herd.

Malima has been a very naughty little elephant recently, especially after the other older orphans moved to Tsavo in May and June. More recently she has calmed down a bit however and is starting to improve. She is not as much of a bully to her friends, or cheeky towards the Keepers. Over the past few days she has drunk her milk bottle at the noon feeding time in a much more composed manner and is not as rough. We attribute this recent character change to the fact that she was recently moved to the older group for feeding times, and the older orphans make sure she is kept in line! It seems Malima has been reformed for the time being. Ndiwa and Sagala are two other girls who can misbehave, but only sometimes. Usually they have this quiet demeanour which can lead some to believe they are shy and polite, but they can be naughty sometimes and it seems to depend on what mood they are in as to whether they show this off or not.

After a long spell of cold weather which prevented mud baths for the young elephant orphans, we are now welcoming much warmer weather. Today during the public visiting hour the temperature was soaring, which meant the first group of orphans quickly drank their milk bottles and rushed into the newly formed mud bath. Kiasa, Emoli and Maktao, who are used to having their milk bottles and then going to hang out close to the wheelbarrow to beg for more, today ran straight into the mud pool and got busy rolling around, covering their bodies in the cool mud. When the second group of orphans came down for their milk feed, some like Sana Sana, Sagala, Mapia and Tagwa had their first bottle and ran into the mud to cool down first, before coming back for their second one. Only greedy Malkia, Jotto and Malima stayed for all of their milk bottles before going for a mud bath.

Early in the morning when the stockade gates were opened for the orphans to come out and begin their new day, it was funny to see how quickly some of them ran out of their rooms. Ambo, Tamiyoi, Kuishi, Sagala, Ndiwa, Malima, Sattao, Emoli and Mapia all rushed out, and it was not to go out into the forest to browse but all of these babies all woke up with one thing on their mind: whether or not Maxwell had any leftover Lucerne pellets they might be able to eat! They all rushed to Maxwell’s gate where the pellets are placed for him to eat. It has become a first stop for these greedy orphans, before Max can even wake up and make his way to his Lucerne pile. Today it was very chaotic as greedy ones like Sagala, Ndiwa and Malkia were bullying the other little ones because they are not as strong and don’t have tusks like them to fend them off. Even the warthogs who were also there to try and steal some pellets were given a rough time by Malkia and Sagala. Tagwa and Sana Sana tried to make space for the little ones to join the, but Malkia and Ndiwa threatened to push Tagwa and Sana Sana away. This forced the others to all move out towards the forest in the end, leaving the older, greedy ones behind to enjoy the pellets alone.

The two orphans that will never run into their rooms without first passing Maxwell’s stockade in the evening are Ndiwa and Tamiyoi. They will usually first stop by Maxwell’s to grab some Lucerne pellets before proceeding to their rooms. As these two were busy collecting up some pellets yesterday afternoon, Malkia came charging up behind Ndiwa driving her towards her room. Tamiyoi ran away as Ndiwa yelled out causing lots of drama. Sagala was moved to a different room a few days ago to create space for the new baby, who we have called Dololo, and she still has to get used to her new room. She was very confused and ran around yelling. Sagala is a naturally shy and nervous elephant and it took the Keepers some time to calm her down as well. Eventually she, Ndiwa and Tamiyoi went into their stables and they all settled down. Maisha is becoming more like Malima during the public visiting time. Today a group of young orphans were playing in the mud bath when Maisha climbed out and started kicking a muddy football around. She started kicking it toward the visitors and charging around and their shouting encouraged her even more. Her trumpeting encouraged all the others to start running around as well and Emoli became very excitable, even charging towards the Keepers as they tried to calm everyone down.

Malima was in a very good mood this morning when she arrived out in the forest. All the others were busy browsing and she was in a very playful mood. She was trumpeting and running all over the place. Those that usually play with her like Ambo and Jotto were not interested in playing this morning. Instead it was the new little boy Merru, who is still not yet very stable on his feet, who took an interest. For the first time Merru was seen running behind Malima, trying to copy what she was doing. This was a very good sign for Merru and shows how much he is improving. After playing with Malima briefly Merru settled down with Sattao, Malkia and Jotto. Jotto later invited Luggard to a pushing game. The game did not last long though as Sana Sana came over and interrupted to take on Jotto herself. Sana Sana ended up playing for such a long time, right up until the next milk feed, whilst Luggard went and settled to browse with Sattao. Ndiwa was being a bit of a bully today towards the younger boys in the herd, and kept charging after the likes of Ambo and Jotto and poking them with her little tusks until the Keepers told her not to.

At 8am this morning the elephant orphans were very joyful and happy. It all started when Jotto started a pushing game with Sana Sana, and their game escalated into them running around in the bushes, trumpeting and stamping their feet with excitement. This caught the attention of Tagwa, Malkia, Sagala, Ndiwa, Malima and Tamiyoi who joined them in charging around and bashing into bushes. In the end all the orphans joined in and everyone was charging around, including little Luggard who didn’t want to be left out and was also charging. Their excitement finally came to an end when it was time for their 9am milk feed, although it was still a challenge for the Keepers to get them to settle down as they continued running around! They needed to only let a few of the orphans go for their milk bottles at a time, so the Keepers waiting could easily feed them all, and the older girls like Tagwa, Sana Sana, Ndiwa, Sagala and Malkia were in such an excitable mood they kept trying to push past the Keepers and go for their bottles. When the Keepers didn’t let them pass they went charging back, and in the end Ndiwa, Sagala, Sana Sana plus Kiasa, Maisha and Emoli all managed to sneak pass and break through by going back around through the bushes, and escaping past the Keepers. They were very naughty and excitable this morning!

Today when little Merru joined the other orphans out in the forest it was so lovely to see little cheeky Kiasa being so affectionate towards him, and welcoming him into the group with a trunk hug whilst also being quite protective. She kept pushing away little Maktao and Musiara who were also trying to greet little Merru. This little girl who is always quite rough was very gentle and patient with the new little elephant to join the herd, following him everywhere and escorting him to meet the others. Malima has been showing off such a funny character trait recently, when it is time for bottle feeding. Just as she is coming for her bottle she goes down on her front knees until her head almost touches the ground. It is almost as if she is begging for the Keepers to bring her her milk faster, or perhaps an extra bottle! But she must know that the Keepers will not give her any extra, no matter what peculiar or funny moves she makes.

Merru is still doing really well and this morning he had some lovely company in Sattao, Luggard, Maktao and Emoli decided to keep their new little brother company as the rest of the herd decided to walk deeper into the forest. A short while later Maktao noticed the older girls were not around, and as he is used to accompanying them, he started running everywhere looking for them. They had already moved off far into the forest, but he raised his trunk trying to get their smell and find out which way they had gone. Merru, Sattao and Emoli were following behind him. As Maktao continued his search and Emoli and Sattao followed Merru making sure he was okay, they came across some impalas who were still resting. They got up in fright and started running in different directions, but Emoli and Sattao chased them away and would not let them anywhere near little Merru. Maktao eventually led them all to where the rest of the herd were, and they were welcomed by Sana Sana and Tagwa. After the 9am milk feed, the new little calf who we have called Mukoka, was taken out to join the rest of the herd, his new family, out in the forest. A small group of orphans were brought back to the stockades to take him out, but Ndiwa was not happy to see him in her room and went to push him down, but Tagwa intervened and helped Mukoka out. When he came out of his room Tamiyoi, Malkia, Maisha, Musiara, Sana Sana, Jotto and Malima surrounded him and comforted and reassure d him, before leading him out with them to the forest.