It was an exciting month for the Nursery orphans this September as Bondeni and his two girl friends from the Kaluku neonatal nursery arrived into the fold. This was the first move from this little Nursery that we established a couple of years ago, born out of necessity at the time, and was perfect timing for Bondeni, Kinyei and Kindani as Tsavo had become incredibly dry, and these three orphans arrive at an age where they really stand to benefit from interacting and socialising with older elephants, and forging the all-important friendships that will remain with them forever.
As the orphans were happily browsing in the forest, they decided to split into two groups. On the one side of the forest was Roho of course with Maisha, but they were also joined by Nabulu, Maktao, Kiombo and Ziwadi and on the other side of the forest was Olorien with Mukkoka, Naleku, Larro, Naboishu and Kiasa. Maisha’s group decided to stay close to the Keepers but Olorien’s group began to wander further into the forest, but always remaining under the watchful eyes of their Keepers.
Mukkoka and Larro always seem to know when it is time for their milk, and they are always sure to make their way down to the milk feeding point. As Mukkoka and Larro knew it was time for their midday bottles of milk, they began to lead their group down to the milk feeding point and didn’t need any encouragement or direction from their Keepers.
The other group, however, seemed to have no idea that it was time for their milk and the Keepers had to come and usher them down.
Later in the afternoon, as the orphans were browsing, Kiombo, Mukkoka and Olorien all had a long dust bath in the forest, rolling around covering themselves in dust.
Naleku is such a caring and independent young little girl. Although she is close to all the orphans in the Nursery, she does seem to really enjoy spending time with Mukkoka and Maktao. She has known Mukkoka since she arrived at the Nursery and they have gotten quite close over the months, with Mukkoka looking out for her, and she enjoys Maktao as he is always calm and gentle with her. More and more often she will challenge Roho to a strength testing match, especially when he tries to push her around.
Today, however, Naleku spent most of her time with Ziwadi and Olorien. Accompanying them wherever they wandered off to and browsing near them. Ziwadi who likes to take her time and walk slowly through the forest, appeared to be enjoying the company of the youngest girls in the Nursery and Olorien was quite happily leading them to different browsing spots.
Roho and Mukkoka have begun wrestling each other more and more, and the Keepers believe that they are going to become very close friends as they thoroughly enjoy these games
It was an exciting day for the Nairobi Nursery as three little orphans arrived from Tsavo. Kindani, Kinyei, and Bondeni all arrived in the early hours of the morning on the translocation lorry. As soon as their doors were open, they all happily followed their Keepers off and were led to their new bedrooms in the Nursery. As they were walking past all the stockades, Maisha picked up on their scent and let out a very low rumble alerting all the other Nursery orphans, some of whom were still fast asleep. Larro could also be heard rumbling softly from inside her stable.
The three new arrivals settled quickly in their rooms before they were to be let out to meet the older Nursery orphans. Maisha was the first to walk over to greet them, and she was soon followed by Nabulu, Larro and Kiasa. Nabulu was not too bothered by the new arrivals, Maisha and Larro, however, couldn’t get enough of them and kept trying to hold onto them with their trunks. Kiasa showed some interest but chose to rather keep her distance.
When Roho and Naleku came out their stables they, Roho ran straight over to Maisha who was still paying attention to Bondeni and his two friends. Naleku happily greeted all the new arrivals before walking over to the other orphans. The orphans had a lovely day out in the forest getting to know the new arrivals and browsing together.
It was another beautiful morning as the orphans were let out of their stables. Recently, Larro, Ziwadi and Olorien have been the first to come out of their stables and walk around the corner. Ziwadi continues her morning routine of walking over to the water troughs outside Maisha and Maktao’s stockades to have a big gulp of water by dunking her head in the water. Maisha came out her stockade as Ziwadi was busy drinking from her water trough and walked straight over the new orphans’ stables.
Bondeni, Kindani and Kinyei’s doors were still closed and this seemed to upset Maisha who began to push and pull at them, trying to greet them. Finally, the Keepers came and open the doors and the three of them came running out. As soon as they were out, all the older orphans began to rumble and trumpet in excitement and they all crowded around the stables. As the Keepers began leading the orphans to the forest, Kindani and Bondeni were happily following along but Kinyei seemed a little confused still with her new surroundings. Eventually, she followed as she heard her Keepers calling her. Kindani and Bondeni have been spending more time with Maisha and Larro, but Larro has spent the most time with the new arrivals.
This afternoon, Roho decided to try and chase off a buffalo that was grazing nearby. Unfortunately for Roho, the buffalo was not intimidated one bit and bowed his head to mock charge at Roho, who turned back immediately and ran towards the Keepers. He ran over to the older girls who all came to check he was alright. When Maisha went to see what had happened, the buffalo was already long gone.
Roho seems to have become less protective of Maisha and doesn’t seem so jealous when Maisha is paying attention to the other younger orphans. This is an important part of Roho’s growth as he learns to become more independent and learns to look after himself. This morning, he spent most of his time with Kiasa and they were both quite happy to spend some quiet time together away from the rest of the Nursery herd.
This afternoon, it was quite amusing as Roho came across a hare in the forest. As soon as he saw the bouncy animal, he began to chase after it, rumbling and trumpeting in excitement. The hare was obviously too quick for the young bull and managed to run away.
Larro has spent most of her day watching over Olorien. Olorien took quite a long nap this afternoon and Larro was sure to remain close by making sure none of the other orphans disturbed her and that she was safe. Maisha spent most of her day watching over Bondeni and the two new girls.
The orphans continued browsing until it was time for them to head back to the stockade compound for the evening.
There were some light showers throughout the evening, and when it was time for the orphans to be let out of their stables in the morning, it was still drizzling. As it was still quite cold, the Keepers decided to leave Ziwadi, Olorien, Kindani, Kinyei and Bondeni in their stables until it warmed up a little and they made sure they were warm enough with their blankets on them. About a half hour later, the drizzling had stopped but it was still quite cold, but the Keepers couldn’t leave the younger group in their stables much longer as they too needed to spend their day browsing.
Bondeni seems to be the most playful out of the three new arrivals and in some ways reminds the Keepers of Ndotto as his character is similar in many ways and he always wants to play with his Keepers.
After the orphans finished their midday bottles of milk, Maisha and Maktao started a wrestling match with one another. Their game continued for a good half hour before they realised that the rest of the Nursery herd had already walked off into the forest. They quickly ended their game and went running after the others. The orphans had a lovely day browsing in the forest.
The orphans had a fun start to their day as they were being let out of their stables; Maktao went running over to Maxwell’s gate to greet the big rhino who was already standing there waiting. Maktao could be seen waving his trunk at Max, and Max was listening to all the movements and trying to see where Maktao would place his trunk. Their little game continued for a couple of minutes before Kiombo came over and began a wrestling match with Maktao. The two went running off ahead of the rest of the Nursery herd.
Around midday, as the orphans were out in the forest, some were browsing and the others wrestling one another. Roho was challenging Larro and Naboishu was challenging Mukkoka. Sadly, their game ended quite abruptly when it began to drizzle, as dark clouds blew in from beyond the tree line.
The Keepers were worried that it would begin to rain heavily, so they decided to bring Ziwadi, Olorien, Kindani, Kinyei, and Bondeni back to their stables where they could keep dry and warm. The rest of the Nursery herd stayed in the shelter of the large trees and huddled together to keep warm. The rain continued for the whole afternoon, and the orphans didn’t seem very happy apart from when it was time for them to have their milk bottles. At one point, Nabulu was being a little rough with Naleku and Maisha quickly stepped in chasing Nabulu away. The keepers wondered if Nabulu was maybe a little grumpy because of the weather.
Today Larro wanted to prove that she is capable of taking care of the younger orphans in the Nursery. When she exited her stable in the morning she headed over to Bondeni and the others' stables and found the doors still closed. She pushed at the doors wanting to confirm that they were not open, before waiting outside for the youngsters to be let out. Maisha and Maktao came and joined her and the three waited patiently for the babies to be let out and as soon as they were, they were greeted, touched and coddled by the three older nursery orphans.
Elephants normally work as a matriarchal system but Maktao, who is a young bull, seems to want to take on a patriarchal role as he likes keeping the youngsters company, protecting them and taking on a “nanny” role. As Maisha was also present, Larro was not given the opportunity to be a matriarch today and after having greeted the youngsters, the entire Nursery herd headed out to the forest where Maisha, Maktao and the three newcomers were joined by Roho. Maisha eventually headed off to browse leaving Maktao babysitting the youngsters for the entire day with Naleku coming in to help having shown an interest in the youngsters since their arrival.
Maxwell seems to be enjoying the cold weather that Nairobi has currently been experiencing recently, which is typical of black rhinos that tend to be found more in bushy areas than on open plains. Maxwell was up early this morning and waiting at his gate to see which of the orphan elephants would come and greet him as they headed out for the day. The orphans seemed to be in a hurry as they left for the forest and didn’t stop at Maxwell’s stockade. That, however, did not mean that he didn’t have any visitors, as the warthogs decided to enter his stockade, and he ended up chasing them around in a fun game. Maxwell was a general playful mood this morning and was not at all aggressive towards the warthogs, treating the entire process as a game.
Naboishu, who is known for his noisy, boisterous character, is very playful these days. Once out in the forest he had a lovely time playing with Kiombo as the two became engaged in a wrestling pushing game which they enjoyed until Nabulu came and separated them as she is not as fond of pushing games as the boys tend to be.
When browsing, so much is naturally engrained, but elephants also tend to learn from their older friends about what is good to eat. When the youngsters take food from the mouths of the older elephants in a group they are trying to understand what is good to eat that day. Today however, it was the older orphans that were taking food from the youngsters with Maisha tasting what Larro and Maktao were eating, perhaps in an effort to ensure that they were feeding on the right vegetation.
Today started off rather warm compared to the cold experienced over the past few days. The cold tends to see the orphans in a quieter mood and not as playful as when it is warmer. Maktao, Kiombo and Mukkoka, who always enjoy playing pushing games, were particularly happy for the warmer weather and quickly became engaged in a strength testing pushing game. Mukkoka then enjoyed leading Naleku, Naboishu and Kiasa deeper into the forest. Mukkoka is also an excellent time keeper and when he does lead some of the nursery orphans further afield he knows to always have them back in time for their milk bottle.
Lovely Ziwadi can be a bit of a funny orphan who, at times, likes the company of the others and is happy to keep up with them and at others, likes to be on her own. She has however formed a close attachment to little Olorien. Today, she was in a solitary mood and showed no interest in keeping up with the others while out in the forest, choosing instead to browse in the opposite direction to the rest. The Keepers made sure to keep a close eye on her as she does tend to move around quite quickly so can manage to sneak away from the Keepers if they don’t keep a keen eye on her.
Today little Roho enjoyed playing a pushing game with Mukkoka which took place before the 9am milk feed. Roho is a young confident boy who has taken to testing his strength with Mukkoka, who may be older, but is nonetheless very gentle with his younger friend. The funny thing was to see is how the older females, such as Maisha, reacted when they saw Roho taking on Mukkoka, thinking that Mukkoka may have been bullying Roho and wanting to make sure that the youngster was not in over his head.
Roho and Mukkoka’s game came to an end when the orphans heard the Keepers radios going off as it was time for their milk bottles and some of the orphans started running to the milk feeding area for their share. The orphans are very attune to the Keepers radios and when they go off, the orphans quickly make their way over to the Keepers to follow them for milk or back home for the night.
This morning little Naleku was keeping up with Mukkoka following him deep into the forest when she came across a buffalo which gave her a fright and sent her running and yelling back to the Keepers and the older girls Maisha, Nabulu, Kiasa and Larro, who came running up to her to see what was wrong and console their young friend. As a result of the older girls running towards young Naleku following her fright from the buffalo, the other orphans all started charging around, trumpeting and stamping their feet.
When Naleku met up with Maisha and the rest of the orphan herd the older girls quickly surrounded her, touching her with their trunks, comforting her and making sure she was okay. Roho, who was running after Maisha, did not want to miss out on all the attention and made his way to the middle of the older females so that he could benefit from their attention together with Naleku, and actually pushed her a little so that he could have Maisha and Kiasa to himself.
Today Nabulu decided to spend most of her time attached to little Olorien and Ziwadi and was seen browsing shoulder to shoulder with the two younger girls, and did not seem to have any interest in leaving their side. Nabulu has taken on Olorien as her adopted baby and Olorien always seems to be happiest when she is with Nabulu.
Naboishu has become a bit of a bully lately. Today when the orphans were out browsing he came across Roho enjoying feeing from a shrub and started to push him away so that he could have the bush to himself, taking advantage of the fact that Maisha was browsing further away. Roho tried to fight back but Naboishu, who is bigger than him, was quite rough, which made Roho yell for help. This had the desired effect of Maisha running to his side to find out what was happening and try and sort out the problem. As soon as she realized that Naboishu was bullying Roho she reprimanded Naboishu and chased him away from Roho. She then made sure to spend the rest of the day browsing close to Roho so that he wouldn’t be bothered again. Nabulu and Kiasa also chased Naboishu so as to teach him that he needs to be gentle with the youngsters and not be a bully.
Maktao is a very gentle and polite young bull. He is very welcoming to the younger babies and is often the first to greet them, even before Kiombo, Mukkoka and Naboishu. Lately he has been seen spending time with the younger babies like Ziwadi, Olorien as well as the new babies, Bondeni, Kinyei and Kindani who came from the Kaluku neonatal unit earlier this month. When the orphans make their way into the forest to browse, Maktao always keeps pace with Ziwadi, Olorien and the three new babies all of whom tend to lag behind the others, staying close to the Keepers when out in the Park. Maktao has a very caring character, something that is not often seen in bulls and today he spent most of the afternoon browsing with Ziwadi, Olorien, Kinyei, Kindani and Bondeni while the rest of the orphan herd headed deeper into the forest.
Sweet Maxwell enjoyed a long mud bath today as it has been quite hot the past few days with the temperature rising steadily. Maxwell has been making sure to take advantage of the cool waters of his private mud bath which he enjoys sitting in as he wallows covering his entire body with mud, which acts as a sunblock and keeps him somewhat protected from the sun. Once he is done bathing he enjoys feeding on the variety of vegetation that is cut for him daily as well as enjoying the Lucerne pellets and other supplements that he gets given each day.
Today Mukkoka and Naleku decided to take the orphans out to browse on the grassy plains as opposed to the forest, which is where they normally lead the nursery herd. They both looked content and happy to be browsing among the other orphans. Olorien and Ziwadi today showed no interest in wanting to be near the other orphans or the Keepers and spent their time browsing a short distance away from everyone else. The rest of the orphans seemed to be intent on browsing as a group.
In the afternoon Larro and Nabulu were intent on staying close to Olorien and Ziwadi, especially as the two youngsters wanted to keep themselves separate from the others. Kiombo and Naboishu spent the day interacting with the three young news comers and were quite gentle and affectionate towards them as they browsed and touched the youngsters with their trunks getting to know them a little better as they have been quite indifferent towards them since their arrival.
It was a sunny morning as the orphans were heading out for the day following their 6am milk feed. They were all in a playful and happy mood as they made their way to the forest. As always, Kiombo and Maktao began their day with a pushing and strength-testing game against one another. They both had unique pushing tactics before trying to do a head stand by kneeling on the ground, putting their head down and their bottoms up, with Maktao being the first one to showcase this talent. Once done he got back to his feet and ran towards Kiombo to engage him in another pushing game before they went charging off into the bushes, where they ran around stamping their feet, before once again engaging each other in a sparring session. Their game went on for a while before Maisha intervened by coming in and engaging Maktao, which upset Kiombo who went running off into the forest trumpeting his displeasure at having had his games with Maktao brought to an abrupt end.
Soon after the orphans left their stables this morning they began making their way out to the forest. Larro was seen waiting for Olorien and Ziwadi, who were busy wandering around the stockade compound, with Ziwadi stopping to have a drink of water from one of the full water troughs. Ziwadi has a funny way of drinking as she drinks with her mouth as she has not yet learnt how to suck up water using her trunk. Larro was happy to wait for Ziwadi to have her drink before escorting both her and Olorien out to the forest.
After the 3pm milk feed the orphans enjoyed a lovely mud bath that took place out on the grassy plains, with everyone enjoying cooling off in the muddy water. Naleku, Olorien and Roho were extremely playful as they rolled around in the water scratching against the older girls Maisha, Nabulu and Kiasa.
Maxwell was not left out of the fun and games as he enjoyed a private mud bath in the mud wallow that he has in his stockade. The temperature has been warmer which has allowed the orphans to enjoy a daily mud bath, something that the cold temperatures prevented.
Each day the orphans like to do something different. Today Maktao, Kiombo and Mukkoka formed their own little group and walked away from the other orphans, heading deeper into the forest to enjoy a private browsing session. The three older boys re-joined the group a little before the 9am milk feed with greedy Mukkoka signalling that it was time to join the others, as he is always the first to get to the milk feeding area and did not want today to be any different.
Naboishu and Mukkoka are both very vocal elephants, especially so when it is the milk feeding time, and they both came running in yelling as loud as they could to signal their arrival. Naboishu has become so well known for his loud yelling that the Keepers have nicknamed him “Makelele” which is the Swahili word for being noisy!
Kiasa and Nabulu are not really very fond of playing pushing games and tend to spend most of the time out in the fields and forest browsing and not really engaging in any games. Maisha prefers to spend her time looking after the younger orphans as opposed to playing pushing games but does enjoy the occasional game with Maktao.
Today when the orphans were out in the field browsing Maisha engaged Maktao in a pushing game when she saw Maktao playing with Mukkoka and came in to separate the two so that she could play with Maktao instead. She was successful in her endeavour which resulted in Mukkoka leaving to play with someone else instead.
Today the orphans began their day as usual, exiting their stables after having their milk bottles, after which they made their way out to the forest where they browsed until it was time for the 9am milk feed. The orphans made their way to the milk feeding area where they knew their bottles would be waiting for them to arrive.
Mukkoka and Naleku seemed to be lagging behind the rest of the group, and ran to catch up to the others afraid that they may be left behind and would miss out on their share. This of course would never happen as the Keepers make sure that everyone has their milk bottle! The orphans arrived in groups, had their milk and then moved away to browse on nearby bushes, waiting patiently for their friends to be fed so that they could all leave together as a group.
Today the orphans had their 11am milk feed out in the forest. Naboishu is a rather shy young bull who always comes running in for his milk making a lot of noise when he arrives. Once he has drank his share he moves away to make room for others to come in and have their milk.
Maisha, Maktao and Mukkoka enjoyed playing games at the feeding area once everyone had finished their bottles. Nabulu and Larro kept themselves busy with Olorien and Ziwadi who are the slowest to finish their milk and when done, tend to prefer to move away from the group, who are usually playing, to browse on a variety of vegetation around the area.
When it was coming up to 5pm the orphans all assembled to return to the stockade compound. On arrival the orphans entered their individual stables where they were given their evening milk bottles, before browsing on the greens that had been cut and placed into their stockades for the night.
This morning, as the orphans were being let out of their stables and stockades Ziwadi, Olorien, and Naleku were having their own bit of fun. Ziwadi and Olorien were splashing around at one of the water troughs and at the same time Ziwadi was dunking her head in the water to have a drink. As Ziwadi and Olorien were splashing about, Naleku walked off to one of the nearby bushes and began to browse as the other orphans were coming out of their stockades and stables and heading towards the forest.
Nabulu and Naboishu are growing closer and seem to be enjoying each other’s company more and more. This morning, they came running out of their stockades together and quickly joined up with Kiasa and Kiombo who were already making their way out to the forest. Not long after they arrived at the pile of leftover Lucerne pellets from Maxwell, they were joined by the rest of the Nursery herd.
When it was time for the orphans to head down for their 9am bottles of milk, they were divided into smaller groups according to the number of Keepers that were ready to start the feeding. As Ziwadi and Olorien walk slower than the rest of the herd, they didn’t have to wait too long before being allowed down to enjoy their milk.
The orphans had a very relaxed day browsing in the forest.
It was a beautiful morning as the orphans were making their way out to the forest. Bondeni and the two little girls were escorted out by Kiasa and Maisha who are both very protective of the new little arrivals and all the younger orphans at the Nursery. The Keepers are always pleased to see the new orphans interacting with the older orphans more and more, as they become part of the Nursery herd. Maisha takes her role as matriarch very seriously and even though she was walking with the three new arrivals, she was always sure to check on Naleku and Roho who were not far behind walking with the others and Mukkoka was always close to the Naleku.
When it was time for the orphans to head down for their midday bottles of milk, Maisha seemed to be gathering all the younger orphans, as if to make sure they were all ready to run down. When the younger orphans were having their milk Maisha continued to check on them, and now seemed to be making sure that they were all finishing their milk before heading off back to the forest.
It was quite a chilly morning as the orphans were walking through the forest looking for the perfect spot to settle and browse. Larro, who has recently begun spending more and more time with her neighbours, could be seen slowly walking with Ziwadi and Olorien, keeping them company as they slowly made their way out of the stockade compound. As always, Ziwadi stopped off at one of the water troughs and began to splash around and drink some water. This morning, however, Olorien decided not to wait for her and kept walking on with Larro. Ziwadi seemed to suddenly realise that she was being left behind and quickly finished up and began to walk after them.
Ziwadi was taking so long to catch up to Olorien and Larro, who had already caught up with the rest of the Nursery herd, that one of the Keepers stayed back to walk with her, ushering her along.
The orphans had very quiet day browsing, and they didn’t seem interested in playing as the weather wasn’t the nicest throughout the day.
Maxwell was full of energy this morning as he came bounding out of his bedroom. He went walking through all his greens, sorting them according to those he wanted to eat first and then the ones he was less interested in eating this morning. As he was crunching down on the branches, he suddenly seemed to hear some noises coming from his top stockade as he quickly stopped chewing and his ears could be seen moving around. There were a couple of the resident warthogs that had already snuck under his gates and were now munching away on Maxwell’s Lucerne pellets. As he could hear them, he left his greens and walked over to the top gate to see who was around.
As Maxwell got closer he picked up on their scent and this seemed to upset him. He quickly began to walk around and kick his back feet up, throwing dust up, making a clear sign that he was marking his territory. The warthogs realised that he was getting aggravated and they quickly ran out of his stockade. As they ran out, they came across Kiasa, Nabulu, Maisha, Roho and Naleku who were all making their way out to the forest and feeding on the greens just near the stockades as they walked.
Once the warthogs had run off Max lay on top of his pellets, warming up in sun as he protected his morning meal.
Kiasa has become quite protective of little Bondeni and she appears to always enjoy having him right by her side. She is very protective of him and is always keen to make sure that the other orphans do not play rough with him. Maisha is also very protective of the three new arrivals and will often go and check on them throughout the day, as if to make sure they are okay.
Since the arrival of Bondeni and his two friends Kinyei and Kindani, Kiasa also seems to have calmed down and is no longer as mischievous when it comes to her milk bottles and stealing from the other orphans. Although she can be very naughty, Kiasa is a very caring female and she always seemed eager to look after the younger orphans, supporting Maisha and Nabulu who are the oldest females in the Nursery.
It was quite a cold morning as there had been rain throughout the night and Maxwell didn’t seem to want to leave his bedroom as he seemed to be nice and warm there. He spent most of his morning in is room sleeping and only came out when the sun finally appeared which was around 11am. This was about the time for him to receive his morning bottle of porridge and this seemed to make him more than happy to wake up.
After finishing his bottle, Max walked straight over to this Lucerne pellets and began to munch away on those. He ate for a good twenty minutes before heading to the next stockade where he spent most of his day browsing and walking around in the sun.
This morning Mukkoka, Naboishu, Kiombo and Nabulu, who are all good friends, decided to head off to the forest as soon as they were let out and not wait for the other orphans. As soon as they got to the forest they all began to browse and were oblivious to the other orphans who were heading further into the forest. One of the Keepers had to go and call them, ushering them back to the rest of the Nursery herd.
When it was time for the orphans to head down for their midday bottles of milk, Mukkoka and Naboishu were the first to be ready to head down and they seemed equally as eager for their milk. As soon as the Keepers allowed them to go, the race was on. Mukkoka seems to be the faster runner but he can sometimes underestimate Naboishu’s appetite for his milk and in consequence is sometimes overtaken. As the two bulls were running down Naboishu began to shout in excitement and this appeared to excite Mukkoka who also accelerated. As they got close to the Keeper both bulls were at full speed and seemed to arrive almost at the same time with Mukkoka just ahead.
Once the orphans all finished their bottles, they were directed back to the forest where they enjoyed a lovely afternoon of browsing.
Since the arrival of Bondeni and his two friends at the Nairobi Nursery, Maisha, Kiasa, and Larro have been taking full responsibility of them and are making sure that everyone in the Nursery protects them. Even though Larro is younger than Maisha and Kiasa, she has taken great pride in looking after the younger orphans at the Nursery. Larro has proven time and time again to be a wonderful nanny, and she has continued to take great care of her two neighbours Ziwadi and Olorien.
This morning, as the orphans were being let out of their stables, they quickly walked off to the forest to start browsing. Kiasa, Maisha and Larro, however, went back down to Bondeni and the girls’ stables to wait for them. As soon as they were let out, Maisha began to rumble loudly as if in excitement but also as though she was calling them over. Bondeni, quickly ran over to Maisha and then ran back towards the Keepers. Once they were all out, Maisha, Kiasa and Larro escorted them out to the forest to meet up with the other orphans whom were already browsing.
The resident warthogs are always very relaxed around the orphans, Maxwell and the Keepers as well as all the other staff members at the Nursery. Although the warthogs can often be seen near the orphans, the orphans and Max are not always so welcoming as they like to protect their food.
This morning around 9o’clock, Max came strolling out his room to enjoy some of the fresh greens that had been laid out for him. As soon as he got to his greens, he stopped and began to lift his head smelling around his stockade and he seemed to notice that he had some guests in his stockade this morning. As soon as the warthogs saw his they immediately became alert and were now watching the large rhino’s movements, making sure to not get too close to him.
As Max caught onto their scent, he began to follow them up and down the stockade, kicking up his back legs as if to warn them away. The warthogs quickly decided that it was now time for them to get out of his stockade as they quickly ran past him and snuck out under one of his gates. Once Max realised they had left he went over and enjoyed his morning Lucerne pellets before relaxing in the sun.