He was taken straight to the Voi Unit, bypassing the Nairobi Nursery, where he was taken into the fold of Malaika’s herd. He was often seen in the company of Edo and Uaso, as well as Imenti. As he got older he looked up to his 'big brother' Ndume, as elephant bulls do in order to learn from them and eventually leave the matriarchal fold.

On the 5th October 2001 Ndume, Imenti and Lewa were moved from their Tsavo East home; tranquilized, loaded into huge travelling crates, and transported to the lush Ngulia Valley in Tsavo West National Park, l00 miles away, a place where both food and water is plentiful, the vegetation more lush due to a higher rainfall, and where other elephants are also plentiful, particularly even bigger "Big Boys" - those huge bulls for which Tsavo has always been famous. The story is well documented in the update “The Saga of Imenti, Ndume and Lewa - 1/9/2002”. Ndume had started to wander into surrounding community areas and recently taken his young charges and admirers, Lewa and Imenti with him. We knew they had to be moved and were confident that the three bulls would take to their new surroundings, thereby relieving us of an on-going "headache"! Their move is documented on our web site, and went smoothly, but for the fact that Ndume ran as soon as he was released from the Travelling Crate, fearing another darting, and Imenti and Lewa ran after the departing vehicle which took their Keepers from them.

Ndume managed no small feat by walking back home to the Voi stockades, navigating 100 miles of completely foreign terrain, despite having been transported sedated and enclosed in a wooden crate. His journey entailed crossing the main Nairobi - Mombasa road and railway line, and the Tsavo River itself at the height of the dry season. When he turned up at the Stockades a little while later to announce to the Keepers and his orphan friends that he was back, he received a joyous welcome from all, both four legged and two. A few months later Imenti had to be walked back to the Voi Unit after he had started causing trouble, which turned out to be just his way of looking for company and friendship having lost the company of his other two elephant friends.

Nearly five years of age, and sociable by nature, Lewa was quite used to waltzing into the wild herds, and, indeed, did so almost on a daily basis back home in Tsavo East. Imenti was older and lacking in confidence and was having difficulty integrating into the wild female herds, now at an age when he should be with the bulls. Lewa managed to integrate himself into the wild herds in Tsavo East and is living a full and happy wild life.