Pika Pika rejoined the Voi herd in June, after briefly experimenting with a wild life. She seems happy to be back in the mix, but she still marches to the beat of her own drum. We were reminded of this one day, as the cheeky girl — with little Losoito in tow — tried to sneak away to join a wild herd browsing in the distance. Mbegu reacted immediately, trumpeting and rushing down the hill to round up Losoito. Pika Pika, however, ignored the matriarch, sped up, and disappeared into a patch of thick shrubs. She returned later in the afternoon, in her own time. 

For a long time, Pika Pika was the youngest and most spoiled member of the Voi herd, earning her the well-earned nickname ‘the queen.’ At seven years old, she is no longer a baby and has been dethroned by younger orphans who are in greater need of coddling — but she is having trouble coming to terms with that fact! Mbegu is very adept at navigating Pika Pika’s complicated emotions. One day, ‘the queen’ strode between Mbegu and Busara in an attempt to syphon off the matriarch for herself. Grasping the situation, Mbegu draped her trunk along Pika Pika’s back to calm her and allowed her to remain close to little Busara. The trio spent the morning browsing together. 

Juni, the original ‘Voi Kid,’ also struggles with these complicated emotions. Luckily, Mbegu’s heart is big enough for everyone. At the mud bath one afternoon, little Baraka was rubbing against Mbegu’s leg. Feeling left out, Juni walked backwards towards Baraka, doing her best to push the youngster away. Mbegu moved quickly to protect Baraka, standing between them and blocking Juni’s bottom from achieving its objective. 

If there was one thing we noticed this month, it is that the Voi Kids — Akina, Ashanti, Baraka, Busara, Dabida, Epiya, Hildana, Itinyi, Juni, Kenderi, Kilulu, Losoito, Seri, and Ushindi — are all growing in size, strength, and confidence. We can always count on the Voi Kids to start the day in a state of high energy, but one morning, they were really full of beans. Ashanti darted between the feeding trough and the lucerne, shaking her head in excitement, before sparring with Ushindi. Naughty Kilulu was doing his best to mount Busara but the little girl was having none of this behaviour. Dabida squatted on her backside, posing and waving her trunk, while Seri and Hildana had a roll on the red soil. After a good scratch against the terrace wall, Kilulu began a sparring game with Thamana while Epiya dashed and danced in front of the Keepers. 

Lemeki is bringing young Losoito out of her shell, much as Ndotto did with her. Since Lemeki appointed herself chief nanny of Losoito, the younger elephant has become less reserved and more engaged with the other orphans. But in her way, Losoito is also changing Lemeki: Lemeki used to stick to the Keepers like an elephant shadow. But now that she has Losoito to look after, she has become less tethered to the Keepers and instead dutifully follows her little charge wherever she goes. 

Rokka is thriving in Voi. She loves being coddled by the likes of Mbegu, Tagwa, Tamiyoi, and Godoma, but she is also enjoying the opportunity to test her own nannying skills. One day, she and Busara were so busy trunk-hugging that they were left behind and had to jog to catch up with the herd.

Rokka remains good friends with her fellow graduate, Manda. At Kaluku, Manda was known for his bold, brash ways — qualities that are again starting to shine now that he is settling into Voi life! Early one morning, as the Keepers were busy preparing the breakfast milk bottles, Manda impatiently started banging on the gate. Kenderi, who was standing politely next to Manda, gave him a warning shove, telling him that enough was enough. A Keeper opened their door first and Manda sprinted down the path, pleased that his impatience had paid off.

Thamana is turning into Emoli, always pestering his friends to play! One afternoon, he persuaded a reluctant Tamiyoi to a wrestling match. The game did not last long — Tamiyoi has better things to do than spar with cheeky young bulls — and Thamana soon moved on to challenge feisty Kilulu. The well-matched friends pushed each other all over the terraces. 

Meanwhile, our older boys are becoming markedly more independent. Ndotto, Lasayen, Ngilai, and Murit often separated themselves from the herd this month, browsing a distance away and trying (oft-unsuccessfully) to wander further afield. This focus on independence is a natural part of growing up, especially for bulls.

Even as they get older, our Voi boys remain unusually gentle. One morning, as Lasayen enjoyed a solo browsing session, little Busara toddled over and stretched her trunk into his mouth to taste his greens. Inspired, Kenderi walked over and did the same thing. Lasayen, who towers above them, stood patiently and allowed the youngsters to put their trunks in his mouth! The trend caught on; moments later, we saw Rokka sampling browse from Mbegu’s mouth. 

We had a wonderful moment with Ashanti this month. It started with Ngilai, again, doing his party trick of balancing a stash of lucerne atop his head. Seeing an opportunity, plucky little Ashanti snuck beneath his giant head and tried to snatch a trunkful of lucerne. Sadly, her trunk was not long enough to reach the spoils, but we were happy to see another Voi kid growing in confidence. 

Ngilai was the subject of another wonderful moment this month. Returning to work after a few days off, Keeper Bernard was given a very warm welcome from Ngilai. Spotting him right away, the big bull made a beeline over to the Keeper, greeting him with a flurry of trunk touches before suckling his hand, just as a tiny orphan might do. Clearly, Ngilai had felt Bernard’s absence!

As we are constantly reminded, rewilding is a journey, and it doesn’t always unfold in a straight line. After a brief foray in the wild, Rorogoi has reconsidered and decided she isn’t quite ready to leave our care — and that is okay! She spent the whole month at Voi, even sleeping inside the stockades, at her request. We are happy that she has returned home and feel confident that she will rejoin the wild when she is ready. No ex-orphans visited this month.