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Morani, Sosian, Salama, Laikipia and Loisaba played a game of hide and seek after a wonderful noon mudbath. They stopped the game when the other orphans wandered off. Ndara and Loisaba joined a wild group at l0 a.m., but did not spend long with the wild elephants, because the other orphans did not join them.

At noon mudbath, Irima was unpopular when he mounted onto Mweya. He slipped and fell off which pleased Mweya, who gave him a shove whilst he was down.

All the orphans concentrated on browsing, because it is becoming dry now, and apart from little games, chasing one another hither and thither, feeding occupied their day. Mukwaju stayed close to Nyiro and Sally chose Kinna as her companion of the day.

The orphans fed far apart and formed two groups after the mudbath. Emily, Aitong, Ndara, Salama, Laikipia, Lolokwe and Loisaba formed one group while Natumi took the rest. The two groups joined up again only on their way back to the Stockade.

At the noon mudbath, Emily lay down in the mud and allowed Seraa, Solango, Mpala and Sosian to climb over her. The four babies touched Emily gently with their trunks whilst trumpeting with happiness. Meanwhile Mweya, Thoma, Nasalot and Icholta managed to corner a baby warthog, which brought the mother warthog to the rescue. Emily intervened to chase the warthog mother off, but not before she had managed to rescue her baby.

Mvita, Yatta, Mweya, Mulika and Thoma enjoyed a very long noon mudbath, joining the other orphans half an hour later.

Thoma and Irima had a disagreement over a bush upon which they were both feeding, which Irima did not want to share with anyone.

There was light drizzle in the morning. The orphans enjoyed wallowing in the little puddles they found on their way. A wild bull came close to the orphans at 3 p.m. which prompted them all to raise their trunks and test the wind for his scent.

At 8.20 a.m. Nyiro fought Salama, who crept up on him and tried to mount him whilst he was busy eating grass from the ground.

Most of the orphans did not mudbath today because it was cool. Burra and Irima had a disagreement when Irima tried to snatch Burra’s bottle of milk.

Mweiga became jealous of Sally when she noticed that Sally was following Aitong so closely. Aitong drew Sally to her side with her trunk, but Mweiga persisted, and managed to detach Sally from Aitong’s side.

Irima began to limp again, on the same foot that suffered during the lion scare last month. He fell after trying to mount Thoma, and hurt the foot again. Sally, Mweya, Kinna, Yatta, Mpala, Mulika and Natumi joined forces to chase off 2 waterbucks who came to drink at the mudbath. Emily and Aitong watched events very closely.

It has become very dry now, so the orphans did not spend long at the mudbath, but left to try and find food.

This morning very heavy rain fell in the morning, so the orphans were very happy, running here and there and trumpeting excitedly. At 9 a.m., Nyiro separated Mweya from the younger group and tried to mount her, but Salama came running over to chase him off.

It was cool today, and winged termites were emerging from the anthills. The orphans enjoyed trying to strike them with their trunks.

There was more heavy rain during the day. Solango, Mvita, Nasalot and Tsavo had fun wallowing in the pools of water and wet mud.

Sosian got stuck in the mudbath today. He was rolling round and round but unable to get up, so Laikipia came to support his head with a foreleg to enable him to rise up.

Thoma and Seraa found themselves left behind today, so Icholta and Kinna went back to escort them as they raced to catch up.

Sosian decided to take on Salama today, testing his strength, but ended up on the ground.

During a wonderful noon mudbath, Mpala mounted onto Mweya whilst she was lying in the mud. She bellowed and Sally came to her rescue. A baby zebra was rescued today when it strayed into a Masai Camp near Buchuma. It was brought to the Stockades because the fate of its herd was unknown.

It was a very calm and peaceful day today, because all the orphans concentrated on feeding off fresh shoots that have appeared following the rain.

When leaving the Stockades in the morning, all the orphans went in single-file with trunks on each others’ back. Aitong led the line, whilst Emily took the rear.

Aitong left the group today and went off on her own, joining the orphans after their noon mudbath.

Sosian dominated the pile of Copra put out for all the orphans to feed on in the evening, refusing to allow any of the others access. The Keepers had to intervene to ensure that all the orphans got their share.

When returning to the Stockades in the evening, Edie blocked Nyiro from passing, so a tough fight broke out as Nyiro forced his way through.

Sally kept on lying down today, so we suspected she had a stomach ache. Aitong watched her very closely all day. We gave Sally colloidal silver, which worked well on her. Mweya chased off 3 ostriches at 11 a.m. and on the way found a puddle in which to wallow. She was joined by Yatta and Icholta.

It was very hot and humid today, so the orphans had two mudbaths to cool themselves off.

Nyiro tried to engage Salama in a pushing game, but Salama ignored him and would not oblige. Eventually Nyiro went off, looking unsatisfied.

A great sadness today was the death of our little zebra foal, “Buchuma”, who had been showing signs of weakness. At l0 a.m. Mweiga found herself left behind, and screamed loudly. Both Emily and Aitong rushed back to collect her and escort her to the others.

On the way back to the Stockades in the evening, Natumi and Aitong kept the slow pace of Mweiga, who was very happy to have them, one on either side. She swung her trunk happily as she slowly climbed up the hill towards the Stockades.

At a wonderful noon mudbath, Loisaba and Tsavo became restless because they could not see Emily who was lying in the mud surrounded by all the younger orphans. Loisaba and Tsavo began to search for her, and trumpeted with joy when saw her. Notes:- The heavy rain mid-month has brought on fresh browse which has been a god-send for the orphans. There have been very few wild encounters this month, because most of the wild elephants have moved to greener pastures. Weaning has begun for some of the orphans, namely Sosian, Mweya, Sally, Ndara and Burra. Irima’s leg strain which occurred during the lion adventure, seems to be reoccurring from time to time.