Last month, Pika Pika returned to the Voi herd after briefly experimenting with a wild life. She has slotted right back into things, as if she never left. Pika Pika has always been a fiery elephant, adept at keeping order and, equally, at causing disorder! One morning, we were surprised to see Ndotto pulling green browse directly from Lasayen’s mouth. Lasayen did not seem to mind, but Pika Pika did! She shepherded Lasayen away from his greedy friend, putting a stop to Ndotto’s antics.

As the eldest of the ‘Voi kids’, Juni is more than capable of holding her own against the young upstarts. We were reminded of this one morning, when Ashanti did her best to push Juni off a tantalising mound of soil. Juni, unperturbed, just flapped her ears and refused to budge.

But Juni is also capable of feeling covetous! Sometimes, we think she feels nostalgic for the days when she was the only ‘Voi kid’ and enjoyed the undivided attention of the elder girls. One day, a jealous Juni was doing her best to push Busara away from Mbegu so she could stand next to the matriarch. Mbegu calmly protected Busara while simultaneously inviting Juni to stand close.

Mbegu is so good at handling potentially contentious situations. Like toddlers, young elephants often get into squabbles, and Mbegu has a knack for diffusing things before they escalate. She is also incredibly responsible: Wherever the orphans go, she brings up the rear, so she can make sure that everyone is present and correct. If there are any stragglers (usually, Ndotto), she gently nudges them with her trunk and pads along behind them. 

While Mbegu adores the Voi kids, she also enjoys time with her peers. As the herd ambled back into the bush, after an afternoon mud bath, Ndotto, Mbegu, and Ngilai remained behind for a time. Ndotto and Mbegu relaxed on the red soil while Ngilai scratched against the baobab tree.

Ngilai’s party trick always starts our day on a funny note. After leaving his stockade, he ambles over to the lucerne area, picks up a bunch of lucerne, balances it on his head, and parades in front of his friends. Sometimes, he performs his party trick several times, taunting his friends as he strolls by with a stash of lucerne on his head. When he is not parading around, Ngilai can usually be found wrestling with Ndotto, Lasayen, and Murit on the terraces.

Truthfully, mornings always begin in high spirits at Voi. Everyone wakes up feeling energetic and happy. On one particularly wonderful morning, everyone gathered in the lucerne feeding area. Godoma stretched her trunk out to Rokka, who walked over to Mbegu. As Rokka trunk hugged the matriarch, Godoma struck a pose next to the favourite rock. Manda, Kenderi and Juni enjoyed an early morning dust bath while Kilulu massaged his rump against the terrace wall. Hildana was twisting his trunk around his feet while Manda took on Itinyi in a sparring game. Ushindi was showing off on the mound of red soil as Ashanti continued to scoop up range cubes. It was such a lovely scene.

Little Lemeki is becoming an excellent nanny. She has adopted stout Losoito as ‘her’ baby and fusses over her all day. But her heart belongs to Thamana, her original ‘little brother.’ One day, we observed Losoito resting her forelegs on the trough as she stood drinking with Lemeki. When Thamana walked up to join them, Lemeki was careful to stand between her old friend and her new friend, just in case Thamana was feeling jealous. Thamana gets plenty of attention; he is still Emoli’s favourite sparring partner. 

Given that she only has half a trunk (it was partially severed by a poacher’s snare), one might think that Ashanti is an easy target for bullying during feeding times. But really, it’s the other way around! She is constantly trying to pinch her friend’s bottles — sometimes with great success! One day, she made the mistake of targeting little Busara. Fortunately for her, Busara had already finished her bottle. If Ashanti had stolen it, she would have had to deal with the wrath of Busara’s loyal nannies, Mbegu, Godoma, Tagwa, and Tamiyoi.

Epiya is another reliable milk thief. One day, she tried to pinch Baraka’s bottle by pushing the little boy away. A Keeper quickly intervened to give Baraka some peace and moved Epiya on to the mud wallow.

Our Voi herd has earned the nickname ‘the showboats’ — among all our units, our orphans are the biggest show-offs, especially if they see a camera pointed in their direction! Ngilai and Ndotto were two of our most reliable show-offs, although young Hildana, Kilulu, and Ushindi are also starting to steal the spotlight. 

Since graduating to Voi in May, Rokka and Manda have remained very good friends. Manda is quite a show-off, and Rokka can usually be found standing nearby, admiring his antics. But sometimes, even the best of friends need alone time! One afternoon, the Keepers observed Rokka rolling around on her very own mound of soil, enjoying a break from Manda.

We hope that our ex-orphans are enjoying their time further afield. We are looking forward to their return, when rain falls and Voi turns green again.