We have been so impressed with Ndii this past month. She is such a friendly and welcoming girl and has been so kind to Ajali, the oldest member of the herd who joined us most recently when he was hit by a vehicle and we rescued him from the Tsavo river junction. He had broken ribs and was unable to move to feed, and we brought him to the confines of our stockades so that he could heal and be fed in order to survive. At the time the prognosis for his recovery was extremely guarded, but Ajali has done well, healed and decided to remain with his orphaned friends who were such great company for him during his ordeal. Pasaka, who was rescued last month in Tsavo, is of slightly older age and so was taken straight to the Voi Reintegration Unit, and he joined the rest of the stockade dependant orphans out in the bush for the first time this month, having become accustomed to the keepers and the routine during his time in the ‘taming stockade’. For some reason Ndoria was not very friendly towards him and kept engaging him in pushing games but once again Ndii stepped in and chose to take him under her wing and browsed close to him keeping the bullies like Ndoria away. As the month wore on Ajali’s strength grew and soon Ndoria found it difficult to win any wrestling match! Cosseted baby Araba is also jealous of Pasaka due to the attention he is enjoying from the other orphans being the newest one to join the herd, and sometimes she teams up with Mudanda in an effort to bully poor Pasaka! Their naughty behaviour is quickly brought to a grinding halt by Naipoki and Ndii assisted by the keepers. Ndii is also very protective of the younger orphans along with matriarch Kenia, who likes to be with the little ones at all times and is not very good at sharing them, despite Ndii’s best efforts. Voi has sadly had very poor rains, which is a worry and the Southern sector of Tsavo remains extremely dry. The clouds have been building however, meaning some days the orphans chose not to wallow in the main mud bath because of the colder temperatures. Sometimes some of them couldn’t fight the urge however, like Embu and our wallowing-star Ndii, and braved the cold to have a fun game in the muddy water. When light rain did fall elephants like Rorogoi enjoyed digging up the moist soil with their feet and tusks and throwing it onto her back. Others like Bada and Ndoria enjoyed rolling around on the ground and in the erosion trenches where the cool soil could be found. Sad news this month came from our little eclectic group of buffalo and eland orphans led by Ngulia the zebra. They got very excited in their games one day and suddenly ran out of the compound towards the Voi air strip. They were running back and forth having a wildly exciting time with the keepers following them as best they could when out from nowhere a lioness ambushed little Jamuhuri the buffalo, killing him instantly. The trio, were left very sad and distraught with the loss of their friend and stayed close to the keepers for the rest for the day and the days to follow. These events shook everyone. Ex Orphan Emily’s herd was not seen for the whole month, evidently having wondered north or somewhere else further away where more rain has fallen. The partially dependent orphans Kivuko, Lempaute and Layoni visited the dependent orphans a few times this month and Ndii and Kenia made very sure to keep the babies in their herd, close. Lempaute, Kivuko, Layoni and Dabassa were often seen browsing around Msinga Hill; eight year old ex orphan Dabassa visited the orphans several times, playing with them and joining them for supplement feeding in the morning. One day Bada, Panda, Nguvu and Tundani followed Layoni and Kivuko back to the stockades where they demanded to be given their milk bottles even though it was not time for their milk feeding yet! The keepers fed them their milk anyway, after which they joined Kivuko and Layoni for a browsing session above the stockade compound high on Msinga Hill. While Ex Orphans Mzima, Sinya, Taveta, Tassia, Rombo and Wasessa are believed to be with Ndara and her wild born baby Neptune.