The team scooped him up and brought him to our Kaluku Unit, where he was ushered into a stable and given a warm bottle of milk. We named the little warthog Mr Bean — it just felt fitting! 

Warthogs are delightfully particular creatures. Mr Bean shares a stable with several antelope friends, but he sleeps inside a little wooden box in the corner, which mimics a burrow. Come bedtime, Keeper Peter places a hot water bottle inside and Mr Bean trots into his cosy room, singing a chorus of satisfied grunts. 

The orphaned elephants:

This month, as the mercury stretched into the upper 30s, we started a new daily tradition for the Kaluku herd: At 2 o’clock, the elephants gather outside the stockades for their mid-afternoon milk feed and ‘little mud bath.’ 

The little mud bath is exactly as it sounds: A smaller pool, dug just outside the stockade area. If possible, the orphans enjoy this swimming session even more than their customary 11 o’clock mud bath by the baobab tree. The pool may be smaller, but their enthusiasm is sky high.

Everyone brings their own special flair to this activity. Natibu likes to slide his entire body underneath the water until he is fully submerged. Mwinzi bobs around before settling flat atop Natibu like a stacked chapati. Toto, who is not fond of swimming but enjoys being part of the party, resolutely keeps all four feet on solid ground while splashing himself with trunkfuls of water. 

Unsurprisingly, Korbessa is the swimming star — we often remark that our ‘little frog’ is more amphibian than elephant. It bothers her to no end that Toto does not like the water, and she devotes most of the mud bath to trying to coax him in. She performs increasingly intricate aquabatics in her friend’s direction, she splashes every which way to showcase how much fun can be had, but Toto remains unmoved. Undeterred, every day Korbessa continues her campaign to convert Toto into a fellow frog!

Mwinzi and Natibu recently graduated from their baby stables into open-air stockades. This is a significant transition for many elephants, but the boys didn’t miss a beat. They settled right into their ‘big boy’ bedrooms and seem to enjoy the extra space it affords. Twiggy, whose stockade is just across the way, is a calm but curious neighbour. Usually, Mwinzi and Natibu are too busy eating their branches to even notice her staring at them. 

Meanwhile, Korbessa and Toto remain inseparable roommates. Last month, Korbessa insisted upon creating a little peekaboo hole in their shared stable wall, so they could communicate throughout the night. (By ‘insisted upon,’ we mean she used her small-but-mighty strength to break the boards! We cleaned up her mess to create a proper partition.) 

Last month, we rescued three neonate orphaned elephants within the span of a few weeks. It is too early to introduce them — at this fragile age, we must take things day by day — but we are happy with their progress thus far and are hopeful for what the future holds.

Chamboi the orphaned rhino:

Chamboi is still young — he only turned a year old last month, after all — but he is turning into a burly little chap. The beginnings of two horns are starting to take shape and he is starting to transform into a mini rhino, rather than a stub-nosed infant. 

It is very, very hot in Tsavo at the moment, but Chamboi doesn’t seem to mind. He spends the heat of the day napping beneath a shady tree, just as rhinos do in the wild. The midday mud bath has become a highlight. Much like Apollo, Chamboi prefers for his Keepers to do all the hard work. He flops down in the cool, red earth, while they cover him in shovelfuls of goopy mud.

Mr Bean usually trots over to the midday mud bath, purely to enjoy the excursion. The tiny warthog follows his Keeper over and, if he is feeling bold, touches noses with the small rhino. Mr Bean snorts, Chamboi squeaks, and then both creatures go about their respective days. 

Twiggy the orphaned giraffe:

At the peak of the dry season, one could forgive the orphans for feeling a bit sluggish. As temperatures rise, activity levels slow; animals know they must conserve their energy for vital activities like browsing. 

But somehow, Twiggy still does it all. She is very devoted to all the orphans and never misses a standing date with any of them. She chaperones Chamboi’s mud bath, before waiting behind to oversee the orphaned elephants’ midday milk feed. Of her own accord, she ambles back to the stockades, where she looks after the assortment of other orphans.

Despite her increasingly vertiginous stature, Twiggy remains everyone’s favourite nanny. She can usually be found with an assortment of smaller friends trailing after her: Choke the eland, Izera the lesser kudu, Pea and Pod the ostriches, even Sprite’s trio of wild-born warthog girls. Twiggy exudes kindness and calm, and all the other animals pick up on that. 

Apollo the orphaned rhino:

We are in the final stretch of the dry season, and Rhino Base is feeling the effects of the season keenly. Apollo has a good setup — he has plenty of water, supplementary food, and lots of shady places for resting and wallowing. All the same, he is becoming an expert at navigating the dry season and the challenges that come with it. 

As Apollo gets older, he is embracing the classic rhino traits. He is increasingly solitary, independent, stubborn, and set in his ways. Rhinos love routine, and Apollo is no different. His days have fallen into a comfortable rhythm: He leaves his stockade at dawn and ventures into his roaming grounds, where he browses, naps, and wallows his way through the day. Some nights, Apollo comes home when his Keepers call him; other nights, he only deigns to return when he is ready. We know better than to try to force him to follow our schedule! 

* Apollo is now at Rhino Base, in Tsavo East National Park