Monthly Diary Reports

Once we could be sure that the rains in Tsavo had turned the vegetation lush and green, plans went ahead to move the four oldest Nursery Elephants, Thoma, Burra, Sosian and Solango all of whom had now past their first birthday. All were now in fine fettle, ready for the next phase of growing up and ultimately returned to where they rightly belong.

Within two days, all were quite comfortable doing so, except for Burra, who would even forego his ration of milk rather than risk entering the dreaded truck. Obviously, he remembered the last journey he made in this same vehicle, when he was brought back to the Nursery, wounded, emaciated and in agony, after Mweya and Sweet Sally had been moved to Tsavo. As always, the morning began very early at 5 a.m. on the 9th December, when the elephants were due to be moved, and still Burra had not been persuaded to cooperate. However, Roy Carr-Hartley, being an old hand at the game of moving animals, quietly walked up behind as he hesitated at the threshold, and propelled him in once Sosian and Thoma were safely loaded and Solango taking his milk inside the second truck. Burra was taken by surprised, in he went, and the doors were hurriedly closed. Meanwhile, Mpala and Seraa, sensing that something unusual was afoot involving their friends, were frantically trying to climb out of their stables, feeling vulnerable and frightened without their Keepers, who were occupied loading the others.

We were confident that Thoma and Solango would receive a rousing welcome from Mweya and Sweet Sally, with whom they shared the Nursery. They certainly did! Mweya and Sally were the first to greet them, and were beside themselves with happiness and excitement, Mweya fondling her two little friends, and Sally rushing around trumpeting excitedly. Meanwhile, Sosian and Burra, both of whom were orphaned old enough to remember their elephant family clearly, but who never knew Mweya and Sally in the Nursery, were fully occupied investigating all the exciting elephant scents around the Night Stockades and hardly even noticed Mweya and Sally who came to greet them cautiously.

Burra and Sosian were over the moon to be amongst a real "herd" of larger elephants again, and slotted in like veterans, wanting to be as close to the bigger boys as possible. Emily, however, felt that as newcomers, they should be amongst the youngest group, and kept gently escorting them back, so there was a great deal of to-ing and fro-ing in the beginning! That night, Solango cried a great deal, missing the comfort of his Nursery stable and the close contact of a Keeper, but by the next morning he had accepted his new slot in life, and was happy to go out with all the others. Mweya and Sally were preoccupied with Thoma, and Burra and Sosian very much part of the gang, eager to be amongst the older bulls.

Mpala, always something of a self sufficient loner, simply got on with life, enjoying the lush vegetation brought on by the recent rains without competition from Burra and Sosian. However, I have no doubt that he missed the company of Solango, who was his best friend.

Thoma and Seraa adore Wendi, but the boys, Sosian, Mpala, Solango and Burra are wary of the tiny newcomer, and with ears outspread prefer to give her a wide berth whenever she joins them. It rained for the first time on the 5th, bringing on a welcome flush of green for the older babies, all of whom have had a good month. Sosian complains loudly every time his bottle is finished, and still often removes himself from crowds of people, waiting to join the others from the nearby bush as they leave. Sosian and Solango are best friends, whilst the others mix happily with each other. All in all, it has been a peaceful and rewarding Nursery month.

The Nursery Elephant that loves Wendi best is "Seraa", and we are pleased about this, because once the country turns green down in Tsavo, Thoma, Burra and Sosian and possibly Solango, will be going down to join the others. Thoma can be assured of a great reunion and welcome from Mweya and Sweet Sally, with whom she shared her Nursery companions and whom she missed sorely when they left. What a joy it will be for her when she finds them both there to comfort and reassure, and gentle her introduction to all the other bigger elephants. Sosian and Burra will have each other and I have no doubt that they will be able to hold their own amongst the junior set such as Nyiro and Mukwaju and learn to respect their olders, such as Salama, and Laikipia. Mpala will then be the only boy in the Nursery, but Seraa will be there for him and to "mother" tiny Wendi.

Sosian, who is over two years old, and who has only been with us a few months, obviously arrived hosting a hefty dose of worms and has had to undergo several de-worming sessions in order to rid himself of these passengers. Burra also needed a de-worming course, and both had suffered from bloat, which is obviously an indication of worms. Otherwise, all the Nursery elephants continue to thrive and delight their daily audience of visitors.

"Elephants are truly friendly animals and they live just as we live as humans. At the Nursery we have Thoma who is the group leader of the young elephants, Burra, Solango, Seraa, Mpala and Sosian who is older than Thoma and a male. He tends to stay a bit removed from the others who tend to give him respect. If one disturbs him or refuses him his way, he just responds by pushing them, but that doesn't mean he doesn't like them, only that just like us, big boys like to be boss over the young.

Friday is hectic because it is the day they have coconut oil on their skin. Not all enjoy it, especially Buraa. When he smells coconut oil, he is off and if you call him, he goes further. Sosian got used to it much faster and his skin is now soft. Thoma, Seraa, Solango and Mpala don't have any problem, but at times they tend to refuse, so we trick them by giving them a bucket of water to play with and that way we cana get through.

Feeding time at night is full of drama, especially with Burra, who cries, rumbles, and kneels down with front legs and head in the straw, trying to lift the Keeper from his bed! This starts as soon as he hears the first sound of buckets outside. In the next stable we have Solango waking up his Keeper by taking off the blanket and starting to suck, which carries on until the milk bottles arrive. Thoma will come right up to the Keeper's head and rest her trunk on his head while making small rumblings. Thoma has respect.

It has been a quiet month in the Nairobi Nursery, with all the babies thriving and gaining weight. Looking back at photographs that depict them as they were when they came in, terrified, emaciated and staring death in the face, it is hard to remember that they were ever that bad. Burra has grown, and is the picture of health, his damaged ear now flapping happily in two very healthy and healed halves; Solango is now almost the same size as Sosian and Burra, and Thoma just a touch taller. Deep friendships have been forged. Sosian and Solango are inseparable, Thoma and Seraa have a strong female bond that will last for life, and Burra and Mpala are best buddies. The warthogs are now having their tiny piglets, so pig chases provide a welcome diversion for the Nursery elephants, as does rivalry to try and be the closest to the favourite Keeper of the day. It is wonderful to see them all so healthy, so happy and doing so well.

We had a nice surprise at the beginning of the month when Burra was presented as a fostering gift to members of the United Nations Security Council by the British Chairman, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, symbolic, he said, of all that is good and bad in Africa. The "good" is the fact that he has been saved; the "bad" that he was snared by poachers in the first place. We hope that the ensuing publicity will highlight the plight of the elephants at the forthcoming CITES Convention, and the threats that they face both from the bush meat snares as well as the Ivory Trade.

We now again have 6 infant elephants in the Nursery. Thoma and Seraa, our two little females, are the best of friends, Solango and Sosian likewise, whilst Burra has teamed up with Mpala, so that each one is content with a special friend. Mpala is gradually putting on weight, the prominent cheek bones slowly becoming less so. Burra is now so plump around the face that his cheek bones have disappeared entirely in fat little cheeks, and it is hard to believe that he is the same emaciated and starving little elephant that came to us in such desperate straits only a short time ago. Solango has shot up, leaving Seraa way behind in size. She is still tiny, but also nicely rounded, with the cheekiest little face and a great zest for life. She is a hot favourite with all the guests due to her miniature stature, and she also has a very endearing personality. Thoma, as the Mini Matriarch of the Nursery, enjoys throwing rank, very conscious of her status. She is greatly loved and respected by all the Nursery inmates and especially by Mpala and Burra who often lay their trunks across her back in a show of affection, but it is little Seraa who is never far from her side.

June was a quiet and rewarding month for us, with all the Nursery elephants thriving, happy, and steadily gaining weight - until the night of the 28th when Burra gave us all a nasty scare. Suddenly he blew up like a balloon, his tummy distended and as tight as a drum. The Keepers woke us up at might, and we went out to find him in obvious pain, groaning, and rolling around on the ground.

Immediately we phoned the Vet, who, very fortunately, happened to be at home and was therefore able to respond instantly. In the meantime, Burra was removed from his Night Stable and encouraged to move as much as possible around the yard, as we massaged his tummy, and administered homeopathic remedies which we hoped would bring some relief as we awaited the arrival of the Vet. Within 20 minutes, he was here to administer the same intra-muscular injection he would give a horse for bloat, which, apparently, relaxes the intestines so that air can pass more easily. Before leaving, he left us with a second dose just in case it would be needed further into the night, but fortunately the one injection did the trick.

Leaving Burra and his Keepers still walking around the yard, we finally retired, leaving instructions that if there was no improvement within three hours, we were to be alerted. Fortunately, however, Burra was able to expel the buildup of gas that had caused his problem in a series of loud explosions, until he felt easier and himself retired back to the stable for the rest of the night. By the morning he was again himself and in fine fettle, so we are still none the wiser as to what he could have inadvertently eaten to cause this kind of reaction. This, however, is another lesson learned, and from now on, the remedy will be at hand just in case it is ever needed in a hurry again!

Little Mpala, who arrived at the Nursery on the night of the 31st May, has settled in amazingly well. Within just a few hours he was able to join the other elephants and their Keepers out in the bush, taking his cue from them. Initially, glued to Thoma, he was careful to always be in the middle of the group, reticent about being too friendly with humans, but also knowing that they could provide the milk he so desperately needed in his starving state.

Thoma is the current Nursery "Mini-Matriarch", since the transfer to Tsavo of Mweya and Sweet Sally. It was not long before little Mpala formed a strong attachment to the other two little boys, "Burra" and "Solango", finding them more fun, and joining in the usual warthog chasing games that the Nursery Elephants so enjoy - just as long as the warthogs obligingly run off!

Solango has grown enormously, shooting up and overtaking little Seraa in size, despite having been the same upon arrival. He and Burra are great friends, and now almost the same size, and they have been happy to embrace into the fold little Mpala making a Nursery trio of baby bulls.

Again, the new baby "Burra" would have liked to join Ndara, who was escorted away by Emily. Nasalot and Mulika went out with Yatta's group, but were more attached to the Keepers than the other elephants. When a helicopter passed overhead all the orphans, except Aitong, ran back to the Keepers. Aitong charged in the direction of the sound. The rest of the day was spent familiarising the two Nairobi orphans with the others in both Yatta's and Natumi's groups.

Burra was loaded into the lorry that had brought Nasalot and Mulika and left for Nairobi.

Natumi, Salama and Laikipia went to feed away from the others on their own, joining the main group again just before mudbath. After mudbath Imenti and Emily played. Then Imenti tried to steer the group towards the bush to feed. Back at the Stockade, Maungu and Ndara were introduced to a newcomer whom we Keepers had named "Mtego", (The Swahili word for "trap"). This baby had been rescued having been seen from the Helicopter near Bura, lagging behind the herd, with a steel cable noose tight around its neck and ear. The snare was removed, but had already cut deep into the flesh of its neck and throat, almost severing one ear.

The new calf tried to mount on Maungu and Ndara, who were scared. Later Maungu gave him a shove, but since he was wounded, Maungu was removed. Meanwhile, Emily and Aitong, who were in the Stockade, extended their trunks, sensing the presence of a newcomer, while Yatta's group greeted the new baby with curiosity, extending their trunks to sniff his wounds. The new calf's name was later changed to "Burra" by Mrs. Sheldrick, to signify his origin on the migration route between Tsavo West and East, beyond the Park boundaries. The new calf's wounds were cleaned and he was offered milk and greens, but he had no appetite.