At 4.00am ZONGOLONI was the first orphan to be led out of her night stockade and onto the elephant-moving truck by the Keepers. With a little calmative she seemed completely unperturbed and walked into her travelling compartment without a sideways glance whilst gulping down her milk and watching as the compartment door was closed. Next to join her was LIMA LIMA who was definitely more boisterous, but did not object to being loaded, so it was not long before she was also safely inside. Then came the problem, QUANZA, who despite having months of practice to board the elephant-moving truck she never actually entered one of the compartments, refusing to get onboard despite the temptation of her much loved milk bottle. So like her friend SONJE, QUANZA had to be put to sleep and pulled onto the awaiting truck on a canvas stretcher before being revived once safely aboard. Once this was done, with stressnil administered, QUANZA along with her two friends began their journey south to the Kibwezi Forest.
The team of Keepers onboard the truck with QUANZA, LIMA LIMA and ZONGOLONI included Nairobi Head Keeper Edwin who was anxious to see the newly completed relocation unit. The travelers made excellent time and arrived shortly before 9.00am at the Umani Springs stockades. The truck parked next to the ramp and the doors were soon opened. LIMA LIMA was climbing the gate trying to exit, while QUANZA and ZONGOLONI looked on bewildered. There to meet them rumbling their welcomes was MURERA and SONJE who were visibly overjoyed and relieved to see their friends. Angela Sheldrick and Robert Carr-Hartley, together with their sons Taru and Roan and their niece Emily, were already at Umani waiting to receive the new arrivals together with Head Keeper Philip Okonde and Keepers Amos and Simon, who had all travelled down to Umani a few days before to settle down at the new stockades with MURERA and SONJE.
The three newcomers downed their milk bottles and headed straight to the dust bath, rolling around and dusting themselves before heading off to explore the surrounding forest. LIMA LIMA who led the group was so excited by her new environment that her exuberance soon rubbed off on the others. MURERA and SONJE trailed the little ones, delighted to have a very obvious leader in their midst with little LIMA LIMA taking charge, leading them down the road before zigzagging through the trees. The orphans couldn’t get enough of the delicious browse they were surrounded by and later returned for a mudbath next to the stockades before setting off again in the opposite direction, LIMA LIMA making the decisions as if she had been there all her life. This confidence was infectious and the others all appeared to embrace their new home, safe in the knowledge that their Keepers were always by their side. MURERA was surprisingly the least confident of the five, probably because she feels more vulnerable with her compromised hind limb.
Edwin and the crew were amazed and suitably impressed by the new and third relocation unit and joked that the chosen Umani crew had found themselves in paradise! Of course aside from Philip who will remain as Head Keeper of Umani, the DSWT’s other Keepers will rotate between the units throughout the coming months and years.
Before sundown the herd of five filed into their stockades and seemed extremely comfortable with the soft earth, dairy cubes, cut greens and Lucerne. MURERA and SONJE are accommodated on one side of the stockades whilstLIMA LIMA, QUANZA and ZONGOLONI are on the other side but together, whilst their keepers are all close at hand. During darkness that night wild elephants were heard rumbling outside the stockade perimeter creating great interest, whilst LIMA LIMA got a fright from the crying bush babies frolicking in the trees above. The orphans are gradually adapting to their new environment and as the days have passed they have become more and more comfortable in their new home.
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Most Recent Keeper's Diary Entry: (view all the latest entries for KITHAKA)
7/31/2014 - The elephants were in such an excited mood this morning, it seemed like everyone was either play fighting or chasing someone around a bush. Kithaka and Lemoyian were play fighting together as Barsilinga and Ngasha took on Tundani whilst Nelion was being chased around a tree by Oltaiyoni. The games continued for quite some time until the five little babies arrived, but they too quickly joined in all the fun. It was so beautiful to see such happy elephants as the sun rose over the plains of Nairobi National Park.
Later on in the afternoon we received a phone call from Malindi that the community had found a lone male baby elephant with no sign of its mother or herd in the area. A rescue team from the nursery immediately left for Malindi.
On arrival the elephant calf was waiting at the airstrip; thin but walking and had no obvious wounds. The reason for his separation from his family was not established however, by the look of him, it seemed as though he had been on his own for quite some time. After the elephant was loaded in the plane the team were on their way back to the orphanage and arrived at around 8pm. The young baby settled in quickly, even taking a little bit of milk. Oltaiyoni was in the room next door and as a "matriarch in the making" she really settled the little baby down. The baby, named Arabuko, then fell asleep close to the bars separating her from Oltaiyoni. Soon after, Oltaiyoni did the same and the two slept comfortably alongside one another.
The Two Latest Photos of KITHAKA: (view gallery of pictures for KITHAKA)
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| Kithaka and Zoom photo taken on 12/7/2011 | Out in the forest with the others photo taken on 12/3/2011 |
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This tiny newborn male calf was orphaned during the morning of 20th November, 2011, apparently left by his mother when she and her herd were chased out of an area of human settlement near the Ruiri outpost in the lower Imenti Forest. The calf wandered into an adjacent village searching for company from whence KWS Rangers rescued him. Due to the terrain and dense forest conditions reuniting him with his herd would prove impossible, so we were contacted by the Senior Warden Mount Kenya with the news of a rescue. The calf was transported to the Lewa airfield so that he could be airlifted from there to the Nairobi Nursery, arriving in torrential rain, well after dark.      |
This baby is tiny, no more than, and possibly even less, than a week old on arrival, the hind side of the ears soft and petal pink and the umbilicus newly detached. We hope that he has been able to ingest her first Colostrum milk to trigger his natural immune system. He has been named Kithaka the Meru word for forest. He is a real character, larger than life and full of attitude and, of course, is absolutely adored by the older orphans in the Nursery.
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