For many weeks now two of the Nairobi Nurserys oldest elephant orphans have been in training for their journey onto the next stage of their reintegration back into the wild. These two elephants, Kilabasi and Kanjoro, are the first orphans in 2013 to be translocated from the Nairobi Nursery to the Ithumba reintegration unit in northern Tsavo East to begin their new year, learning the ways of the bush and gradually finding their feet within the wild elephant herds of Tsavo. Kanjoro, who was just under two years old when he was rescued in 2010 having been found alone in a dry riverbed in northern Kenya, didnt enjoy practicing getting in and out of the truck, which the Keepers have been enticing them to do every day in the lead up to the big move. Kilabasi on the other hand was very confident and showed little concern about the elephant-mover truck. Kilabasi, like Kanjoro, came into the Nairobi Nursery as a much older orphan at the age of nineteen months having been discovered abandoned near the Tanzanian border. January 22nd was the date set for their journey down to Tsavo. The Trust has been waiting for a long time before sending more orphans down to Ithumba and this has been due to the drought of last year and the late rains in Tsavo, but since some recent rain showers have graced the northern areas of Tsavo the surrounding environment has now sprung into life, with lush and beautiful vegetation and flora in abundance. As always many of the other Nairobi Nursery orphans knew something was up on that night when the Keepers were all wide awake at 3am, scurrying around the stockades preparing for the move. At 3.30am Edwin, the Nurserys head-keeper, gave both elephants Stresnil in the comfort of their night stockades, which is a gentle medicine to calm their nerves during the journey, taking effect quickly and effectively and taking the nervous edge off what could be a dramatic journery into the unknown for them.