On the Move Murka doesn’t stay in the nursery long. She is almost two years old now. Most of the orphans leave the nursery when they are about this age. T en they go to live in a diff erent part of
the orphanage. T is place is called Tsavo. It is a wild and rugged land. Here, Murka and the other orphans will meet wild elephants and other animals. Simon and Amos load Murka and two other
orphans into a special truck. T e truck starts to move. One of the orphans cries out. She’s scared. Murka reaches her trunk through the stall
that divides them. Murka pats the frightened elephant’s head to comfort her. Murka is scared, too, but she trusts these
men now. She knows they will not hurt the orphans. T e trip takes many hours. Twice, the truck stops. T e keepers jump out and search for fresh food. T ey cut branches and tall grasses for the elephants to eat.
The Ties That Bind At last, Murka and the other orphans see their new home. Within moments, 11 more orphans join them. T is may be a new place, but these elephants are old friends. Many of them had once lived in the nursery, too. All the orphan elephants huddle together.
T eir heads press against one another. T ey touch heads and faces with their trunks. T ere is a low, soſt rumbling of voices. T ey are happy to be together. Murka soon learns that life here is diff erent
from the nursery. Several older elephants from the wild come to visit the orphans. Each day, they see, hear, and meet new animals. T e keepers no longer sleep with the
elephants at night. T e orphans sleep together in stalls, though. Here, they are protected from predators. T e orphans are still too young and small to defend themselves against a lion or leopard attack.
Eventually, the orphans meet older elephants that live in the wild.
16 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER
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