Lions have never loved my camera. In my countless encounters with them, I’ve only managed to capture two good photos: in 2007 in the Mara, and 2009 in Amboseli. All other times, in Nakuru, Mara and even Nairobi National Park, they’ve either been sleeping, hiding behind bushes or not within the reach of my lenses.

On Monday June 19th, I joined friends from Onetouch in a hunt for elusive lions. Before first light, we were inside the only park within a city searching for the big cats.

We saw lion food, but no lions.

We saw lion food walking away, but no lions walking towards us.

Then, within an hour of our hunt, we saw a lioness majestically walking past us.

I didn’t expect the hunt to end so soon, but I’m glad it did.

We spent the next hour or so clicking away at these paka mwitus.

When the clicking became too much, they told us they’d had enough photos for the day, and we should head towards Embakasi Dam. A pal of theirs had given birth and she needed some family portraits.

On the way there, we were reminded how blessed we are to have wildlife just outside our offices.

The paka mama was too far for our lenses.

We waited for her to come closer but since the sun was getting higher and hotter by the minute, it became clear that she’d be more attracted to the shade than to the potential meals on wheels.

So we continued touring the park.

Yellow-billed stork.

Black-striped zebra.

Crocs / Lacoste.

Yaani God finds marabou storks beautiful? Only you God; only You.

Egyptian goose.

Kenyan rhino.

We concluded our tour of Nairobi National Park in time for lunch and celebrated our lion hunt with sleep-inducing ugali and nyama.

Here’s a video of our experience.