Lioness & Cub

Nairobi national park is the only african national park within a city’s border. Often overlooked by tourists heading to the Mara and other areas, I like to make an occasional trip to ease clients into the safari experience, after all its less than an hour drive from the airport!

It’s a great place to give you a taste of the wild with very little effort; you can return back to your hotel or stay in a camp overnight. The park only lacks elephants, but has quite a few big cats and plenty to keep bird spotters busy.

We came across this mother moving 3 cubs to a safer place. A lioness will often do this to avoid a new male killing the cubs so he can mate with her. This mother walked directly along the road towards us. We stopped prepared to back up, I got a few images, and then she headed across and into the grass and back to us. I continued to shoot, not just wanting to capture a clear view but also because I had the idea of using the grass to get a little mystery into the shot.

She was in view for around a minute so I maximized the time as it’s rare to get a shot like this. After looking at the shots I noticed the gentle way the mother used her foot to lower the cub for a few seconds so she could get a better grip.

I had plenty of light so there was no issue with settings or my choice of exposure. Most are at 1/000 f5.6 iso 400 at 400mm hand held, typically I shoot through a side window but as she came directly to us I stood up and shot through the roof opening