Tag: Kenya

Lion

A Male Lion at Sunrise, Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Kenya

This is a photo of a male lion as he stops and looks in the direction of the rising sun.

This golden light is why we nature photographers try to be out there before the sun rises.  When I was at Gamewatchers’ Porini Lion Camp (Porini means “in the wild” in Swahili) in Kenya in early June we were awakened by the Swahili greeting “jambo” (“hello”) at 5:30 a.m.  We were then given a tray with a pitcher of coffee or tea and 5 or 6 cookies which would get us going.  We’d leave camp at 6:15 a.m. sharp and be looking for wildlife as we drove away.  At around 8:00 a.m. we’d stop for a nice hot bush breakfast.  This male lion was photographed at 7:05 a.m.

Cheetah, Uncategorized

Cheetah Cub Plays with Mom, Kenya

This is a photo of a cheetah cub playing with its mom on a termite mound.

I photographed this cheetah cub playing with its mom last month while spending four great days at Gamewatchers’ Porini Mara Camp in the Ol Kinyei Conservancy in Kenya.  As I recall, my guide, George, told me this cheetah mother started with six cubs but lions got all but this one.  I hope it makes it to adulthood.

African Lion, Cheetah, Leopard

Cheetah Mother in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Kenya.

This is a photo of a mother cheetah that has climbed part way up a tree in Kenya.

To finish the story I started a week or so ago, after those great four days with Gamewatchers Safaris in the Ol Kinyei Conservancy just north of the Maasai Mara Reserve, I spent the next four days at Gamewatchers’ Porini Lion Camp in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy.  As the name implies, there are a lot of lions in the conservancy where Gamewatchers’ Porini Lion Camp is located.  They were easy to find and photograph.   I also saw and photographed leopards on two of the four days and saw and photographed cheetahs every day.  Like during my previous four days in the Ol Kinyei Conservancy, I had an excellent guide in Nelson Keiwua.  With us every day was Nelson’s spotter, John Tompoi.  I think I’m pretty good at spotting wildlife, but Nelson and John are in another league.

It was hard deciding on a photo here, but I finally decided on this cheetah mom who had three cubs.  I spent a fair amount of time photographing her and, especially, her three rambunctious cubs.  I already want to go back.