In February, BUC Chamberlain and I made a trip over to Nairobi National Park, leaving the hotel very early in the morning and arriving at just after sunrise.  We followed the same path once we entered the park, heading towards the west and skirting along the edge of the forest. 

We initially came across this herd of water buffalo which were moving throughout the brush and trees.  This young one was very curious about us and the truck, venturing out into the road with all the adults grunting and huffing as walked out near us. 

One of the protective adults watching over its young. 

This was the first Oryx I got to see, of course it was deep in the brush and far away, so no clear shots.  Even in this distant shot, you can see how interesting their horns are.

Like the rest of Kenya, zebra are everywhere.

This shot shows how the young’s strips are more tan and white, which works really well in high grass, they blend in and are very camouflaged. 

Finally got to see a lion.  Another driver pointed use in the right direction and after heading down a road for a bit hanging out of the open window I saw this teenage male wander out into the road after we passed.  We circled around and  started following him.

Though his mouth was open for these shots, he was not being vocal.  He was just panting in the early morning heat. 

He may look large, but in reality for a male he was fairly small.  Our drivers also pointed out that his stomach wasn’t distended so he hadn’t eaten the night before.  This a good shot showing that his mane wasn’t filled out yet. 

After wandering through the grass for about ½ km, he got out onto the road and walked on the smooth dirt vice the high grass.

He kept a steady pace on the road for about 20 minutes, but suddenly stopped and went back to this spot.  He sniffed and rummaged through grass, finally turning and marking the spot, multiple times, from different directions.

During the sniffing, he did get worked up and started making low roars and groans… and panting much harder.

We finally worked out way past him and were finally able to get some shots from the front instead of his rear end. 

He wasn’t really fond of us being in front of him, so he moved to the side and picked up the pace, quickly passing us.   This pose was because he caught wind that there were gazelles ahead.  Every other animal, otherwise known as prey, for the surrounding 2 km knew exactly where he was and did their best to provide about a km of distance between them.

 As he moved past us, I will still hanging out of the Prado’s window taking shots.  He started paying too much attention to me, and starting walking my way, with a very intent ‘you look tasty’ look.  I decided to swing back into the Prado, and close the window, hearing a convincing roar as I did.

As he moved off the road, he was very aware of his surroundings looking around at all the other animals, sometimes even on a far hillside, moving away from him very quickly.

Once he finally got ahead of us we met another car on the same road.  My driver called this a ‘Kenya roadblock’.  The other person stayed out of his car taking pictures longer than I would have, and finally jumped back into his car when the lion moved to right side of the road and wanted to pass on the side of the vehicle where the guy was standing.  The lion even sniffed at the door handles of that vehicle.