Masai Mara, Kenya

Lioness With Cubs

01 / 01

OM-1 Mark II · OM 150-600mm F5.0-6.3

200 mmƒ5.51/1250ISO 1000

The story

We’re at Masai Mara, Kenya’s most touristy national park. It’s a sunny morning, we’re cruising peacefully across endless savanna plains, taking in the views and the “weeds” — our family’s internal term for all the various antelopes, warthogs, buffalos… basically everything you run into here every other minute.

Then Brian, our driver and guide rolled into one, gets a tip-off via phone ¹ that another jeep has spotted “cats”. We drop a gear, floor it, and race down the dusty road to the reported location. Obviously, we’re not alone — there are about 15 jeeps already there.

Every pair of eyes, every pair of binoculars, every lens points toward the bushes ahead, on the other side of a small stream. Newcomers can immediately tell where to focus just by following everyone else’s gaze. After a few minutes, two lionesses emerge, followed by three teenagers. But the pride saves the best for last — another lioness mother nudging two tiny cubs along in front of her. The whole group gradually disappears into the stream bed between two banks, eye contact lost. Shots are rubbish, I muttered to myself.

15 engines fire up and head in the general direction of the pride’s movement. The lions resurface shortly after. What follows is another chase. The jeeps cut in front of the lions to redirect them, to prevent them from disappearing again. Cars are overtaking each other, everyone fighting for every last centimeter of space… Everyone except us. Brian watches it all calmly, waiting for the right moment. We don’t quite understand why we’re hanging back a little.

The pride vanishes again, this time into the bushes. Now’s our chance. We pull into position first, pick the best spot. And then we watch in amazement as two figures emerge from the undergrowth — the two youngest cubs, with their mum. The shutter goes absolutely mad. Over 100 shots for a single pose, a single moment, just to make sure we can pick the best one. Even that one isn’t perfect… But this isn’t a movie where you can reshoot the same scene over and over. This is a fight to make the most of the one shot you have to capture the moment in its full beauty. And let’s not forget — we’d already won one battle: the one for the best position.

The curious little one standing right under mum’s paws, staring straight into the lens, has absolutely no idea what joy it gave us. Or maybe it does — and that look is its way of saying thank you for not pestering them and getting in their way…

¹ Via phone or more often a built-in radio in the jeep, drivers share signals about spotted targets — anything interesting or unusual. It’s an unwritten rule, almost a local law: you don’t keep it to yourself (well, maybe for a few minutes, as a symbolic trophy for being the one who found it first). That way, everyone gets to enjoy the sighting… though by now it’s pretty clear that system has its upsides and downsides.

Masai Mara, Kenya · February 13, 2026