May the new year bring you opportunities filled with joy, love and connection. Nature is an endless resource showing us all that is good, true and beautiful in the world. Let’s take care of each other and our planet in 2025!

Wishing you a joyous holiday season filled with love, laughter, and the beauty of nature.

As we approach the longest night of the year, take comfort in the quiet, the darkness. Enjoy the restorative place of simply being and let go of doing.

“What shall we look for today Kupai?” I asked as I climbed into the Land Cruiser in the predawn light. “Let’s go on a lion hunt!” said Kupai with a grin. “Yes! Let’s go!” I replied, eager for the day’s adventure.

This week I’m turning my story telling over to David Kupai Senchura, my Maasai guide extraordinaire on the Mara Game Reserve. We set our goal one morning to visit the Musiara Marsh Pride of lions.

My aim in wildlife photography is to create images that evoke a response in the viewer. When we have an emotional reaction to a photograph our brains tell us a story. The heart informs the mind. Not everyone has the same response, that’s the beauty of art.

A Turkish proverb says, “There lies a lion in every heart.” There’s something about lions that is raw, real, and totally mesmerizing. Here’s the story behind the image on the cover of my children’s storybook A Mother’s Love.

This week, I wrote a short children’s storybook about some of my favourite African animal mothers and babies in honour of Mother’s Day. I am grateful to Haya (3) and Mara (6) and their mothers who gave me valuable feedback about which images they preferred. I wrote this book with them in mind.

Sex on the savannah—it’s everywhere! Being on safari is like being in class in real time—zoology, botany, anthropology, geology, conservation—teaching opportunities are everywhere including sex education.

The truck came to a grinding, abrupt stop, part of its underbelly hung up on a rock. It was the end of the day on safari on the Maasai Mara. Nathan, our guide and driver, asked, “Do you want to meet a new pride of lions?” We nodded eagerly and a mad dash ensued across the savannah.

I’m delighted to announce one of my images won the Greenpeace 2020 photo competition. I’m proud my photo is associated with Greenpeace, an organization that works tirelessly to raise awareness about environmental issues and conservation. The contest theme this year was wildlife mothers and offspring.

When I met her two years ago, Figlet was a young cub. Now a mature leopard, with a signature bright white tail, she was as beautiful and self-assured as her mother Fig. Nelson revved the wheels and maneuvered the truck so we were directly in Figlet’s path. Undeterred she came straight for us, her eyes focused on some unseen destination.

Uncertainty makes us nervous. The adjectives “unprecedented,” “uncharted,” and “uncertain” are clichés in the Time of Corona. Daily life on the savannah of the Maasai Mara is a drama that lives every minute in “uncertain time.” Every morning is a triumph of the survival of a species and a potential meal for another.

Watching the sun rise on the Maasai Mara fuels attention and astonishment. Seeing Africa’s iconic lions in their natural setting is like stepping through the TV screen into the magic of Africa. Even after a few years of game drives in Kenya, being in the midst of African wildlife still feels like a pinch me moment.