On a cloudy Saturday afternoon as I drove through the park, in the valley below No5 junction, a group of giraffe caught my attention. The giraffes were all standing still and looking in the same direction for quite some time.
As it was quite far, I looked through my binoculars and scanned the area across the valley. After a short while, a lioness came into my view walking up the hill. So I drove to the area and found her on the road then watched as she moved into the long grass.
Thinking that the lioness could possibly cross the next road near No19 junction, I drove around to position myself for a photograph.
Then, no lioness? Funny that she just disappeared like that? Then I looked across the grassy plain and then behind me, and suddenly saw that she had turned around and was actually climbing a big acacia tree near the opposite road.
So I drove around to that road and watched as she climbed about seven metres up into the tree, and stayed there for more than two hours. It is very unusual to see lions climbing trees anywhere. Most people hear about such things in Lake Manyara (Tanzania) or Ishasha (Uganda), but wow! This is Nairobi National Park!
Over a period of many years I have seen lions climb trees on quite a number of occasions. One memorable sighting in December 2019 was watching almost the entire Kingfisher pride climb the trees in the picnic site. One of the lions actually jumped off a high branch at least five metres up and landed safely.
So maybe its time to visit Nairobi National Park, hopefully you will see Nairobi’s climbing lions, up trees or on junction signs! It’s a wonderful adventure to explore the wonders of God’s creation.
For information on the park link to the following website www.kws.go.ke
