On the Prowl

STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: Picture Praise, 6/14/10

We were in Maasai Mara Game Park which is near where we live. This lioness was very close, as she was stalking a herd of buffalo just on the other side of our vehicle. So she was about 15 to 20 feet from our vehicle when I took the shot. We watched her come through the tall grass. The next shot on my camera is of her passing just behind our vehicle. It was taken by a Canon Powershot S5 IS. (focal length 72mm). I remembered it striking me as just menacing. Thankfully, I was not out of the vehicle.

On this trip, my daughter's almost-fiance was with us. He had traveled to Kenya from the U.S. to ask us if he could marry our daughter. He was on top of the Landrover...it has an open hatch and when the lioness came so close, my daughter was telling him that she strongly suggested him getting back inside! (He did ask her to marry him on that trip.)

Photographer: Vera Steury. "My husband and I have been in Kenya now for 24 years. We work with the Maasai tribe in a remote area of Kenya. We do community-based health care (immunizations, HIV/AIDS counseling, clean water projects). I teach Sunday school, and my own kids and run a small guest house. My husband was born in Kenya as a missionary kid; all three of our children were also. "