And so we advertised, we planned and finally the day came- Photography in the Wild was here with us.   The wild always, and I say always excites me no matter the weather, circumstance, place as long as it is the wild.   This time I was facing a situation of the spirit willing but an uncooperative body.   The previous day, I had gone hiking which had taken me to an experience of walking, climbing, walking on fours, even using my butt and other tales that cannot be described in words and this, for a whole day.

Now, Sunday I was to wake up earlier than 5am so as to make it to Nairobi National Park by 6am, but this was honestly quite a task having arrived home a bit late that evening.   I can tell you at 6am is when I was leaving the house but convinced myself that thanks to the bypass, about 30 minute lateness wouldn’t look too bad.

So I get to the gates of NNP and I see a good crowd of people ready for an experience in the wild.  Honestly my plan was to go to Club house and park and catch some sleep in the car before breakfast which was part of the package.   But that would not be, as I got in, I was immediately asked for my ID, allocated a van, and all this time I was just dragging myself around like a zombie.   That is when I knew I needed to coordinate my mind, spirit and body and get with the program.

And getting with the program I did.   The beauty of the wild is that it will always reward you with amazing wonders and beauty and all these are unpredictable making it more adventurous.    What made it awesome was the energy and the adrenaline that the group had, which made me forget how exhausted I was.

This was a full day event which had various activities lined up, making it difficult to even keep track of time sometimes, but don’t we all lose it at times when having too much fun?  The interesting thing about this event was that it was both a learning and fun event as we had trainers from Versatile School of Photography in our midst who would assist in showing how to capture the moments in the best way possible.

It wasn’t all about just clicking away in the wild.   Most of the images would be up for judgement and the winners had awards lined up for them at the end of the day.   It was amazing to see the various images that the participants came up with which showed that it was indeed a productive drive.  The event was open to everyone and my highlight was one young lad who had so much passion for photography and had accompanied his dad on this one- teach them while they are young indeed.  He was so easy with the camera like he had been doing this for years as you could tell by some of the images he had taken.

The event was made possible by the efforts of  the hosts Versatile Adventures with various sponsors and contributors including Kenya Wildlife Service, BigfootAdventuresKenya, TurnUp Travel, Hafla Entertainment, KenyanStory and NegesaTrails.   The initiative was to create awareness on matters conservation of our national park and the flora and fauna that inhabit it.   It could not have been emphasized more on the importance of nurturing a culture of visiting our park and contributing to its preservation and conservation.   We should all pride ourselves in having the only national park in the world that is within a city.

Here are a few of the day’s moments that were captured.

Our awesome park being the only park inside a city cannot resist giving you the amazing views of our beautiful city in the horizon.

And as the norm, the day is not complete without capturing beautiful skies.

The Nairobi National Park Edition was not the end.   Photography in the wild will be a periodic event and will be held in various locations including having a weekend out in the wild and having photographic and informative fun while at it.   Make sure to keep your ears open so as not to miss out on the next edition of this awesome event.

Do not shoot what it looks like, shoot what it feels like…..