Meet The Ice Lions, Kenya’s national ice hockey team

Hidden inside Nairobi’s Panari Hotel is East Africa’s only ice rink, a small patch of ice measuring 32m by 12m, a third of the size of a standard rink. Opened in 2005, it quickly grew a following of recreational ice skaters. Then, in 2006, a group of Canadians discovered the rink and introduced the country to ice hockey. A small but committed group emerged and a decade later Kenya’s national team, The Ice Lions, was born.

In 2019, a federation was formed to grow the game, and the Madaraka Day Cup was launched. The Ice Lions, who recently triumphed at an exhibition match on a full-size rink in South Africa, play mainly in a friendly league against NGO and embassy workers from the United States, Canada and Europe. And this year, for the first time, they won the league.

Photos: Luis Tato and Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP