Will Burrard-Lucas is known for his clever ways of taking pictures of animals in Africa with camera traps. He has spent a lot of time at the Shompole Wilderness Camp in Kenya over the past two years. During that time, he has learned a lot about the land, such as how it really comes to life at night. Because of this, he was able to help the camp, which is owned by the Maasai people in the area, add more services.
During the day, the heat makes the air dry and dusty, which can make it hard to find wildlife to photograph. But in an article on his blog, Burrard-Lucas talks about how he first learned about all the different kinds of animals that roam Shompole at night. During an evening drive with SORALO, a local group that lets people know about dangerous wild animals to reduce human-animal conflicts, the skilled photographer saw many rare species.
These animals came to a small watering hole that was home to a huge number of different kinds of life. Burrard-Lucas put one of his camera traps at the watering hole and was surprised to see zebras, leopards, porcupines, and wildebeest drinking there in the evening.
Then an idea came to mind. The Maasai people who own the Shompole Wilderness Camp get money from tourists while taking care of the land and protecting the environment. What if they could give their visitors a new experience and give animals another way to get water at the same time?
Check out some of his stunning shots in the gallery below.
Credit: mymodernmet
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Image source: Will Burrard-Lucas
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Image source: Will Burrard-Lucas
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Image source: Will Burrard-Lucas
The Shompole Hide is an artificial watering hole that is far from any other water sources. Under Burrard’s direction, Lucas’s team also built a hide near the watering hole so that people could watch and take pictures of the animals as they came to drink. Burrard-Lucas set up a camera trap not long after the watering hole was made to see what the animals thought of their new water source.
Just a few days later, everyone could see that Shompole Hide was a success, which made everyone happy. After trying things out in the hide, Burrard-Lucas was able to take pictures of animals drinking from the new water source. Some of the animals he saw were lions, hyenas, leopards, baboons, and many different kinds of birds.
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Image source: Will Burrard-Lucas
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Image source:Will Burrard-Lucas
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Image source:Will Burrard-Lucas
The watering hole will stay full for all the animals to use because of a three-mile pipeline with a solar pump. The hide is made from two shipping containers. It has a toilet and fold-down beds, as well as large windows with a 270-degree view. A flexible lighting system is being put in right now, and when it’s done, photographers will be able to light the watering hole from any angle.
Burrard-Lucas is very happy with how things turned out and can’t wait to see how photographers use the space. “Every time the hide is used, the local community benefits,” he writes. “Shompole Hide’s journey has just begun, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
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Image source:Will Burrard-Lucas
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Image source:Will Burrard-Lucas
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Image source:Will Burrard-Lucas
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Image source:Will Burrard-Lucas
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Image source:Will Burrard-Lucas
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Image source:Will Burrard-Lucas
