Kenya Night Hides (Shompole and Lentorre), October 2026

Impala and zebra share the Lentorre waterhole during "blue hour"

In October 2026 I joined a safari trip to the amazing night hides in Kenya at Shompoli and Lentorre with Ann and Steve Toon, who run a great safari operation aimed principally at photographers. A "hide" in this case refers to a small structure/enclosure/house where photographers can view wildlife up close without being seen by the wildlife. In Africa the hides are partially sunken into the ground at the edge of a waterhole, so that the photographers are effectively at eye level with the water's surface. (Note that these hides are only effective during the dry season, when animals must visit waterholes regularly to obtain water). The hides we visited were designed for night photography, and equipped with LED lights that provided front, side and back lighting options. (The lights are kept on during the night even when the hides are not in use to habituate the animals to the setup.) We entered the hides before sunset and often stayed all night, providing fantastic and dramatic photo opportunities. We also had the opportunity to try our hand at aerial photography by taking helicopter flights over the nearby soda lakes Magadi and Natron, where colorful salt formations and large flocks of flamingos are found.