The 18th Annual Buda County Fair and Weiner Dog Races was held at city park in Buda Sunday April 26, 2015 sponsored by the Lions Club. (Photo by Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman)
Martin Lacey Jr. with a lion during the premiere of the Circus Krone program “Circus der Preistraeger” at Circus Krone on February 2, 2016 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images)
A lion statue that sits outside the New York Public Library building wears a mask in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., September 28, 2020. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)
A confiscated pet lion poses with a dog as it arrived back home from the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered authorities to return the animal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 5, 2021. (Photo by Cindy Liu/Reuters)
A member of Kun Seng Keng Lion and Dragon Dance Association, demonstrates a dance with an ox mask designed for Lunar New Year at a training centre, during an interview with Reuters, in Muar, Malaysia on February 5, 2021. (Photo by Lim Huey Teng/Reuters)
White lioness Azira lies in the cage with her three white cubs, on February 4, 2014. Zoo owner Andrzej Pabich says white lions often have defects that prevent giving birth, or the mother rejects her cubs, but Azira has been patiently feeding and caring for her little ones. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/Associated Press)
In 2009 we embarked on a project to get unique close-up, ground level photographs of African wildlife. To achieve this I built BeetleCam; a remote controlled buggy with a DSLR camera mounted on top. Matt and I travelled to Tanzania and used the buggy to get groundbreaking photographs of elephants and buffalo. However, we lost a camera and BeetleCam was almost destroyed in our only encounter with a lion.
We returned home and published “The Adventures of BeetleCam”. The story quickly went viral, appearing all over the web, in print and on television networks worldwide. However, we weren’t entirely satisfied… just imagine what we could get with a lion-proof BeetleCam!