When I was looking for a destination to explore on Wednesday, April 27th, I became aware that Serene Footman and Jade Koltai had made a second iteration of their “Black Bayou Lake“, a place that they built back in 2018 and that I remember very well. And of course I wrote a blogpost about it, you can read it here.
Back in 2018 Serene wrote a detailled post about Black Bayou Lake (read here). And he also wrote a shorter post now (read here):
“Jade Koltai and I have collaborated on a lot of sims … and when we discussed working together again recently, we wanted to start by returning to an old favourite, Black Bayou Lake. There’s something we always loved about the atmosphere and light of this sim, but we felt that we could squeeze a little more out of it“
Impressions of Black Bayou Lake 2022 (1)
“Black Bayou Lake (link to wikipedia) – the inspiration for our sim – is located in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. The lake is part of an 800 acre nature reserve – there is a factsheet about it here – which seethes with wildlife: there are many species of bird, insect, reptile and fish, along with a variety of trees such as cherrybark oak, cedar elm, ash, hickories, willow oak, shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, mockernut hickory and post oak. It’s a stunning place, which attracted us because we had not yet tried designing a sim that consists mainly of water…...”
Black Bayou Lake – National Wildlife Refuge, Lousiana (sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bayou_Lake_National_Wildlife_Refuge, https://flatfooting.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/black-bayou-lake-national-wildlife-refuge/, https://furillen.org/black-bayou-lake/)
Diomita and the alligator at Black Bayou Lake 2022
Black Bayou Lake in Second Life is a virtual interpretation of the nature reserve in the physcial world. The most outstanding feature both places have in common is a long wooden footpath that visitors can use to explore and to even walk out onto the lake. This walkway is also a key object of the sim in 2022.
The swamp with it’s unique flora and the bare trees is another feature they share. Even some of the huts that are scattered on the sim look similar to those found in the nature reserve.
For the iteration in 2022 Serene and Jade added a railway bridge – the Cross Bayou Railroad Bridge, aka the Kansas City Southern Railroad Bridge. In reality this bridge is located around 100 miles from Black Bayou Lake and was built in 1926.
Black Bayou Lake 2022: The wooden walkway through the swamps and the Kansas City Southern Railroad Bridge in RL and in SL
Impressions of Black Bayou Lake 2022 (2)
Black Bayou Lake is full of life. There are many different birds and there’re alligators. You should turn your sound on. I personally recommend to turn on music as well as the selected music fits perfectly.
For your visit also make sure that you “use shared environment”. The environment setting is a bit foggy and hazy but it is part of the experience.
Impressions of Black Bayou Lake 2022 (3)
My second visit to Black Bayou Lake was once again a great experience that I really enjoyed. It might not replace a visit to it in real life, but it felt familiar as I still remembered my first visit. Together with some pictures of the real place it felt as if I were there again. I assume just the smell and the damp heat is what I missed *winks*.
Black Bayou Lake 2022 – what a great atmosphere!
Thank you Serene Footman and Jade Koltai for bringing Black Bayou Lake back for all of us. I really appreciate your work. It is such a joy to visit and it made my day.
If you want to visit Black Bayou, you should do it soon, the sim won’t be open forever (usually only a few weeks).
Landmark to Black Bayou Lake 2022
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Aride%20Isle/131/171/21
flickr group for Black Bayou Lake
https://www.flickr.com/groups/blackbayoulake/pool/
Post 2018 on Serene Footman’s website
https://furillen.org/black-bayou-lake/
Post 2022 on Seren Footman’s website
https://furillen.org/2022/04/22/return-to-bayou/
Simploring 2018 (89) Black Bayou Lake
https://themaurers.me/2018/10/23/simploring-2018-89-black-bayou-lake/
Black Bayou Lake on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bayou_Lake_National_Wildlife_Refuge
Description from a visit at Black Bayou Lake
https://flatfooting.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/black-bayou-lake-national-wildlife-refuge/
Black Bayou Lake Factsheet
https://www.fws.gov/southeast/pdf/fact-sheet/black-bayou-lake-national-wildlife-refuge.pdf
Diomita Maurer’s Blog 