Por conveniencia, matplotlib ofrece las proyecciones nplaea y splaea para facilitar el aspecto de los polos norte y sur, respectivamente, de la proyección Lambert azimuthal equal-area vista:
North Polar Lambert Azimuthal Projection

fig = plt.figure(figsize = (10, 6))
m = Basemap(projection='nplaea', boundinglat = 10, lon_0 = 270)
m.shadedrelief();
m.drawmeridians(range(0, 360, 20), labels=[0, 0, 1, 1]);
m.drawparallels(range(-90, 100, 10), labels=[1, 1, 0, 0]);

South Polar Lambert Azimuthal Projection

fig = plt.figure(figsize = (10, 6))
m = Basemap(projection='splaea', boundinglat = -10, lon_0 = 270)
m.shadedrelief();
m.drawmeridians(range(0, 360, 20), labels=[0, 0, 1, 1]);
m.drawparallels(range(-90, 100, 10), labels=[1, 1, 0, 0]);
