by
Team Africa Geographic
Thursday, 17 June 2021
Here, at long last, are the Finalists in our 2021 Photographer of the Year! We will announce the overall winner and two runners-up next week. They will share US$10 000 in prize money and join their partners and our CEO Simon Espley and his wife Lizz on the ultimate private safari in Botswana.
Proudly brought to you by Hemmersbach Rhino Force and Natural Selection .
Fly in the eye. Chobe National Park, Botswana. © Hannes Lochner
Nestward-bound after a hard day at work. Kolwezi, Lualaba Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. © Kirkamon Cabello
A Maasai giraffe tenderly cleans her minute calf. Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. © Ana Zinger
Safety at sunset. Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Mattheuns Pretorius
Nature’s greatest spectacle. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. © Artur Stankiewicz
A mother’s duty. Ethiopia. © Bob Chiu
A Verreaux’s eagle carries a reluctant passenger before dropping it to be dashed on the rocks below. Langebaan Quarry, Cape Town. © Braeme Holland
Thick hide and razor claws. Okavango Delta, Botswana. © Charl Stols
A silverback mountain gorilla known as Rugendo glances curiously at a group of tourists as he walks by. Near Rumangabo and Mt. Mikeno, Democratic Republic of the Congo. © Dale Davis
A yellow-billed oxpecker – star of the show. Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Quinn Kloppers
The Namib Desert flowing into the Atlantic. Namibia. © David Rouge
Yellow-crowned bishop in full voice. Rietvlei Nature Reserve, South Africa. © Eleanor Hattingh
Is there something in my nose? Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa. © Ernest Porter
Flight over Tanzania’s Lake Manyara National Park with its meandering rivers and animal tracks. © Gabriela Staebler
Cape gannets hunting a sardine bait ball, black tip sharks circling below. Port St Johns, Wild Coast, South Africa. © Geo Cloete
Morning chores in a Maasai village. Kajiado County, Kenya. © Ying Shi
Dust to dust. A pack of African wild dogs attacking a warthog. Okavango Delta, Botswana. © Golaotse Speedy Senase
‘Would you pass me a napkin please?’ – a member of the famous cheetah coalition of five, Tano Bora, in the middle of a zebra meal. Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. © Aditya Nair
Shaking off the dust at dusk. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa. © Hannes Lochner
A territorial fight breaks out between rival male ground agamas. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa. ©Hesté de Beer
Forged in the fires of creation. Botswana. © James Gifford
Mozambican long-fingered bat (Miniopterus mossambicus ) emerging from the Codzo Cave. Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique. © Piotr Naskrecki
Dwarf adder waiting in ambush. Iona National Park, Angola. © Javier Lobon Rovira
A southern masked weaver cools down at a birdbath at Lower Sabie rest camp. Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Karolina Norée
A small amphibian sits on a rain tree leaf. Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Mattheuns Pretorius
A female chinspot batis feeds its demanding chicks in their perfect little nest. Kolwezi Lualaba Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. © Kirkamon Cabello
‘What did you say to me?’ Tawny eagle eye-balling a wasp. Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Lars Roes
‘Enough is enough’ – a clan male indicates he’s done playing. Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. © Manoj Shah
A precious fennec fox in the heart of the Tunisian desert. © Marcello Galleano
A green night adder finishing the remnants of his frog meal. Kogatende, northern Serengeti. © Marc Mol
A five-week-old lion cub learning about the world. Thornybush Private Game Reserve, South Africa. © Marcus Westberg
Wood stevedore. Niger River, Ségou, Mali. © Marios Forsos
Attack – a pride sets upon a giraffe cow and her helpless calf. Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Kenya. © James Nampaso
Marimba the ground pangolin has developed a bond of trust, love, and compassion with her guardian Mateus Mambe Masangunge over the course of their thirteen years together. Wild is Life Sanctuary, Zimbabwe. © Sam Turley
Hands. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. © Valentino Morgante
Showdown – 38 minutes of adrenaline-pumping action The painted dogs eventually left the lioness and her cub to tell the tale. Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. © Melonie Eva
Young Mundari man playing his Tung (a wind instrument made from a cow’s horn) at a celebration. Central Equatoria, South Sudan. © Mojgan Arashvand
A leopardess, undisturbed by the rain, scans the plains. Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. © Paolo Torchio
A hippopotamus enjoys sleeping in a natural jacuzzi. Sabie River, Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Mattheuns Pretorius
Hartlaub’s gull. Kommetjie, Cape Town. © Philip Jackson
An ultraviolet-illuminated rock scorpion living in a cave that was home, a few thousand years ago, to a group of San people. Chikukwa Cave, Chimanimani Mountains, Mozambique. © Piotr Naskrecki
A fascinating armoured lily weevil (Brachycerus sp. ) photographed in Ruira, Kenya. © Robin James Backhouse
Bana stilt-walking boys. Omo Valley, Ethiopia. © Rodney Bursiel
A male leopard watches as thieving hyenas eat his kudu kill. Thornybush Private Game Reserve, South Africa. © Rudi Hulshof
A Natal tree frog hiding in a Ligularia leaf. Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal Natal, South Africa. © Shirley Gillitt
Cape weaver taking an air drink. Yzerfontein, West Coast, South Africa. © Geo Cloete
A water lily frog sits against a windowpane in the early hours of the morning. Photographed from inside the house using a low aperture creates a blacked-out background and shuts out any excessive light. St Lucia, KZN, South Africa. © Tyrone Ping
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