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Photographer of the Year 2025: Finalists - Gallery 1

Tuesday, 27 May 2025

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Our Photographer of the Year 2025 is underway. The overall winners, runners up and their partners will enjoy a teamAG safari to explore the primal forests of Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the remote north of Congo-Brazzaville – in search of lowland gorillas, forest elephants, forest buffaloes, bongos and much more. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2025 prizes here. Photographer of the Year is held in association with Ukuri and African Parks.

Photographer of the Year is now closed for entries. Winners of Photographer of the Year will be announced in June 2025.

This is Photographer of the Year 2025 Finalists Gallery 1. To see the other Photographer of the Year Finalists gallery, click here: Gallery 2.

Photographer of the Year 2025 — Brisk walk. Low-light camera panning captures the leopard known as ‘Koboso’ ghosting across the Mara. Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. © Ajay Kumar Singh

Photographer of the Year 2025 — A young lion watches over an elephant carcass in the delta. Okavango Delta, Botswana. © Devon Jenkin

Photographer of the Year 2025 — A dust-choked duel of tusks and tempers. These warthogs clashed for over half an hour in an operatic scuffle. Shompole Conservancy, Kenya. © Alex Appleby

Photographer of the Year 2025 — A lioness emerges from the glow of a fleeting sunset, slipping into the shadows of the encroaching night. Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. © Andy Campbell

Photographer of the Year 2025 — A swirling storm of red-billed queleas rises, moving as one. Behind them, wildebeest graze, unphased by the passing feathered tempest. Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Benjamin Loon

Photographer of the Year 2025 — Hitching a ride on the back of the beast: locals ride the Iron Train across the Sahara – 2.5km of steel and iron ore. Zouérat, Mauritania. © Daniel Rodrigues

Africa Geographic Travel

Photographer of the Year 2025 — A red-headed finch survives by an inch as a young lanner falcon strikes and misses. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa. © Ernest Porter

Photographer of the Year 2025 — A large lowland bongo bull encounters the photographer in a forest clearing, undeterred from his journey as he shadows a travelling group of females. Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Congo-Brazzaville. © Dylan Smith

Photographer of the Year 2025 — Nestled in the warmth of its mother’s arms, a young vervet monkey forgets the world beyond mom’s heartbeat. Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Benjamin Loon

Africa Geographic African safari — Bat blizzard at dawn. Thousands of straw-coloured fruit bats return from a night of feasting, painting the sky with wings. “Sneaking off to the fringe of the forest, in the pitch dark of my last morning in Kasanka National Park, I set my camera up on a tripod and waited. The sun seemed to take forever to rise and when it finally did, I looked to the opposite horizon and saw an almighty bat blizzard on its way back to the forest. The bat blizzard continued for the next hour, giving me time to contemplate that I was witnessing the largest mammal migration on Earth.” Zambia. © Greg du Toit

Photographer of the Year 2025 — Boswell, the famous vertical feeder of Mana Pools, stretches the laws of elephant anatomy. At sunset, he strikes his signature pose, balancing on hind legs to browse far above. Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. © Jordan Fry

Africa Geographic Travel

Photographer of the Year 2025 — A cantankerous companion. This Cape buffalo was less than thrilled with the oxpecker’s diligent parasite removal. Even symbiosis has its social tensions. Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Ilna Booyens

Africa Geographic African safari — A soggy king withstands an African tempest. After a deluge, Olepolos – the Topi pride’s rain-drenched monarch – performs his mane-flinging finale. Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. © Ivan Glaser

Africa Geographic African safari — In the cool silence of Lalibela’s stone-hewn churches, a priest lingers with scripture. Lalibela, Ethiopia. © Kevin Dooley

Photographer of the Year 2025 — A bateleur bathes on a bridge over a drainage line, wings raised in theatrical flair as it enjoys the cool waters of a quiet pool. Kruger National Park, South Africa. © Mac Stevenson

Africa Geographic Travel

Africa Geographic African safari — Metamorphosis. “Three young cheetahs were learning to hunt while the mother was observing their behaviour. A difficult scene to photograph: difficult to show the raw nature. For me, there is a kind of poetry in the precise second the image was captured – the four faces together, what looks like serene stillness in the dik-dik and the contradiction with the reality of the moment.” Samburu National Reserve, Kenya. © Marina Cano

Africa Geographic African safari — A lioness takes cover in an empty water trough – the perfect spot for launching an ambush. Tsavo East National Park, Kenya. © Roan Carr-Hartley

Africa Geographic African safari — “Every detail matters in a rhino translocation. This moment captures coordinated human effort and urgency as a southern white rhino is manoeuvred into position for transport. Captured during an African Parks Rhino Rewild translocation, supported by WeWild Africa.” South Africa. © Wiki West

Photographer of the Year 2025 — A mountain gorilla lies in quiet contemplation as an orange butterfly flutters onto its fur – a fleeting moment of connection. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. © Mary Schrader

Africa Geographic African safari — A camel caravan crosses the vast and sparse grasslands of northern Chad, seeking water and fresh grazing. Birds in the caravan’s wake chase stirred-up insects, an easy meal guaranteed by these wanderers of the Sahel. Chad. © Serena Luthe

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