Ou r Photographer of the Year 2026 is now closed for entries. The overall winner, runners-up, and their partners will journey to Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda, staying at the newly built Munazi Lodge, the only lodge inside the park. Expect chimpanzee trekking, canopy walks high above the forest floor, waterfall hikes, and encounters with black-and-white colobus monkeys in one of Africa’s most biodiverse montane forests. Read more about the Photographer of the Year 2026 prizes here . In association with Ukuri and African Parks .
Winners will be announced in June.
This is Photographer of the Year 2026 Finalists Gallery 1. To see the other Photographer of the Year Finalists gallery, click here: Gallery 2 .
An Ethiopian wolf feeds on the nectar of red-hot poker flowers – a remarkable behaviour only recently documented, making them the world’s first known pollinating carnivores. Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. © Amit Eshel An expert caregiver carries a Temminck’s ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii ) undergoing rehabilitation prior to release after an evening foraging session in South Africa. Pangolins are often carried on their handlers’ backs to reduce stress, conserve energy, and safely move them between foraging sites during rehabilitation monitoring. South Africa . © Wiktoria West As morning light burns through the valley mist, the monoliths of Pedras Negras appear to drift like ancient islands in a white sea. Pedras Negras de Pungo Andongo, Angola © Cliff Fawcett An elephant carcass lies between Hwange in Zimbabwe and Pandamatenga in Botswana. Hwange National Park , Zimbabwe. © Eduardo del Alamo At dusk in Mana Pools, a wild dog feeds on a freshly caught impala, dust hanging thick in the air as light highlights its silhouette and shadow. Mana Pools National Park , Zimbabwe. © Greg du Toit The last crossing. Fleeing a pursuing lioness, a baboon plunges into a hippo pool in desperation, only to find twenty hippos rising around him before the chase finally ends on shore. Okavango Delta , Botswana © Devon Jenkin Rain-soaked and luminous, a tree frog clings to its perch in the misty hush of the Transkei. Transkei, South Africa © Jean Goldstone A rare sighting of one of Africa’s most elusive antelopes: a sitatunga resting on a termite mound island in the Okavango. Seen from the air, the Delta’s channels and floodplains reveal the watery world this marsh specialist calls home. Okavango Delta , Botswana. © William Steel Caked in red mud and moving with heavy purpose, this old buffalo bull looked less like an animal and more like the earth itself. Madikwe Game Reserve , South Africa. © Christy Bennie Baboons settle a dispute – a brief flare of temper in the social churn of the troop. Lower Zambezi National Park , Zambia. © Lukas Walter A spotted hyena materialises from dust and darkness, its raised mane catching the backlight at the waterhole, a faint apparition of reflection below. Shompole Conservancy, Kenya . © Caeser Senguta Samburu night watchmen dance around the fire at Ol Pejeta as stories, laughter and safari dust linger long after sunset. Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya . © Andrew Morgan The Getaway. At a Kalahari waterhole, a black-backed jackal lunges for a red-headed finch – but today, the finch is quicker. Central Kalahari Game Reserve , Botswana. © Hannes Lochner A gelada male, hair drenched from recent rains, grazes calmly on the high grasslands while keeping watch over playful youngsters, at home on the dramatic cliffs of the Simien Mountains. Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. © Amit Eshel What began as an ordinary morning at the end of the dry season along the Chobe River turned into a brutal lesson in survival. A pride of lionesses, hungry after three days without a kill, watched from a rise as two five-month-old leopard cubs emerged to drink some 300 metres away. When one lioness noticed them, the charge was immediate. The cubs vanished into the thicket, but the pride followed, searching relentlessly. Moments later, from a nearby shrub, the air filled with roars and a piercing scream: one cub had been found. In a cloud of dust, it fought back with astonishing courage, even biting a lion cub before being overpowered and killed. The pride moved off, the outcome stark and final – the removal of future competition between apex predators. Note: This image, along with a sequence of photos preceding and following the capture, has been carefully reviewed by our judges and authenticated. It is not AI-generated and not manipulated using AI processes. The image faithfully represents the original scene. Chobe National Park , Botswana. © Petr Slavík Blue crane tango. South Africa’s national birds perform their elaborate courtship dance. Western Cape, South Africa . © Rochelle Jacobs A hyena edges in after a wild dog kill, but the dogs make it clear this meal is not up for negotiation. South Luangwa National Park , Zambia. © Lynn Rosenzweig A mountain gorilla feeds calmly high in the treetops, a lesser-seen side of a species more often imagined on the forest floor. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park , Uganda. © Mark Fernley A white-backed vulture receives treatment after poisoning, one of the survivors in a growing conservation crisis across southern Africa. Gauteng, South Africa . © Wiktoria West For days, this elephant mother carried her stillborn calf across the harsh landscapes of Damaraland: touching, smelling and refusing to let go. Damaraland , Namibia. © Sam Hankss A 14-year-old leopardess grapples with a crocodile she ambushed on the Zambezi River’s edge – a rare choice for a leopard but one sure to leave her satiated for days. Lower Zambezi National Park , Zambia. © Marc Mol Samburu warriors catch long rays of warm sun. Samburu National Reserve , Kenya. © Panos Laskarakis A day-old mantis, barely 3mm long, shelters among the stamens of a flower – a tiny predator already mastering the art of hiding. Gauteng, South Africa . © Hendrick Louw Two male lions bring down a warthog beside the Khwai River. Okavango Delta , Botswana. © Jannes Drotsky A young male leopard crouches over a monitor lizard kill, pausing just long enough to meet the lens with an unblinking, measured stare. South Luangwa National Park , Zambia. © Harry Martin Four-month-old Ethiopian wolf pups tumble and spar on the Bale Mountains plateau, play-fighting that quietly establishes rank in Africa’s rarest carnivore. Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia. © Amit Eshel Seen from above, a pod of hippos circles tightly in the Mara River, their heavy bodies turning the dark water into an elegant, abstract pattern. Maasai Mara National Reserve , Kenya. © William Steel To comment on this story: Login (or sign up) to our app here - it's a troll-free safe place 🙂.
