30 Of The Best Photos From Our #Wild2020 Contest To Brighten Your Day

Location: Etosha National Park, Namibia

"It was a windy morning, and the dust brought a rather unusual and special atmosphere. Most other people went back to the camp because they wouldn't see the animals properly. We stayed and had some incredible photographic possibilities."

@anskar (Germany)

Location: Thailand

@jordisark (Spain)

Location: Etosha Park, Namibia

"This was probably one of the most touching African encounters I've ever had. We were driving the car in a quiet area in Etosha Park when we saw this pride of about 40 lions walking at the edge of the salt pan. Weirdly enough, we were alone and we spent almost an hour observing them chilling, playing and crossing the road. I took this shot with a 300 mm but the lions eventually crossed the road exactly in from of our car. They were so close that I could take videos from my phone. It was an amazing moment to get some shots, but also to relive my childhood memories about The Lion King. If I win, I want to send part of the money to my country to face Covid19 emergency."

@freeilli (Italia)

Location: Kenya

"You can see the scars from previous fights on his face. It was so impressive to be so close to such a majestic animal."

@wmr.valdez (Spain)

Location: Jurug Park, Indonesia

"Orang-utans normally steer clear of water, in order to protect themselves from predators such as crocodiles and snakes. You can tell that even if she climbed down the tree to drink, she's being very wary of her surroundings. It was an extraordinary and unexpected moment."

@cymot (Indonesia)

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK

"I had this shot planned for a while but I was never lucky enough to see any Highland Cows the last time I was in Scotland. After returning to the Isle of Skye a year later I finally met this guy and got the shot that I was waiting for!"

@jamesxtheo (UK)

Location: Parc National De Serengeti, Tanzania

@mohamedtazi (Morocco)

Location: Rajshahai University campus, Bangladesh

"Both the bird and the sun were trying to overcome their loneliness together. Actually at first my subject was the setting sun, but suddenly the bird came by and became my subject. It was a beautiful coincidence."

@tamimmohamad (Bangladesh)

Location: Botswana

"This lucky photo was taken in a morning safari in Chobe National Park, Botswana. A few minutes before this photo we saw an elephant and its calf, showing us firmly that we should not get close to her kids by snapping a big tree branch and waving it in my direction. We had the opportunity to see a lot of giraffes eating their breakfast, but this one called our attention because although aware of our presence she continued to eat and making this funny pose for us. I would say giraffes are probably one of the most emphatic wild animals."

@vitor.esteves (Portugal)

Location: Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland

"I already had taken pictures from lava fountain eruptions in Iceland 2 weeks before that. One day before taking the plane back home, the airspace closed and gave me 7 more days in Iceland to document the erupting volcano. On the night of March 30th, the volcano erupted violently a gave me the opportunity to shoot multiple pictures from distance."

@oliviervandeginste (Belgium)

Location: Antartica

"Just a Cuddly Weddell seal in a sweet slumber. I laid on the ground in the snow for 30 minutes to get that one shot."

@polzray (USA)

Location: Moscow, Russia

"We were visiting Moscow's zoo park with my family and we spent the whole day taking photos of wild animals."

@Secofr (Russia)

Location: Etosha NP, Namibia

"My goal was to obtain a portrait composed exclusively of the animal's fur texture, using its eye as the focal element. I wanted to create a moment of intimacy between the animal and the person who will look at the photograph. To do so, I got really close to the wild animal..."

@marcotagliarino (Italy)

"In the wild, joy is an emotion that elephants have no shame in showing. They express their happiness and joy when they are amongst their loved ones-family and friends. I was surprised to see them walking towards me in a nice row of three."

@marcelvanbalken (Netherlands)

Location: Ke'e Beach, Kauai, USA

"I was swimming along the outer reef at Ke'e Beach just admiring the sea life and beautiful water. At one point, a turtle was drifting through the current over the reefing. It was feeding and swam up to take a breath when I took this shot."

@brandon.imbriale (USA)

Location: Barzan, Irak

"I wanted to transmit the free spirit and the innocence, with the majestic white pegasus-like horse together with the beautiful nature of the Barzan area of the Iraqi Kurdistan during dawn. This scene captures the spirit of the Kurdish nation, and their homeland waiting for their golden hour of liberation. This horse is the direct descendant of the horse which belonged to General Mustafa Barzani, the legendary leader of the Kurdish liberation movements in the 1960s and 1970s, father of President Masood Barzani and the grandfather of His Excellency Nechirwan Barzani, the current president of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq."

@arminabdehou (Iran)

Location: Hudson bay, Churchill, Canada

"I went searching for polar bears during winter 2018, but I didn’t see any because the Hudson bay had frozen and they had already left the coast. When I went back there in 2019, I saw this bear sleeping on the ice lake. I went off to the car carefully, and I stood on the ice with my camera and lens 500mm. The ice and the wind in my face were hard but I didn’t lose that chance to take a photo so close. I took different shots and.. it started to open its eyes, looking at me. I was excited and a little scared, but we just stared at each other for a while. During that moment we were both animals, both nature in the wild. Then he closed his eyes and went back to sleep. It was one of the greatest moments of my trip!"

@mary_bassani (Italy)

Location: Germany

@marfle (Germany)

Location: Seoni, India

@mits4772 (India)

Location: Kabini, India

@joeshelly (UK)