Our annual Wilderness Safaris Photographic Competition has opened for entries. This year’s competition, Africa in Focus, invites entries taken anywhere on the African continent – photographs that celebrate the beauty and splendour of Africa.
photographs that define Africa
Join us by sharing your favourite photographs that define Africa – her magnificent landscapes, unparalleled wildlife, and culturally rich, welcoming people. With the global COVID-19 pandemic inhibiting travel and challenging us on so many levels, now more than ever we need to reminisce – and dream – of Africa’s beauty, adventure, wide-open spaces, and true wilderness.
Whether you’re photographing elephant crossing the snaking blue channels of the Okavango, Himba traversing the rolling dunes of the Kaokoveld, the intense gaze of a mountain gorilla, a camel caravan in the Sahara, or any other striking scene, we’d love to see the best images you have to offer.
The first week has seen us garner many amazing entries in a number of the prescribed categories. Have a look at some of our favourites so far. We hope this selection inspires you to enter your photos from Africa.
‘Baby teeth’ by Yaron Schmid
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‘Footprint in the Desert’ by Marcello Galleano. The ears, large and wide, save this fennec from the sweltering weather. This is the smallest fox in the world, immortalised here while walking in the perfect dunes of the Tunisian Sahara Desert.
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‘Baby teeth’ by Yaron Schmid
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‘Brown Hyaena at Sossusvlei’ by Johanna Decker. An early morning on the way to Dead Vlei.
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‘Nothing behind us and everything ahead of us’ by Randal Ball. A family of elephants walks past a leadwood tree as the sun sets over Tlou Dam in Madikwe.
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‘The King and his Queen’ by Ruzdi Ekenheim
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‘Woman in the Water’ by Late Baumwell. One of the many beautiful women seaweed farmers that I came across during my short stay in Zanzibar.
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‘Rainy Season’ by Martin Groth
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‘Endangered Shoebill in Murchison Falls National Park’ by Calberac Nicolas
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‘Lions Drinking’ by Robert Hofmeyr
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‘Elephant Train’ by Shirley Nannini. Taken from a helicopter between Savuti and Linyanti Tented Camp, Botswana.
breathtaking silhouette and sunset images
Silhouette photography is an excellent way to add drama, mood and mystery to a photo. The intriguing dark shape or outline of a subject in front of a lighter background conveys a sense of the unknown that can easily draw a viewer in, and give them a deeper connection to your image.
There is no better background to do this with than an African sunset, the golden hour, best spent in the bush with a gin and tonic in hand and watching as the sky transforms through all its spectacular hues. For something different, try photographing the sunset with a telephoto lens. The sun will be much larger in your image, and other parts of the scene will be compressed, making them appear closer to the camera and each other than they really are.
“Lion King” by Marion Vollborn
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“Sunset” by Melchior Koopman; the setting sun was nicely hidden by this gentle giant, bringing out the beautiful colours in the sky. Photo taken from a small boat on the Chobe River.
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“Lion King” by Marion Vollborn
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“Golden light” by Simon Beevers’ the setting sun pierces the tree canopy to light up this elephant
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“Ballet” by Lucien Beaumont; the bird with the longest legs in proportion to body size, a black-winged stilt in silhouette.
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“Another day” Claire du Preez; sometimes the African landscape presents such surreal scenes, you can't help but think it must be a dream. We sat for over an hour watching two male cheetahs enjoy sundowners with us.
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“Fynbos” by Brent Daniel; South Africa's fynbos biome is populated by some 9 000 species of plants, nearly 80% of which are endemic. They're also wonderfully inviting to hike in.
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“Sundowner in Nairobi” by Edouard Wenseleers; beautiful sunset in Nairobi National Park.
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“All Roads Lead to Beauty” by Isabel Gund; a safari jeep's tires made perfect leading lines through the golden grasses of Botswana to this magnificent baobab tree.
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“The End of Another Day” by Brett Wild; sunset over the vast lakes of the Makgadikgadi Pans.
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“Night Feast at the Waterhole” by Randall Ball; spotted hyaena feeding on the remnants of a zebra carcass at a waterhole.
People/Cultures and Communities of Africa category
At Wilderness, community is all about the people at the heart of our business. Internal community, our staff, and External Community – comprising the rural communities that either own the land on which we operate or live adjacent to these areas. As our communities are such an integral pillar in our business we thought it essential to have a category in our competition dedicated to all the people of Africa.
This category celebrates the characters, cultures, traditions, and modern adaptations of Africa’s people within their natural environment.
“Surma boys” by Athanasios Maloukos. Surma tribes live in the southwestern part of Ethiopia near the border with South Sudan.
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“Village Matriarch” by Wellet Mark; an amazing 97 year old grandmother is head of the Subiya tribe living in a Namibian Village (pop. 80) on the floodplains of the East Caprivi.
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“Surma boys” by Athanasios Maloukos. Surma tribes live in the southwestern part of Ethiopia near the border with South Sudan.
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“Happy run” by John Stanfield; Masai children run to greet us during our visit to their village.
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“The African Game” by Charl van Rooy; The people of Miravate in Mozamnbique’s Inhambane province are fishermen and women, living off the bounty of the Inhambane Bay and the estuaries connected to it. Just as fishing connects communities across the African continent, so too does the sport of football.
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"African Rainbow" by Barsac Tessa; The truth behind that picture is actually a bit dull: these are the shadows of African statutes on a rack of kikois in a curio shop, but I like how it can trigger your imagination to create a more magical story of your own.
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“Portrait” by Yoni Blau
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“Pride of Place” by Jeremy Walton; Our Kenyan guide, photographed here, is the son of the chieftain of his village.
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“Peya” by Alessandra Sikand; a Ba’aka child collecting caterpillars in the peak of the season.
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“Datoga Family” by Jason Zucco
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“Sewing Herero's” by Ben McRae; The Herero women are famous for their colonial style dresses. Each woman takes great pride in her own dress and tailors it for herself, many on old sewing machines.
amazing desert landscape photos
As the urge to travel grows within those of us currently isolating within the confines of our own four walls, we are thrilled to share some amazing desert landscape photos by entrants in the Africa in Focus 2020 photo competition. If you are longing for wide-open space, remote landscapes, striking natural beauty and a place to disconnect from the world and reconnect to nature … look no further!
Africa is a continent scattered with deserts – arid areas, yet full of colour and life. Have a look at some of the amazing desert landscape images, witness the wonder and feel the beauty of still life at its finest … Africa in Focus!
“Dead Trees” by Martin Groth
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“Survival in a Hostile Landscape” by Michael Viljoen
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“Dead Trees” by Martin Groth
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“Deadvlei at Dawn” by John Gaffney
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“Sossusvlei Sandstorm” by Graham Macfarlane
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“Moonrise” by David Schroedel
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“Sand Dunes in Namibia” by Alex Sheshunoff
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“Time Changes Everything ” by Ruzdi Ekenheim
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“Red Dune, Lone Oryx” by Ben McRae
![oryx crest one of the dunes of Sossusvlei in Namibia](/media/u5blkg2l/original_dimensions_oryx_in_the_dunes.jpg?rmode=crop&width=600&height=400)
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“Oryx in the Dunes” by Melanie Muhsal
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