The 10 best wildlife photos from Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year 2019

“This photograph was taken on a remote nature reserve in Iceland. She is a blue morph Arctic fox, who was quite curious and came over to see what was happening, despite the dreadful blizzard conditions.

With her back to the snow, she just hunched up, gave me a backwards glance, before disappearing over the hill and into the blizzard.

The dark stormy sky provided a beautiful backdrop for both fox and snowflakes.”

“This was taken on the mountain bike tracks of the Whakarewarewa Forest in Rotorua.

While lining up a shot of the forest path, a wallaby bounced across my frame, creating a silhouette of spontaneity.”

“This photo was taken in the countryside near my home in Pisa.

I found a hoopoe nest in an old house and spent a lot of time watching the bird coming in and out, carrying food to its young.

After a few days a baby put out his head only to find a butterfly flying in front of it… ah, to eat or to see the new world?”

“While travelling around Belize and enjoying its nature, I spotted this cute, little spider staring at me with his big, beautiful eyes.

As long as I was there with my camera looking at him through my lens, he seemed very happy to stare right back at me.”

“As I was about to leave the park, I was distracted by some red-billed queleas congregating into a single flock at a waterhole.

I followed the cacophony of chirps and saw the small birds descend and ascend en masse at the edge of the waterhole. It was quite a spectacle to behold.

The challenge was getting the right exposure. Even at 8:30am, at 36°C, the light was already very harsh.”

“A young leopard was surprised by a rabbit, which he then tried to catch, but he was not lucky this time.

But his mother, watching nearby, didn’t lose her dinner.”

“Few people get to visit Franz Josef Land in the Russian High Arctic – a mist-shrouded land of basalt islands covered in ice.

Sightings of polar bears were rare when I went, so this was a special moment when a young male bear was spotted on this massive glacier.

He had only a glaucous gull for company and, of course, my group in a Zodiac way below the ice cliff. It was presumed that the bear was feeding on eggs from the terns that were nesting on the ice-free rocks elsewhere.

Glacial melt was very evident, so this is a rather precious image, showing a bear in its receding natural environment.”

“It was a wonderful moment to capture the diving instructor and the subject of his enthusiasm.”

“In Teluk Cenderawasih National Park, you can meet the whale sharks of West Papua and swim with these beautiful animals.

They approach the fishing platforms, surrounding you with their slow and impressive motion. The experience leaves you breathless.”

“This was taken in one of Iceland’s national parks. I went there to snap some photos of the ‘blue’ Arctic foxes, but it was not easy.

The families’ dens are really well hidden – but this little one found me! In his clutches is a bird given to him by his mother.”