[imagesource: Staffan Widstrand / World Nature Photography Awards]

The winners of this year’s World Nature Photography Awards have been announced, with many shots hailing from South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Kenya.

Africa is abundant with winning shots and so it makes sense for photographers to flock to the marshy planes, surreal deserts, and bushy parks all over the continent to get their fill.

Jens Cullmann was awarded the grand prize for his image of a crocodile lurking in the mud in Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe, while Staffan Widstrand took home third place in the Behaviour – Mammals category for his camouflaging Elly (see above).

The African savanna elephant was trying to hide in Marataba Private Reserve, Marakele National Park, Limpopo, South Africa.

The competition included 14 categories, with captions provided by the photographers and lightly edited for clarity by The Atlantic.

Let’s explore, shall we?

Here’s the aforementioned first place, Animal portraits, and Grand Prize Winner:

Winner, Nature art. Spawning coral in the Red Sea:

Shlesinger: “Corals are animals, and this is how they reproduce. Usually, at the exact same time, thousands of corals of a given species along hundreds of kilometers of the reef reproduce by spawning egg-and-sperm bundles altogether into the open sea. These bundles will be carried away by the currents, mixing in the water, until they finally encounter a match—a sperm will fertilize an egg and new life will be created.

Yet catching coral spawning is tricky business as it usually happens only once a year in a certain month of the year, on a specific night of the month, and at a certain hour of the night for a very short time window of only few minutes. In this photo, a close-up of a branching coral spawn pinkish egg-and-sperm bundles.”

Winner, People and Nature. Inside a glacier, Sólheimajökull, South Iceland:

Reglioni: “This is how it feels to be inside a glacier’s guts. Not many people would even dare to go in there, where it is dark, deep, cold, loud, and wet. And that is the whole purpose of this photograph; pushing your limits to capture what only a few people will ever experience at night.”

Second place, People and Nature. A seal tangled in a fishing net on the island of Dune, near Helgoland, Germany:

Third place, Nature art. A pair of flamingos fly over Lake Magadi in Kenya:

Second place, Behavior – Birds. A red-billed oxpecker rests on a warthog in Zimanga, South Africa:

Third place, Animal portraits. A seaweed blenny, photographed near Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach, Florida:

Second place, Nature art. Red spider mites climb on a web in Cooch Behar, India:

Third place, Plants and Fungi. Mycena fungi, seen in Recarei, Paredes, Portugal:

Second place, Animals in their habitat. A leopard climbs a tree in Kenya:

For more, head over here.

[source:atlantic]