The Way Home: In Yunnan, China. May 2021. (Photo: Minqiang Lu / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Searching: Orangutans are accustomed to live on trees and feed on wild fruits like lychees, mangosteens and figs, and slurp water from holes in trees. (Photo: Thomas Vijayan / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Wildebeest herd on the move: Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. During the frenzy of crossing the Mara River, the wildebeests were leaping, kicking, scampering and bucking. (Photo: Anup Shah / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Fishing: Pike catches a large perch. How did it end up? I don’t know. The situation hasn’t changed much in an hour. I had to emerge because I was running out of air. (Photo: Viktor Vrbovsky / TNC Photo Contest)

Waiting: Galapagos sea lion calf (Zalophus wollebaeki) waiting for its mother in the sand on the beach, San Cristóbal Island, Galapagos, Ecuador. (Photo: Kristhian Castro / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Glacial bubbles: As temperatures rise and glacial ice melts, air is released and caught inside. This air bubbles were caught by a frozen layer on top. (Photo: Jorge Andrés Miraglia / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Summer on the Lotus pond: The lotus ponds across Vietnam are entering the growing season, flourishing. (Photo: Manh Cuong Vu / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Winter: Iceland, 2019. (Photo: Man Wai Wong / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Water: Water and people. (Photo: Kazi Arifujjaman / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Hong Kong: At Hung Hom, the rising of the full moon could be found every month, thanks to its facing the east. (Photo: Kim-pan Dennis Wong / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Space of HK: Hong Kong. (Photo: Wax Leung / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Sand Storm: A guide in the Sahara Desert enduring a sand storm. (Photo: Tom Overall / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Covid-19 Waste: New danger to underwater life as medical waste used during the pandemic reaches the seas. (Photo: Sebnem Coskun / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Serra Do Mar: In a helicopter flight through the sea mountain range, I came across this white cloud cover, which resulted in this magnificent image that resembles the head of a dinosaur. (Photo: Denis Ferreira Netto / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Salt Ponds: If you have flown into San Francisco International Airport, you may have seen these colourful salt ponds over the bay. This aerial image was taken while flying my plane. (Photo: Jassen Todorov / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Life Colour: Lush green mangroves line the mud flats accentuated by the tidal waters and months of rain filling the artesian basin. Gulf of Carpentaria in tropical north Queensland. (Photo: Scott Portelli / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Saving Orangutans: The whole SOCP team works together to prepare Brenda, an estimated three-month-old female orangutan (she has no teeth yet) for surgery. (Photo: Alain Schroeder / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Swimming: Three levels of leisure: swimmers, freedivers and divers enjoy their respective sport/recreational activities in a fresh water mass known locally as the Cenotes. (Photo: Joram Mennes / TNC Photo Contest 2021)

Sunflowers: This year, due to a high water level, a giant field of sunflowers could not been mown. In winter, it attracted thousands of different species of birds. (Photo: Mateusz Piesiak / TNC Photo Contest 2021)