A Polar Bear rests on the ice after a meal, watched by an Ivory Gull (Image by Mike Watson)

Walrus in the snow, Svalbard (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

It's Baloo! A Sloth Bear in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, India (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Ladakhi women wearing their traditional costume of Perak was a highlight of our 2017 Ladakh Women's Project (Image by Inger Vandyke)

An Ibisbill in flight over the Indus River in Ladakh (Image by Mike Watson)

Painted Stork in flight in India (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Chukar Patridge, Ladakh, India (Image by Mike Watson)

Dardic Brokpa women of Ladakh in traditional dress (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Ladakh is the place to see and photography the shy, fabled Snow Leopard (Image by Mike Watson)

These Gentoo Penguins make for a pleasing pattern as they head for the sea (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Polar Bears, understandably, prefer to keep their feet dry (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Baja California sunsets are legendary (Image by Mark Beaman)

Burchell's Zebras are constantly bickering. Ngorongoro, Serengeti, Tanzania (Image by Mark Beaman)

Svalbard's small icebergs can offer interesting photographic opportunities, especially in autumn light (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Black-browed Albatross with motion blur in the Southern Ocean (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Light conditions as winter fades into early spring are perfect for bird photography in northern Norway, as this King Eider image demonstrates (Image by Roy Mangernes)

A male Walrus at sunset in Svalbard (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

The priests of Lalibela (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Hooded and White-naped Cranes in the snow at Arasaki , Japan (Image by Mark Beaman)

It is hard to tell if Nazca Boobies in Galapagos are being affectionate or squabbling... (Image by Mark Beaman)

Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) on an ice flow off northern Spitsbergen in Svalbard, as the sun sets on the horizon (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Everything is fine in Galapagos until one of those damn Espanola Mockingbirds climbs on your back! (Image by Mark Beaman)

A herd of Siberian Ibex run up a mountainside in Ladakh (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A Svalbard Polar Bear comes really close! (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Collared Laughingthrushes in southern Vietnam (Image by Pete Morris)

Displaying Red-crowned (or Japanese) Cranes in winter in Hokkaido. Cranes mate for life (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Portrait of a Panther Chameleon in Madagascar (Image by Dani Velasco)

The dead Camelthorn trees of Deadvlei, Namibia (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Common Guillemots (or Common Murres) with sunrise reflection bokeh at Hornøya, northern Norway (Image by Audun Lie Dahl)

Some Pantanal Jaguars specialize in killing Caimans (Image by Mike Watson)

Atlantic Puffins in the snow at Hornøya island, northern Norway (Image by Audun Lie Dahl)

Frigatebird at dawn in Baja California (Image by Mark Beaman)

An adult White-naped Crane comes in to land at Arasaki, Japan (Image by Mark Beaman)

Siamese Fireback male at Cat Tien, Vietnam (Image by Pete Morris)

A White-naped Crane bugles as it crosses the dawn moon at Arasaki, Japan (Image by Mark Beaman)

The beautiful Himba people of Kaokoland in Namibia (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Eurasian Hoopoe in flight in Hungary (Image by János Oláh)

Polar Bear mother and cub (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Polar Bear, Ursus maritimus, female walking on an ice-floe north of Svalbard. Our expedition ship MS Origo is seen in the background (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Namibia features many different colours of sand dunes including the spectacular garnet sand dunes of Dorrob National Park near Swakopmund (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Gelada Baboon males are magnificent creatures and you can, with care, approach them very closely in the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Black-browed Albatrosses nesting at West Point Island, the Falkland Islands (Image by Inger Vandyke)

As the first sunlight catches the hoar-frost-covered trees at Otawa, the steam rising from the river adds to the other-worldly scene of roosting Red-crowned Cranes, Hokkaido, Japan (Image by Mark Beaman)

Portrait of a Red-crowned Crane, Hokkaido, Japan (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A Little Cormorant watches the sunset at Tadoba, India (Image by Inger Vandyke)

These Dalmatian Pelicans in Romania's Danube Delta are showing the bright red bill pouches of breeding birds (Image by Attila Szilagyi)

View from the crater rim of Erta Ale, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, into the active, red-glowing lava lake. Erta Ale is a continuously active basaltic shield volcano in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia, only some kilometers from the border with Eritrea

When a Giant Otter crunches down a fish one can hear the noise from 50 metres! Pantanal, Brazil (Image by Mike Watson)

Black-legged Kittiwakes adorn an almost incredibly blue, upturned iceberg in Svalbard (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

A Tiger wanders down to a waterhole in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in India (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Portrait of a Ladakhi woman wearing a traditional Perak (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A young Blackbuck peers at a Black Drongo that has landed on its back, Velavadar, Gujarat (Image by Inger Vandyke)

An Iberian Lynx, one of the world's rarest wild cats, pauses to look at our group while it crosses a path in southern Spain (Image by Mike Watson)

The secretive Agami Heron loves quiet Pantanal backwaters (Image by Mike Watson)

A Lalibela priest reads his bible by the light shining through a crucifix shaped 'window' in a rock church (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A Brown Skua with his prized Gentoo Penguin egg (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A Blakiston's Fish Owl, the largest owl in the world, with its fish dinner, Hokkaido, Japan (Image by Pete Morris)

A Little Auk in flight on our Spitsbergen trip (Image by Mike Watson)

The low light in spring and autumn makes for atmospheric Polar Bear shots in Svalbard (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

A pair of Steller's Sea Eagles go head to head in Hokkaido, Japan! (Image by Pete Morris)

The scenery of the Antarctic Peninsula is truly awesome (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Beautiful dancing Red-crowned (or Japanese) Cranes in the snows of Hokkaido (Image by Pete Morris)

Driving across Lake Assale, Danakil, Ethiopia

Bar-bellied Pitta in Vietnam (Image by Pete Morris)

Antarctica has a fearsome majesty (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Adelie Penguins are surely the cutest of the smaller species (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

A Northern Fulmar is lost against the awesome backdrop of Spitsbergen (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Walrus male portrait from Svalbard (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

A herd of oryx runs across the grasslands of Sossusvlei, Namibia at sunset (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Steller's Sea Eagles in the dawn light of Hokkaido, Japan (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Portrait of a European Shag in northern Norway (Image by Espen Lie Dahl)

Some frisky Walruses in Svalbard (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Ah, that feels good! (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

A line of Indian Wild Asses at sunset in the Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat (Image by Mike Watson)

A Gemsbok oryx takes off into the grasslands of Sossusvlei, Namibia. This image was taken on an aerial safari by helicopter from Sesriem (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A Chinstrap Penguin surveys the dramatic Antarctic world around it (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Japanese Macaques (Snow Monkeys) engaged in mutual grooming in Honshu, Japan (Image by Pete Morris)

An Arctic Fox in its dark summer pelage peeks out at a photographer in Svalbard (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Mating Indian Skimmers on the Chambal River in Uttar Pradesh, India (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Leopard Seal, one of Antarctica's most iconic predators (Image by Roy Mangersnes)

Portrait of a 'Snow Monkey', Honshu, Japan (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A Chinstrap Penguin has a scratch (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A Jaguar rests by the riverside in the Pantanal, unafraid of our presence (Image by Mike Watson)

Aba Mezgebe, the father of the church at Asheten Maryam near Lalibela, reveals one of his church's ancient bibles (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A priest holding his crucifix at Lalibela in Ethiopia (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Himba Head Man in remote Kaokoland, Namibia (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Sly portrait of a Red Fox in Japan (Image by Pete Morris)

It is not just the wildlife that is unusual in Simien. Giant Lobelias near Chenek (Image by Inger Vandyke)