Golden Takin (image by Mark Beaman)

A Chinstrap Penguin has a scratch (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)

Whooper Swans in the mist (image by Mark Beaman)

Golden Snub-nosed Monkey male (image by Mark Beaman)

Misty Whooper Swan (image by Mark Beaman)

A pretty Suri girl and her baby near Kibish in the Omo Valley (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Geladas at sunset. There is still a chance to groom or play... (image by Mark Beaman)

Whooper Swans at dusk at Lake Kussharo (image by Mark Beaman)

Driving across Lake Assale, Danakil, Ethiopia

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

Golden Pheasant (image by Inger Vandyke)

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

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

A young Suri woman shows off her beautiful body markings. (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)

An Ethiopian Wolf pounces on its prey (image by Mark Beaman)

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

A backlit Snow Monkey near sunset (image by Mark Beaman)

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

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

Chinese Red Panda (image by Mark Beaman)

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

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

Portrait of a Red Fox (image by Mark Beaman)

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

A male Lion from the Marsh Pride drags the almost-consumed carcass of a young elephant at Savuti, Botswana (image by Mark Beaman)

Lady Amherst's Pheasant in display (image by Mark Beaman)

Snow Monkeys often huddle together for warmth in the cold winter of the Japanese Alps (image by Mark Beaman)

Golden Pheasants (image by Inger Vandyke)

Red-crowned Crane detail (image by Mark Beaman)

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

Blood Pheasant (image by Mark Beaman)

Chinese Monal (image by Inger Vandyke)

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

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

A Steller's Sea Eagle forces a White-tailed Eagle to drop a piece of fish by grabbing hold of its leg and talons! (image by Mark Beaman)

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

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

Steller's Sea Eagle with fish (image by Mark Beaman)

The endangered Wahlia Ibex, endemic to Ethiopia's Simien Mountains (image by Mark Beaman)

A Whooper Swan comes in to land (image by Mark Beaman)

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

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

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

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

The striking appearance of a Mursi woman with her lip plate and decorations of warthog tusks in the Mago National Park (Image by Inger Vandyke)

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

A herd of Siberian Ibex run up a mountainside in Ladakh (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 young Blackbuck peers at a Black Drongo that has landed on its back, Velavadar, Gujarat (Image by Inger Vandyke)

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

Steller's sunrise (image by Mark Beaman)

Golden Snub-nosed Monkey (image by Mark Beaman)

Thick-billed Raven portrait (image by Mark Beaman)

Chinese Monal female (image by Mark Beaman)

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

A Lioness shakes off the water after a river crossing (image by Mark Beaman)

Golden Snub-nosed Monkey (image by Mark Beaman)

Golden Pheasant (image by Mark Beaman)

Night is coming, we must head for the cliffs! Gelada motion blur, all but one... (image by Mark Beaman)

Eagle dawn (image by Mark Beaman)

Portrait of Bariti, a beautiful Arbore girl (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Wahlia Ibex (image by Mark Beaman)

Red-crowned Cranes leaving their atmospheric roost at Otawa in Hokkaido (image by Mark Beaman)

Hippopotamus heads (image by Mark Beaman)

A Steller's Sea Eagle 'brakes' at the last moment as it dives for food (image by Mark Beaman)

Photographing a Northern Carmine Bee-eater riding on an Arabian Bustard's back is a 'Holy Grail' of African bird photography... (image by Mark Beaman)

Red-crowned Cranes in Hokkaido, in the style of a Japanese painting (image by Mark Beaman)

Temminck's Tragopan (image by Mark Beaman)

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

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

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

White Eared Pheasant (image by Mark Beaman)

Chinese Monal (image by Mark Beaman)

I am the monarch of all I survey! A Gelada family at sunset (image by Mark Beaman)

A dancing Red-crowned Crane hurls itself high into the air (image by Mark Beaman)

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

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

This is the real Suri. Portrait of an elegant young Suri girl with her traditional green head covering and long copper bracelets (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A Great White Pelican steals a march on its rivals at Awassa Fish Market (image by Mark Beaman)

"How can I escape my ordained fate as a low-caste flea-groomer?" (image by Mark Beaman)

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

'The Twins' - two of the iconic camel thorn trees in Namibia's Deadvlei (image by Inger Vandyke)

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

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

Lilac-breasted Roller flight portrait (image by Mark Beaman)

Chinese Red Panda (image by Mark Beaman)

Babuku, a young Suri boy with his face painted in the more modern Suri way, surrounded by the copper bracelets worn by traditional Suri women of his tribe (Image by Inger Vandyke)

A beautiful young Suri girl near Kibish in the Omo Valley (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Red-crowned Cranes flighting to roost (image by Mark Beaman)

A late Whooper Swan heads for its roosting site at sunset (image by Mark Beaman)

"How wonderful it is to be born a high-caste Snow Monkey and be able to visit the hot bath!" (image by Mark Beaman)

Golden Snub-nosed Monkey male (image by Mark Beaman)

Portrait of a stunning, smiling Arbore girl (Image by Inger Vandyke)

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)

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

Tibetan Macaques (image by Mark Beaman)

A male Sika Deer amidst Hokkaido's spectacular landscape (image by Mark Beaman)

Temminck's Tragopan displaying (image by Mark Beaman)

Snow Monkeys are good jumpers (image by Mark Beaman)

Two birds are dwarfed by the watery immensity of the Victoria Falls (image by Mark Beaman)

Chinese Monal (image by Mark Beaman)

A Mursi woman wearing her signature lip disk (Image by Inger Vandyke)

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

A Steller's Sea Eagle surveys its wintry domain from an upflung block of sea ice (image by Mark Beaman)

Here comes breakfast! Great White Pelicans at Lake Awassa (image by Mark Beaman)

A striking Hamer woman in the market at Turmi. (Image by Inger Vandyke)

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

A traditional Suri woman and her baby in the Omo Valley. She is carrying the horn of a large Waterbuck on her head (Image by Inger Vandyke)

Tiny biting flies torment a Painted Wolf (or African Wild Dog) until it leaps up to catch some (image by Mark Beaman)

Lady Amherst's Pheasant (image by Inger Vandyke)

Large-billed Crow study (image by Mark Beaman)

Leopard portrait (image by Mark Beaman)