The Winner of the 2026 Living with Wildlife competition
Title: Our Elephant Neighbours
Category: Life on the Edge
Location: Kenya
Photographer: Anthony Ochieng Onyango
At Lake Jipe in Kenya, elephants often move along footpaths, brush past homes and graze beside fishermen casting their nets. Living alongside elephants is not a single experience. It can be familiar and extraordinary, exciting, frightening and mesmerising. Here, residents consider elephants neighbours, not intruders. Encounters with them, even on the way to school, are part of everyday life.
Runners-up
Title: Building a Safer Future Alongside Elephants
Category: Custodians of the Land
Location: Kenya
Photographer: Simon Kariuki
Under the intense heat at Lake Jipe, community members work to build a gabion wall around the local school. The wall is part of an effort to reduce the risks of living alongside elephants. Pupils once walked to the lake each day to collect water, sharing the route with elephants. A new pump now brings water directly to the school, while the gabion wall provides an additional barrier between the school grounds and passing elephants.
Title: Fire Against the Herd
Category: Reality Check
Location: Bangladesh
Photographer: Muhammad Amdad Hossain
At Garo Hill in Sherpur, Bangladesh, elephants move through the forest while people gather at its edge carrying burning torches. As elephant habitat and movement routes come under increasing pressure, elephants enter nearby farmland and settlements in search of food. Residents use torches, fire and other deterrents to keep them away from crops and homes. The consequences can be severe, with both people and elephants losing their lives.
Shortlisted
We received an incredible range of images this year across all three categories, with 34 photographs shortlisted by our judging panel. Explore the shortlisted images below and discover the many ways people and wildlife share the same landscapes.
Category: Custodians of the Land
Category: Life on the Edge
Category: Reality Check
