Destroying the stereotype of the hulking gorilla, this picture reveals the species in an atypically tender light. Tomasz Szpila’s photo “Touch” captures a male gorilla’s gentle digit upon a baby sibling’s forehead. It also saw Szpila crowned 2022 Wilderness Safaris Photographer of the Year.
Only seven days old at the time, the infant primate belongs to the Nshongi family, who live in the far-flung forests of Uganda. As with the arrival of a newborn human, the birth of a mountain gorilla is a boon for the family—and species as a whole.
Wilderness Safaris, a conservation tourism initiative, aims to showcase the majesty of Africa with its yearly competitions, attracting thousands of entries from across the continent. Some of the winners are wry and even chilling, such as Thomas Vijayan’s winning photo for African Wildlife of a lion in the Masai Mara, Kenya. It hovers an enormous paw over the head of its tiny prey, a young, and presumably tasty, piglet….