Botswana Pic 2nd Most Viewed National Geographic Photo on Instagram

A couple of photographs from Botswana have proved to be amongst the most popular featured by National Geographic on Instagram, during the last year.

Moraine Lake in Canada is the magazine’s most liked photo for 2016 with over 1.4 million likes; and in second place – with 1,390,429 million likes is Botswana’s Okavango Delta. The photo, by Frans Lanting, shows a bull elephant towering about his reflection with a herd of thirsty kudus on the horizon.

Photo by @FransLanting “Elephant Reflections” At a water hole in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, a majestic bull elephant towers above his reflection with a herd of thirsty kudus on the horizon. I spent time at the water’s edge in the darkness before dawn, with elephants moving around me like shadowy shapes, waiting for an opportunity to capture this classic scene of wild Africa. I share this image in honor of World Elephant Day and I salute the organizations and individuals who are standing up to stop the slaughter of elephants worldwide. Follow me @FransLanting to see more images of elephants and other wildlife from around the world. @natgeotravel @thephotosociety @natgeocreative #savetheelephants #Elephants #Tanzania #Okavango #Dawn #WildAid #wild_net #WorldElephantDay

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Aug 12, 2016 at 12:04am PDT

Frans’ photo of a cheetah mother and her cub, resting in the shade on the grasslands of Tanzania’s Serengeti, is also in the top 10 at ninth position, with 1,209,350 Likes.

National Geographic has 64 million people following its Instagram account, and in the past year they received 26.1 million comments… and the pictures received a total of 3.3 billion likes.

Photo by @FransLanting Cheetahs are the most vulnerable of Africa’s big cats, with cub mortality as high as 95 percent, often due to predation by lions and hyenas. But studies have shown that a small number of cheetah females are so good at raising cubs that we can call them “supermoms.” On assignment for @natgeo in the grasslands of Tanzania's Serengeti, I made this image of one supermom resting in the midday shade with one of her cubs. Follow me @FransLanting to see an Olympics gallery of “Animals as Athletes,” including cheetahs—the fastest land animal on earth. @natgeotravel @natgeocreative @thephotosociety #Cheetah #BigCats #Tanzania #Serengeti #Supermom

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Aug 14, 2016 at 11:09am PDT

Each photo in the Top 15 received over 1 million likes.

At number 13 is another picture from Botswana, this time by Cory Richards. It shows zebra and elephants sharing the banks of the lower Cuito River, and has been liked over 1.14 million times.

Photo by @CoryRichards. Zebra and elephants share the banks of the lower Cuito River near Meno a Kwena Tented Camp. Shot on assignment for @natgeo profiling the source of the Okavango Delta's water in the Angolan highlands. The team, lead by Steven Boyes PhD traveled over 1,200 miles by Mekoro doing the first descent of the Cuito river and mega transect of the Okavango's source, its outlet in the delta, and its ultimate end in Makgadikgadi Pans. Congrats to @larryjalapeno @dave.krugman @storytellers.s @live_free_run_far for winning the @natgeobook and @natgeomuseum #natgeoinspires photo challenge. Keep sharing what inspires you.

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Nov 12, 2016 at 5:31am PST

View all Top 15 Instagram photos here:
www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/best-of-2016/best-instagram-photos-2016/