I began this year sweating in Australia's tropical rainforest at Cape Tribulation in Northern Queensland. Further travels "downunder" led me next to the red center of the continent and then to the monsoon forests at the top end where I gathered the last images for my Australia book, a project I had been working on since 1998. Australia suffered from an extreme heat wave and so did I.

What a relief when I visited the Valdes Peninsula in Argentina's Patagonia in March with its pleasant temperatures, brilliant blue skies and abundant wildlife. There I had the great opportunity to witness one of nature's most dramatic and exciting events when orcas beached to catch young sea lion pups only a few meters in front of me.

In April I spent one month on elephant back following Bengal tigers in India's Bandhavgarh National Park.

In June I cruised around Svalbard in search of polarbears and walrusses. Then I visited Greenland's Disco Bay to photograph icebergs.

In August (after 6 years) I finally made it back to my favorite part of the world: Namibia and Botswana. I revisited many places and was quite overwhelmed by the increased number of tourists who had meanwhile discovered these African jewels.