My photograph of keeper Joseph Wachira comforting Sudan, the last living male northern white rhino, as he laid dying at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya in March 2018 was among the works that most resonated with National Geographic’s 200 million Instagram followers.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of their account, National Geographic is looking back at some of the photographs that have been the most impactful over that time.

National Geographic has posted more than 26,000 stunning images by more than a hundred photographers. They’ve gotten nearly 82 billion impressions, eight billion likes, and more than 43 million comments since they first started recording audience data in 2016.

The images capture the beauty and wonder of the world we live in and the creatures that inhabit it. Amongst all those, Sudan stood out. To watch the last of something die is something I hope never to experience again but Sudan was surrounded by love, together with the people who committed their lives to protecting him. If there is any meaning in his death, it was my hope that Sudan could be our final wake up call. In a world of 7 billion, we need to start recognizing that we are not separate from nature. When we see ourselves as part of the landscape and part of nature, then saving nature is really about saving ourselves.

It fills me with hope that so many have made this moment a rallying point, and showed their determination to use this as a wake up call of our shared humanity and planet. 

See the article here.