Here are the bravest of the brave in 2016. Weve gathered some of the finest images showing daredevils taking their lives into their own hands and going to the very brink this year. Whether they are perched hundreds of feet up on a high wire, courageously clinging to a rockface or taking on a volcano, these adventurers take the breath away. Here: Morgane Choquet and Samuel Cobb relax in a vertical campsite on the slopes of El Capitan, Yosemite National Park. (Photo by Alexandre Eggermont/Caters News)

If you think you are looking at stunning sunset safari photographs, think again. From a herd of elephants trailing the savanna at sunset to a crocodile hungrily engulfing a baby impala, amazingly these clever pictures are actually made using nothing but props, toy animals and vegetables. Julia Wimmerlin has always dreamed of going on safari and found a way to channel her dream in a seriously creative way. Here: An elephant with plants of parsley, rosemary, tamarind and coconut boulders. (Photo by Julia Wimmerlin/Caters News)

A woman sits on a terrace at Tiki hostel in Cantagalo favela, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 16, 2016. Hostels in a few of Rio's more than 1,000 slums serve not only as a cheap housing alternative for the more adventurous among the estimated 500,000 foreign tourists expected to arrive for the Olympics in August. The establishments also open up the rich culture of the city's shantytowns for travellers, giving them a glimpse into once “no-go” areas where about one-fifth of Rio's population lives. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

Traditional dancers are seen at Ela Beach, near a venue of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 13 November 2018. The APEC summit brings together world leaders from its 21 member nations and is being hosted for the first time by Papua New Guinea. (Photo by Mast Irham/EPA/EFE)

Sushi Cats (originally branded as Neko-Sushi) is a series of photographs created by the Japan-based company Tange & Nakimushi Peanuts. In this series the creators have dressed up a number of cats and placed them on top of oversized balls of sushi rice. The kitties don’t look too happy with what is going on, though they do look adorable in their little outfits. Tange & Nakimushi Peanuts didn’t think that making a set of photos was enough, so they’ve also created an Android and iPhone apps featuring Sushi Cats. Moreover, people living in Japan can visit their website, if they wish to order photo prints, postcards, and other items. (Photo by Tange & Nakimushi Peanuts)

“The advent of digital cameras and smartphones killed the traditional mall portrait studio, but 3-D printing has sparked a new trend. Overloaded with digital photos, statues may be moving in to fulfill our desire for portraits that stand out”. – Peter Svensson via The Associated Press. (Photo by Julie Jacobson/AP Photo)

Shoppers wrestle over a television as they compete to purchase retail items on “Black Friday” at an Asda superstore in Wembley, north London November 28, 2014. Britain's high streets, malls and online sites were awash with discounts on Friday as more retailers than ever embraced U.S.-style “Black Friday” promotions, seeking to kickstart trading in the key Christmas period. In the United States the Friday following the Thanksgiving Day holiday is called Black Friday because spending usually surges and indicates the point at which American retailers begin to turn a profit for the year, or go “into the black”. (Photo by Luke MacGregor/Reuters)

From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)