“A dazzling exhibition featuring jewelry made with the world’s largest diamond will be part of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. The jewelry was made with a 3,106-carat diamond discovered in 1905 at the Cullinan Diamond Mine near Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. The diamond was so large that miners initially thought it was a worthless crystal and almost threw it away”... – Vidya Kauri via News.nationalpost.com
Photo: Caroline de Guitaut, Curator of Royal Collections, holds the Cullinan III and IV Broach and the Cullinan VII Delhi Durbar Necklace and Cullinan Pendant at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace on May 15, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid)
These photographs of hundreds of ducks following their leader down a river are truly mesmerizing. Rafeur Rahman of Bangladesh climbed a high bridge and saw hundreds of ducks apparently playing a game of follow the leader. More than 500 ducks live on the river, where the mosses and snails provide the perfect habitat. Here: Ducks in the river Baral in Bangladesh. (Photo by Rafeur Rahman/Caters News Agency)
Honorable Mention: “The Storm”. During I was taking photo with my nephew, the storm came and I caught this beautiful moment. Photo location: Kocaeli, Turkey. (Photo and caption by Aytül Akbaş/National Geographic Photo Contest)
A group of Maasai women march while dancing traditional songs during a Maasai cultural festival in Sekenani, on June 10, 2023. The Maasai people are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting Kenya and northern Tanzania. The Maasai cultural festival is a popular gathering and celebration of the Maasai cultural heritage and aims to showcase the community's traditional activities and fashion. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP Photo)
A tourist is seen at the Caka Salt Lake in Wulan County, northwest China's Qinghai Province, September 4, 2020. (Photo by Zhang Long/Xinhua News Agency)
Visitors pose for pictures under blooming cherry blossoms at a botanical garden in Nanjing, capital of China’s eastern Jiangsu province on March 15, 2019. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)