National Geographic Travel Photo Contest 2012 has over 12.000 submissions from all over the world in different categories like Travel, Sense of Place, Outdoor Scenes. We took the challenge in collecting 20 of our favourite photographs..

A magical moment as tons of sea ice floats above while we explored the world beneath  |  By Aaron Wong

Good Bye Old Friend  |  By John Chaney

The Lava Kiss in Kalapana, Hawaii  |  By Dallas Nagata White

Lost in Time in an Ancient Forest  |  By Ken Thorne

A snapshot from a mountaineer’s life  |  By Kamil Tamiola

Underwater Surfing at an outer reef in Fiji  |  By Lucia Griggi

Fly By Icebergs near Artic Bay  |  By Michelle Valberg

Rice Terraces at Yunan in China  |  Mike Cheng

The Ice Cave Experience  |  By Kamil Tamiola

A Lousiana Crane Forest  |  Tom Walsdorf

Fairy Tale Circles from above in Namibia  |  By Bruno Kaeslin-Kuemmelberg

Joyful kids in the Philippines  |  Mac Kwan

Lone Giraffe in Chobe National Park, Botswana  |  Cedrik Strahm

Young Kyrgyz girl Marbet is getting her donkey ready to go to school, Afghanistan  |  By Cedric Houin

Looking into Another World in Portland Japanese Gardens  |  By Fred An

Shanghai Sunrise along the Bund  |  By Edward Graham

Cooling off in the Monsoon, Bangladesh  |  By Enrique López-Tapia

Popocatepetl Volcano Explosion  | Miguel Valencia Villaseñor

A Lonely Massai on the move  |  By Romana Wyllie

The Skyscrapers of São Paulo  |  By Ignazio Sciacca

Bagan Bliss in Myanmar  |  Peter DeMarco