“It took the help of three other photographers, a team of local rangers and three months of waiting just to take one photograph of China’s Giant Panda’s National Park’s most elusive residents.” — #NatGeoExplorer and conservation photographer rob_g_green “Only about 30 wild giant pandas are believed to live in the Wanglang area, making even a fleeting encounter extraordinarily rare. The team carried remotely triggered cameras across steep, rain-soaked slopes, navigating slippery terrain and leech-filled forest while searching for tracks, scat and other signs of panda movement. After carefully positioning the cameras along likely travel routes, all we could do was wait. Weeks later, a giant panda stepped between two ancient trees, offering a rare, ground-level glimpse of the animal moving through the moss-covered forest it depends on. The image was made as part of a U.S.–China national parks exchange documenting protected landscapes — and the people working to conserve them — across bot...