HO CHI MINH CITY – More than 300 wildlife photography enthusiasts, conservationists and nature lovers gathered at SC VivoCity in Ho Chi Minh City at the opening and prize presentation ceremony of the ‘The Rhythms of Nature’ photography exhibition, jointly organised by WildTour, the Vietnam Wildlife Photography Club and BirdLife International, supported by the Ho Chi Minh City Photographic Association (HOPA) and sponsored by Mapletree Investments (Mapletree).  

This year’s exhibition theme expanded to cover the full suite of Vietnam’s biodiversity, from wild birds and mammals to less-profiled species such as reptiles, amphibians and dragonflies. The exhibition, held from 8 November to 14 November 2025, is the culmination of a three month-long, nationwide photography competition that ran from July 2025 to early September 2025. Mr Hồ Tấn Thịnh won the Mapletree ‘macro’ prize while Mr Lê Minh Ngọc won the Mapletree special prize for his stunning image of a Black-winged Stilt.

The aim of this competition and exhibition is to draw attention to Vietnam’s awe-inspiring biodiversity and encourage people to consider these species in their daily lives. The exhibition also received a fantastic collection of bird images, including threatened species such as the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and the rarely seen Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush of the Hoang Lien cloud forests. Images submitted for the ‘macro’ photography category, include incredibly detailed close ups of a selection of butterflies and dragonflies, including an exceptional butterfly, the Green Dragontail Lamproptera meges.

“Close to 800 images were received by our team, and many of them were exceptionally high-quality images of some of Vietnam’s rarest species,” observed Mr Vo Quoc Thuan, lead organiser of the competition and chairperson of the Vietnam Wildlife Photography Club. He also chaired the judging panel with seven other experts.

Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman, Mapletree, said, “As a global real estate company, Mapletree is honoured to have consecutively sponsored wildlife exhibitions in Vietnam since 2023. Under our Corporate Social Responsibility Framework’s Environment pillar, these efforts reflect our commitment to preserving biodiversity and protecting natural habitats.”   

“It was great to see such a diversity of photographic submissions received across Vietnam. I was particularly impressed with the fantastic selection of Vietnam’s endemic and wild birds, primates and even snakes and lizards documented in these photographs. Besides the large number of bird images that we received I am also particularly impressed with other wildlife we are seeing for the first time. One rare image we received this year is the Gia Lai Pricklenape Agama, a very rare lizard found only in Vietnam and neighbouring Laos,” observed Mr Nguyen Hoai Bao, director of WildTour and chairperson of the judging panel with five other experts. 

This year’s exhibition is the third photographic exhibition supported by Mapletree, starting from the ‘Wild Birds of Vietnam’ in 2023. Earlier in the year in June, Mapletree also supported the second Vietnam Bird Race, held at Bi Doup-Nui Ba National Park. The organisers and supporters of this event plan to build on the success of this year’s event and introduce new elements to attract more bird and nature enthusiasts from across Vietnam in the coming years. 

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