It’s hard to believe another year has gone by. And with it the grace of another 44 incredible Photos of the Week. We are nevertheless once again proud to present our Photos of the Year – the travel pictures of the year 2011 that most captured the imagination of The Travel Word team and a group of expert external judges. Unlike our Photo of the Year 2010, this year, we had a tie for first place.

Last week, Gunyah officially launched its inspirational travel website with 65 authentic short breaks in 20 extraordinary countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Its goal is to turn the tables on the traditional holiday by combining the mind-blowing spontaneity of independent travel with the convenience of a package holiday.

After a year and 52 pictures, we are proud to present our Photo of the Year, the image that most captured the imagine of The Travel Word and a group of external judges: the Dazzling Colours of Sunset, the Maldives. Exactly one year ago, we started featuring one picture each week on The Travel Word. We spotlighted favourite images pulled from our growing collections on Flickr. We also asked the photographer or owner to submit a short and revealing text about it. These text-image combinations have proven to be very popular.

Inspired by Make Travel Fair’s 10 #whltravel Tweeps Twittering, which was in turn inspired by the 10 #Travel Tweeps Twittering post published on Matador’s Travelers Notebook, in March 2010 we published 10 More #whltravel Tweeps Tweeting, all from the WHL Group. Given the interest in this, we decided to share yet another 10 #whltravel tweeps tweeting.

On the night of 11 July, three bombs exploded within 75 minutes of each other in two locations in Kampala city, Uganda, killing more than 75 people gathered to enjoy the World Cup final. The first bomb exploded at the the Ethiopian Village restaurant in Kabalaga, but news did not travel fast enough to the Kyadondo rugby club in Lugogo, on the Jinja Road out of town, where two bombs tore through spectators seated in hundreds of white plastic chairs set up on the green before a giant screen.