Merit: A Night at Deadvlei. The night before returning to Windhoek, we spent several hours at Deadveli. The moon was bright enough to illuminate the sand dunes in the distance, but the skies were still dark enough to clearly see the milky way and magellanic clouds. Deadveli means “dead marsh. The camelthorn trees are believed to be about 900 years old, but have not decomposed because the environment is so dry. (Photo and caption by Beth McCarley/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

Visitors are seen inside a newly opened bookstore in Chongqing, China on January 29, 2019. Covering an area of 1,400 square meters, the Zhongshuge Bookstore in Chongqing attracts readers with its creative decor. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

Visitors walk past "Sculpture #1" by Darren Bader at the Frieze Art Fair in London, Britain October 14, 2015. The Frieze Art Fair, which is one of the world's leading contemporary art fairs, opens today and runs through October 17. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)

An environmental activist performs during a protest in front of the headquarters of Brazilian mining company Vale SA in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 16, 2015. The collapse of two dams at a Brazilian mine, owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd, has cut off drinking water for quarter of a million people and saturated waterways downstream with dense orange sediment that could wreck the ecosystem for years to come. Nine people were killed, 19 are still listed as missing and 500 people were displaced from their homes when the dams burst at an iron ore mine in southeastern Brazil on November 5. (Photo by Sergio Moraes/Reuters)

Dancers at the Windmill Theatre in London, England practice a routine wearing gas masks and hard-hats with their costumes, 1940. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“Romantic”. A brown bear in Martinselkonen, Finland. (Photo by Valtteri Mulkahainen/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards)

Michelle Rodriguez attends the 2016 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Graydon Carter at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 28, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)

Daisuke Nagasawa, 49, has spent the past few years taking his two faithful cats, Daikichi and Fuku-Chan, around the world with him. Here: Daisuke Nagasawa travels nationally and internationally with his beautiful kitties Fuku-Chan and Daikichi. The two pose under the iconic Japanese cherry blossoms. (Photo by Daisuke Nagasawa/Caters News Agency)