At 10,582 square kilometres, the Bolivian salt flats – otherwise known as Salar de Uyuni – are the largest on the planet and contain between 50 and 70% of the world’s lithium reserves. After exploring Chile and Argentina, photographer Joel Santos decided to travel to Bolivia in January 2017 to check the salt flats off his bucket list. With an electrical storm rolling in, Joel and his two travelling companions were the only souls left on the vast flats and captured the eerie flats without a person in sight. (Photo by Joel Santos/Barcroft Images)

Giant pandas eat at Chongqing Zoo in Chongqing, China on September 23, 2023. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A pet dog reacts while wearing a “Voltes V” themed costume during a “Pawshion Show” to mark World Animal Day in Marikina City, Metro Manila, Philippines 04 October 2023. A village in Marikina enjoined owners and animal lovers to play dress-up with their pets and participate in a fashion-show themed activity to entertain the community on World Animal Day and mark the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals in the Roman Catholic religion. (Photo by Rolex Dela Pena/EPA)

Water pools on top of a water lily leaf after rain at Benchakitti Forest Park in Bangkok, Thailand on September 27, 2023. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A cat looks on near the Victory Pillar at the ruins of the Serapeum of Alexandria, an ancient Greek temple dating to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (246 BC – 391 AD) dedicated to the city's protector deity Serapis, in Egypt's northern coastal city of Alexandria on November 24, 2023. The giant Corinthian column, commonly misidentified as “Pompey's Pillar”, is a Roman triumphal column set up in honour of the Roman emperor Diocletian (298–302 AD), and originally supported a colossal porphyry statue of the emperor in armour. (Photo by Amir Makar/AFP Photo)

Sphynx cats are seen in Ankara, Turkiye on July 29, 2023. World Cat Day is celebrated on August 8th every year since 2002. (Photo by Omer Taha Cetin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Ukrainians attend an open military training for civilians on a training range in Kiev, Ukraine, 06 February 2022. According to a survey conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from December 2021, 50.2 percent of Ukrainians said they would resist in case of a Russian military intervention into their city, town or village. Every third respondent to the poll said they were ready to engage in armed resistance, and 21.7 percent said they were ready to participate in civil resistance actions. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A placard featuring an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin and reading “We are with him for the sovereignty of Russia! And you?” is seen left in front of the Russian State Duma building in central Moscow on February 24, 2022. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)