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)

Dancers of the Czech National Ballet warm up backstage during a performance of “The Nutcracker – A Christmas Carol” at the National Theatre in Prague, Czech Republic, late 16 December 2017. Peter I. Tchaikovsky's “The Nutcracker”, one of his most famous compositions and seasonal ballets, premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 18 December 1872, celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. (Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA/EFE)

In this September 1, 2016 photo, 90-year-old street vendor Antonio Bauza waits for tourists to sell his bananas, next to the village church in Remedios, Cuba. With the arrival of the first commercial flights from the U.S. to Cuba in more than 50 years, the Cuban government is welcoming the wave of new visitors and struggling to update infrastructure that's already overwhelmed. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

A security officer looks at a scanning screen for checking passengers' temperature at the Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 9, 2020. Technology and innovation will top the precautions of Turkey's biggest airport Istanbul Airport against the COVID-19 in the post-pandemic era, according to the management of the airport. The management on June 9 presented their final preparations and measures taken against coronavirus while Turkish airline companies are preparing to resume their international operations the next day. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images)

People wearing face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus gather in a discotheque in Madrid, Spain, early Saturday, July 25, 2020. Nightlife is becoming the new target of Spanish authorities attempting to contain a spike in coronavirus infections since the country ended a lockdown. The Catalonia regional government has shut nightlife venues in Barcelona, and on Friday officials in Madrid said they were considering a similar step. (Photo by Manu Fernandez/AP Photo)

A red squirrel sniffs out nuts inside Christmas stockings as part of the festive celebrations and enrichment programme at Wildwood Escot Park in Ottery St Mary, Devon, United Kingdom on December 17, 2020. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

American television personality, author and former model Brandi Glanville is seen on June 7, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by GP/Star Max/GC Images)

Gliding past the planet Jupiter, the Cassini spacecraft captures this awe inspiring view of active Io, Jupiter's third largest satellite, with the largest gas giant as a backdrop, offering a stunning demonstration of the ruling planet's relative size, April 20, 2001. The Cassini spacecraft itself was about 10 million kilometers from Jupiter when recording the image data. (Photo courtesy of NASA/Newsmakers)