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)

A member of staff at Morton & Eden holds an extremely rare early Islamic gold coin on Thursday September 12, 2019, which is expected to fetch £1.4m at auction in London. Measuring a 20mm across, about the size of a modern £1 piece, it is one of the world's rarest and most treasured Islamic gold coins from the first dynasty of Islam, the Umayyad gold dinar dated 105h (723AD). (Photo by Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images)

A camel performs during a “dance competition” held during the Pushkar Camel Fair in Pushkar, in the western state of Rajasthan, on November 5, 2019. Thousands of livestock traders from the region come to the traditional camel fair where livestock, mainly camels, are traded. The annual camel and livestock fair is one of the world's largest camel fairs. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/AFP Photo)

Students wearing masks as a precaution amid the spread of COVID-19 put away a Cuban flag so it does not get wet in the rain on their first day of school after months without face-to-face classes in Havana, Cuba, Monday, November 8, 2021. As Cuba approaches the announced date of Nov. 15 for the reopening of the entire country to the world, getting children back to school is one of its priorities. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Revellers attend the Saint Patrick's Day parade on March 17, 2019 in Dublin, Ireland. Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland is celebrated around the world on St. Patrick's Day. According to legend Saint Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans in the 5th-century after becoming a Christian missionary. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A parishioner of the St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Nairobi's Kangemi slum carries the vestments to be worn by Pope Francis during his visit to Kenya on November 24, 2015 in Kenya. Pope Francis makes his first visit to Kenya on a five day African tour that is scheduled to include Uganda and the Central African Republic. Africa is recognised as being crucial to the future of the Catholic Church with the continent's Catholic numbers growing faster than anywhere else in the world. (Photo by Nichole Sobecki/Getty Images)

A Chinese shopper sleeps on a bed in the showroom of the IKEA store on July 6, 2014 in Beijing, China. Of the world's ten biggest Ikea stores, 8 of them are in China to cater to the country's growing middle class. The stores are designed with extra room displays given the tendency for customers to make a visit an all-day affair. Store management does not discourage shoppers from sleeping on Ikea furniture, even marking them with signs inviting customers to try them out. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

North Korean girls in similar bathing suits stand under a shower at the Songdowon International Children's Camp, Tuesday, July 29, 2014, in Wonsan, North Korea. The camp, which has been operating for nearly 30 years, was originally intended mainly to deepen relations with friendly countries in the Communist or non-aligned world. But officials say they are willing to accept youth from anywhere – even the United States. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)