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)

In this photo taken Thursday, January 16, 2020, a Samburu boy uses a wooden stick to try to swat a swarm of desert locusts filling the air, as he herds his camel near the village of Sissia, in Samburu county, Kenya. The most serious outbreak of desert locusts in 25 years is spreading across East Africa and posing an unprecedented threat to food security in some of the world's most vulnerable countries, authorities say, with unusual climate conditions partly to blame. (Photo by Patrick Ngugi/AP Photo)

In this Sunday, February 23, 2020, photo, sumo wrestlers wearing masks arrive at Shin Osaka railway station in Osaka, western Japan. A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 79,000 people globally. The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it. (Photo by Kyodo News via AP Photo)

Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret climbs during a training session in Verd, some 20 km southwest of Ljubljana, on March 27, 2024. The eight-time world champion is looking to win another gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics Games this summer, just like she did in Tokyo 2020 when the sport debuted at the Olympics. (Photo by Jure Makovec/AFP Photo)

France's paralympic triple jumper Arnaud Assoumani poses in front of The Louvre Pyramide, designed by Ieoh Ming Pei, in Paris on April 20, 2024, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games. The Louvre was originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century, became one of the main residences of the kings of France later and actually is one of the largest museum in the world. (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP Photo)

The Knights of Middle England equestrian stunt display team perform ahead of the first match on July 13, 2024. The British Beach Polo Championships, or “sand polo”, returns to the exclusive Sandbanks peninsula near Poole, Dorset. Spectators can appreciate the horsemanship, speed and gladiatorial nature of polo at the largest beach polo event in the world. (Photo by Max Willcock/Bournemouth News)