A woman poses with a retro VAZ 2101 car during the annual BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 22, 2024. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A person wears socks on shoes, as people queue to enter Liberty Inauguration ball, on inauguration day of Donald Trump's second presidential term, in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2025. (Photo by Jeenah Moon/Reuters)

Bathers brave the cold waters of the North Sea as they take part in the annual Boxing Day dip at Redcar Beach on December 26, 2023 in Redcar, England. The event attracts hundreds of people each year, with many wearing fancy dress, who take to the water to help raise money for a number of charities. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

A Cucumber and a Chuta Cholero hug during the traditional festival “Desentierro del Pepino” (unearthing the Cucumber) to mark the beginning of carnival on January 21, 2024 in La Paz, Bolivia. People dug up the cucumber from the cemetery and walk through the streets with two characters, the Ch'uta and the Chola. (Photo by Gaston Brito/Getty Images)

A security guard tackles a fan who ran on the field during the ninth inning of a game between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego, California on August 19, 2025. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Reuters)

An artist carries a clay statue of Lord Vishwakarma to the market for sale before the Vishwakarma Puja festival in Nepal, Kathmandu on September 16, 2025. The festival, celebrated on September 17 this year, honors Lord Vishwakarma, regarded as the divine engineer and craftsman, and involves prayers for creativity, prosperity, and protection of tools and workplaces. (Photo by Safal Prakash Shrestha/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

People wait to enter the Fashion on the Field event ahead of the Melbourne Cup horse race at the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on November 5, 2024. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

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)