Fabrice Monteiro travelled to the most polluted places in Africa and created terrifying characters who roamed their midst dressed in eerie debris. They are spirits, he says, on a mission to make humans change their ways. Informed by Africa’s environmental problems, Fabrice Monteiro’s photographs aim to highlight urgent ecological issues all over the world. His series “The Prophecy” is on show at Photo Basel 2017 until 18 June. (Photo by Fabrice Monteiro/Photo Basel 2017/Mariane Ibrahim Gallery/The Guardian)

In this February 20, 2018 photo, fair vendor Noelia Flores holds up a black backdrop behind a small statue of an “Ekeko”, the god of prosperity, for a portrait at her booth during the annual Alasita Fair in La Paz, Bolivia. Every year, thousands of Bolivians head to the feast of Alasitas that is held in his honor to buy miniature cars, houses and toy dollar bills symbolizing their dreams of prosperity. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

ne committed photographer spent a grand total of 3,000 dive hours trying to get the perfect shots, capturing beautiful images of a rare shark feeding frenzy. Laurent Ballesta’s images show the glimmering gray reef sharks hunting in swift packs, flying through the water and feasting on the likes of helpless grouper. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Caters News Agency)

A Kamchatka Brown Bear cub eats frozen fruits during a Christmas feeding session at Hagenbecks zoo in Hamburg, northern Germany on December 5, 2014. (Photo by Fabian Bimmer/Reuters)

A diver dressed in a Santa Claus costume performs with sardines at the Coex Aquarium in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, December 9, 2015. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

Chocolate is the greatest gift the Earth has given us. The dessert table would be a sad sight without it. It’s so beloved, so appreciated, that the Swedish scientist who named the cocoa plant that gives us chocolate called it Theobroma cacao, which means “food of the gods”. Here: Farmer holding a freshly cut cocoa bean pod, revealing the pulp and seed inside on a rainforest farm. (Photo by Doug McKinlay/Getty Images)

A policeman is pictured near a woman with a baby during an operation against drug dealers in Cidade de Deus or City of God slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 23, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

To most of us, hand-feeding crocodiles might sound like a one-way ticket to a watery grave. But for Jose Eduardo Chaves Salas, 32, coming within inches of the fearsome creatures’ razor-sharp teeth is all in a day’s work. He runs Jose's Crocodile River Tour on the Tarcoles River in Costa Rica, where tourists can watch him feed crocs up to 17 feet long. Photo: A tour guide shows a thumbs up as he sits on top of a crocodile on the Tarcoles river in Tarcoles, Costa Rica. (Photo and caption by Barcroft Media)