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)

A worker looks at an old soviet tank T-34 (L) as he fixes military vehicle (R) at a Phaeton museum in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, August 11, 2015. The museum stopped the restoration works of their collection of about 120 retro autos and motorcycles to help the Ukrainian army to restore military vehicles and equipment which will be used in the conflict in Ukraine eastern regions. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

A performer dressed in costume prepares to participate in the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade in Sydney, Australia, March 5, 2016. The Sydney Mardi Gras parade began in 1978 as a march and commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall Riots of New York. It is an annual event promoting awareness of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues and themes. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

Ivan Plakhuta, 54, the owner of a small workshop manufacturing valenki, Russian traditional footwear, rolls a valenok in the remote Siberian village of Bolshaya Rechka, located in Taiga area in the foothills of the Western Sayan Mountain Ridge in the Yermakovsky district of Krasnoyarsk region, Russia, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Nepalese students of Himalayan agriculture college play in mud water in a paddy field to celebrate the National Paddy Day in Badegaun village, Lalitpur, Nepal, 29 June 2016. More than 100 students and teachers of Himalayan agriculture college participated in the National paddy day by planting rice and playing in mud water as Nepal is celebrating National Paddy Day with various event. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

A cooling tower is seen under mechanical demolition in Binzhou, Shandong Province, China, July 13, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

Mushers and their huskies practice at a forest course ahead of the Aviemore Sled Dog Rally on January 24, 2016 in Feshiebridge, Scotland. Huskies and sledders prepare ahead of the Siberian Husky Club of Great Britain 34th race taking place at Loch Morlich this weekend near Aviemore. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

Retired Malam Jabba engineer Akbar Ali skis down the piste at the ski resort in Malam Jabba, Pakistan February 7, 2017. Atop the piste of Malam Jabba in Pakistan's once dangerous Swat Valley skiers schuss downhill, a new Chinese-built chairlift ferries tourists to the peak, and a luxury hotel is under construction to replace one torched by the Taliban. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)