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)

Passengers hold 500 (bottom) rupee banknotes to buy train tickets at a railway booking counter in Allahabad, India, November 9, 2016. People are queuing up outside banks across India to exchange 500 and 1,000 rupee notes after they were withdrawn as part of anti-corruption measures. Indians will be able to exchange their old notes, which stopped being legal tender at midnight on Tuesday, for new ones at banks until 30 December. The surprise move is part of a government crackdown on corruption and illegal cash holdings. Banks were shut on Wednesday to allow them enough time to stock new notes. There are also limits on cash withdrawals from ATMs. The BBC's Yogita Limaye in Mumbai says there have been chaotic scenes outside many banks. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

Some companies in Taiwan spend months building temples with bricks and cement, but Lin Fu-Chun's firm simply pours concrete into a giant mould and waits for it to dry. The 78-year-old Lin said his temple factory, Chuanso, needed just over six weeks to finish a building that normally took six months with conventional methods – and moulding was 40 percent cheaper. Here: An employee paints a ready-made Chinese traditional temple at the Chuanso factory that manufactures religious objects in Pingtung, Taiwan July 5, 2016. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Participants take part in the world's first “Pokemon Go” competition in Hong Kong, China, August 6, 2016. The competition began around 2 in the afternoon local time when organizers began announcing the rules on their Facebook page. Contestants had to take screenshots of 12 specific Pokémon in three different districts. Apart from the 12 key Pokémon, participants could also catch designated rare Pokemons which would take off some minutes from their total time. The winner was 21 year old Frankie Chu. The champ took home roughly three hundred and eighty six dollars that he says he will use to pay his school fees. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

This photo taken on April 16, 2014 shows ethnic Kayan women wearing traditional clothes and bronze rings around tbeir neck in Panpet village, Demoso township in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Some ethnic Kayan women, also known as Padaung, begin wearing the bronze rings on their neck and legs from a young age. Usually they start wearing six to ten rings when they are five to ten-years-old and then they put on one more ring a year for years after then. (Photo by Ye Aung Thu/AFP Photo)

Two rainbows emerge from a black storm above the mountains, on August 19, 2014, in Kingman, Arizona. Double tornadoes, lightning storms and rotating supercells – this is what it's like to chase storms for a year. These dramatic images show apocalyptic weather throughout 2014 from a lightning storm to a pair of rainbows. Roger Hill, 57, has been chasing storms in the United States for thirty years and runs a tour operation with his wife Caryn. His favourite photograph of the year was also one of the most difficult to get – as two violent tornadoes tore through Pilger, Nebraska on June 16. The spiraling winds killed a five-year-old girl and injured at least 19 others, and as Roger tried to get the perfect shot debris began to rain down on his car. (Photo by Roger Hill/Barcroft Media)

Cool rider Ace on the back on the motorbike, on January 12, 2015, in Surabaya, Indonesia. A pair of dogs enjoy a bit of bark-and-ride – as they weave through Indonesiaís traffic on the back of a motorcycle. Wearing red-framed sunglasses and a helmet the two golden retrievers happily sandwich their owner on the fast bike. Unsurprisingly, the sight of the docile dogs hitching a fast ride in Surabaya, Indonesia, attracts a lot of attention from onlookers. Ace and Armani have been riding since they were just a few months old and now at the age of three the pair jump onto the bike whenever they think their owner is heading out. (Photo by Jefta Images/Barcroft Media/ABACAPress)

A policewoman wipes her tears as she stands in front of metal caskets containing the bodies of Special Action Force (SAF) police who were killed in Sunday's clash with Muslim rebels, at Villamor Air Base in Pasay city, metro Manila January 29, 2015. Philippine President Benigno Aquino urged legislators on Wednesday not to abandon a plan for autonomy for Muslims to end a decades-old insurgency after the clash in which dozens of people were killed, saying doing so would dash hopes for peace. (Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)