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)

People walk along the Dune du Pilat (Dune of Pilat), the tallest sand dune in Europe, in La Teste de Buch, near Bordeaux, France, June 15, 2016. The dune has a volume of about 60,000,000 m³, measuring around 500 m wide from east to west and 2.7 km in length from north to south. Its height is currently 110 meters above sea level. (Photo by Sergio Perez/Reuters)

Kira Walkenhorst of Germany (L) signals as Doaa Elghobashy of Egypt (R) watches during the women's Beach Volleyball preliminary pool D game between Ludwig/Walkenhors of Germany and Elghobashy/Nada of Egypt the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Beach Volleyball Arena on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 07 August 2016. (Photo by Antonio Lacerda/ANSA)

In this January 16, 2019 photo, a sculpture of a Plesiosaur is displayed at an exhibit about the studies of researchers from the National Museum made in Antartica, during a media presentation of the exhibit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The National Museum will inaugurate on Jan. 17 their first exhibition after the fire, held at the building that houses the Cultural Center and Museum of Brazil's Mint. (Photo by Leo Correa/AP Photo)

A reveller catches beer thrown from a balcony during the opening day or “Chupinazo” of the San Fermin Running of the Bulls fiesta on July 6, 2017 in Pamplona, Spain. The annual Fiesta de San Fermin, made famous by the 1926 novel of US writer Ernest Hemmingway entitled “The Sun Also Rises”, involves the daily running of the bulls through the historic heart of Pamplona to the bull ring. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

People protest getting evicted from land designated for a Petrobras refinery, at a settlement coined the “First of May Refugee Camp”, referring to the date people moved here and set up tents and shacks to live in during the new coronavirus pandemic in Itaguai, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, Thursday, July 1, 2021. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

A rescue team flies on a Colombian Air Force helicopter during an earthquake emergency drill with Air Force troops from Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and the United States at the Palenquero Air Force base in Puerto Salgar, Cundinamarca department, Colombia, on September 2, 2021. Air Force crews from 15 countries take part in the “Angel de los Andes” exercises, where they simulated several rescue operations in different scenarios. (Photo by Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP Photo)

Mount Cumbre Vieja erupts spewing a column of smoke and ash as seen from Los Llanos de Aridane on the Canary island of La Palma on September 19, 2021. The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on Spain's Canary Islands today spewing out lava, ash and a huge column of smoke after days of increased seismic activity, sparking evacuations of people living nearby, authorities said. Cumbre Vieja straddles a ridge in the south of La Palma island and has erupted twice in the 20th century, first in 1949 then again in 1971. (Photo by Desiree Martin/AFP Photo)