“The Nine Emperor Gods Festival is a nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, which is observed primarily in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and also the Riau Islands. In Thailand, this festival is called Tesagan Gin Je, the Vegetarian Festival. It is celebrated throughout the entire country, but the festivities are at their height in Phuket, where about 35% of the population is Chinese. It attracts crowds of spectators because of many of the unusual religious rituals that are performed”. – Wikipedia. Photo: A devotee gest pierced at the Bang Neow shrine in Phuket. (Photo by Paula Bronstein)

A photographer with a hidden camera took 2,500 photos before this elusive badger was ready for his close-up in September 2020. (Photo by Andy Swinden/BNPS)

Ellesse Janda welcomes a spring rainbow at Cresswell in Northumberland, United Kingdom on March 17, 2023. (Photo by Ian Sproat/Picture Exclusive)

A reveller of the Salgueiro samba school performs during the second night of Rio's Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 13, 2018. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel/AFP Photo)

A Tufted Capuchin sits in a hanging food tray on a tree in it's enclosure at Sydney Zoo on February 24, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Sydney Zoo, located at Bungarribee Park in Western Sydney, is the first new zoo to be built in Sydney in more than 100 years. The Zoo opened to the public on 7 December 2019. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Aerial view of Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, lit with Christmas decorations and surrounded by an open Christmas market on December 29, 2021. (Photo by Gent Shkullaku/AFP Photo)

An Olive Ridley sea turtle hatchling releases into the sea at Lhoknga beach, Indonesia's Aceh province on January 16, 2024. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

A former Gurkha (special forces soldier), Nirmal Purja, takes a selfie at the start of his attempt to scale the world’s 14 highest peaks in seven months to break a 31-year-old record. Nirmal Purja, known as Nims, aims to smash the current record – which stands at seven years, 11 months and 14 days – set by Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka. On the way, he also plans to defeat at least seven speed world records on mountains over 8,000m high. (Photo by Nirmal Purja/PA Wire Press Association)