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)

Pinatas depicting Mexican actress Kate del Castillo (L) and the drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman are displayed outside a workshop in Reynosa, in Tamaulipas state, Mexico, January 13, 2016. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

An attendee at the “Eating Insects Detroit: Exploring the Culture of Insects as Food and Feed” conference at Wayne State University shows an edible freeze-dried locust insect in Detroit, Michigan May 26, 2016. (Photo by Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

A handout picture provided by the press service of MORTON Group of Companies, show the balloon of Russian adventurer Fedor Konyukhov in the sky during his solo round-the-world balloon flight just after taking off from a spot near Northam, 96 kilometres north-east of Perth in Western Australia, 12 July 2016. Fedor Konyukhov took off from Northam on 12 July 2016 in attempt to beat the record of 13 days of American aviator Steve Fossett. (Photo by EPA/Morton Press Service)

When Colin Garratt went to photograph the traditional sentinels of the British countryside, he found they ranged from the dapper to the downright sinister. “They are not from the anaesthetised world of the craft fair”, says Colin Garratt, “but are the direct descendants of the ancient spectres which have haunted the landscape for centuries”. The Scarecrow Exhibition is at Geddes Gallery, London, from 25 to 30 March. (Photo by Colin Garratt)

A girl plays with colourful papers at the 23rd Sziget (Island) Festival on Shipyard Island in Budapest, Hungary, 13 August 2015. The festival is one of the biggest cultural events of Europe, offering art exhibitions, theatrical and circus performances and music concerts. Almost 200 performers from 47 countries will entertain the hundreds of thousands of visitors from 11 to 18 August. (Photo by Balazs Mohai/EPA)

Film technicians at Pinewood Studios set up a miniature air crash sequence for the Jack Gold film “The Medusa Touch”, using scale models of a Boeing 747 and a skyscraper. (Photo by Alan F. Davis/Keystone/Getty Images). 9th August 1977

The Big Island's Mauna Loa Volcano erupts on November 28, 2022 on the Island of Hawaii. For the first time in almost 40 years, the biggest active volcano in the world erupted prompting an emergency response on the Big Island. (Photo by Andrew Richard Hara/Getty Images)