Members of the Pussyfooters dance at the Krewe of Cleopatra Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, Friday, February 2, 2018. Mardi Gras season is kicking into high gear with a slew of major parades throughout New Orleans. Although Carnival season officially began Jan. 6, the festivities really kick into high gear the two weekends ahead of Fat Tuesday. This year Fat Tuesday is Feb. 13. (Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)

A Thai villager runs with a bullock during a catching a bullock competition as part of the annual bullock cart racing festival in Phetchaburi province, Thailand, 21 February 2016. The annual bullock cart race festival held to celebrate the end of the harvest season. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

People cross the street in central Pyongyang, North Korea May 4, 2016. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A member of a local swimming club holds a Russian national flag as he dives in at the start of a 24-hour swimming marathon near the western Siberian city of Barnaul March 29, 2014. Thirty members of the club will swim in turn during the event, held to mark Crimea becoming part of Russia, local media reported. (Photo by Andrei Kasprishin/Reuters)

Principle Ballet Dancer, Ekaterina Bulgutova, of the Russian State Ballet, with the Nutcracker part of Christmas Ballet Season in Cardiff which starts at St Davids Hall on December 20, 2016 in Cardiff, England. (Photo by Kiran Ridley/Barcroft Images)

Sara Moni, dressed as the World of Warcraft's Sinestra, poses for photographers on day three of the Comic-Con International held at the San Diego Convention Center Saturday July 23, 2016 in San Diego. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Invision/AP Photo)

Turkana tribesmen walk with guns to protect their cattle from rival tribes near Baragoy, Kenya August 4, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)