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)

Tube passengers take a selfie next to a London underground roundel designed for the launching of the Night Tubes on display at Oxford Circus underground station in London, Britain, 19 August 2016. The long delayed Night Tubes service launched on 19 August. The 24-hour service will operate on Fridays and Saturdays. (Photo by Hannah Mckay/EPA)

A couple walk in the Retiro park in Madrid on November 17, 2020 as a thick fog falls on the Spanish capital. (Photo by Gabriel Bouys/AFP Photo)

Buildings in Lujiazui financial district are seen shrouded in fog amid an orange alert for heavy fog in Shanghai, China on January 31, 2024. (Photo by Xihao Jiang/Reuters)

A girl practices martial arts during a training at a school in Syrian opposition-held village of al-Jeineh, Syria on April 11, 2021. (Photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)

Pedestrians walk past an art installation by French street artist James Colomina called the “The Briefcase” (bottom) at Shibuya Crossing in the Shibuya district of central Tokyo on May 20, 2025. The display shows a red briefcase – a symbol of work and conformity – with arms, legs and a tie poking out on the ground to illustrate a “salaryman” who has lost his identity, swallowed by his daily routine. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)

A nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital wears a unique mask as the hospital celebrates the release of a COVID-19 patient after 45 days in their care during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Orange, California, U.S., May 5, 2020. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

In this October 7, 2018 photo waitress dance in the Hofbraeu tent after the closing of the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, southern Germany, which ran from September 22 through October 7, 2018. (Photo by Felix Hoerhager/AP Photo)