Traffic moves as water is pumped out of an inundated residential area following torrential rains in Bengaluru, India on September 7, 2022. (Photo by Samuel Rajkumar/Reuters)

A drunk student is sick on the street watched by a police officer following a night of heavy drinking during freshers week in United Kingdom on November 28, 2007. (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Alamy Stock Photo)

Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and capture team cool down a sedated elephant at Mwea National Park, east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya Monday, October 14, 2024. (Photo by Brian Inganga/AP Photo)

A Chinese woman wears a mask to protect from particles blown in during a sandstorm as she walks in the street on May 4, 2017 in Beijing, China. Sandstorms are common in northern China during the spring season and are caused when heavy winds from Mongolia in the north brings sand and pollutants that can blanket Chinese cities and cause air quality to deteriorate. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

The Rakotzbrücke bridge in the autumnal azalea and rhododendron park in Kromlau in the district of Görlitz, Saxony near the state border with Brandenburg on November 7, 2023. More than four million euros have been invested in the restoration and reconstruction of this Lusatian landmark in recent years. The complex includes the listed group of Rakotzbrücke bridges and the so-called organ made of basalt. Friedrich Hermann Rötschke had these built between 1842 and 1875. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/dpa)

Participants in historical costumes attend the celebrations to mark the 114th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, in Mexico City, Mexico on November 20, 2024. (Photo by Raquel Cunha/Reuters)

“A snapshot from mountaineer's life”. Have you ever wondered how does a mountaineer's day start? I will give you a hint: you wake up at 3 am, set the stove, wake up your partner, pretend it is warm, quickly consume a high-calorie breakfast, watch your friends slowly ascending the icy slopes of your dream summit with their tiny head torches glimmering against perfectly blue ice, and hope for the good weather. One would ask: why all this trouble? The answer is easy: for the love of the adventure and the unknown. Location: Chamonix, Haute Savoye, France. (Photo and caption by Kamil Tamiola/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

“Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna (complete) Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places (Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik). The Maha (great) Kumbh Mela which comes after 12 “Purna Kumbh Melas”, or 144 years, is held at Allahabad.

The last Ardh Kumbh Mela was held over a period of 45 days beginning in January 2007, more than 70 million Hindu pilgrims took part in the Ardh Kumbh Mela at Prayag, and on January 15, the most auspicious day of the festival of Makar Sankranti, more than 5 million participated. The previous Maha Kumbh Mela, held in 2001, was attended by around 60 million people, making it at the time the largest gathering anywhere in the world in recorded history”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Sadhus (holy men) smoke at their camp near the ritual site at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival (Half Pitcher festival) January 18, 2007 in Allahabad, India. Millions of Hindu pilgrims have flocked to the largest religious gathering in the world which lasts for 45 days in northern India. The festival commemorates the mythical conflict between gods and demons over a pitcher filled with the “nectar of immortality”. Devotees believe that taking a holy dip in the Ganges at this time washes away their sins and paves the path to salvation. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)