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)

A US Army M1A2 SEP tank participates in the Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2017 at the military training area in Grafenwoehr, Germany, 12 May 2017. Six North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nations and partner nations, Austria, France, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and the USA are taking part in this competing exercise. (Photo by Christian Bruna/EPA)

A bull savar (jockey) guides his bulls as he competes in a bull race on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan July 1, 2018. (Photo by Faisal Mahmood/Reuters)

Vehicles move past a man wearing a protective mask against COVID-19 as he waits for the bus in Karachi, Pakistan on December 11, 2020. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

A Palestinian man sits on a damaged car following Israeli airstrikes on Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 20, 2021. Heavy airstrikes pummeled a street in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, destroying ramshackle homes with corrugated metal roofs nearby. The military said it struck two underground launchers in the camp used to fire rockets at Tel Aviv. (Photo by Khalil Hamra/AP Photo)

A milkman crosses through floodwater at Chak Ali Sher village in Wazirabad district on August 28, 2025, after government issued a flood alert for riverside areas of Punjab province. Water has gushed into the eastern province, Pakistan's breadbasket and home to about half of its 255 million people, with three transboundary rivers swelling beyond their banks. The latest monsoon downpour has killed at least 13 people, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP Photo)

A team of Irish dancers celebrate after winning the under 12's group kaylee World Irish Dance Championship on April 2, 2016 in Brighton, England. The 8th World and 11th European Irish Dance Championships sees over 1500 dancers from 26 countries, speaking over 20 languages, competing in a variety of contests at the Brighton Centre on the city's beachfront. The event is organised by the World Irish Dance Association and is billed as the “Irish Dance Spectacular”. (Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

People stand in front of an murals at Lodhi Art District in New Delhi on March 24, 2019. Visitors throng Lodhi colony which has murals by dozens of Indian and international artists. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)