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)

Residents (R to L) Luiza, Janubie, Leiticia and Lucas sit beneath an overpass near their houses in an impoverished area in the unpacified Complexo da Mare slum complex, one of the largest “favela” complexes in Rio, on March 18, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A general view of the Drax Power Station, illuminated in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, in North Yorkshire, Britain on April 1, 2022. (Photo by Lee Smith/Reuters)

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)

View from the Insta360 360 degree camera in the last decade of November 2023 attached to a satellite launched 500km into outer space. Chinese firm Insta360 say they have achieved “the first fully exposed camera in space” a feat which required a lot of preparation to get X2 ready for the harsh environment. (Photo by South West News Service)

A reveller is seen smoking at the annual gay pride parade in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic July 03, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Rojas/Reuters)

An young Indian Jain devotee dressed as Lord Krishna participates in a religious rally organised on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti in Kolkata on April 2, 2015. The most important religious holiday in Jainism, Mahavir Jayanti celebrates the birth of Mahavira, the last Tirthankara, which is generally accepted as 599 BCE. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP Photo)

“A huge wasp measuring 2.5 inches in length, visiting the banana tree in my front yard”. (Photo and comment by John Matzick, USA/2013 Sony World Photography Awards via The Atlantic)