A Ballet dancer prepares backstage during the final dress rehearsal for the famous Nutcracker ballet by Pyotr Tchaikovsky at the Joburg Ballet, Johannesburg, South Africa, 04 October 2018. The premiere of Nutcracker is scheduled for 05 October and the show will run for two weeks. (Photo by Kim Ludbrook/EPA/EFE)

A striking funeral worker takes a break near a casket placed at a parking lot as they protest over changes to a host of procedures and regulations, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak outside the department of home affairs in Soweto, South Africa, September 16, 2020. (Photo by Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)

In this Wednesday, August 20, 2014 photo released by Red Bull, Maikel Melero of Spain warms up prior to the fifth stage of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour in the South African savanna of Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Joerg Mitter/AP Photo/Red Bull)

South Africa's Boipelo Awuah gets acquainted with the street skateboarding course during a women's practice session ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Paris, France. (Photo by Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)

Play-fighting cheetah siblings at the Zimanga game reserve in South Africa in the second decade of November 2024 were spotted by Gavin Bickerton-Jones, an amateur photographer, who said: “It is a bit scary at first being so close, but also a privilege for them to let you share their space”. (Photo by Gavin Bickerton-Jones/Solent News)

Impala pictured in the Kruger National Park on December 7, 2007 in Mpumalanga, South Africa. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

The fennec fox or fennec (Vulpes zerda) is a small nocturnal fox found in the Sahara of North Africa.

This watering hole is the social hub of the veldt; the scrubby grasslands that stretch across Namibia. The scorched earth supports sometimes fragile populations of magnificent wildlife – from endangered predators to plentiful herds of game. But these gentle giraffes and elephants need to be careful: lions don’t sleep at night, they hunt! The spectacular starscape above southern Africa is unchanged since explorers first mapped the continent. The photographer, Pietro Olivetta from Italy, said he had to be patient to capture these shots – but it was worth the wait. (Photo by Pietro Olivetta/Caters News)