A person takes part in the annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade in Phuket, Thailand on June 4, 2023. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Monkeys climb onto tourists during the annual Monkey Festival, after officials start capturing monkeys, in Lopburi province, Thailand, on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Patipat Janthong/Reuters)

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)

Some people prepare to catch offerings thrown by Tengger tribe people into the crater of Bromo volcano to in Probolinggo, East Java province, on June 30, 2018, as part of Yadnya Kasada festival which falls on the 14th day of the Kasada month based on the traditional Hindu lunar calendar. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

Girls prepare to take part in a mermaid lesson in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil May 28, 2017. Women in Brazil are not unique in their affinity for mermaiding. Classes are held as far away as Texas and some folks wonder if mermaiding will be the next fitness craze. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

A group of students sit on top of a bus at Kemusu street in Boyolali, Central Java of Indonesia, March 20, 2015 in this picture taken by Antara Foto. (Photo by Yusuf Nugroho/Reuters/Antara Foto)

A jockey rides a water buffalo during the annual Chonburi Buffalo Race in Chonburi on October 1, 2020. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

A man sits under lanterns and decorations on a street ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year in Chinatown Yangon, Myanmar January 23, 2017. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)