Musicians from the West Australian Symphony Orchestra perform a “Symphony in the Sea” at North Cottesloe Beach on December 2, 2008 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

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)

The Belgian photographer Anton Kusters spent two years photographing the Yakuza, Japan’s most notorious gang. He returned with some amazing images that he made into a book called “Odo Yakuza Tokyo”. (Odo means “the way of the cherry blossom” and is the credo of the Yakuza family he followed. Photo: An erotic danser picks up fake 2-dollar bills during a private dance with a Yakuza customer in a strip tease bar in Kabukicho, a bar which is controlled by the ODO family – 2010. (Photo and caption by Anton Kusters)

A local resident stumbles as he wades through flood water on a residential street in Carlisle, Britain December 6, 2015. British police have declared a major incident in northern England after prolonged heavy rain caused widespread flooding and forced emergency services to evacuate residents from their homes. (Photo by Phil Noble/Reuters)

A zoo keeper feeds Diego, a three month old howler monkey, which is reared at Edinburgh Zoo, July 29, 2008 in Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

A member of the USA Knights team is seen wearing a face-like helmet shield during the International Medieval Combat championships at the castle of Belmonte, May 4, 2014, in Belmonte, Spain. The steel armor the knights wear can cost up to $10,000 and weigh 80 pounds. (Photo by Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images)

An initiate sprays out his fan as he enjoys the view from atop his father's shoulders during the ceremony in Mae Hong Son, Thailand, April 2016. (Photo by Claudio Sieber/Barcroft Images)

People walk on the street before the opening ceremony of the Witches and Wizards Convention, in the Paranapiacaba village, in Santo Andre, Brazil on May 16, 2025. (Photo by Jean Carniel/Reuters)