Boat crew members train on the waters of the Tonle Sap River on the morning of the first day of the Water Festival on November 13, 2016 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The yearly three-day Water Festival is one of the most important holidays in Cambodia and celebrates the end of the rainy season and the start of the rice harvesting. The Festival also coincides with the Tonle Sap river reversing course, which it does twice a year. Approximately 2 million people are expected to attend this year's festival, during which 259 boats and nearly 20,000 oarsmen will participate in the races. After a fatal stampede resulting in the death of some 353 people during the Water Festival in 2010, it has been cancelled four times over the past five years, with weather used as an official excuse. (Photo by Omar Havana/Getty Images)

A four-week old southern three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes matacus) is rolled up into a ball next to its mother in the tropical house of Budapest Zoo in Budapest, Hungary on May 3, 2019. The South American insect-eating mammal and its close relative, the Brasilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus) are the only two species of armadillos capable of rolling into a complete ball to defend themselves when feeling threatened. (Photo by Attila Kovács/EPA/EFE)

A man hugs his monitor lizard who is wearing a Christmas hat on December 25, 2021 in Bangkok, Thailand. Monitor lizard enthusiasts gather on Christmas Day for a garden party at the Somtum Khun Daeng restaurant and cafe to share their appreciation for their monitor lizards. The event for owners of this controversial Thai pet included important facts and information about monitor lizard care as well as prizes for those who brought their lizard with them. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

A man walks at the empty Karon beach on Phuket Island, Thailand on April 1, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

Deaf and hard of hearing people perform a Buddhist Guanyin Thousand Hand dance to mark Sunday's National Day for Helping the Disabled in Yunnan, Kunming province, China on May 19, 2018. (Photo by Wong Campion/Reuters)

A group police are seen outside the home of a senior police officer in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. Thai police have arrested a fellow officer who fired multiple gunshots from his home in Bangkok which forced an over 24 hours-long standoff after his colleagues tried to take him to be treated for mental illness. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

People play with water as they celebrate the Songkran holiday which marks the Thai New Year in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 13, 2024. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

The 26th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is now accepting submissions. Official categories include: “Travel Portraits”, “Outdoor Scenes”, “Sense of Place” and “Spontaneous Moments”. The contest is accepting entries until June 30. Photo: “Forest lights”. Aurora Borealis over the forest of the Pyhae Luosto National Park, Finland. (Photo and caption by Nicholas Roemmelt/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)