“YagYang”. The Apatani are tribal people living in north east of India in the region of Arunachal Pradesh. Tattooing and stuffing of large nose plugs is the particularity of these women. YagYang 75 years old, her husband passed away few months ago and she feels very alone, during my visit I was very fond of this woman and I wanted to spend some more time with her, so I asked her which was her favorite dish. The next day i returned with the fresh fish, as she mentioned, and when she saw me she was very happy and welcomed me with a big smile. Photo location: India. (Photo and caption by Passarini Mattia/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A Shariah law official whips a woman who is convicted of prostitution during a public caning outside a mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Friday, April 20, 2018. Indonesia's deeply conservative Aceh province on Friday caned several unmarried couples for showing affection in public and two women for prostitution before an enthusiastic audience of hundreds. The canings were possibly the last to be carried out before large crowds in Aceh after the province's governor announced earlier this month that the punishments would be moved indoors. (Photo by Heri Juanda/AP Photo)

People use large water guns to spray each other as they celebrate the annual Songkran festival in Bangkok, Thailand on April 14, 2025. Thailand celebrated the Thai traditional New Year, called Songkran in Thai and also known as ëthe water festivalí, on 13 April, with festivities going on on throughout the weekend. During Songkran, people celebrate the New Year by splashing water to each other as a sign of washing away sins and bad luck from the previous year. People across Thailand celebrate the New Year with parties and water related activities throughout the weekend. (Photo by Diego Azubel/Matrix Images)

An adult female Masai giraffe rears on its hind legs as it resists efforts by Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) rangers to guide it into a transportation crate using ropes during an exercise to translocate large herbivores from Kedong Ranch due to land subdivisions and corralling that have disrupted wildlife migratory routes in Naivasha, Nakuru County, on November 16, 2025. Driven by two long ropes held by about twenty rangers, the blindfolded giraffe enters a tall trailer that is to transport it out of its natural habitat in the Rift Valley, which is deteriorating after having been resold. This is the first step in a meticulous relocation operation in the vast Kedong ranch, part of an ancestral corridor between Mount Longonot and Hell's Gate Park, near the iconic Lake Naivasha. (Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP Photo)

South African Sangomas are wizards and witches who are supposedly chosen by their ancestors to follow a traditional training and go through a rite of passage after which they become Sangomas and can cure and help people. They are so respected and trusted that western medical authorities have actually advised the government of South Africa to develop its cooperation with Sangomas in order to improve hygiene and health among the population. (Photo by Patrick Durand/Sygma via Getty Images)

A young boy scoops water from a hand-dug well in the dry riverbed near Matinyani, in the semi-arid Kitui County in southeastern Kenya, 22 March 2015, the World Water Day. Residents of Kitui County and other arid and semi-arid areas of the country have been hard-hit by extremely poor rainfall this year while the government said in previous month that some 1.6 million people countrywide are facing acute starvation due to the drought and will need relief food over the next six months. Residents of Matinyani say they haven't seen a drop of rain in nearly four months. Thousands of Kenyans in rural areas walk tens of kilometers just to fetch water to drink and to be used in their homes. According to an estimate by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), 17 million people lack access to safe water in Kenya, where the drought is a perennial problem. (Photo by Dai Kurokawa/EPA)

A young bull flees from a Brazilian vaqueiro, or cowboy, competing in the “Pega de Boi” (Ox Catch) tournament in Cabrobo, Pernambuco State, Brazil, on September 4, 2022. The riders compete in pairs to retrieve a cord from a bull which has been released and runs away from them and they are timed on how quickly they can return with the cord. The leather clothing provides them with protection from the dense savannah vegetation which contains a lot of large thorns. Riders have been known to die competing in the tournament (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

Van cats, relatively large, have a chalky white coat, sometimes with ruddy coloration on the head and hindquarters, and have blue or amber eyes or have heterochromia, are seen at “Cat Villa”, established to protect the cats in Van, Turkey on January 20, 2021. Internationally valid “health certificate” is prepared for Van cats, visited by local and foreign tourists, within a project to protect their generations and increasing their numbers. Health certificates with information such as name, breed, gender, eye color, date of birth, tail feature, color, hearing status and identity are given to people who want to adopt cats. (Photo by Mesut Varol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)