Cleaning the heliostats at the Cerro Dominador Solar Power Plant, a 210-megawatt (MW) combined concentrated solar power and photovoltaic plant in the Atacama desert. The plant works on an approximate...

Atacama desert near San Pedro de Atacama.

Atacama desert near San Pedro de Atacama.

The Cerro Dominador Solar Power Plant, a 210-megawatt (MW) combined concentrated solar power and photovoltaic plant in the Atacama desert. The plant works on an approximate surface of 146 hectares and...

Atacama desert near San Pedro de Atacama.

Cleaning the heliostats at the Cerro Dominador Solar Power Plant, a 210-megawatt (MW) combined concentrated solar power and photovoltaic plant in the Atacama desert. The plant works on an approximate...

The Cerro Dominador Solar Power Plant, a 210-megawatt (MW) combined concentrated solar power and photovoltaic plant in the Atacama desert. The plant works on an approximate surface of 146 hectares and...

The Atacama landscape shows all of the forces that can carve the land and the work of wind and water erosion. Rains high up in the Andes mountains have led torrents of wáter pouring into Atacama dese...

Atacama desert near the oasis area that is San Pedro de Atacama at more that 3000 meters altitude. The rains in the north are linked to the altiplanic winter, which causes floods and mudslides.

The Atacama Desert near San Pedro de Atacama. Folding planes of mountain building, volcanic lava flows and the work of wind and water erosion.

The Cerro Dominador Solar Power Plant, a 210-megawatt (MW) combined concentrated solar power and photovoltaic plant in the Atacama desert. The plant works on an approximate surface of 146 hectares and...

A lake of waste water from the Escondida copper, gold and silver mine in the Atacama Desert.

The Sierra Gorda Este wind farm that supplies power to the Chuquicamata copper mine in Atacama desert near Calama.

The Atacama desert landscape showing all of the forces that can carve the land and the work of wind and water erosion. Rains high up in the Andes mountains have led torrents of wáter pouring into Ata...

The Atacama desert landscape showing all of the forces that can carve the land and the work of wind and water erosion. Rains high up in the Andes mountains have led torrents of wáter pouring into Ata...

The Cerro Dominador Solar Power Plant, a 210-megawatt (MW) combined concentrated solar power and photovoltaic plant in the Atacama desert. The plant works on an approximate surface of 146 hectares and...

The Cerro Dominador Solar Power Plant, a 210-megawatt (MW) combined concentrated solar power and photovoltaic plant in the Atacama desert. The plant works on an approximate surface of 146 hectares and...

A motorcyclist rides his bike through a locust swarm as locusts sweep across northeastern Kenya. The desert locusts have swept across into Kenya from Somalia and Ethiopia, destroying farm crops.

A tourist UAZ minivan during a break in their journey through the dry steppe of Uvs province.

A nomad family strap their possessions and tent (ger, yurt) to a train of Bactrian camels as they move to a new camp site five kilometres from their current pitch in the rocky Tarvagatain Gol Valley,...

A nomad family with their possessions and tent (ger, yurt) strapped to a train of Bactrian camels as they move to a new camp site five kilometres from their last pitch in the rocky Tarvagatain Gol Val...

US marines travel in vehicles on a security patrol.

Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas, known in Syriac as Mar Saba, a 5th century CE Greek Orthodox monastery complex in the Judaean Desert.

Monks swing inscence burners as they perform midnight prayers at the Monastery of St Paul the Anchorite, also known as the Monastery of the Tigers, a Coptic Orthodox monastery dating back to the 4th C...

Tourists climb a sand dune in the so-called Dune Field at Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert. This protected sensitive environmental area has limited access to the public.

GW2239, Namibia, Sossusvlei, 2005. The Dead Vlei at Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert. This dead vlei area was separated from the water access by a dune and dried up. This protected sensitive environment...

GW2237, Namibia, Sossusvlei, 2005. The Dead Vlei at Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert. This dead vlei area was separated from the water access by a dune and dried up. This protected sensitive environment...

Dead trees at the Dead Vlei at Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert. This dead vlei area was separated from the water access by a dune and dried up. This protected sensitive environmental area has limited a...

A sand dune in the so-called Dune Field at Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert. This protected sensitive environmental area has limited access to the public.

Tourists climb a sand dune in the so-called Dune Field at Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert. This protected sensitive environmental area has limited access to the public.

Sand slowly overwhelming an old abandoned house. Kolmanskop, an old diamond mining town 10 km outside Luderitz, is slowly being drowned by sand dunes from the surrounding desert. The diamond rich sand...

Sand slowly overwhelming an old abandoned house. Kolmanskop, an old diamond mining town 10 km outside Luderitz, is slowly being drowned by sand dunes from the surrounding desert. The diamond rich sand...

Sand slowly overwhelming an old abandoned house. Kolmanskop, an old diamond mining town 10 km outside Luderitz, is slowly being drowned by sand dunes from the surrounding desert. The diamond rich sand...

Sand slowly overwhelming an old abandoned house. Kolmanskop, an old diamond mining town 10 km outside Luderitz, is slowly being drowned by sand dunes from the surrounding desert. The diamond rich sand...

A man climbs out of his temporary shelter at the so-called Guantanamo artisinal mine in Tagharaba. Artisinal mining is one of the few sources of employment in this part of Niger.

Stalls at the 'Cassoua Dunia' (world market) at the Tagharaba gold mine.

Stalls at the 'Cassoua Dunia' (world market) at the Tagharaba gold mine.

A truck converted to carry a water tanker which it delivers to the parched Tagharaba gold mine.

A miner is lowered down a shaft at the Taghabara gold mine.

A miner is lowered down a shaft at the Taghabara gold mine.

A stall at the Tagharaba gold mine.

A worker operates a machine at the Taghabara gold mine.

Miners at the Taghabara gold mine warm themselves by a fire at night.

Workers feed ore into a machine for crushing rocks in to powder from which the gold will be recovered at the Taghabara gold mine.

A worker at the Taghabara gold mine rests beside a machine for crushing the ore to powder from which the gold will be recovered.

Ibrahim Saleh Ary weighs out 21 carats of gold. He is the boss of the Taghabara gold mine where he has the operating license 640 shafts, but he lets the artisans work too.

Men search for gold are at the Taghabara gold mine.

A mound of tailings from mines at the Taghabara gold mine.

A man enters a shelter at the Tagharaba Gold Mine.

A truck converted to carry tanks of water which it delivers to the parched Tagharaba gold mine.

People selling blankets and cases at the 'Cassoua Dunia' (world market) at the Tagharaba gold mine.

A worker feeds ore into a machine for crushing rocks in to powder from which the gold will be recovered at the Taghabara gold mine.

Young Fulani miner digging for gold ore at the bottom of a 112 metre shaft at the Taghabara gold mine.

Young Fulani miner digging for gold ore at the bottom of a 112 metre shaft at the Taghabara gold mine.

Ibrahim Saleh Ary weighs out 21 carats of gold. He is the boss of the Taghabara gold mine where he has the operating license 640 shafts, but he lets the artisans work too.

The departure of the weekly convoy to Arlit, fifty cars accompanied by the army transfer gold from the Tagharaba Gold Mine to Arlit.

The departure of the weekly convoy to Arlit, fifty cars accompanied by the army transfer gold from the Tagharaba Gold Mine to Arlit.

Miners breaking rocks at an artisanal gold mine.

The weekly convoy to Arlit, fifty cars accompanied by the army transfer gold from the Tagharaba Gold Mine to Arlit.

A man with a computer for hire at the 'Cassoua Dunia' (world market) at the Tagharaba gold mine.

A miner leaves a makeshift shelter at an artisanal gold mine.

Miners at an artisanal gold mine.

Miners at an artisanal gold mine.

A gold trader who buys gold from the various artisanal gold mines that operate in the Sahara Desert in the north of the country, holds an ingot which will be sold in Dubai or India.

A gold trader who buys gold from the various artisanal gold mines that operate in the Sahara Desert in the north of the country, prepares to melt it into ingots which will be sold in Dubai and India.

A man melts gold to make ingots at a gold trader's workshop. Traders buy gold from the various artisanal gold mines that operate in the Sahara Desert in the north of the country and sell it in Dubai o...

Near the city trucks loaded with soil residue containing gold that has been treated with mercury are brought to a site near the city. These residues are treated with sodium cyanide to release gold con...

A youth prepares sodium cyanide at a site near the city where trucks loaded with soil residue containing gold that has been treated with mercury are brought. These residues are treated with sodium cya...

Men working at a site near the city where trucks loaded with soil residue, containing gold, that has been treated with mercury are treated with sodium cyanide to release gold contained in them.

A man working at a site near the city where trucks loaded with soil residue, containing gold, that has been treated with mercury are treated with sodium cyanide to release gold contained in them.

Men working at a site near the city where trucks loaded with soil residue, containing gold, that has been treated with mercury are treated with sodium cyanide to release gold contained in them.

A gold trader who buys gold from the various artisanal gold mines that operate in the Sahara Desert in the north of the country, prepares to melt it into ingots which will be sold in Dubai and India.

A worker at the Tabelote gold mine.

Workers at the Tabelote gold mine.

A youth working underground at the Tabelote gold mine.

Workers at the Tabelote gold mine.

Workers at the Tabelote gold mine.

Workers at the Tabelote gold mine.

Ingots at a gold trader's workshop. Traders buy gold from the various artisanal gold mines that operate in the Sahara Desert in the north of the country and sell it in Dubai or India.

Workers in a rough makeshift camp at the Tabelote gold mine.

Workers washing in a rough makeshift camp at the Tabelote gold mine.

The Tabelote gold mine.

A boy eating rice at the Tabelote gold mine.

Workers at the Tabelote gold mine.

Workers at the Tabelote gold mine.

Between Arlit and the new city of gold Taghabara it is absolutely necessary to have an escort of the National Guard to accompany the vehicles that transport the goods as well as the people who will tr...

Workers at the Tabelote gold mine.

Between Arlit and the new city of gold Taghabara it is absolutely necessary to have an escort of the National Guard to accompany the vehicles that transport the goods as well as the people who will tr...

Between Arlit and the new city of gold Taghabara it is absolutely necessary to have an escort of the National Guard to accompany the vehicles that transport the goods as well as the people who will tr...

Between Arlit and the new city of gold Taghabara it is absolutely necessary to have an escort of the National Guard to accompany the vehicles that transport the goods as well as the people who will tr...