"I spent 10 days traveling through Botswana, living out of my car and moving through remote desert landscapes in complete isolation, focused entirely on photographing the night sky"

Person holding light near large baobab trees under a star-filled night sky with the Milky Way visible.

An ancient island rising from the middle of Botswana's vast salt pans became the stunning backdrop for this 16-exposure image of the Milky Way, above towering boabab trees, captured by award-winning astrophotographer Stefano Pellegrini.

But reaching the remote location was far from easy. After struggling to find the route through the desert landscape, Pellegrini nearly gave up on the journey altogether. Everything changed when he spotted two Jeeps crossing the salt pan in the distance, and he decided to follow them.