Washington DCMarch 5, 2010
This week on National Geographic Weekend radio, host Boyd Matson speaks with guests about hope for people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, scarlet macaws, animal survival, compost, humpback whales, an Arctic journey, and dignity for Ethiopian mothers.
Hour 1
- National Geographic Emerging Explorer Zinhle “Zinny” Thabethe has a voice that moves audiences to tears, a voice that brings enormous hope to those living with HIV/AIDS. She is one of the lead vocalists in the Sinikithemba Choir, an internationally acclaimed HIV-positive vocal ensemble. But she is also a frontline activist in South Africa, providing medicine and counseling to those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. She joins Boyd in the studio to talk about how the most important medicine is hope.
- Sharon Matola was a mushroom expert, an Air Force survival specialist, and an Iowa housewife. Now she’s the director of the Belize Zoo. In his new book, The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, award-winning author Bruce Barcott chronicles Matola’s inspiring crusade to save the beautiful bird. Barcott joins Boyd to talk about the book and the remarkable woman at the center of the story.
- Have you seen the amazing YouTube video Battle at Kruger? More than fifty million people have. Boyd talks to David Budzinski, the tourist who caught the astonishing tournament of animal survival at a South African watering hole while on safari. Budzinski’s video is featured in the new National Geographic special Caught on Safari: Battle at Kruger.
- One man’s trash is another man’s compost. Seth Bauer, editorial director of the Green Guide, helps us grow green in this week’s Green Guide segment.
Hour 2
- As the director of Hawaii’s Dolphin Institute, Adam Pack spends plenty of time swimming with dolphins. But he has also spent plenty of time in the water with humpback whales. He talks with Boyd about attaching Crittercams to whales, and what he is learning from the resulting video footage.
- Young explorer Sarah McNair-Landry is currently trekking through the Arctic on an expedition with National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence emeritus Will Steger. McNair-Landry joins Boyd via satellite phone from Ellesmere Island to talk about keeping warm at night and scaring away the many polar bears they’ve encountered on the trip so far.
- Every year, more than 9,000 Ethiopian women suffer from a devastating childbirth injury that often leads to them being rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities. But the injury is easily corrected. Boyd talks to filmmaker Mary Olive Smith who, in the Nova documentary A Walk to Beautiful, tells the stories of five Ethiopian women who embark on a journey to reclaim their lost dignity.
- Boyd Matson tells of a walk across Arctic ice that leaves him with one foot in today and another in tomorrow!
Tune in to National Geographic Weekend on the Salem Radio Network or on XM/Sirius satellite radio (XM channel 133 Sundays at noon), subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or get the show streamed to your iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, or Android OS phone with Stitcher Radio.