In the dark, early hours of October 13th, 2016, the Nathan E. Stewart tugboat and articulated barge surged south through the vast, turbulent waters modernly known as Seaforth Channel in the heart of Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest, in Heiltsuk First Nation territories. The American-based tug (also referred to as the “NES”) was returning to Vancouver...
By: Nejma Belarbi, based on an article published on Voices for Biodiversity My Life for the Land, written by Nanai photographer and writer Kiliii Yuyan, illuminates the importance of viewing conservation through the Indigenous lens. The scientific community has begun to recognize Indigenous knowledge as pivotal to conservation efforts. One commonly overlooked reality is the...
Asha Stuart is a Young Explorer grantee, and is also part of the Young Explorer Leadership and Development Program. A National Geographic Society grant funded her work so that she could go and document the Siddi tribal people, an African diasporic community that was forcibly taken to India between the 15th and 19th century. Exploring...
Since my daughter Pilar was born three years ago, I became a different human being. It’s been a dream of mine to develop a series of books that will inspire and educate children, with a special emphasis on empowering young girls to dream big, and to understand they should aim for the stars to pursue...
A wind was blowing from the west, sending dust devils spinning across northern Kenya’s plains as our guide, Sammy Lemiruni, explained how to track black rhino on foot. We were in Samburu-land en route to Sera Rhino Sanctuary, which became the first sanctuary in East Africa to offer a pioneering rhino-tracking safaris to tourists in...
Text by Jon Waterhouse | Photos by Mary Marshall National Geographic Explorers Traditional community on the Giraffe River (Bahr-el-Zaraf) in South Sudan, 2011 This article first appeared in Langscape Magazine 6:2, Winter 2017, available from the magazine’s website. The article can also be read on Langscape Magazine’s Medium site. Langscape Magazine is a Terralingua publication. We are now living...
In an exciting collaboration to better understand the world’s most complicated watersheds, the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have joined forces to create the Global Rivers Observatory (GRO)—an ambitious effort committed to the continuous study of watershed health around the world. So how cool that they recently invited us...
Telling and sharing stories, from the scientific to the personal, is one the most important tools we have to survive climate change. Stories help us to share facts, knowledge, and experiences about the causes and effects of a warming world. But more than just educational tools, stories are how we make sense of the world...
Changing Indigenous Culture in Cambodia: War, and Now Eight months, 41 days in the field. That involved 7 provinces, 14 buses, 6 cars, 16 days on motorbikes, 2 tuk tuks, 1 river raft, hours of muddy walks, 5 translators, over 20 homestay floors to sleep on, 24 families, 1 MacBook filled with data, 2 digital...
Recently, Mary and I had the privilege of returning to Shepherdstown, West Virginia to join over a hundred Native youth at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) located on the banks of the Potomac River. The event, the Native Youth Community Adaptation and Leadership Congress (NYCALC), occurs each summer on this...
[This text is from an official press release of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.] (MAHINA, TAHITI) – Legendary voyaging canoes Hokulea, Hikianalia and their crews were welcomed by the Mahina community yesterday. The crews enjoyed performances of traditional song and dance from people of all ages during the arrival celebration hosted on the shores of Mahina, which...
[This text is from an official press release of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.] (TAHITI) – Legendary Polynesian voyaging canoes Hokulea and Hikianalia have arrived in Tahiti. This arrival marks the first time the sister canoes have reunited since the vessels embarked on separate Malama Honua sail plans in spring of 2015 – when Hikianalia sailed...
We’ve all been there when Google Maps goes horribly wrong. We’re on our way out to dinner when it tells us to turn onto a ramp that doesn’t exist. Or we’re frantically trying to find an alternative route around the parking lot that is the highway when our GPS has us make a U-turn, on...
“I have a saying: Don’t confuse poverty with laziness,” says Doña Francisca Ros Gómez*, also known as Doña Fran. She is a 37-year-old single mother of four living in Huica, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. She is also a coffee producer, beekeeper, mushroom grower, gardener and excellent cook. Since 2012, Doña Fran began diversifying the crops that she grows...
[From an official press release of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.] (ANAKENA BEACH, RAPA NUI) – Voyaging canoe Hokulea and her crew were welcomed and celebrated by the Rapa Nui community at a traditional landing ceremony held yesterday. Hosted at the historic Anakena Beach, Hokulea’s official arrival marks her second visit to Rapa Nui since 1999 and her...