Since the beginnings of exploration in Madagascar Ibity Massif has been a botanist's paradise because of its many unique species. When fire engulfed the mountain last October National Geographic funded a study of the inferno's impact—and how widespread burning has contributed to the destruction of the African island's vegetation.
National Geographic Traveler and Conservation International this week named 12 outstanding tourism finalists in the 2004 World Legacy Awards, which recognize excellence in environmental, social, and cultural travel. Finalists include travel enterprises in natural travel, heritage tourism, hotels and resorts, and destination stewardship.
In the Himalaya hair-raising healing rituals are taking place as the sick seek the powers of local oracles. In sometimes-violent rituals, oracles suck what are thought to be disease-causing substances from their patients. (A related story airs Monday, May 24, on our U.S. cable television series Taboo.)
On June 8, 2004, at National Geographic's Washington, D.C.,
headquarters, Queen Noor of Jordan is scheduled to again present the
World Legacy Awards (WLA) for sustainable tourism—a joint
program of National Geographic Traveler magazine and
Conservation International.
Dinosaur fossil hunters have found a "very good" Tyrannosaurus rex on a Montana ranch. Not content to announce their finds after the expedition, they're inviting the world to follow the dig as it happens, online.
As the blockbuster Brad Pitt film Troy storms the cinemas, archaeologists and historians are shedding light on the ancient city and epic that inspired the movie.
Adventurer Nick Middleton traveled to malarial, crocodile-infested swamps of Indonesia to see how tribes or tree house dwellers and island-builders survive the great muck. (A related story airs Sunday, May 16, on our U.S. cable television program Going to Extremes: Swamp.
Bloodsucking bedbugs are sneaking back between the sheets some 50 years after being all but wiped out in the developed world, a new study says. The insects are sweeping cities across North America, Western Europe and Australia.
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a "living" museum where one can see about 40 species of Southwestern birds at all times. The walk-in aviary, about the size of a football field, enables photographers to get up close to birds such as the Inca dove, hooded oriole, pyrrhuloxia, and Gambel's quail.
Filled with larger-than-life heroes and epic battles,
the Icelandic sagas may be the most accessible of all medieval
literature and a source of inspiration to classic
authors like J.R.R. Tolkien.
More than a millennium ago, fierce power struggles raged between Maya kings in the city of Waka, deep in the Guatemalan jungle. Today, the city is once again under assault, this time from drug smugglers, cattle ranchers, and the impoverished farmers they hire as arsonists.
A rafting team could soon join the select few to navigate the Nile River from its source to the sea. Traversing wild rapids and rebel-held territory en route, the paddlers recently crossed into Egypt and expect to reach the Mediterranean later this month.
Amateur treasure hunters who comb the muck along the River Thames in London are unearthing artifacts that shed new light on childhood during the Middle Ages. An exhibition of these finds, which include rare toy guns, figurines, and other miniature objects, will soon tour Britain.
Paris's Louvre Museum announced this week that the wood on which the Mona Lisa is painted is bending. Experts say the da Vinci painting's deterioration has aroused "some worry."
This week's TravelWatch column profiles an English walking tour company that leads clients along age-old pilgrim paths, farm tracks, and hunting trails in Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. The sustainable tourism prizewinner provides authentic experiences not found on package tours.
