1


Man and Hieroglyphs, Al Kurru, Sudan, 2003
Photograph by Randy Olson

A Sudanese man illuminates hieroglyphs in an ancient tomb in Al Kurru. Sudan is strewn with the ruins of Nubian kings, who once ruled all of Egypt. Today, Sudan's government struggles to control its own country, paralyzed by decades of civil, ethnic, and religious conflict.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Shattered Sudan: Drilling for Oil, Hoping for Peace," February 2003, National

2


Scuba Diver, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, 1986
Photograph by Bill Curtsinger

A crack in the ice shelf, called a lead, gives a diver access to (and escape from) the frigid waters of Antarctica's McMurdo Sound. Those who brave the water temperatures of 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 2.2 degrees Celsius) here are rewarded with unsurpassed visibility and unique sea life that has developed in isolation for some 40 million years.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Under Antarctic Ice," April 1986, National Geographic magazine)

3


Afar Cattle Herders, Ethiopia, 2005
Photograph by Carsten Peter

Zebu cattle driven by Afar herdsmen raise clouds of dust in the baked Danakil Desert near Semerea, Ethiopia. The Danakil is among the most forbidding places on Earth, a land of dry sands, active volcanoes, burning salt flats, temperatures that often top 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius), choking winds, and suffocating days of no wind at all.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Africa's Danakil Desert: Cruelest Place on Earth," October 2005, National Geographic magazine)

4


Fire Dancer, Bora-Bora, Society Islands, 1997
Photograph by Jodi Cobb

A riot of light illuminates the night at a Bora-Bora resort. Fire dancing is a relatively recent Polynesian tradition, originated by a Samoan dancer in 1946. It is performed with knives wired with cotton towels soaked with a flammable liquid.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "French Polynesia: Charting a New Course," June 1997, National Geographic magazine)

5


Nighttime Igloo, Moriusaq, Greenland, 2006
Photograph by David McLain

Light shines between the ice blocks of an igloo in Moriusaq, Greenland. Igloos are usually dome-shaped and are made of large slabs cut from compacted snow. A skilled native Greenlander can build one in just a couple of hours.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Last Days of the Ice Hunters," January 2006, National Geographic magazine)