National Geographic 2022 01 US
National Geographic 2022 01 US
National Geographic 2022 01 US
2022
A health-care worker in
India goes to extreme
lengths to vaccinate rural
populations.
SPECIAL ISSUE
JUST BY READING THIS MAGAZINE, YOU’RE SUPPORTING THE GROWTH OF OUR FORESTS.
This holiday season, give the gift that keeps on living. Because when timber is used to make products,
including paper and packaging, we grow nearly twice the amount in its place. So make the most of our
natural resource by recycling your holiday cards, catalogs and boxes when you’re done enjoying them.
Choose paper & packaging and be a force for nature.
© 2021 and ® Paper and Packaging Board. Please recycle your paper and boxes. From the Makers of Paper and Packaging
Banca do Antfer
Telegram: https://t.me/bancadoantfer
Issuhub: https://issuhub.com/user/book/1712
Issuhub: https://issuhub.com/user/book/41484
SPECIAL ISSUE
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VO LU M E 241 N U M B E R 1
THE YEAR IN
THE YEAR IN DISCOVERY: Humanity’s strides ranged from the microscopic to the cosmic. ............. Page 8
ESSAY: We fought off threats, but many roared back. In 2021, just holding on was a victory. ......... Page 10
01.2022 01.2022
T
he 2021 “Year in Pictures”
issue, our second, feels
very different from the
first. Many people have
Hotter weather and
drier vegetation fueled
destructive wildfires
in western states.
a pandemic worldwide,
racial and political strife SPECIAL ISSUE SPECIAL ISSUE
The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world,
has funded the work of 15 photographers (marked with the yellow border logo) whose images
appear in this issue. Learn about those contributors’ projects above and at natgeo.org/impact.
H I S F U T U R E C A N B E YO U R L E GAC Y
Need a will?
www.givingdocs.com/national-geographic/
P H OTO : J O E L SA RTO R E
N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C P H OTO A R K
C R E AT E A L E GAC Y O F YO U R OW N
Yes! Please send me information on leaving a gift to the Mail to: National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society. Office of Planned Giving
1145 17th Street, N.W.
The National Geographic Society has already been included Washington, D.C. 20036-4688
in my estate plans.
Contact: [email protected]
I would like to speak to someone about making a gift. (800) 226-4438
Please call me. natgeo.org/give/future-gifts
NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE EMAIL
The National Geographic Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Our federal tax ID number is 53-0193519. 2 2 P GA D 0 1
M I L L I O N -Y E A R - O L D
MAMMOTH DNA
Two mammoth molars
more than a million years
old yielded the oldest
DNA ever sequenced. The
discovery hints that with
the right conditions, DNA
could help scientists unlock
evolutionary secrets even
further in the past.
LU XO R’ S LO S T C I T Y
A 3,400-year-old metropolis
built by Tutankhamun’s
grandfather was hidden
for millennia by Egyptian
sands. Found west of mod-
ern Luxor, the warren of
8 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
2021 brought important revelations
and historic advances in
human knowledge, from the READ MORE
ABOUT 2021’S
microscopic to the cosmic. SCIENCE NEWS AND
B R E A K T H RO U G H S AT
N G M .C O M /JA N 2 0 2 2
THE COMPLETE
HUMAN GENOME
Scientists made waves sequence of a human
in 2001 with the first genome, spanning
draft sequence of the 3.055 billion base
human genome. But pairs across 23 chro-
headlines celebrating mosomes. The study,
a complete human which was posted
genome were prema- before peer review,
ture. Despite years adds nearly 200 mil-
of additional work, lion base pairs and
some 8 percent was multiple corrections COSMIC
still missing—until to prior sequencing COLLISIONS
May 2021, when 99 efforts. But more work A billion years ago, a
researchers unveiled remains: Scientists black hole smashed into
what they called the have yet to sequence a dead star—and in Janu-
“first truly complete” the Y chromosome. ary 2020 scientists finally
caught it in action. Ten
days later, another clash
was detected elsewhere
in space. Each cosmic
M A L A R I A VA C C I N E V I C T O R Y collision, reported last
June in the Astrophysical
The World Health Organization endorsed Journal Letters, sent out
the first malaria vaccine, launching a ripples in the fabric of
widespread rollout of the lifesaving shots. space-time. The study of
With a 12-month efficacy of 56 percent in these gravitational waves
clinical trials, the Mosquirix vaccine won’t is still in its infancy; the
replace other prevention methods but is collisions suggest there’s
a valuable tool in fighting the disease. plenty more to see.
JA N UA RY 2 0 2 2 9
10
SEPT. 17-19
THE PANDEMIC TOLL MOUNTS
Washington, D.C.
P H OTO G R A P H BY
STEPHEN WILKES
Planted on parkland
around the Washington
Monument, the small white
flags were both tributes
to and symbols of each
life lost to COVID-19 in
the United States. Artist
Suzanne Brennan Firsten-
berg devised the installation
to express the enormity of
the national death toll—and
also the pain of individual
deaths, as mourners deco-
rated flags with loved ones’
names and photos. During
the roughly three weeks
that the installation was
in place, the U.S. passed a
grim milestone: 700,000
COVID fatalities.
IN THE MIDST OF 20
ACRES OF FLAGS, LOVED
ONES KNOW THEY ARE
NO LONGER MOURNING
ON THEIR OWN.”
—Suzanne Brennan
Firstenberg, artist
Y E A R I N PICTURES ESSAY BY CYNTHIA GORN
U N I T E D S TAT E S • A RG E N T I N A • A F G H A N I S TA N • D E M . R E P. C O N G O
S TAY
EY Y E A R I N PICTURES
F
how wrong he had been. Over a Documenting the year inevitably consensus that health-care workers and the elderly must be first
stretch of weeks during March and pulled Fadli into scenes of anguish, on the priority lists for protection.
April, Fadli had let himself believe despair, and loss. But he also made
that life as he knew it was righting pictures in places where he chose to OR MANY AMERICANS, that anticipation
itself: He saw a nationwide inocula- see hope in the ferocity of human of 2021’s emotional respite endured for ... you know
tion campaign, markets starting to resolve. A city bus station repurposed ... a week. Six days, technically. In the section of
bustle again, malls reopening. as a mass vaccination site, crowded this issue labeled Conflict, you’ll see Mel D. Cole’s
But no. It was like that lull in the to the walls with Indonesians deter- shoving-melee photograph of January 6—as we
horror movies, the brief fake serenity mined to get their shots. A classroom now tend to refer to the violent breach of the U.S.
before the thing roars up again. Now of face-masked children, respectfully Capitol by a mob protesting the 2020 election
in this new burial area, one of six dressed in necktie or hijab, their results that turned President Donald J. Trump
commissioned when the pandemic teacher amid the wooden desks with out of office. As editors sifted through thousands
filled the city’s main public cemetery, her arms full of schoolwork. Her of photographs from National Geographic’s 2021
earthmoving machinery was clearing masked smile shows in her eyes. storytelling, they found their themes (and allitera-
more ground even as mourners bent This is the second time that tion): COVID fills another section, as do Climate and Conservation.
over fresh graves. National Geographic has dedicated There’s no abundance of respite in these pictures, to be sure.
At the entrance gate, Fadli noted, its January issue to photographers’ But there is beauty, and resolve, and hope. “Ordinary people,”
hearses pulled up every few minutes impressions from the just concluded Muhammad Fadli likes to say, “trying to help others.”
to deliver the dead. Frequently they year. In January 2021 the magazine The lone man in mask and gown, standing above a wooded
converged and had to wait in line published a visual distillation of the green valley, is Nazir Ahmed. He’s a health-care worker in the
for their turn. When drivers swung previous 12 months’ agitation and Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir, looking for isolated
open their rear doors, Fadli realized grief. Back then it was a relief simply to shepherds to vaccinate against COVID-19.
that many of the hearses held more be done with that “harrowing year,” as The woman cradling a baby alpaca is Alina Surquislla Gomez.
than one casket. “Some were carrying Editor in Chief Susan Goldberg wrote She works for a Peruvian breeders’ cooperative, advising tradi-
four,” he told me in early September, in the issue, using language more dig- tional alpaqueros whose Andean water and grazing lands are
and as both of us paused to picture nified than “Dumpster fire,” which was menaced by mining pollution and climate change.
this, our phone conversation momen- a favored descriptor for 2020 where I The Kenyan gently laying a gloved hand on a cheetah’s flank
tarily fell silent. live. The coming year seemed to hold is a veterinarian named Michael Njoroge; he and the two wildlife
I was at home in California, where so much possibility—the fastest new specialists with him were part of a five-day effort, involving truck
five northern counties were aflame vaccine development in history, the transport and IV hookups and surgeons, to keep a wounded wild
and a separate 220,000-acre fire still most ambitious global inoculation animal alive. If you saw the August story on National Geographic’s
was advancing toward South Lake plans in history, an international digital platform, which was documented by Nairobi-based
JAN. 27 CLIMATE CHANGE FUELS DISASTERS, EXTREME WEATHER
Originally brought
to Argentina for timber
plantations, non-native
pine trees now have
grown out of control,
creating an environ-
mental tinderbox
and an ecologically
fragile system in the
Patagonia region.
Near the town of El
Bolsón, a flashlight’s
beam illuminates some
remaining trees of
native species—maqui,
ciprés, ñire—dusted
with ash. Here, as in
other spots around
the globe, climate
change exacerbates
factors that create
perfect fire conditions.
UNLESS WE
MANAGE THE
NATURAL WORLD
AROUND US
BETTER, WE ARE
DESTROYING THE
VERY FOUNDATION
OF OUR LIFE ON
THIS PLANET.”
—Elliott Harris,
UN chief economist
16
El Bolsón, Argentina P H OTO G R A P H BY ALEJANDRO CHASKIELBERG
AUG. 04 A FAMILY DIVIDED BY WAR
MY JIGAR GOOSHA
[DEAREST OF ALL]
ARE ENEMIES OF
ONE ANOTHER. I’VE
CRIED SO OFTEN,
SO MANY TIMES
THAT I’VE LOST THE
SIGHT OF MY EYES.”
—Hafiza, speaking of
her sons
18
Faizabad, Afghanistan P H OTO G R A P H BY KIANA HAYERI
Y E A R I N PICTURES
E
animal habitats and the climate crisis’s toll on Africa, and she are fewer than 7,000 adults left in the
was having a hard time disentangling one kind of sorrow from wild, what about everything else?”
another. “There was a will to try to save that cheetah,” Sobecki
said. “The efforts were ambitious and sweeping. I don’t want to VERYTHING else.
minimize that.” No easy delineation
If events had transpired differently, though ... if the Wildlife separates the images
Service vet had not been off duty the day they found the chee- of this year. In 2021 the
tah or the substitute team had arrived more quickly ... if human triumph of COVID-19
behavior hadn’t cost cheetahs more than 90 percent of their his- vaccine development
toric range … Yes, you could make the case that this particular set off its own dis-
cheetah was perhaps meant to have expired alone, under a bush, cord. (Who knew we
undisturbed by probing hands. But sometimes we fasten on small could summon such
stories to help us hold bigger ones in our heads. rage over injections
to protect us from
death?) Nearly every attempt at con-
servation—of species, of economies,
of spots on Earth—took place against
the existential backdrop of climate
change. It was August 9 when the
United Nations’ Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change released
a 2,000-page compilation of bleak
THIS WAS THE YEAR OF TEXAS’ assessments and predictions. Its sixth
such report in the past two decades,
DEEP FREEZE IN FEBRUARY, this one was described by UN Secre-
CANADA’S HIGHEST TEMPERATURES tary-General António Guterres as a
“code red for humanity.” Less than
IN RECORDED HISTORY IN JUNE, a week after the report’s release, the
AND GERMANY AND BELGIUM’S 220,000-acre Caldor wildfire here
in California ignited and spread
LETHAL FLASH FLOODING IN JULY. through drought-parched foothills
20 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
Y E A R I N PICTURES
T
moment might be both a horrifying streets, because so many vacationers thought vaccination had
and a magnificent time to be alive on finally made it safe.
the planet. “We have so much power,”
she insists. “There’s so much that we HE PROVINCETOWN revelry was referred
can do” to combat climate change. to, in the dry phrasing of the ensuing Centers for
(You can read highlights from their Disease Control and Prevention alert, as “large
conversation on page 60, and much public gatherings in a town in Barnstable County,
more of it online at natgeo.com.) Massachusetts.” For those of us who’d never had
As you examine these photos, occasion to learn what breakthrough infections
maybe consider some of the 2021 were, now we knew: Vaccinated people who
headlines that did deliver on emo- traveled home from Provincetown were testing
tional respite, or at least one genu- positive for COVID-19. Multistate tracing found
ine moment of OK, breathe, managed only five hospitalizations among the 469 reported
to make it through that. The New cases, and no deaths—so, yes, the vaccine pro-
Orleans levees held, remember? tects. It doesn’t entirely prevent transmission, though, meaning
The Caldor fire turned away without no relaxing of our collective vigilance, not yet.
21
SEPT. 21 A GORILLA AND HER RESCUER
Even in bleak
years, conservationists
are bright spots. They
work to preserve wild
places, protect cultural
heritage sites, defend
threatened species.
In the Democratic
Republic of the Congo,
Virunga National Park
rangers pioneered
the care of orphaned
mountain gorillas. Pho-
tographer Brent Stirton
was there in 2007 when
ranger Andre Bauma
found an infant gorilla
clinging to her dead
mother. He named the
orphan Ndakasi—and
would be her lifelong
caregiver. The rangers
built, and still run, an
orphanage in Virunga
for the gorillas. Stirton
visited regularly. He
was there in September
when Ndakasi, dying
of an undiagnosed
illness, crawled into
Bauma’s arms.
VIA GETTY IMAGES
GORILLAS’ SOCIETY,
IT’S MORE HUMANE
THAN OURS.
IT’S CARING AND
ORDERED, AND
THEY LOOK AFTER
EVERYBODY IN
THEIR FAMILY.”
—Brent Stirton,
photographer
22
Dem. Rep. Congo P H OTO G R A P H BY BRENT STIRTON
One asset soars above all others
n Kit from U S Money Reserve!
©2021 U.S. Money Reserve. *Based on the change in gold’s price from $263.80/oz. (10/27/00) to $1,902.75/oz. (06/02/21).
The markets for coins are unregulated. Prices can rise or fall and carry some risks. The company is not affiliated with the U.S.
Government and the U.S. Mint. Past performance of the coin or the market cannot predict future performance. Prices may be more or
less based on current market conditions. All calls recorded for quality assurance. Coins enlarged to show detail. Offer void where prohibited.
Y E A R I N PICTURES
THE PANDEMIC
ISN’T GOING
ANYWHERE,” SAID
A RESTAURATEUR
WHOSE BUSINESS
HAD CRATERED. image that precedes this article. He was 45 feet in the air, photo-
graphing from an elevated lift that his crew had been allowed to
“BUT WE’RE NOT wheel onto the National Mall in Washington, D.C. When making
GOING ANYWHERE what Wilkes calls his Day to Night pictures, he works around the
clock, taking multiple photos and later merging them into one
EITHER. WE’RE sweeping image. For this particular Day to Night, he focused for
STRONGER 30 hours on the installation spread across 20 acres at the base
of the Washington Monument: white flags, each representing a
THAN THAT.” COVID-19 death in the United States.
“A sea of flags,” Wilkes said.
Then he corrected himself. Wait, Wilkes said. Not exactly a sea.
“Because of the height I’m at, I can see them almost as individu-
als,” he said. “They remind me of flickering stars.”
The artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg designed the three-
week installation as a giant grid, with open paths to let people
“The pandemic isn’t going any- walk among the flags, write names on them to remember the
where,” Provincetown restaurant dead, and plant new flags as the death toll continued to grow.
owner Rob Anderson said when I A large sign at the entrance carried the latest national cumula-
called in August to ask how he and tive numbers, which Firstenberg was updating by hand every
others were managing. “But we’re not day. “When I came yesterday, it was 666,624,” Wilkes said. “This
going anywhere either. We’re stronger afternoon it’s … ” He hesitated. I imagined him up there on his
than that. We’re still standing.” platform, holding his camera, squinting at the distant number
Like others in town, Anderson to read it off right.
watched his business crater in the “670,032,” he said.
weeks after the Provincetown break- We did the math in our heads.
through news, and he suggested I In the morning there’d been rain, Wilkes said. “I see an older
consider the way a tightrope walker gentleman, walking through the flags,” he said. “I see a woman
reaches the end of each rope. “What sitting on the ground. Just planted a flag. She’s African American,
do you do? You look ahead,” he said. has this light-green shirt on, she’s with—looks like her husband.
“And you stay balanced. So that’s They’re holding hands.”
what we do.” The afternoon light was doing something remarkable to the
This has stayed with me: the tight- monument’s shadowing, Wilkes said: luminous on one side,
rope walker. I was thinking about dark on another. “Beautiful,” he said. “And it’s starting to clear
it—how hard 2021 has made us work up. It’s spectacular, when the sun comes out. Because the white
sometimes, just trying to remain flags just glow.” j
upright—when I called photographer
Stephen Wilkes, who as we spoke Cynthia Gorney is a National Geographic contributing writer.
was shooting the foldout panoramic She wrote about toxic wildfire pollution in the April 2021 issue.
25
Y E A R I N PICTURES CHAPTER ONE
INDIA • D I ST R I C T O F C O LU M B I A • INDONESIA
Brothers of the
Phi Beta Sigma frater-
nity’s founding chapter
haven’t truly graduated
from Howard University
until they complete
a half-century-old
tradition: a joyous,
choreographed stroll.
Passersby “stop—they
stop!—because they
know the culture, the
history,” says Travis
Xavier Brown (at far
right), a 2021 theater
graduate. “It’s a rite
of passage.” The pan-
demic forced Howard
to switch to online
classes, but as COVID-
19 cases fell, the school
opted to hold a joint,
in-person commence-
ment for the classes of
2020 and 2021.
TO GET TO STROLL
WITH ALL MY
BROTHERS—THAT
WAS LITERALLY
THE FINISHING
TOUCH OF MY
HOWARD CAREER.”
—Travis Xavier Brown,
Howard graduate
31
JULY 21 WAVES OF COVID TAKE A TOLL
Relatives pour
rose water and offer
flowers at a COVID-19
victim’s grave in Cilin-
cing, North Jakarta.
Rorotan Public Ceme-
tery opened in March
with space for 7,200
plots, but it quickly
began filling up as
Indonesia suffered a
huge spike in cases in
July. At the peak, the
world’s fourth most
populous country saw
an average of 50,000
cases a day.
PEOPLE DON’T
UNDERSTAND
WHAT IS GOING ON
IN TERMS OF THE
SPREAD OF THE
VIRUS AND HOW
DANGEROUS IT IS.”
—Irma Hidayana,
co-founder of
Indonesian data
collective LaporCovid-19
32
North Jakarta, Indonesia P H OTO G R A P H BY MUHAMMAD FADLI
BY BIJAL P. TRIVEDI
IT WAS SUPPOSED to be a
triumphant year, the year we defeated
COVID-19. Revolutionary vaccines—
developed at breakneck speed from
genetic technology decades in the
making—were rolling out, ushering
in the largest global immunization
campaign in history. Lockdowns, iso-
lation, masking, and sparsely attended
funerals would give way to open bor-
ders, family reunions, and rebounding
economies. In 2021 life would return
to normal.
What we didn’t know, though, was
that the vaccination drive would falter.
In the United States, millions spurned
vaccines despite a deadly winter surge
followed by another in the summer.
Scientists making discoveries and
adjusting recommendations aroused
suspicion. Misinformation and snake oil
spread as rapidly as the virus. Vaccines
were denounced as a form of govern-
ment control; masks a violation of
personal liberty. In much of the world,
by contrast, immunizations were
simply, tragically, unavailable.
As we squandered the opportunity
to reach herd immunity, the virus took
advantage. SARS-CoV-2 multiplied,
yielding countless mutations. With
each genetic change came a chance
for the virus to grow deadlier—to dodge
the immune system, infect cells more
easily, trigger more severe disease,
spread across borders. We were at the
Opportunities Lost: mercy of high-speed natural selection.
New strains of the virus and uneven Thus began the rise of the variants:
Alpha, in the United Kingdom; Beta,
responses to vaccines delayed the in South Africa; Gamma, in Brazil; and
then, from India, Delta.
world’s return to normal. More infectious and possibly more
34 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
Y E A R I N P I CT U R E S : COVID
RNA
An evolving threat
Scientists can identify transmission trends when they
study SARS-CoV-2 genomes. The genetic lineages of
the sampled genomes with mutations all link back
to the original virus first identified in Wuhan, China.
Mutations in early 2020, thought to increase the virus’s
transmissibility, were a harbinger of what was to come.
January 7, 2020
The COVID-19
genome is isolated. 20F
Original
strain
19A
SOURCES: STUART C. RAY, JOHNS HOPKINS U. SCHOOL OF MEDICINE; EMILY N. POND, JOHNS HOPKINS CORONAVIRUS RESOURCE
CENTER; ALBA GRIFONI, LA JOLLA INSTITUTE; DANIEL S. CHERTOW, NIH; GISAID; NEXTSTRAIN; WHO; CDC; OUR WORLD IN DATA
INFECTION AND
Early 2021 brought a glimpse of normal life as
COVID-19 vaccines began to be administered. But a
new threat was starting to emerge. Slight changes
to the virus’s genetic code were steering the
pandemic in even more dangerous directions. INEQUITY AROUND
BY MANUEL CANALES
A N D PATRICIA HEALY THE WORLD
VA R I A N T S O F C O N C E R N
Threat to public health Contagion
All viruses replicate. Some are
Delta highly transmissible, having
evolved efficient methods to
spread. Human behavior also
Alpha contributes to local and travel-
related transmission.
Beta
Gamma
OR IGIN AL STRAIN
VA R I A N T S O F I N T E R E S T
Risk to public health
Lambda
D EL T A V AR IANT
Mu
VA R I A N T S U N D E R M O N I T O R I N G
Potential risk to public health Vaccine equity
Lower income countries, facing
Eta challenges getting and distrib-
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION OF VARIANTS
20A Low
2
19B
6 BILLION
Beta 100%
VACCINE
Alpha Gamma
SHOTS
The Delta variant GIVEN
CASES
A torrent of rush
hour scooters flows off
a bridge into Taipei,
bringing commuters
from nearby Sanchong
to the capital. The
Alpha variant of SARS-
CoV-2 caused a wave of
cases from May to July,
striking fear in many,
but Taiwan was able to
tamp down new cases
thanks in part to strict
quarantine policies and
thorough contact trac-
ing. The total case rate
is more than 190 times
lower in Taiwan than in
the United States.
PEOPLE ARE
SIMPLY TRYING
SO HARD TO
REMAIN [IN]
THEIR NORMAL
ROUTINE.”
—Lam Yik Fei,
photographer
38
Taipei, Taiwan P H OTO G R A P H BY LAM YIK FEI
SEPT. 06 BACK TO CLASS
In South Jakarta’s
Manggarai village,
teacher Erdah Desiana
at Elementary School
No. 1 leads a small
group of students.
This school was one
of hundreds around
Jakarta that restarted
in-person classes with
stringent health
protocols. Schools
were open three days
a week with half the
students present one
day and the other
half there the next.
Students at home
attended via video-
conference. Outbreaks
of COVID-19 were still
plaguing Indonesia,
but the government
pushed ahead with
in-person school,
arguing that the
educational benefits
outweighed the risks.
WE HAVE SEEN
A DECLINE IN
LEARNING
ACHIEVEMENT;
MANY CHILDREN
DROP OUT
OF SCHOOL.”
—Nadiem Makarim,
Indonesia’s minister of
education and culture
40
South Jakarta, Indonesia P H OTO G R A P H BY MUHAMMAD FADLI
SEPT. 16 THE SHOW GOES ON
Students Jorge
Gutierrez, Montserrat
Olvera, and Tiffany
Rodriguez dole out
face masks and adjust
their outfits as they
ride the bus with other
members of Mariachi
Nuevo Cascabel—the
varsity mariachi band
at Mission’s Sharyland
High School. The group
had gigs at nearby
schools to celebrate
Hispanic Heritage
Month and Mexican
Independence Day. The
tour marked the band’s
first live shows since
the pandemic began,
after a year of virtual
rehearsals. Those per-
formances paid off: In
October, the students
played as the opening
act for Mariachi Vargas
de Tecalitlán, widely
considered the world’s
best mariachi band.
NO MATTER HOW
TIRED THEY WERE,
THEY STILL WERE
HAPPY TO PLAY
MUSIC TOGETHER
FOR AN AUDIENCE
IN REAL LIFE.”
—Christopher Lee,
photographer
42
Mission, Texas P H OTO G R A P H BY CHRISTOPHER LEE
MAR. 19 A FULL HOUSE, PANDEMIC STYLE
LACK OF PROPER
TREATMENT HAS
FORCED FORMER
REBELS TO SEEK
TRADITIONAL
TREATMENT AND
HOMEOPATHIC
REMEDIES.”
—Juan Arredondo,
photographer
46
La Guajira, Colombia P H OTO G R A P H BY JUAN ARREDONDO
JULY 17 FROM MASS TRANSIT TO MASS VACCINATION
East Jakarta, Indonesia P H OTO G R A P H BY MUHAMMAD FADLI
THERE WERE
PEOPLE LITERALLY
EVERYWHERE ...
THE SOCIAL
DISTANCING
PROTOCOL
COULDN’T BE
ENFORCED.”
— Muhammad Fadli,
photographer
49
APR. 24 A CITY’S CEMETERY IS OVERWHELMED
With a sunset’s
fading light behind
them, workers from a
funeral home in Huan-
cavelica wait for the
end of a service to
move a coffin into a
niche at the city’s
general cemetery.
Although COVID-19
death counts are unre-
liable, Peru has one of
the world’s highest per
capita death tolls. In
the rural area around
Huancavelica, the
pandemic has claimed
more than 1,160 lives.
WE HAVE MOVED
TO NEARBY
CEMETERIES TO
HELP ENSURE
THAT OUR
DECEASED ARE
NOT ABANDONED.”
—Manuel Mendizábal,
Society of Public Charity
of Huancavelica
50
Huancavelica, Peru P H OTO G R A P H BY ALESSANDRO CINQUE
Y E A R I N PICTURES CHAPTER TWO
Huge wildfires,
drought, record heat,
melting glaciers, rising
seas, intense storms.
The alarms have been
sounding for years,
but 2021 showed that
climate change is here
and can’t be ignored.
PAG E
JA N UA RY 2022
53
P H OTO G R A P H BY
LYNSEY ADDARIO
Firefighters spent
months in 2021 battling
to contain California’s Dixie
fire, which burned nearly a
million acres and destroyed
most of Greenville, a town
of around a thousand.
The number and size of
wildfires across western
North America have
increased in recent years,
driven in part by climate
change, which intensifies
hot, dry conditions that
suck water from living
and dead plants, making
them likelier to burn. Part
of the solution, scientists
agree, is more widespread
use of “good” fire: con-
trolled, low-intensity burns
that clear leaf litter and
brush from the forest
floor, reducing the fuel
for wildfires.
IN THE U.S.,
WILDFIRES HAVE
ON AVERAGE
BURNED TWICE AS
MUCH LAND PER
YEAR IN THE PAST
TWO DECADES
AS IN THE
PREVIOUS TWO.
—National Interagency
Fire Center
56
MAR. 23
A CYCLONE OF LOCUSTS
P H OTO G R A P H BY
DAVID CHANCELLOR
Swarms of locusts
descended on East Africa
from 2019 into 2021,
destroying crops in a region
where millions of people
are at risk of starvation. The
outbreaks were driven by
unusually strong cyclones
that dumped torrential
rains, creating perfect con-
ditions for the insects. The
storms, in turn, were fueled
by unusually warm waters
off East Africa. Climate
change, besides warming
the whole planet, recently
has favored an El Niño–
like oscillation that pushes
warm waters into the west-
ern Indian Ocean, where
East African cyclones are
born. “I think we can assume
there will be more locust
outbreaks and upsurges
in the Horn of Africa,” says
Keith Cressman, a desert
locust expert with the
UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO).
PESTICIDES WERE
SPRAYED ON
MORE THAN FIVE
MILLION ACRES IN
2020 AND 2021 TO
KILL THE LOCUSTS.
—FAO
59
BY ROBERT KUNZIG
D U R I N G T H E decades-long
struggle to forestall climate change,
some moments looked like watersheds
at the time. In 1992, with much fanfare,
the world’s nations signed a treaty in
Rio de Janeiro promising action; in
2015, after contentious negotiations,
they pledged in Paris to adopt national
plans to limit greenhouse gas emis-
sions. Yet global carbon emissions
from fossil fuels kept rising—until
2020, when they fell as much as
7 percent as a result of lower fossil fuel
usage during COVID-19 lockdowns.
But in 2021 emissions started ris-
ing again, and the public conversation
about climate change heated up too. In
September, after a summer of extreme
weather drove destruction and death,
a Yale/George Mason University poll
found for the first time that a majority
of Americans believe they are being
harmed by climate change right now.
So does 2021 finally mark a turning
point in public opinion on climate?
National Geographic reporter Ale-
jandra Borunda and I spoke with two
expert observers: Katharine Hayhoe,
a climate scientist at Texas Tech Uni-
versity, chief scientist for the Nature
Conservancy, and author of Saving Us,
and Katharine Wilkinson, a best-selling
writer, podcaster, and co-editor (with
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson) of All We
Can Save, a book of essays on climate
by women.
60 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
Y E A R I N P I CT U R E S : CLIMATE
THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY. READ MORE OF THIS CONVERSATION ONLINE AT NATGEO.COM.
WASH.
MINNESOTA
IDAHO
OREGON
90%
Murfreesboro, AR: -12°F
ARIZONA NEW Largest decreases in low
MEXICO temperature, 10 degrees
colder than 1989 records
Record-breaking
daily weather events
426
2021: THE OUTLIER
A winter cold snap, a summer
heat wave, and heavy rainfall made
330 329
2021 the most record-breaking
year of the past two decades.
Records and drought data as of Oct. 31, 2021
NOT SHOWN: HAWAII (MAUI HAD 26 WEEKS OF SEVERE DROUGHT) AND ALASKA (GROUSE CREEK AND ALYESKA
BROKE PRECIPITATION RECORDS). INCLUDES ONLY STATIONS WITH AT LEAST 30 YEARS OF RECORDED DATA
LOOKING
Unprecedented heat, cold, and rainfall crippled
infrastructure across the U.S. and led to a major loss of
life in 2021. Climate change is now considered the world’s
greatest threat to human health—and the frequency of
related extreme weather events is increasing. TOWARD A
BY MONICA SERRANO, CHRISTINA SHINTANI,
A N D KELSEY NOWAKOWSKI TROUBLED FUTURE
Inevitable warming
A UN study found that humans
have pushed the climate into
dangerous new territory. Under
MAINE even the lowest emissions sce-
nario, the planet likely will warm
2.7 degrees F in the next 20 years.
$21 billion
PENNSYLVANIA 0°
OHIO
1950 2015 2100
MD.
IND. DEL.
ILL. in estimated dam- W. VA.
ages were caused by
a one-week cold snap
in the central U.S. VIRGINIA
in February. Human-driven heating
Emissions linked to human
KENTUCKY activity are unequivocally
NORTH
responsible for warming the
CAROLINA
atmosphere, ocean, and land.
TENNESSEE
FLORIDA
PA
A DEVASTATING PATH More areas under threat
TH The remnants of Hurricane A growing number of regions,
O Ida led to record rainfall, affected by different extreme
F
ID deadly flooding, and weather, will see more events.
A
more than 50 fatalities in
New York, New Jersey, Share of affected regions facing
and nearby states. increased weather events by 2050*
Fire 29%
SOURCES: NOAA; U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR; INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE; * 2050 PROJECTIONS ARE COMPARED WITH
GLOBAL DISASTER ALERTING CONTROL SYSTEM; USGS 20-TO-30-YEAR PERIODS FROM 1960 TO 2014.
APR. 22 LIVING WITH THE TIDE AT YOUR FEET
PEOPLE HERE
HAVE ADAPTED—
EVEN THOUGH
THEIR LIVES AND
PROPERTIES ARE
THREATENED BY
THE RISING SEA.”
—Aji Styawan,
photographer
64
Purwosari, Indonesia P H OTO G R A P H BY AJI STYAWAN
JAN. 13 WARMING FAVORS THE FLEXIBLE
Neko Harbor, Antarctica P H OTO G R A P H BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK
Gentoo penguins
on the Antarctic Penin-
sula nest around an
old whale vertebra, a
relic of the days when
whaling was common
in the region. Winter
temperatures here have
risen a mind-boggling
11 degrees Fahrenheit
(six degrees Celsius)
since 1950, more than
five times the global
average. The sea-ice
season is now about
three months shorter
than it used to be.
Chinstrap and Adélie
penguins, which hunt
krill offshore and
depend on sea ice,
are in decline. But the
more flexible gentoos
are thriving on ice-free
beaches and waters.
Their global popula-
tion has increased
sixfold since the 1980s.
VERY ROUGHLY,
YOU LOSE ONE
ADÉLIE, YOU LOSE
ONE CHINSTRAP,
YOU GAIN A
GENTOO.”
—Tom Hart, penguin
biologist, Oxford
University
67
APR. 27 MELTING ABOVE, ICY BELOW—FOR NOW
Werfen, Austria P H OTO G R A P H BY ROBBIE SHONE
EVEN IN
OPTIMISTIC
CLIMATE
FORECASTS,
GLACIERS IN THE
ALPS WILL LOSE
TWO-THIRDS OF
THEIR ICE BY 2100.
69
APR. 27 CLEAN GRID, CLEAN TRUCK
In Colorado, wild
horses stampede on
land so dry that dust
billows up at the slight-
est touch. The Amer-
ican West recorded
an exceptionally hot
and dry year in 2021;
in the Southwest it
was another entry in a
20-year-long “mega-
drought” so intense
that it rivals any in the
past 12 centuries. But
“as warm and hot and
record-setting as it
has been the last few
years,” says climate
scientist Brad Udall,
“what you need to
keep in mind is, these
are some of the coolest
temperatures you’re
going to experience
in the next 100 years.
Because it’s just going
to get hotter. You ain’t
seen nothing yet.”
IT’S REALLY
CLIMATE CHANGE
THAT PUSHED
[THE DROUGHT]
TO BE ONE OF
THE WORST.”
—Ben Cook, climate
scientist, Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory
72
Brownie Hills, Colorado P H OTO G R A P H BY ELLIOT ROSS
MAY 12 A SEARCH FOR GRASS AND WATER
At dawn, meerkats
emerge from their
burrows and face the
rising sun to warm
up—but the Kalahari
Desert may be get-
ting too warm for
them. As summers in
the region get ever
hotter, scientists are
finding that meer-
kat pups are growing
more slowly and adults
dying more quickly, a
trend they fear could
worsen. It’s not just the
heat: When rains fail,
grasses suffer, ants and
termites decline, and
insect-eating animals,
like meerkats, strug-
gle—an illustration of
how climate change
can disrupt the deli-
cate ecological balance
even in an environment
that’s already hot.
MEERKATS
ARE PERFECT
AMBASSADORS.
WHO DOES NOT
LOVE AND CARE
ABOUT THE FATE
OF MEERKATS?”
—Thomas P. Peschak,
photographer
76
Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa P H OTO G R A P H BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK
MAY 03 MELTING GLACIERS, DRYING PASTURES
At an altitude
of more than 17,000
feet in the Andes of
southern Peru, Alina
Surquislla Gomez,
a third-generation
alpaquera, cradles a
baby alpaca on her way
to the pastures where
her family’s herd of
more than 300 animals
will graze in summer.
Shrinking glaciers and
increased drought
have dried pastures
in the Andes, forcing
the herders—many of
whom are women—to
search for new grazing
grounds, often in diffi-
cult terrain. Prized for
their wool, alpacas
are important to
Peruvian culture and a
major source of income
in this region, which
is home to several
million of them.
WHEN I WAS
LITTLE, MY
GRANDFATHER
USED TO TELL ME
HOW BEAUTIFUL IT
WAS TO GRAZE IN
THESE VALLEYS.”
—Alina Surquislla Gomez,
alpaquera
78
Oropesa, Peru P H OTO G R A P H BY ALESSANDRO CINQUE
Y E A R I N PICTURES CHAPTER THREE
A F G H A N I S TA N • N E W YO R K • D I ST R I C T O F C O LU M B I A • ETHIOPIA
PAG E
JA N UA RY 2022
81
Kabul, Afghanistan
P H OTO G R A P H BY
ZABI KARIMI
FOR 20 YEARS
THE WHOLE WORLD
CAME AND MONEY
POURED IN,
BUT HOW DID IT
HELP US?”
—Haji Adam,
a tribal elder in
Kandahar Province
86
REMEMBERING 9/11, 20 YEARS LATER
COURTESY BRIDGET HUNTER AND FAMILY, ARTIFACT FROM THE 9/11 MEMORIAL & MUSEUM
JAN. 06
DEMOCRACY ON THE BRINK
Washington, D.C.
P H OTO G R A P H BY
MEL D. COLE
89
BY RACHEL HARTIGAN
SECRETARY-GENERAL of
the United Nations António Guterres
called for an immediate global cease-
fire when the pandemic began.
“It is time to put armed conflict on
lockdown and focus together on the
true fight of our lives,” he said.
His plea went unheeded. Even
during a public health catastrophe—
one that threatened everyone on the
planet—conflicts raged.
Two years into the pandemic, doz-
ens of ongoing conflicts blaze around
the world. The Armed Conflict Loca-
tion & Event Data Project reports that
since 2016 more than 100,000 people
have died each year in tens of thou-
sands of battles, riots, explosions, pro-
tests, and violence targeting civilians.
In 2021 the Taliban swept through
Afghanistan and back into power after
20 years. Hamas sent rockets into
Israel, which responded with air strikes
into the Gaza Strip. Ethiopia’s war on
its northern state of Tigray sowed a
deadly famine.
In the United States, insurrection-
ists stormed the Capitol, and killings
by police, especially of Black Amer-
icans, drove protesters back into the
streets. Haitian migrants escaped
strife, hunger, and natural disaster
Strife and Resilience: in their homeland, only to encounter
As conflicts old and new raged, the violence at the U.S. border.
The details of conflicts vary: They
stories of survivors were poignant take place in different countries within
different cultures, and people fight
reminders to learn from history. over different things. In Afghanistan
90 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
Y E A R I N P I CT U R E S : CONFLICT
A political dispute
between Ethiopian
Prime Minister Abiy
Ahmed and the Tigray
People’s Liberation
Front, which dominated
the federal govern-
ment for decades, has
exploded into war. It’s
created a humanitarian
crisis that threatens
the lives of millions of
people—especially in
the state of Tigray—and
the existence of Ethio-
pia itself. Ethiopian
and Eritrean forces,
as well as militias from
the bordering state
of Amhara, invaded
Tigray in November
2020, cutting off
aid and targeting
civilians with particular
brutality. This woman
says she was raped
by 15 Eritrean soldiers
in one week, and she
doesn’t know where
her children are: “This
is doomsday for me.”
THE SOLDIERS
TOLD ME,
‘THE TIGRAYAN
RACE MUST BE
ELIMINATED.’ ”
—Another Tigrayan
woman who was
raped by soldiers
93
MAY 22 A MOMENT OF PEACE AT A HOME UNDER THREAT
Jerusalem, Israel P H OTO G R A P H BY TANYA HABJOUQA
Thaer al Rajabi,
nine, wears a Palestin-
ian flag as a cape while
playing on the rooftop
where his father, Kayed
al Rajabi, set up an
inflatable pool to make
up for a missed vaca-
tion by the sea after
Ramadan. “There was
too much fear for us to
leave our house,” says
the 34-year-old father
of eight. “So I brought
them this pool.” The
Palestinian family faces
possible eviction from
their home in the
Silwan district of East
Jerusalem because an
Israeli settler organiza-
tion sued, claiming the
land had been owned
by a Jewish trust more
than a century ago.
The United Nations
estimates that 970
Palestinians in the city
are threatened with
eviction due to cases
brought mainly by
settler organizations.
I JUST WISH
WE DID NOT HAVE
TO LIVE WITH
SUCH WORRY.”
—Kayed al Rajabi,
whose family is threat-
ened with eviction
95
SEPT. 19 BORDER SECURITY TACTICS CONDEMNED
Del Rio, Texas P H OTO G R A P H BY VICTORIA RAZO
In mid-September
15,000 migrants con-
verged under a bridge
at the U.S.-Mexico
border in Del Rio. Many
were Haitians who had
left Haiti for countries
in Latin America years
ago. Some had heard
that the crossing on
the Rio Grande was
open to immigrants,
which it wasn’t. Others
misunderstood the
temporary protected
status recently granted
to Haitians already in
the U.S. and thought it
would apply to them.
Mounted U.S. Border
Patrol agents tried to
force migrants back
across the river into
Mexico. Images of
their aggressive tactics
provoked outrage and
an investigation. The
Border Patrol put the
agents on administra-
tive duties and tem-
porarily halted horse
patrols along the river.
IT EVOKED
IMAGES OF SOME
OF THE WORST
MOMENTS OF
OUR HISTORY.”
—Kamala Harris,
U.S. vice president
97
FEB. 14 & 22 RESISTING A MILITARY COUP
Yangon, Myanmar P H OTO G R A P H S BY YU YU MYINT THAN
A century after
the 1921 Tulsa Race
Massacre, a ceremony
was held to honor the
unknown dead. As
many as 300 Black
people were killed
when whites rampaged
through Greenwood,
a prosperous Black
neighborhood in Tulsa.
More than a thousand
homes and 141 busi-
nesses were destroyed.
Nearly 10,000 people—
almost all of Tulsa’s
Black population—were
left homeless. The
potential generational
wealth lost—and never
repaid—is estimated at
$611 million in today’s
dollars. Archaeologists
have unearthed
one mass grave, but
the burial places of
most victims remain
unknown.
101
APR. 13 A CONTINUOUS CYCLE OF VIOLENCE
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota P H OTO G R A P H BY DAVID GUTTENFELDER
B R A Z I L - G U YA N A B O R D E R • K E N YA • B OT S W A N A
PAG E
JA N UA RY 2022
105
AS T H E FA M I LY of 16 Asian
elephants started moving north, no
one knew where they were heading,
or why. At first, no one thought much
about it. Elephants sometimes stray
beyond the boundaries of Xishuang-
banna National Nature Reserve, in
southwestern China’s Yunnan Prov-
ince, but they always return.
Not this time.
Over the course of 16 months they
crop-raided, mud-bathed, and road-
tripped 300 miles north to the provin-
cial capital of Kunming, a sprawling
city of eight million people. Along
the way they became global celebri-
ties—and presented a conundrum for
government officials. The elephants
were racking up about a half million
dollars in damage, and there was
the ever present risk of an elephant
charging a curious onlooker.
The simple answer would be to
tranquilize the giant mammals and
transport them back to the reserve.
But that would be risky for this
group, especially the three calves.
Instead, officials mobilized an emer-
gency task force to keep everyone,
elephants and humans alike, safe.
Drones tracked the elephants’ every
move. Tons of corn, pineapples, and
bananas were used as bait to lure them
away from towns. Electric fences, road
barriers, and new pathways steered
them toward safer routes. These
measures ultimately involved tens of
Bright Spots in a Dark Year: thousands of people at a cost equal
to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Successes in preservation showed In a year torn by climate change,
a respect for the past, present, and conflict, and COVID-19, some might
argue that going to extremes to keep a
future of our world. family of elephants safe was wasteful.
110 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
Y E A R I N P I CT U R E S : CONSERVATION
IT’S NOT A
ZERO-SUM GAME.
WE CAN PROTECT
ELEPHANTS AND
DEVELOP VACCINES.
WE CAN STABILIZE
STONEHENGE
AND PROVIDE bright spots in an otherwise dark year. That’s not to say the bio-
DISASTER RELIEF. diversity crisis has passed. Plant and animal species are still
disappearing at an alarming rate; ecosystems are still unraveling.
And we must acknowledge the damage inflicted by everything
from climate change to bombs on millennia-old historic sites.
But we’ve also done much to protect the world’s heritage. We’ve
moved Atlantic bluefin tuna off the global endangered species list.
We’ve reconsidered plans for oil drilling in an Arctic refuge. We’ve
seen thousands of looted artifacts returned to Iraq and sacred
objects given back to the Arrernte people in central Australia. And
we’ve safely persuaded a family of elephants on a long, perilous
journey to turn homeward.
“As 2021 comes to an end, I am scared about the state of nature
but also hopeful,” says National Geographic Explorer Gladys
They might say the same about search- Kalema-Zikusoka, founder and CEO of Conservation Through Pub-
ing for an undiscovered species of frog lic Health. Her group is a Ugandan nonprofit that promotes gorilla
on never before climbed mountains, conservation, community health, and sustainable livelihoods for
or building new museums, or stuff- people who live near national parks and reserves.
ing mortar into the eroding cracks of “I am scared because the threats to nature are increasing,” she
Stonehenge’s prehistoric megaliths. says, but “I am hopeful because the extreme weather patterns we
But conserving our natural and are experiencing and the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic [are]
human heritage—like efforts to cure leading to a heightened awareness about these risks and the need
disease and stop war—is about nur- to do something about them.”
turing good in the world. We need By November the elephants in China had made their way back
wildlife and ancient artifacts, just as home and were in good condition, the National Forestry and
we need health and peace. They’re the Grassland Administration said. It’s still not clear why they left
backdrop against which our lives take in the first place, but one theory is that as elephant numbers in
place, and they help us make sense Yunnan Province have increased, the animals have needed to
of our own stories. They provide the expand their territory.
context for our existence. They’re our That could be considered good news for this endangered species.
past, present, and future. But the story of the elephants’ trek demonstrates something else
It’s not a zero-sum game, anyway. too: that the world we created and the world nature created are
We can protect elephants and develop inextricably bound, for better or for worse. j
vaccines. We can stabilize Stonehenge
and provide disaster relief. The year Rachael Bale is the executive editor of National Geographic’s
2021 is proof of that. Animals desk. She most recently wrote about cheetah traffick-
Conservation efforts have been ing, for the September 2021 issue.
*THE PRISTINE SEAS PROJECT, LAUNCHED IN 2008 BY THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, HAS HELPED CREATE 24 MARINE RESERVES.
NOT ALL PRISTINE SEAS RESERVES, INCLUDING THOSE WITHIN LARGER MPAS, ARE SHOWN. MPA DATA ARE AS OF OCTOBER 2021.
†THE CHAGOS MPA IS AFFECTED BY A SOVEREIGNTY DISPUTE BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND MAURITIUS.
ON LAND, SOME
Ocean conservation has lagged behind efforts on land,
but in 2021 there were big gains near shore and at sea.
Aiding that progress was the National Geographic
Society’s Pristine Seas project, part of a global target to
protect at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. SPECIES ARE BACK
BY LAWSON PARKER
A N D SHELLEY SPERRY FROM THE BRINK
A million species are at
ACTION IN THE ARCTIC risk of extinction. But 2021
Protections on the high seas are provided promising news for
CTIC CIRCLE
a multinational challenge, but in AR several at-risk species.
2021 nine nations and the European
ARCTIC
Union began enforcing a treaty
OCEAN
that bans commercial fishing in
Arctic international waters for North Pole
16 years. Scientists plan to study
the region before ice melt can
lead to fishing and mining. Central Arctic
Ocean Fisheries
Agreement
Jaguar crossings
INTERNATIONAL WATERS: 10% of MPA extent
A National Geographic Explorer
captured rare video of a young
SOUTHERN
2015-2021
trend Cloning comeback
10 Elizabeth Ann was cloned from
the cells of another black-footed
7.9%
ferret preserved for more than
30 years. Overseen by the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the
cloning was the first successful
replication of a wild, endangered
1990 2000 2010 2021 2030 species in North America.
ILLUSTRATIONS: MATTHEW TWOMBLY; NGM MAPS. SOURCES: MARINE PROTECTION ATLAS, MARINE
CONSERVATION INSTITUTE; PRISTINE SEAS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY; MARINEREGIONS.ORG
JUNE 08 SHRINKING HABITATS THREATEN GIRAFFES
Giraffes move
through Chobe
National Park, in
Botswana, at sunset.
Because most giraffe
habitats in Africa are
outside protected
areas, urban develop-
ment, crop growing,
and livestock graz-
ing are isolating the
animals into smaller,
more fragmented pop-
ulations. As a result,
extinction threatens
the world’s tallest land
mammal, whose num-
bers are about 68,000
adults and falling.
I AM SCARED
ABOUT THE
STATE OF NATURE
BUT ALSO
HOPEFUL … NATURE
IS RESILIENT
AND, IF IT [IS]
NOT TAMPERED
WITH, CAN
BOUNCE BACK.”
—Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka,
National Geographic
Explorer and founder of
Conservation Through
Public Health
114
Chobe National Park, Botswana P H OTO G R A P H BY DAVID CHANCELLOR
APR. 09 THE FIGHT TO SAVE CHEETAHS
Samburu National Reserve, Kenya P H OTO G R A P H BY NICHOLE SOBECKI
Veterinarian
Michael Njoroge (at
left), with the Kenya
Wildlife Service,
examines a nearly
unconscious cheetah
that likely was injured
by another animal.
Cosmas Wambua (at
right), co-founder
of the conservation
group Action for Chee-
tahs in Kenya, and Ljalu
Lekalaile, a ranger,
prepare to assist. The
team spent three days
trying—unsuccessfully—
to save the cheetah.
Rangers had named
her Nichole, after
photographer Nichole
Sobecki, a National
Geographic Explorer
who documented the
cat’s plight. Fewer than
7,000 adult cheetahs
remain in the wild,
so conservationists
are going to great
lengths to help each
one survive.
CHEETAHS AREN’T
THE BULLIES
OF THE FELINE
PLAYGROUND.
THEY PURR, NOT
ROAR. THEY AREN’T
DESIGNED TO
FIGHT HARD OR
DEFEND TERRITORY.
AND ALL THIS
CAN LEAVE THEM
VULNERABLE.”
—Nichole Sobecki,
photographer
117
JULY 27 IN DEFENSE OF RATTLESNAKES
Members of a
wedding party made
up of local tribesmen
loyal to Yemen’s gov-
ernment visit the ruins
of the Awwam Temple,
in Marib, to take pho-
tos. The ancient temple
is one of the most
important surviving
monuments of the
Kingdom of Saba,
which ruled southern
Arabia from about the
11th century B.C. to the
third century A.D. and
has been linked by
some historians to
the biblical land of
Sheba. The antiquities,
on the edge of the
most hotly contested
part of Yemen, remain
at risk as Iran-backed
Houthi rebels continue
their fight to take
over Marib.
120
Marib, Yemen P H OTO G R A P H BY MOISES SAMAN
JUNE 03 A NEW WINDOW INTO EGYPT’S PAST
Cairo, Egypt P H OTO G R A P H BY PAOLO VERZONE
OTHER EGYPTIAN
ROYALS ARE
KNOWN TO HAVE
BEEN BURIED IN
THE SAME VALLEY
AS KING TUT, BUT
THEIR TOMBS
AWAIT DISCOVERY.
123
AUG. 01 LOOKING TO THE PAST TO UNITE SUDAN
Jabal Barkal, Sudan P H OTO G R A P H BY NICHOLE SOBECKI
Sudanese tourists
climb Jabal Barkal, a
sacred butte over-
looking pyramids built
during the Kingdom
of Kush, which domi-
nated the political and
cultural landscape of
northeastern Africa
from about the eighth
century B.C. to the
fourth century A.D.
A new generation of
Sudanese has revived
and embraced this
ancient history as a
unifying force that
cuts across diverse
ethnic and racial lines
as the country emerges
from a 30-year dicta-
torship. However, the
military’s dissolution
of the transitional
government in late
October threatened
Sudan’s progress
toward stability.
SUDAN HAS
MORE PYRAMIDS
THAN EGYPT.
125
JULY 23 PRESERVING A PREHISTORIC MONUMENT
Wiltshire, England P H OTO G R A P H BY REUBEN WU
P H OTO G R A P H BY I L LU S T R AT I O N BY I M AG E S BY P H OTO G R A P H BY
KRIS MARKOS EUROPEAN SPACE MATTHIEU
GRAVES KAY AGENCY; NASA, USGS PALEY
P H OTO G R A P H BY A RT BY P H OTO G R A P H S BY A RT BY
BRIAN KADIR ELLIOT FERNANDO G.
SKERRY NELSON ROSS BAPTISTA
A RT BY I L LU S T R AT I O N BY A RT BY P H OTO G R A P H BY
MONICA BOSE KADIR CHARLIE
SERRANO COLLINS NELSON HAMILTON JAMES
Subscriptions For subscriptions or changes of ad- Contributions to the National Geographic Society are tax deductible under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code.
dress, contact Customer Service at ngmservice.com | Copyright © 2021 National Geographic Partners, LLC | All rights reserved. National Geographic and Yellow
or call 1-800-647-5463. Outside the U.S. or Canada
call +1-515-237-3674.
®
Border: Registered Trademarks Marcas Registradas. National Geographic assumes no responsibility for
unsolicited materials. Printed in U.S.A. | For corrections and clarifications, go to natgeo.com/corrections.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (ISSN 0027-9358) PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC, 1145 17TH ST. NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036. $39 PER YEAR FOR U.S. DELIVERY, $50.00
TO CANADA, $69.00 TO INTERNATIONAL ADDRESSES. SINGLE ISSUE: $8.00 U.S. DELIVERY, $10.00 CANADA, $15.00 INTERNATIONAL. (ALL PRICES IN U.S. FUNDS; INCLUDES SHIPPING AND HANDLING.)
PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT WASHINGTON, DC, AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, PO BOX 37545, BOONE, IA 50037. IN
CANADA, AGREEMENT NUMBER 1000010298, RETURN UNDELIVERABLE ADDRESSES TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, PO BOX 819 STN MAIN, MARKHAM, ONTARIO L3P 9Z9. UNITED KINGDOM NEWSSTAND
PRICE £6.99. REPR. EN FRANCE: EMD FRANCE SA, BP 1029, 59011 LILLE CEDEX; TEL. 320.300.302; CPPAP 0725U89037; DIRECTEUR PUBLICATION: D. TASSINARI. DIR. RESP. ITALY: RAPP IMD SRL, VIA G. DA
VELATE 11, 20162 MILANO; AUT. TRIB. MI 258 26/5/84 POSTE ITALIANE SPA; SPED. ABB. POST. DL 353/2003 (CONV L.27/02/2004 N.46) ART 1 C. 1 DCB MILANO STAMPA. QUAD, MARTINSBURG, WV 25401.
SUBSCRIBERS: IF THE POSTAL SERVICE ALERTS US THAT YOUR MAGAZINE IS UNDELIVERABLE, WE HAVE NO FURTHER OBLIGATION UNLESS WE RECEIVE A CORRECTED ADDRESS WITHIN TWO YEARS.
128 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C
GIVE THE GIFT
O F T R AV E L
This holiday season, consider a gift that doesn’t fit in a box: an adventure in Patagonia’s
exhilarating wilderness, for instance, or a river cruise along the fabled Danube.
National Geographic offers a wide range of travel experiences on all seven continents—
each led by our experts or guides. When you give the gift of travel, you inspire
memories that last a lifetime.
To learn more about all our trips and to request a FREE catalog
N ATG E O E X P E D I T I O N S .C O M | 1 - 8 8 8 -3 51 -3 274
T H E M O S T M E M O R A B L E I M AG E S
O F T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U RY
This magnificent collection presents the most
beautiful and memorable images of the first 21 years
of the 21st century, culled from National Geographic’s
renowned and celebrated Image Collection.
AVA I L A B L E W H E R E V E R B O O K S A R E S O L D
NatGeoBooks @NatGeoBooks
© 2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC