National Geographic UK April 2022

FURTHER APRIL 2022 CONTENTS On the Cover Expedition team member Matthew Irving surveys a view during the search for new species in a secluded biodiversity hot spot of northwestern Guyana. RENAN OZTURK PROOF EXPLORE 15 THE BIG IDEA 6 22 A Way for Nature Abes Across America to Rest in Peace BREAKTHROUGHS A photographer finds Designed for the living that these Lincoln and the dead: conser- Produce Sans look-alikes have much vation cemeteries. Plastic Labels in common, from black Organic fruits and suits and bow ties to BY XANDER PETERS veggies now can patriotism inspired by carry eco-friendly the 16th president. DECODER markings. PHOTOGRAPHS BY Big-Wave Thrills BY HICKS WOGAN Off Nazaré, Portugal, GRETA PRATT waves become giant CLOSER LOOK peaks, making this spot the Everest of surfing. Where the Walruses Sing BY EVE CONANT An isolated Alaska GRAPHIC BY DIANA island attracts walruses MARQUES and their “chimes.” ALSO STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY ACACIA JOHNSON Is Your Sea Glass Real? Better Hugs, Measured ALSO “Seeing” With Closed Eyes Lower-Carbon Food Tips PHOTO: EOSTA/NATURE AND MORE (LIMES)

F E AT U R E S Up the Mountain, The Weird Wonder All for a Song to a World Apart of Seahorses Cuba’s obsession is Why venture into a They’re captivating— fueling the illegal remote part of Guyana and disappearing. trapping of songbirds. with no roads and no guarantee of getting BY JENNIFER S. HOLLAND BY DINA FINE MARON out? To identify new species, to uncover PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID PHOTOGRAPHS BY clues about evolution— and to climb a sheer- L I I T T S C H WA G E R . . . . . . P. 72 KARINE AIGNER sided, flat-topped mountain known Plastic Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 110 locally as a tepui. Through It The Ganges River is The Water Behind Us BY MARK SYNNOTT a sacred waterway In Ghana, a tradition in India. It’s also a key of responsible fishing PHOTOGRAPHS BY conduit of waste. binds communities. RENAN OZTURK BY LAURA PARKER BY NII AYIKWEI PARKES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 36 PHOTOGRAPHS BY PHOTOGRAPHS BY S A R A H Y LT O N . . . . . . . . P. 86 DENIS DAILLEUX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P. 120

EMPOWER EVERY MOMENT Explore the colours of light and night. A story by National Geographic Photographer Kiliii Yuyan. Shot on OPPO.com/NatGeo

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A P R I L | FROM THE EDITOR Telling Stories That Matter BY SUSAN GOLDBERG DEAR READER, As I look back, I’m proud that we’ve A dozen covers, in order of explored issues such as gender and publication during my eight For as long as I can remember, I’ve race—and in doing so were willing to years here, from top row wanted to make a difference, to help examine publicly our own troubled to bottom and left to right: make the world a better place. It’s why history. I’m proud that we make it our June 2015, December 2015, I became a journalist 42 years ago and business to celebrate the world’s won- May 2016, January 2017, why I came to National Geographic. ders and report on what’s going right. April 2018, June 2018, And I’m proud of our progress—though September 2018, September This is my last letter to you as editor far from complete—in assembling a 2019, July 2020, November in chief. I’m deeply grateful to have diverse, global corps of writers, pho- 2020, January 2021, and spent eight years working with some tographers, and other journalists. Who December 2021. of the world’s best journalists—ded- better to cover a fast-changing, multi- icated professionals who’ve received textured world? 10 National Magazine Awards, three Pulitzer Prize finalist nominations, It’s been a true honor to work with my two Webby Media Company of the gifted colleagues here. It’s been a priv- Year honors, and hundreds of other ilege to work on National Geographic, accolades during my time as editor. with its enduring legacy, and a singu- lar opportunity to help reinvent it for I’m leaving National Geographic today’s audiences. Thank you for taking for the world of higher education. At that journey with me. Arizona State University I’ll do what I can to strengthen journalism during a And thank you for reading National challenging time for the free press. And I’ll be working with the next generation Geographic. j of storytellers, who must communicate ever more powerfully about daunting issues like climate change. As I’ve learned through our work here, there’s a conundrum to covering these issues: How can honest report- ing on existential threats keep readers engaged without leaving them feeling hopeless? How can journalism on these complex topics ignite audiences’ curi- osity, foster deeper understanding, and excite people about solutions? Trying always to achieve that balance—while creating visually rich, reportorially deep, global journalism—has been both as gratifying and as vexing as anything in my professional life. Every day at National Geographic we track the latest in science, the envi- ronment, and the human journey in all its marvelous complexity. The covers above reflect some of the most conse- quential topics of the past eight years (and some are also personal favorites).

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PROOF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VOL. 241 NO. 4 ABES ACROSS AMERICA PHOTOGRAPHS BY GRETA PRATT What does patriotism look like? For some impassioned impersonators, it’s all about President Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator. 6 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Lincoln admirer Gerald Bestrom not only dressed the part but also traveled across the country in a motor home he painted to resemble a log cabin. APRIL 2022 7

PROOF Greta Pratt wrote of her portrait series Nineteen Lincolns, “My intention is to comment on the way a society, composed of individuals, is held together through the creation of its history and heroic figures.” Pictured here, clockwise from top left, are Robert Taylor and Mike Reiser (seated), Randy Duncan, Chester Damron, and Stan Wernz. 8 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

For these Lincoln devotees, black suits, bow ties, stovepipe hats, and beards (real or not) are standard. Though some of Pratt’s subjects are now retired or deceased, she thinks their stories “still speak to the enduring appeal of America’s 16th president.” Pictured on this page, clockwise from top left, are Vernon Risty, Whit McMahan, Gerald Bestrom, and Jim Sayre. APRIL 2022 9

PROOF Members of the Association of Lincoln Presenters (ALP) gather at an annual conference, in 2012, in Decatur, Illinois. The organization’s membership now numbers 95 Lincolns from 32 states, including several that were part of the Confederacy. 10 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

The ALP promotes its reenactors’ availability for appearances with the tagline, “We are ready, willing, and Abe L.” Also on the membership roster: 40 Mary Todd Lincolns, three Ulysses S. Grants, and one Harriet Beecher Stowe. A P R I L 2 0 2 2 11

PROOF THE BACKSTORY AS LINCOLN REENACTORS, THESE AMERICANS DRESS T H E M S E LV E S I N T H E PA S T TO C O N V E Y VA LU E S F O R TO DAY. W H Y L I N C O L N ? That’s the question senior centers, and other venues. For Greta Pratt asked the costumed men the portraits in her project, she framed before her camera, all of whom com- the men in softly focused, pastoral mitted a portion of their lives to a presi- backgrounds reminiscent of historical dent now gone for more than 150 years. paintings, and she challenged them For these fans, Pratt learned, Abraham to “summon up your inner Lincoln.” Lincoln “embodies one of America’s most cherished tenets: that the com- They did so gladly. “Lincoln brings mon man, through sheer hard work out the best in me,” says Illinois reen- and determination, can elevate his actor Randy Duncan (page 8). “He status in society.” probes the patriotism of each of us.” Though her subjects began portraying At four annual conventions of the Lincoln for varied personal reasons, Association of Lincoln Presenters, Pratt Pratt says, they continue because he met men and women who perform as helps them feel part of something the president and first lady at schools, larger: a nation. — H I C K S WO GA N The real Abraham Lincoln, above, sits for a portrait by Alexander Gardner in 1863. PHOTO: THE PICTURE ART COLLECTION/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

EXPLORE IN THIS SECTION Surfing Mountains Sea Glass Doubles Walruses’ Songs Footprints of Foods ILLUMINATING THE MYSTERIES—AND WONDERS—ALL AROUND US EVERY DAY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VOL. 241 NO. 4 A Way for Nature to Rest in Peace CONSERVATIONISTS SEE CEMETERIES AS A TOOL TO PRESERVE LAND, NATURALLY—AND DETER RUNAWAY DEVELOPMENT. BY XANDER PETERS A AT I T S M O ST P E AC E F U L , the Indiangrass Preserve in southeast Texas is hushed and still. Its springtime canvas is lush with prairie grass; monarch butterflies cling to yellow tickseed flowers as eastern bluebirds circle overhead. Come summer, rains will douse its shallow wetlands, where bobcats pause to drink as they prowl for cottontails. An agrochemical research facility occupied part of the site as recently as 2001. Then the Katy Prairie Conservancy restored the land into a nature preserve. Since 1992 the conservancy has protected more than 18,000 acres of Texas land that otherwise might have been developed, says Elisa Donovan, its vice president and general counsel. The conservancy has championed tallgrass prairie and wetlands, plentiful species, and rare ones, such as the crawfish frog and the western chicken turtle. Its latest project aims to restore and preserve the natural state of land that will welcome the living—and also the dead. A P R I L 2 0 2 2 15

E X P L O R E | THE BIG IDEA For several years Donovan and colleagues have Environmental been planning a conservation cemetery here. Nation- impact at the end wide, only about a dozen of these operations exist: single properties with areas in simultaneous use as When a human life’s end raises the nature preserves, parklands, and environmentally question of what to do with the mortal conscious burial grounds. This would be Texas’s first. remains, are some solutions greener than others? Parties to the debate give The current conservancy plan includes 50 acres different answers. Conservation ceme- of space for so-called green burials. No caskets or tery advocates point to the environ- concrete liners will be used. The dead won’t be mental impact of conventional burials, embalmed, to eliminate synthetic, potentially harm- in which a person is laid to rest in a cas- ful chemicals. Each body lowered into the ground ket, with a concrete liner, underground. will wear only biodegradable clothing and a shroud. Such interments typically involve head- stones and other end-of-life products A conservation cemetery takes green burial that may travel thousands of miles, grounds one step further. Its landscape protects the creating emissions along the way. dead as they naturally decompose—and in return, Cremation is an alternative but not a the dead help protect the land (with the customary climate-friendly option, experts say: laws that discourage disturbing cemeteries). That’s Similar to how carbon stored in roots is the plan for property near the Indiangrass Preserve released when a tree is cut down, car- site and a conservancy field office, a nondescript bon that makes up part of the human white building on the edge of Waller, a small town body is released into the atmosphere 42 miles northwest of Houston. when the remains are incinerated at 1,400 to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit Beyond Waller, development continues chewing for multiple hours. One cremation away at nature as the region echoes the Houston produces on average more than 534 suburbs’ insatiable growth. Greater Katy grew from pounds of carbon dioxide, according to 81,000 residents to a sprawling suburb of more than an estimate by cremation technology 309,000 between 1990 and 2020, according to the Katy manufacturer Matthews Environmen- Area Economic Development Council. It’s a trend tal Solutions. By comparison, the green that has barely shown signs of slowing down, forcing burials practiced in conservation cem- conservationists like Donovan and her colleagues to eteries allow root systems to trap the get creative in response. carbon released from human bodies during decomposition. —X P Look to the north from the conservancy’s field office: That’s a ranch of more than a thousand acres, number of individuals seem to feel the same. They’re which was acquired by developers and soon will be a rethinking what it means to die and whether there’s residential area. Neighboring landowners already are a purpose to be had when it happens. They’re shun- creating a municipal utility district, the first step in ning the multibillion-dollar business of managing the birth of a new subdivision. To the south, a dusty death, with hope that their remains will give back two-lane highway soon will be four lanes so it can to the earth. meet the projected flow of future traffic. But the concept of a conservation cemetery is not “It really feels like a race,” Donovan says of the new. It’s retrofitted for a new era. effort to conserve land. “Can we protect the land before someone comes in, subdivides it, and builds In 1825, as farmland evolved into industrial acre- hundreds of thousands of homes on it?” age, conservationist George Brimmer bought land in Massachusetts to preserve its valleys and wetlands T H E C O N S E RVAT I O N C E M E T E RY idea came to the Katy from development. Brimmer later partnered with Prairie Conservancy folks from the Kate Braestrup others to turn the land into a cemetery, effectively memoir Here If You Need Me. Donovan remembers skirting developers’ wandering eyes. Braestrup writing of a missing person’s remains found in the forest. The body gradually decomposed, and The result was Mount Auburn Cemetery, which a nearby shrub sprouted into a tree, intertwining borders Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts. with the remains. Today it still resembles the land Brimmer sought to preserve, albeit with a fleet of gravestones poking out The sense of peace Donovan took from Braestrup’s of the green turf. “I like to think of Mount Auburn description grew within her like the tree through the Cemetery as not just the first rural cemetery, but in skeleton. She buried the thought until her father fact, it was a form of land conservation,” says Can- died years later, when she found herself reflecting dace Currie, director of Green Burial Massachusetts, on the connections between nature and death. The a nonprofit group working to create the state’s first family honored her father’s wish to be cremated. He legally recognized conservation cemetery. “To this would be stored in a niche in perpetuity. Thousands day, people go there to get away from the city.” of dollars were spent. “It was smaller than a filing cabinet,” Donovan says. It didn’t sit right with her—and a growing 16 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

ILLUSTRATION: XIAO HUA YANG A P R I L 2 0 2 2 17

E X P L O R E | THE BIG IDEA In the decades after Brimmer established Mount ‘WE’RE TRYING TO COME Auburn Cemetery, new technologies changed the BACK TO THE CONCEPT way the living interacted with the dead. THAT NATURE IS ENOUGH.’ The profession of undertaker emerged in the —Heidi Hannapel, co-founder of Bluestem United States during the Civil War. Preserving bod- Conservation Cemetery ies became common practice for morticians seeking a way for families to say goodbye to fallen soldiers; even entrepreneurial—approach to land preservation, the war dead were embalmed, laid in wooden boxes, says Bluestem’s other co-founder, Jeff Masten. “It’s a and sent home by the thousands. President Abraham different land use, it’s a different tool, it’s a different Lincoln’s funeral procession raised embalming’s strategy,” says Masten, also a Landmatters consultant. public profile. For 19 days after his assassination “Conservation burial grounds, for some people, are in 1865, the president’s casket was left unsealed; like a business that helps land stay in use.” embalmers kept the body fresh to accommodate public viewings. Donovan knows the Katy Prairie cemetery won’t be the David felling Houston development’s Goliath. Like most of the systems, customs, and industries Rather, the aim is just to hold off the giant. In the end, that touch our lives, the management of death has it’s about the bigger picture, Donovan stresses. All radically changed since the time of Lincoln. Today profit from selling natural burial plots (tentatively, the modern deathcare industry generates more than for around $4,500 apiece) would be used to restore $20.5 billion annually. 250 more acres to a natural state. Conservation cemetery and green burial advo- Donovan hopes the conservation cemetery project cates responded with their own movement. In 1996 prompts visitors to reflect on their ultimate fate. At in Westminster, South Carolina, the nation’s first some point, each of us will die. But until then, we natural burial ground was established by family have choices. What do you want your legacy to be? physician Billy Campbell and his wife, Kimberly. Called Ramsey Creek Preserve, the property has more “Let’s be thoughtful about our end of life and what than doubled from its original 33 acres. we want to see happen,” she says. Facilities like these are “way more than just greener Someday, I ask, is this where you’ll be buried? She versions of contemporary cemeteries,” Billy Camp- laughs nervously. “If we had the cemetery out there bell has said. He considers them “multidimensional today and I passed away, yes, put me on the Katy social and ecological spaces where the burials don’t Prairie,” Donovan replies. overwhelm the naturalness of what is there.” Should the project go according to plan, Donovan Currie sees another important trait. For green buri- wouldn’t be alone on the Katy Prairie landscape. als, loved ones help “take care of our own dead,” she Neither would anyone else who chose to be laid to says. “It’s a right, I think, that people want back.” rest there. Each springtime, the prairie grasses above them would burst to life, and flowers would bloom Speaking with Currie, Green Burial Massachusetts into the cusp of summer. president and co-founder Judith Lorei describes the push for natural burials and conservation cemeteries Late in the afternoon, I drive back from the pre- as a new school of thought. serve. The landscape bolts from green and brown to gray and grayer as Houston’s skyline comes into “People are really beginning to think outside the view. Rush hour churns the city, where it’s anything box,” Lorei says. but hushed and still. j She catches herself, and laughs. Xander Peters resides, writes, and is often found tending his garden in New Orleans. His work has appeared in publications IT’S A MATTER OF stripping away the unnecessary. Of including the Christian Science Monitor, the Bitter Southerner, getting back to basics. With conservation cemeteries, and Audubon. “we’re trying to help people come back to the concept that nature is enough,” says Heidi Hannapel, a con- sultant with the preservation group Landmatters and a co-founder of Bluestem Conservation Cemetery. At the same time, the cemeteries are a modern— Marked, In a conservation cemetery, subtle enough to not to locate a grave on their if markers like gravestones interrupt the appearance smartphones if, say, the aren’t used, how will of the preserve’s landscape. prairie grass is too tall to As Donovan says, though, recognize it. The conser- naturally visitors know if a grave is the group wants a clear vancy also hopes to create nearby? Planners at the way to tell where everyone digital remembrances Katy Prairie Conservancy is buried. That’s why GPS for each person buried at intend to use metal survey coordinates will also be the preserve—online obit- spikes with small medal- used as part of the grave uaries so that each visitor, lions on top. They will be markings, allowing friends family, or friend can honor inserted into the ground and families of the dead those there. —X P near graves yet will be PHOTO: PRAIRIE CREEK CONSERVATION CEMETERY

IS YOUR SEA DISCOVERY | E X P L O R E GLASS FAKE? ENTHUSIASTS COMPARE IT to diamonds. PHOTOGRAPH BY Sea glass—from pieces of bottles and REBECCA HALE jars—is trash, transformed by the sea and poetically reinterpreted as In this photo, the frosted treasure. Its provenance points to the white shards, manufactured heyday of consumer glass production, before the rise of throwaway plastics; from broken and tumbled its allure is fueled by the childlike glass, contrast with colorful thrill of a discovery on the whims of time and tide. found fragments of sea glass (or “beach glass,” as Now, as sea glass becomes rarer, arti- freshwater finds are called). ficial versions, sometimes made via acid etching, are supplanting the real thing. But acid etching can leave a toxic residue, making this manufactured gem, used in jewelry and decor, a poten- tial problem. One threat: Adding fake sea glass to your fish’s aquarium could dangerously alter the water’s pH level. So how can you tell the difference? According to sea glass expert Richard LaMotte, authentic characteristics include minuscule C-shaped markings and green, clear, or brown coloring. Shards in red and orange are rare. Very even, silky smooth, or oily surfaces are dead giveaways for a fake. True sea glass can still be found, especially along shores where consumer glass was produced, such as in the Great Lakes and in the northeastern United States. LaMotte recommends searching at low tide, after a storm, during the winter months—when rough water could kick up a jewel. —A L L I E YA N G AUTHENTIC SEA GLASS COURTESY RICHARD LAMOTTE’S PRIVATE COLLECTION

+++++ +++++ D I S PATC H E S the times the daily telegraph FROM THE FRONT LINES OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION Now NEUROSCIENCE Streaming MICE AND HUMAN IMAGINE ALL THE H AV E YO U E V E R had a dream so vivid that for real life? What if you actually did ope you’d envisioned with them closed? Accord study, you may have—at birth. Researche newborn mice and found that, in the few d eyes open, their still developing retinas si patch informational waves. Previously ran waves start flowing from a mouse’s templ same direction visual stimuli flow when forward. As lab director Michael Crair ex state “allows a mouse to anticipate what opening its eyes,” preparing the animal to its surroundings. Human babies also exhi at birth—discerning objects, detecting mo Crair says, “we are born capable of many least in rudimentary form.” — H I C KS WO GA PHOTOS (FROM TOP): EOSTA/NATURE AND MORE; TIM WINTER, ALA MINT IMAGES LIMITED/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

BREAKTHROUGHS | E X P L O R E E X P L O R E | DECODER Produce sans plastic labels SURFING A Dutch produce distributor MOUNTAINS has devised an eco-friendly way of labeling fruits and veggies BY EVE CONANT as organic: Harmless markings are GRAPHIC BY DIANA MARQUES lasered into foods’ skins with a method called natural branding. M YS T I C A L . U N RU LY. The feeling of It reduces plastic packaging and endless water. Big-wave surfer Maya food waste, since marked pieces Gabeira has no small words for the can be sold individually. —H W giant waves off Nazaré, Portugal. It’s hard to find a single wave’s peak, where NS, JUST PRESSING NEWS it will break. “It just comes from every- EY’LL SEE where,” she says. One bone-snapping, Hugs really breath-stealing wave nearly killed her. t you nearly mistook it do make us Another wave landed the Brazilian the en your eyes to a world feel better women’s world record for the largest ding to a Yale University ever surfed—and she then set a new rs imaged the brains of Hugs, a casualty of record by conquering a 73.5-foot beast. days before the animals’ the pandemic, have imulate vision and dis- measurable effects, “It was just so much water,” she dom in direction, these judging from two recalls, “and would shift so much, le toward its nose—the research studies. In even when you were in it, that it just n a mouse is scurrying Japan, researchers felt like you were going down forever, xplains, this dreamlike monitoring infants like a mountain.” it will experience after four to 12 months o perceive and navigate old found their The waves roiling atop Europe’s larg- ibit some visual ability hearts beat less est underwater canyon—some three otion. This suggests, as rapidly during hugs miles deep and over 120 miles long— y of these behaviors, at from parents, but have mesmerized and terrorized the not from other AN people. And in Lon- Justine Dupont, a don an experiment big-wave surfer from AMY STOCK PHOTO; with blindfolded France, rides a Nazaré subjects found that behemoth during longer hugs are a 2020 competition. considered more pleasant. Ranking 24 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C hugs by strangers, subjects liked five- or 10-second embraces better than one-second squeezes. — H W PHOTO: HÉLIO ANTÓNIO

E X P L O R E | DECODER small coastal community of Nazaré for cen- ALL GEARED UP CREATING GIANTS turies. No one successfully surfed the giant waves of winter—at least not until American Before getting towed in by Jet Ski, surfers Carved into Portugal’s ocean floor is Europe’s largest Garrett McNamara, at the urging of dedicated must put on special equipment to survive the submarine canyon, more than 120 miles long and three locals, came to investigate in 2010. “As soon as cold, the falls, and getting pinned under waves. times as deep as the Grand Canyon in some areas. I walked up to the lighthouse, I saw the biggest Each winter, the swell from North Atlantic storms is waves I’d ever seen,” he says, but conditions Flexible even up to The inflatable vest focused and amplified by the canyon, shaping some were terrible. “It was like, OK, this is going to 5 mm thick, an impact limits time spent under- of the largest waves on the planet. be amazing as soon as we get the right wind.” wet suit helps maintain water after wipeouts He studied the waves and then rode a record- body heat in 57°F and adds extra buoy- Peniche breaking, 78-foot-tall monster in 2011. Now winter waters. ancy when needed. Peninsula it’s common to hear this once quiet fishing village described as surfing’s Everest, or its Trigger São Martinho big-wave holy grail. cord Beach Air Surfing here means coming close to the force canister The challenge of measuring big waves of nature and respecting it as nonnegotiable. To determine wave height, experts analyze videos Underwater features supercharge the unfor- Padding absorbs some of the for ever changing reference points, including a surfer’s giving wave volume, speed, and unpredictabil- impact of waves that can weigh position over the board, and wave crest and trough. ity. There’s also a beach break—waves crash on several tons; it also can help keep shifting sands, not rock or coral. “Because of an unconscious surfer afloat. 80 ft Latest official the storms, because of the winds, because of the world record (2017) big waves, the sands are always moving,” says Shorter, narrower, and thinner than other boards, Portuguese surfer Tony Laureano, at 19 among tow-ins are maneuverable yet heavy for stability. Wave the youngest in the big-wave community here. Gun surfboards also are used in big waves, but can’t height The waves are often “bumpy,” making for jagged be towed and don’t turn fast enough for Nazaré. rides that magnify the challenge. One can try to DIANA MARQUES AND ROSEMARY WARDLEY, NGM STAFF; ERIC KNIGHT. SOURCES: JOÃO VITORINO AND LEONOR outsmart them; the first wave of a set of several Big-wave boards 10 ft MIGUEL MOREIRA, FACULTY OF HUMAN KINETICS, UNIVERSITY OF LISBON; ANDREW COTTON; ESA SENTINEL; EMO “kinda cleans the bumps,” he explains. Used in Nazaré Board But there are no hard-and-fast rules—except length that one cannot tackle the biggest waves alone. 5 ft Surfers are motored toward these moving mountains by a tow-in partner on a Jet Ski. That Tow-in Gun Fish Funboard Longboard Jet Ski often is backed up by a second one in case things really go wrong. Up at the nearby Foot straps Surfers can race up to lighthouse, spotters with walkie-talkies scan for 45 miles an hour, good sets of incoming waves. Gathered on the cliff and the beach below: a mix of townspeople, similar to speeds in maritime officials, rescue teams, medics, fam- fast downhill skiing. ilies, with watchful eyes. “Here you can yell to the surfers, and they can hear you,” McNamara the ride—but always focusing on the exit.” says. “You can feel the ground shaking, and you Surfers have long hunted for such giant waves. actually get misted by the waves.” “That’s always been the chat: Where is the 100- If watching these rides is a mixture of hope foot wave?” says British surfer Andrew Cotton. and dread, measuring them is a mixture of “And Nazaré is a village, and the waves break science and headache. There’s no end line etched right in front of the lighthouse.” He’s still incred- in chalk, no easy reference point. “We’re talking ulous. “How was the biggest wave in the world about a dynamic situation, so we’re talking about hiding, all this time, in plain sight?” water particles [that] are moving all the time,” says Miguel Moreira, an assistant professor in One thing is certain. The waves have changed the Faculty of Human Kinetics at the Univer- the town—and those who ride them. For Gabeira, sity of Lisbon, one of a few experts puzzling out pulled unconscious from a harrowing wipeout in better ways to measure surfing records. 2013, her brush with death made her more hum- ble, “more human.” Laureano can’t explain how Even surfers can’t really tell a wave’s exact size. he or other surfers survive at all: “Sometimes “You know if it’s big, but you don’t know how I just feel I have some superpowers.” big,” Laureano says. Gabeira knew her record wave was “the most radical” she’d ever surfed— Perhaps, by some unearthly osmosis, these because of the sound of it exploding behind her. surfers do. After his record breaker, McNamara wondered, What are you guys excited about? He says he “The energy and the power that the waves have was “just surfing with my heart and just enjoying is something from another world,” Laureano says. “It’s magic.” And mystical. And unruly. j

16,000 ft ATLANTIC 20 mi OCEAN 20 km 15,000 ftNazaré Canyon View Contin (e1n5t52a0lm0)Sfhtelbelow 3,000 ft Nazaré 15,500 ft 9,000 ft f Farilhões Is. PORTUGAL Nazaré Lisbon Berlengas Is. 1,000 ft The narrow upper section of the canyon begins less than a mile 2,000 ft off the coast, generating a sudden drop in depth from the beach. 1 Incoming swell Na a 3,000 ft Large storms occurring more than z 2,000 miles away energize the ocean surface. The resulting swell can reach r 500 ft the Portuguese coast. é 1,000 ft 2 Uneven speeds A A The part of the swell that B flows over the canyon sustains 2,000 ft its deep-ocean speed. B B The part of the swell moving 500 ft C1,000 ft a n y o n The giant waves can over the shallower seafloor form only when swells Nazaré flow in from the west slows down. Harbor or northwest. 500 ft 3 Big becomes bigger A local current flowing south C along the shore is redirected by the steep headland toward Slower- the towering peak, supersizing moving swell the waves of Nazaré. Salgado Beach Faster- Littoral drift current C The difference in speed can bend moving swell N and sometimes split the swell. Big-wave The faster-traveling water surfing area THE DISTANCE FROM THE NAZARÉ eventually converges with the LIGHTHOUSE TO THE PENICHE slower water, forming a triangular Lighthouse North Beach PENINSULA IS 23 MILES. peak found only in Nazaré waves. THE COASTAL WAVES SEEN IN THIS Nazaré Beach SATELLITE IMAGE WERE CAPTURED VEIGA, PORTUGUESE HYDROGRAPHIC INSTITUTE; ON DECEMBER 13, 2021. ODNET; JAXA Nazaré

E X P L O R E | PLANET POSSIBLE PLANET Even small changes in food For more stories about how and shopping habits can to help the planet, go to reduce your diet’s carbon natgeo.com/planet. footprint and boost health. BY ANNIE ROTH Going vegan or vegetarian is one way to decrease your diet’s impact on greenhouse gas emissions—but it isn’t the only way. A recent Purdue University study suggests that smaller tweaks can make a difference too, while improving your health. After analyzing the 2010 grocery purchases of more than 57,000 U.S. households, Purdue researchers found 71 percent could shrink their food carbon footprint by making three changes: Skip the unhealthy snacks Avoiding foods with high calorie counts and low nutritional value can reduce the total carbon footprint of U.S. household food consumption by nearly 10 percent. Items like candy, soda, and packaged snacks take more ingredients and more processing, which translates to higher environmental impacts. Watch bulk buys Households of one or two people may end up with food waste when they try to save money with bulk buys. Before you buy supersize, consider whether a three-pound jar of peanut butter will go bad before it’s used up. Trim ready-made foods One average microwave meal may not have a very large carbon footprint. But buying them regularly can add up to significant emissions because ready-made foods’ large sales volume amplifies their carbon emissions, the study found. Seemingly small shopping shifts can add up: By making the above changes, the U.S. could cut more than a quarter of emissions from household food consumption, the researchers say. That’s about 36 million met- ric tons—about what 6.6 million households generate in a year of electricity use. “Collective action can make a huge impact,” says study co-author Hua Cai. PHOTO: REBECCA HALE

OUR EXPEDITION CRUISES ARE THE POLAR OPPOSITE OF ORDINARY EXPEDITION CRUISES WITH NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Join us for a National Geographic expedition to the Arctic or Antarctica. Paddle a kayak past towering icebergs, wander among penguins, or bask in the otherworldly glow of the northern lights. Our experts, naturalists, and photographers on board promise an unforgettable travel experience, rooted in our legacy of exploration. Travelling with us you’ll not only be inspired by the breath-taking polar landscapes — you’ll be doing your part to help protect it. W W W.T R AV E LW I T H N ATG E O.C OM © 2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC. National Geographic EXPEDITIONS and the Yellow Border Design are trademarks of the National Geographic Society, used under license. Photo Credit: Srudio/PONANT: Olivier Blaud

E X P L O R E | CLOSER LOOK THE FIRST RAYS OF SUN are breaking over the tundra cliffs, and from the open sea, walruses are approaching the SCAN THIS shore below. Their QR CODE TO breath rises in golden LISTEN puffs, and they’re chiming: a haunting, metallic song like a softly ringing bell. You hear it with your whole body, as if you’re underwater. This is Round Island, one of seven WHERE THE craggy isles in Bristol Bay that make WALRUSES SING up Alaska’s Walrus Islands State Game ON A REMOTE ALASKA ISLAND, UNFORGETTABLE MELODIES COME Sanctuary. For millennia it’s been an FROM A SURPRISING SOURCE. important resting place—known as a STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS haul-out—for male Pacific walruses, BY ACACIA JOHNSON which gather on its shores by the thou- sands every summer to recuperate after mating season. The Indigenous Yupik people, who have long hunted walruses sustainably on Round Island, call it Qayassiq: “place to go in a kayak.” In the early 1900s, commercial hunting decimated the walrus popu- lation. By the time the sanctuary was created and all hunting banned, in 1960, Round Island was one of North America’s last Pacific walrus haul-outs. Despite weighing in at over a ton each, walruses are quite sensitive to distur- bance. Boat traffic and loud noises can cause them to stampede into the water, sometimes leading to injury or death for animals in the frenzy. If a site is dis- turbed frequently enough, the walruses may abandon it completely. Pacific walruses wallow in the shallows off Round Island, which is open to adventurous travelers for a few months each year.

THE BIGGER THE LIFE, THE GREATER THE RISK Now streaming Only on

E X P L O R E | CLOSER LOOK Thanks to the sanctuary, Round Island remains a some of the region’s most consistent. As temperatures seasonal home for walruses. Today the sanctuary is rise, Archibald says, effects on the island provide co-managed by the Qayassiq Walrus Commission, valuable insight into the broader marine ecosystem. with representatives from nine Yupik communities Archibald leads us up to a viewpoint for First Beach. who ensure that traditional knowledge is considered. When we peer over the edge, we see hundreds of As the walrus population recovered, tribal leaders walruses below. We smell them too: salty, marine, and successfully petitioned to reinstitute subsistence fecund. For hours each day, my brother and I wander harvest. Since 1985 a state-run program has allowed among the overlooks, watching the walruses. They’re visitors to the island from May to August. But they social animals, piling onshore in a mosaic of blubber are few, partly because getting there requires a boat and tusks. In the water, they’re graceful swimmers. As ride across at least 20 miles of the Bering Sea. we chat with Archibald one afternoon, she explains I’ve come to Round Island with my brother, a wild- that walruses are a keystone species, helping to shape life biologist, to see walruses. As we approach by boat, their entire biotic community. Despite this, and their the island appears enchanted: a dome vulnerability to melting sea ice, they’re of green rising from the sea, its summit often a low priority for conservation. shrouded in mist. Margaret Archibald, ALASKA Walruses are hard to track, and exist- one of two Alaska Department of Fish (U.S.) ing data have been deemed insuffi- cient to classify them as endangered. and Game technicians who staff the Round Island island each summer, greets us. “I apol- Bristol Archibald says that experiencing ogize in advance if I’m a chatterbox,” Bay walruses in person is a great way to she says. “You two are the first visitors encourage their conservation. “Once we’ve had in weeks.” people come here and see them, they’re going to The landing beach is packed with sleeping wal- forever be more aware of walrus habitat—and the fact ruses. To avoid disturbing them, we unload a short that walrus are real animals,” she says, “not a sticker distance away, keeping our voices low. After pitching or an emoji.” Observing them—their different colors, our tent in the campground, we join Archibald on her their battle scars, their antics—reminds me that they daily rounds. It’s her job to maintain the trails, over- are individuals, with personalities and emotions. see the visitors program, and enforce the three-mile On our last morning, I climb to a craggy peninsula exclusion zone protecting the island from boat traffic where seabirds nest. The beach below is full of wal- and commercial fishing. But she considers her most ruses glinting amber in the sunrise, and more wallow important task to be the daily counts of walruses, offshore, chiming softly as they wait for space to join seabirds, and Steller sea lions. Bristol Bay and its the crowd. As I scan the coastline, I realize that I am fisheries are a vital ecosystem for Alaska’s economy, now seeing walruses with fresh eyes. j and data collected about Round Island’s residents are Acacia Johnson is an Alaska-based photographer and writer. Margaret Archibald (at right) and Matthew Lohrstorfer, Alaska Department of Fish and Game technicians, monitor the island’s wildlife, including the walruses that rest on its shores. NGM MAPS

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC APRIL 2022 F EAT U R E S Rainforest Tepuis ........ P. 36 Seahorse Threats ........ P. 72 Ganges Pollution........ P. 86 Songbirds in Cuba..... P. 110 Fishers of Ghana........ P. 120 72 ‘ I T ’ S E A S Y T O S E E T H E S E A H O R S E ’ S ALLURE, WITH ITS FANCIFUL BLEND OF TRAITS THAT SEEM BORROWED FROM OTHER ANIMALS: A HORSE’S HEAD, A KANGAROO’S POUCH, A MONKEY’S PREHENSILE TAIL.’ PHOTO: DAVID LIITTSCHWAGER

UP THE M Mount Roraima rises from the rainforest where the borders of Guyana, Brazil, and Venezuela meet. Locals call it and similar flat-topped mountains tepuis (pronounced tuh-POOH-eez), or “sprouting rocks.” They’re the remnants of a primeval plateau that eroded over millions of years. 36

MOUNTAIN, TO A WORLD APART B Y Mark Synnott PHOTOGRAPHS BY Renan Ozturk





O Bruce Means looks under rocks for frogs ON A PITCH-BLACK FEBRUARY NIGHT, and other species unknown to science. Bruce Means stood alone, deep in the Pakaraima Mountains During the expedition, in northwestern Guyana. Scanning the cloud forest with his the 79-year-old biol- headlamp, he peered through his foggy glasses at a sea of ogist explored many ancient trees cloaked in beards of verdant moss. The humid watery habitats. Even air, ripe with the smell of decaying plants and wood, trilled a pond can be a tiny with a melodious symphony of frogs, drawing him like a siren universe of life, he says, song so deep into the jungle that he wondered if he would likely to contain species ever make it back out. that exist nowhere else. Grasping a sapling in one hand for balance, Bruce took The National a shaky step forward. His legs quivered as they sank into Geographic Society, the boggy leaf litter, and he cursed his 79-year-old body. At committed to illuminat- the beginning of this expedition, Bruce had told me that he ing and protecting the planned to start slowly but would grow stronger each day as wonder of our world, he acclimated to life in the bush. has funded Explorers Bruce Means and Mark After all, during his career as a conservation biologist, he’d Synnott’s expeditions made 32 previous expeditions to this region. I’d seen a photo in South America. of him in his younger days—a six-foot-four, broad-shouldered backwoodsman, with his long hair pulled into a ponytail and a huge snake draped over his neck. He’d told me stories about riding rickety buses in the 1980s across the plains of Venezuela’s Gran Sabana and then setting off into the mountains, where he hunted for new species of amphibians and reptiles. Once, he’d spent days alone on the summit of an obscure peak, sometimes naked, living as close

to the natural world as he could. These were all obvious to everyone on our expedition that he an extension of the explorations he’d made as a was growing weaker each day. At night, a rattly kid in Southern California, tramping through the cough kept him awake, and as he lay in his ham- Santa Monica hills looking for alligator lizards mock, he thought about home back in Tallahas- and tarantulas, or, as he likes to say, “small expe- see, Florida, where his wife and two grown sons riences of the magnificence of nature.” had practically begged him not to go on this trip. The wilds of the Guiana Highlands are no place It was that philosophy that had led him here, for an out-of-shape septuagenarian. now. Sure, the ponytail was gray and thin, and at 285 pounds, he was well over his fighting weight, And yet, I’d seen Bruce rally before. We’d made but he assured me he still had the fire. Soon, he three previous trips to this region, a remote hot would find his rhythm. spot of biodiversity called the Paikwa River Basin, that lies on the northern edge of the Amazon rain- But the jungle—with its swarming insects, forest. Bruce’s main interest here was frogs, and if incessant rain, and sucking bogs that threaten the planet held a frog paradise, this was surely it. to swallow a person whole—has a way of wear- ing one down, and after a week of rugged bush- Frogs play a critical role in ecosystems around whacking and endless river crossings, it was the world, but nowhere have they existed for U P T H E M O U N TA I N , TO A W O R L D A PA RT 43



Armed with a machete and walking sticks, Bennett Morris (at right), along with other Indigenous Akawaio guides, leads the team on the 40-mile trek through the dense jungle of the Upper Paikwa River Basin to the base of the tepui known as Mount Weiassipu.



Federico “Fuco” Pisani, one of the world’s most experienced tepui mountaineers, leads climber Alex Honnold up a section of Weiassipu. They hoped to find new frog spe- cies on the rugged cliff faces, the one tepui environment scientists have never studied. MATTHEW IRVING

longer than in equatorial rainforests like this one. Akawaio team member For millions of years, the frogs here have followed Franklin George rests an array of evolutionary pathways, resulting in after a day of hacking a profusion of species in all shapes, sizes, and through the jungle colors, and with astonishing adaptations. and hauling supplies, often under a steady More than a thousand amphibian species have rain. During the trek to been described in the Amazon Basin alone— Weiassipu, the team set from jewel-like poison dart frogs (named for up shelter each evening their primary use among Indigenous people), and wrung out their to glass frogs (with skin so thin it reveals their clothes. “The jungle beating hearts), to milk frogs (which live high just swallows you down in the canopy inside water-filled tree holes), to day after day,” says the recently discovered zombie frogs (that spend writer Mark Synnott. most of their lives underground). Many of these “We were constantly have yielded breakthroughs in medicine, includ- soaked and slathered ing new types of antibiotics and painkillers and in mud. We called it potential cancer and Alzheimer’s treatments. living in mud world.” Scientists believe they’ve identified only a fraction of the world’s frog species. Meanwhile, the ones we do know of are disappearing at an alarming rate. By some estimates, up to 200 frog species may have gone extinct since the 1970s, and Bruce and other biologists fear that many others will die out before we even know they exist. What secrets about evolution, medicine, or other mysteries would be lost with them? Bruce refused to dwell on such gloomy rumi- nations. He focused instead on the wealth of biological treasures these rainforests still held. “The potential for future discoveries in the Paikwa is virtually limitless,” he told me, his voice filled with his trademark enthusiasm. But he also knew that time was running out—not just for the frogs but for him too. G U YA N A I S S O M E T H I N G of rocks”—sometimes called “houses of the gods.” an oddity as the only English- Unlike typical mountain ranges that often speaking nation in South America, a legacy of its history as Britain’s form in linked chains, tepuis tend to stand only long-term colony on the conti- alone, emerging from the rainforest like islands poking out of a foggy ocean. A few of their nent. Most of the country is covered summits can be reached by hiking routes, but most are ringed with sheer cliffs—some up to in untracked rainforest, but in the 3,000 feet tall—and often are festooned with spectacular waterfalls. far northwestern corner, the Pakaraima Moun- Geologists tell us that tepuis are the remnants tains run along Guyana’s border with Brazil and of an ancient plateau, called the Guiana Shield, that once formed the heart of the supercontinent Venezuela. Here, several table-topped moun- known as Gondwana. Hundreds of millions of years ago, when this part of South America was tains, which resemble the monumental mesas connected to Africa, the Guiana Shield stretched across parts of what is modern-day Guyana, in the deserts of the American Southwest, rise sharply above the dark green canopy of the Paikwa River Basin. To the local Pemon peo- ple who’ve lived in their shadows for centuries, these otherworldly peaks are known as tepuis (pronounced tuh-POOH-eez)—or “sprouting 48 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

French Guiana, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, who and Suriname. This mass of ancient sandstone led an expedition up the Orinoco in 1595 while and quartzite gradually fractured and eroded searching for El Dorado, the fabled lost city until roughly 30 million years ago, when the of gold. Raleigh wrote about seeing a crystal hundred or so tepuis that exist today took on mountain in the distance, which might have something resembling their present form. been Mount Roraima: “It appeared like a white church-tower of an exceeding height. There fall- Gondwana split apart eons ago, but this part eth over it a mighty river which toucheth no part of South America still holds many clues to its of the side of the mountain, but rusheth over shared past with Africa. Today some of the the top of it, and falleth to the ground with so species endemic to tepuis are closely related to terrible a noise and clamour, as if a thousand plants and animals found in West Africa, and the types of diamonds mined in Sierra Leone and EXPLORER: THE LAST TEPUI Guinea are the same as those that erode from tepui cliffs and are carried downstream in the Follow as the team searches for Paikwa and other rivers. new species on South America’s sky islands, available to stream The first European to see a tepui was probably on Disney+ starting April 22. U P T H E M O U N TA I N , T O A W O R L D A P A R T 49

Synnott and Honnold stand below a cascade called Double Drop Falls, where they established a base camp. From there, the team cut a five-mile trail through pristine rainforest to the base of Weiassipu. Then they climbed the tepui, searching for frogs and other species. MATTHEW IRVING



great bells were knocked one against another.” or its relationship to others in the genus known I first learned of these otherworldly rock for- as pebble toads. mations as a boy, when I read Sir Arthur Conan The “Oreo,” as Bruce called it, was chocolate Doyle’s 1912 classic, The Lost World. In this brown, about the size of his thumbnail, with science-fiction tale, a scientist discovers dino- four-toed feet that reminded me of Mickey saurs and protohumans living on an isolated Mouse’s cartoon hands—an evolutionary adap- plateau hidden deep in the Amazon jungle. That tation that enables these frogs to climb like no book and its protagonist, the ebullient Profes- other. It was the seventh known species from the sor Challenger, jumped to mind when I first Oreophrynella genus. Each of these species lives met Bruce in 2001 through mutual friends at separately from the others; six are found only on ‘TEPUIS ARE LIKE THE GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS,’ BRUCE ONCE TOLD ME, the National Geographic Society. He recounted their own tepui summits and one in the cloud some of his explorations of tepuis, describing forests of the Paikwa River Basin. them as individual laboratories for evolution— islands in the sky—that have been completely They’ve each followed distinct evolution- isolated for so long that some frog species exist ary paths, but at least two share a remarkable on the summit of a single tepui and nowhere adaptation that allows them to escape preda- else on Earth. tors. When a tarantula or scorpion attacks, these frogs curl into tight, pebble-size balls and roll “Tepuis are like the Galápagos Islands,” he and bounce down tree branches, vines, leaves, once told me, “but so much older and more or rocky surfaces until they’re out of harm’s difficult to study.” way. By the end of that trip with Bruce, I wasn’t sure who was more charming, these minuscule He had been looking for someone to help frogs or the man who had dedicated his life to him access the most inaccessible terrain on and studying them. around the tepuis. With my background as a pro- fessional climber, I could do just that. So in 2003 There was another frog on top of Weiassipu and 2006, we spent weeks searching for new that Bruce had photographed and captured but frog species in the jungle below Roraima. While wanted to study more. This one had classic tree- flying home in a helicopter after the second trip, frog hind feet designed for climbing. Based on we passed over a small tepui that wasn’t on our its size, brown color, and white-speckled belly, map. Its summit was incised by a 600-foot-deep Bruce was confident that it was a new species of sinkhole with a thick forest at its bottom. Bruce the genus Stefania. grabbed me by the shirt and shouted in my face, over the sound of the rotors, “Mark, I need to For years, he and his collaborator, Belgian be in that hole!” biologist Philippe Kok, had been building Stefania’s evolutionary tree. By charting the Six years later, in 2012, a helicopter dropped DNA from other Stefania frogs, they concluded Bruce and me on top of that tepui, called Mount there were missing species. If Bruce could col- Weiassipu (pronounced why-OSS-i-pooh), and I lect this elusive frog on top of Weiassipu and helped him rappel into the sinkhole. After five prove through DNA analysis that its ancestors days of camping at the bottom and crawling evolved for millions of years to suit that ecosys- around at night through what Bruce described tem, cut off from the rest of the world, he’d be as “a lost world within a lost world,” he found a a step closer to a more complete understanding tiny frog he described as a “missing link” in tepui of how life evolves on tepuis. evolutionary biology. A single specimen of this species, named Oreophrynella weiassipuensis, So Bruce had proposed one final expedition had been collected by a team of spelunkers in to the Guiana Highlands to find this Stefania 2000, but it hadn’t been properly preserved, and to sample the species richness of other and as a result, very little was known about it amphibians and reptiles in the Paikwa River Basin. We’d travel by bush plane and dugout 52 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

canoe along the Kukui and Ataro Rivers, then riverbank, landing facedown in a creek. After trek 40 miles through untracked jungle to it was clear he wasn’t hurt, someone broke the Weiassipu, which we would attempt to climb tension with a joke about the jungle being guilty via its sheer north face. “This is probably the of “elder abuse.” last one I’ve got in me,” Bruce said. “But I’ll get there. Even if I have to crawl.” Everyone laughed—including Bruce. But as he continued to struggle over the next several My challenge was to devise a way to help days and as the trail grew more treacherous, the Bruce look for new species in the one tepui envi- humor died off. Bruce’s safety became an ever ronment that no scientist had ever studied: the present worry for our team. cliff faces. But safely hauling a man who would After a week of this, we finally set up a base ‘BUT SO MUCH OLDER AND MORE DIFFICULT TO STUDY.’ turn 80 on this expedition up a big-wall rock camp of sorts downstream from a roaring 200- climb would take skills well beyond my own. So foot cascade that Bruce called Double Drop I recruited two ringers: climbing superstar Alex Falls. It looked like a gargantuan two-hump Honnold, 35, whose ropeless ascent of El Capitan waterslide and hammered into a pool with such in Yosemite National Park was documented in force it filled the air with a fine mist that drifted the film Free Solo, and Federico “Fuco” Pisani, over the camp. 46, a Venezuelan-Italian and one of the world’s most experienced tepui climbers. The team gathered under a tarp, sitting on a bench around a crude table made from fallen B RUCE SUMMONED his reserves logs, to take stock of our situation. Bruce spread and pushed on through the jungle a map across the table, and with a wrinkled fin- in search of frogs. ger, he traced the route that still lay between us and Weiassipu. To the south lay a valley that was For days we’d been trudg- unexplored, according to our team’s Akawaio ing across a swampy floodplain guides, members of the small Indigenous group that lives in the area where Guyana, Venezuela, through ankle-deep mud that and Brazil converge around Roraima. Above the roaring falls rose the massive tepui, Weiassipu, almost sucked our boots right off which remained hidden behind thick forest canopy and swirling clouds. our feet. It rained incessantly, and even when Sitting across from me at the table, Alex was the sun poked through the low clouds, it never practically vibrating, so eager was he to get to the mountain where he could climb his way up penetrated the dense canopy overhead. Down and out of what he called “mud world.” Fuco, bespectacled and with thick curly brown hair in the steamy understory, mosquitoes and flecked with gray, sat quietly next to me. He’d led more than 20 expeditions to the tepuis over biting flies reigned, and our sweat-soaked the past 27 years, but he’d never been involved in a scientific expedition on a tepui. He’d always clothes, slick with mud and ripped by thorns, wanted to be a scientist, even pursuing a Ph.D. in biology at one point, and I noticed that Bruce stuck to our rashy skin. Every day we crossed often called on Fuco when trying to identify the flora and fauna that surrounded us. countless tea-colored rivers and creeks via Standing behind Alex were the leaders of the precarious log bridges. The slow-moving water, 70-strong team of local Akawaio people who were supporting our expedition as guides and porters. which was also our drinking source, was stained Edward Jameson and Troy Henry were legendary from decaying vegetation—something that no amount of purifying could remove. Even Alex found the conditions challenging. But for Bruce, the trek had devolved into a har- rowing ordeal. He fell often and hard. Lacking the balance and confidence to cross the many log bridges, he opted instead to slide down the steep embankments and wade or swim across the water. Once, he’d somersaulted down a steep U P T H E M O U N TA I N , T O A W O R L D A PA R T 53

SKY-HIGH ARCHIPELAGO Area enlarged at right Just as flora and fauna evolved on remote islands across the oceans, so too did plants and animals isolated on the summits SOUTH of tepuis, rock plateaus rising out of South American rainforests. AMERICA Slow weathering honed their sheer cliffs and hollowed valleys between them. Scientists believe these sky islands each fostered Cerro unique life-forms, separated by oceans of tropical lowlands. Marahuaca Cerro Duida Cerro Huha Cerro Curutú AMAZON ins VBENRAEZZUILELA Caroní BASIN a GU n t Caruay u Cerro el Abismo Uonán-tepuí Aponguao o Tepuy Guanama M Uaramapa-tepuí a More than 65 percent of Canaima AIMA National Park consists of tepuis. m The park was made a UNESCO IG i World Heritage site in 1994. a r P EBNR EAZZUISLEaLntAa Acurima Paui-tepuí Caroní a Elena Uruma-tepuí k a Pacaraima V de Uairén Cerro Cusu Tepuy Tepuy N Asapue Acurineima Yur Cuquenán C HA uani SABANA M o u n t ains A N Parai-tepuí Uadam-tepuí R Cerro Cuquenán G Cerro Yuruaní The Gran Sabana is a grass- Pakaraima land region on the Guiana Cuquenán 9,219 ft Highlands. Forested valleys weave through the plains. 2,810 m Arabopó Mount Roraima Sierra de Sol View direction, MOUNT WEIASSIPU next pages VENEZUELA Sloth Camp BRAZIL ins Double Drop Falls Route of R O R A I M A N. P. Cotingo t a Mt. Appokailang expedition MONTE M o u n m a L Mt. Maringma Z A a i I A Pakar A N BR UY G Arabaru MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK, NGM STAFF. TOMÁS MÜLLER MONTE RORAIMA SOURCES: USGS; NASA/JPL; ESA; MERIT DEM NATIONAL PARK Wayalayeng

ROCK OF THE AGES Orinoco ATLANTIC OCEAN VENEZUELA The formation known as the Guiana Shield spans more than Georgetown 600,000 square miles. It’s a remnant of an ancient seafloor, GUIANA GUYANA Paramaribo uplifted roughly 165 million HIGHLANDS Cayenne years ago when Africa and Direction of South America began breaking view below into two distinct continents. COLOMBIA G U I A N FR. GUIANA A SURINAME SHIELD (FRANCE) BRAZIL Amazo Manaus arangAMAZON BASIN n Cerro Jumpetiri Fila del Cerro Guaiquinima Aprada- Caroní Angel Falls tepuí World’s highest waterfall 3,212 ft CHIMANTÁ MASSIF 979 m AUYÁN-TEPUÍ 8,852 ft 2,698 m Camarcaibarai-tepuí Aparamán-tepuí I A N A Carrao Aurén-tepuí Serranía Sentipuí Sierra de Lema S o r o Ptari-tepuí epuí r o p á n Cauanarú- - t tepuí PARK I O N A T i L T N A gre Luepa Cerro La Escalera Venamo 6,201 ft 1,890 m HL AN D S GUVYEANNEAZ. Venamo Caraurén- tepuí Irú-tepuí Cada-tepuí Tramen-tepuí TOUORO V ENE Z U E LA GU Y A N A SIERRA Mt. Tulameng Paruima Kam Mission The expedition traveled Eboropu Mountain through dense jungle to reach the relatively unex- Waramadan plored Mount Weiassipu. Kako N SCALE VARIES IN THIS PERSPECTIVE. THE DISTANCE FROM MT. RORAIMA TO CERRO VENAMO IS 70 MILES.

COMPLEX FORMATIONS Outside pressures VARYING VEGETATION p Water expands natural fissures in Despite limits on visitors in a few of the About a quarter of tepui plant the rock, weathering it away into large accessible tepuis, many are trampling species are endemic. Plants at the formations on tepui summits. Caves these fragile habitats and leaving behind highest altitudes are exposed to are carved into the rock by under- environmentally destructive waste. intense solar radiation and frequent ground rivers that emerge from the heavy rains. In the short dry season, cliff faces as waterfalls. they’re stressed by drought. Connected Water caves Fracture Arabopó River Nort Underground Boundary rivers tripoint Waterfall Structures within Cotingo River Cave discoveries Ancient marine deposits are vis- Connected ible today as layers of sandstone caves Scientists recently discovered opal with varying patterns and grain stalactites, boulder-size colonies sizes. Chimneys of igneous rock Rain dra of bacteria, underwater crickets, can be found inside the layers. tepuis v and a new mineral, rossiantonite, which fl inside miles-long horizontal hollows. Sill South A Dike est rive the Ama Sinkhole 600 feet deep NATURE’S LABORATORY National Geographic Explorers Bruce Means and Mark Synnott Tepuis, island-like landforms towering thousands of feet above South American rappelled into this sinkhole savannas and rainforests, remain mostly untouched by humans. During the in 2012 and found what Means past few decades, scientists have discovered a broad array of endemic plant called “a lost world within and animal species living in the tepuis’ high reaches and hidden interiors. a lost world.” The heavy rains of the long wet season wane MOUNT in December, leading to a short dry season. WEIASSIPU WET DRY Mt. Roraima Summit (9,220) Mt. Weiassipu 7,670 feet ISOLATED TREASURES Mar. Dec. Feb. Base (1,550) Scientists are studying a new species found in the sinkhole above— the Weiassipu pebble toad—to see if it has genetic links to toads discovered on other tepuis.