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Receiving Tika, Bangaon, Nepal
Photograph courtesy Johan Reinhard
Since 1980, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Johan Reinhard has conducted anthropological field research in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador. Much of his current research focuses on the sacred beliefs and cultural practices of mountain peoples, especially in the Andes and the Himalaya. His investigations have led him to develop new theories to explain the mysteries of pre-Hispanic ceremonial sites on mountain summits, the Nasca Lines, and the ancient ceremonial centers of Machu Picchu, Chavin, and Tiahuanaco. These photos are from his research in Nepal in the 1960s and 70s.
“I wanted to conduct this research in New Guinea, but it was too far away and too expensive to reach. By chance, I read an article about the Kusunda, a hunter-gatherer tribe reported to roam throughout the foothills of Nepal. The Kusunda had been briefly noted in a text dating from the mid-1800s and were believed to have a language unrelated to any other. The tribe had disappeared from view until a Tibetan scholar reported in the mid-1950s the rumor that they were still wandering the hills of Nepal. If I could find the tribe, I could study how its members had managed to maintain their way of life and what happened if some groups of the tribe had already settled.
When my plane landed in Nepal in early 1968, I didn’t have enough money to fly back. Although I did eventually locate the last few survivors of the Kusunda, there were not enough of them to do a truly ethnographic study. Fortunately, after months of searching, I was able to find different groups of the Raji who had been hunter-gatherers until recent times and study their transition to settled life.”
From The Ice Maiden by Johan Reinhard
Pictured: Reinhard receiving tika, or tilaka, at a Tihar festival in Bangaon, Nepal. The tilaka is a mark that symbolizes the third eye, or mind's eye, that is associated with many Hindu gods.
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Sherpa Greeting, Khumjung, Nepal
Photograph by Johan Reinhard
Near Mount Everest in a village called Khumjung, a Sherpa holds what he claims to be a yeti scalp.
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Yak Skull, Manang, Nepal
Photograph by Johan Reinhard
Walking through a village in Manang, Reinhard's team came upon this yak skull. The writing is likely a Tibetan Buddhist mantra with an amulet.
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Aerial View, Kagbeni, Nepal
Photograph by Johan Reinhard
The U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, Marquita Maytag, asked Reinhard to take this aerial photo during a helicopter ride over Kagbeni. Maytag was interested in creating a book of aerial photos of Nepal.
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Blowing Bubbles, Manang, Nepal
Photograph by Johan Reinhard
On a visit to Manang, Nepal in 1979, one of the trek members on the team brought bubbles for the children. "I must say the kids loved it," Reinhard admits.
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Annapurna Trek, Tilicho, Nepal
Photograph by Johan Reinhard
The north side of the Himalayas finally opened up to tourism in 1977 after being closed due to Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule. This particular trek was taken just days after the area opened in 1977.
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Village Protectors, Kagbeni, Nepal
Photograph by Johan Reinhard
A boy passes through an entranceway to a village decorated with "protectors." If you look closely, you can see Reinhard caught the boy mid-jump.
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Portrait, Raji Village, Nepal
Photograph courtesy Johan Reinhard
This photo was taken of Reinhard while he was living in a Raji village in southwest Nepal. The deer was orphaned when villagers shot the mother and the parrot had been caught in a field.
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Prayer Wheels, Manang, Nepal
Photograph by Johan Reinhard
Inside each one of these cans there is a piece of paper with a prayer on it. It is believed that when you spin a Tibetan prayer wheel, your prayer is answered. Usually the wheels have Tibetan symbols on them, but these seemed to be from one of the poorer villages.
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Gurkha Temple, Central Nepal
Photograph by Johan Reinhard
The footprints of Gorakhnath, the guardian deity of the Gurkhas, point the way to toward this ancient temple.
Critical Work in Research, Conservation, Exploration, and Education
Since 1888, National Geographic has supported exploration and discovery, bringing gems like Machu Picchu, undersea wonders, and new species to light. Our programs in field-based research, conservation, exploration, and education continue to provide the world with scientific breakthroughs and discoveries that inspire people everywhere to care about our planet. Today, a new generation of National Geographic explorers are redefining exploration. Living the mission and making the world a better place. Meet these explorers and learn more about our funded projects throughout the world.Projects Currently in the Field
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Out of Eden Walk
Where will Paul Salopek walk on his seven-year adventure? Find out as he updates us from the field.
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Mongolia Wolverine Expedition
Follow along as Gregg Treinish skis roughly 400 miles to survey wildlife, with a focus on wolverine.
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Desventuradas Expedition
Follow Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala as he sets off on his first big expedition of the year: to explore the remote islands of Desventuradas, hundreds of miles off the coast of Chile.
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A Thousand Miles Across the Ice Age Trail
Sally Younger is undertaking a winter transect of Wisconsin's Ice Age Trail to interpret the land's worth and change.
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Omagination
Young Explorer Kelsy Wilson's project provides cameras to Omani women artisans in order to see the evolution of their living craft heritage "through their eyes and in their hands."
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Mapping Patagonia National Park
Join Marty Schnure and Ross Donihue as they embark on a cartographic expedition to create a map-based visual portal for exploring Patagonia National Park.
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The Photo Ark
Joel Sartore is documenting biodiversity to get people to care as species face extinction.
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Walk the Honey Road
Travel with Cat Jaffee and discover the rich flavors, beautiful wildlife, and historic culture of Turkey's less traveled regions.
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Nobody's River
Follow Rebecca Dennis and her team as they embark on a source-to-sea descent of the Amur River—the world’s third longest free-flowing river.
Related Features
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Nasca Photo Gallery
The ancient Nasca lines of Peru shed their secrets.
Explorers Journal
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Explorer Moment: Naming Baby Parrots
While studying green-rumped parrotlets, Karl Berg discovered the adults appear to "name" their young.
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Survival Guide: Dodging Locusts
Swarm behaviorist Iain Couzin has a toxic reaction to a locust at the same time his team runs out of food.
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Meet All Our Explorers
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Explorers A-Z
At the heart of our explorers program is the quest for knowledge through exploration and the people who make it possible.
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Explorers by Category
Browse our different areas of exploration and discover the fascinating people behind the projects.
Google Science Fair
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Explorers to Judge at Google Science Fair
The event features worldwide participation and life-changing prizes.
Listen: Explorer Interviews
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00:11:00 Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner(blurb here)
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00:11:00 Bob Ballard
Boyd heads out of the studio to join National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Bob Ballard aboard his vessel the E/V Nautilus. Currently in Turkey, Ballard tells Boyd about the many shipwrecks he is finding in the Mediterranean. You can follow Ballard and his team, live as they explore the ocean at www.nautiluslive.org.
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00:06:00 Valerie Clark
National Geographic grantee Valerie Clark licks frogs for a living. As Clark tells Boyd, she’s not looking for Prince Charming. Instead, she is studying how the diet of frogs in Madagascar relates to the toxicity of their skin.
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00:09:00 Catherine Jaffee
Turkey is famed for its honey, which is music to Boyd's ears—he has a notorious sweet tooth. He visited National Geographic grantee Cat Jaffee, a beekeeper who left her job in Washington, D.C. to make honey in rural Turkey. She says that bees harvest pollen from their surroundings: the best honey comes from bees with natural surroundings, large meadows, rather than urban environments. Most people, Jaffee says, eat honey that is basically a synthetic mix of sugars from all over the world.
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00:08:00 Bruce Bachand
Many people picture archaeology as the swashbuckling adventure portrayed in the Indiana Jones trilogy. But in reality, it can be much more tedious than discovering the Holy Grail and fighting Nazis. National Geographic grantee Bruce Bachand has been meticulously sewing a 3,000 bead necklace back together in Mexico after discovering a pre-Olmec burial site that housed a tribal chief and his wife, undisturbed for several centuries.
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00:11:00 Lucy Cooke
Lucy Cooke
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00:09:00 Elizabeth Lindsey
Most of human history existed before the advent of GPS technologies that can pinpoint where we are at any time. National Geographic Fellow and ethnonavigation expert, Elizabeth Lindsey has taken it upon herself to understand what it was like for Polynesian explorers to colonize tiny, remote islands across the south Pacific Ocean. To better appreciate the skills it takes to study the clouds and winds in search of land, Lindsey plans to join a team of Polynesian women who are island-hopping using traditional methods: no GPS, no cellphones and no compass.
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00:11:00 Lee Berger Audio
National Geographic grantee and paleoanthropologist Lee Berger has been searching for the fossils of human ancestors, but it was his 9-year-old son who stumbled upon the find of a lifetime: a partial skeleton that may very well change our understanding of the genus Homo.
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00:07:59 Brad Norman
Some go swimming with dolphins or stingrays, Brad Norman, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and marine conservationist, talks about swimming with the largest fish in the world: the whale shark. Norman speaks with Boyd about his research concerning whale shark habitats, tracking and conservation.
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00:11:00 Losang Rabgey
National Geographic Emerging Explorer Losang Rabgey has found her life's work in strengthening rural communities on the Tibetan plateau, which includes building schools to educate local students. Rabgey joins Boyd with updates on the successful work of Machik, the non-profit she founded and now directs.
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00:11:00 Dereck and Beverly Joubert
National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert capture astounding images of African wildlife in their beautiful films. The Jouberts live in the African bush alongside the lions and other animals they profile. They explain to Boyd that, because big cats are in such danger, their work is now focused on conservation projects such as the Cause an Uproar program.
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00:11:00 Nathan Wolfe
National Geographic Emerging Explorer and virus hunter Nathan Wolfe says there is a disease pandemic lurking just around the corner. But, we can prepare ourselves. Wolfe says there are even ways to harness and use the power of viruses. Wolfe joins Boyd to talk about his new book, The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age, which is changing the way we think about viruses.
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00:09:00 Joshua Ponte Audio
National Geographic Emerging Explorer Joshua Ponte was a successful young English entrepreneur when, over breakfast one morning, his eye fell on a newspaper ad that said "Gorilla Reintroduction Program, Gabon." His life has never been the same since. Pursuing his passion for conservation, Ponte moved to a central African forest where 13 orphaned gorillas were being studied. Boyd talks with Ponte about the joys and dangers of raising young gorillas.
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00:11:00 Wade Davis
How did the death and destruction of World War One lead young British climbers to attempt an epic conquest of Mount Everest? National Geographic Explorer in Residence Wade Davis answers that question in his new book “Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest.” Davis joins Boyd in the studio to chat about the book.
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00:11:00 Sylvia Earle
National Geographic Explorer in Residence Sylvia Earle has been deeper undersea than any other woman. Earle is an oceanographer, explorer, author, lecturer, field scientist, and an inspiration to women around the world. She recently received the Royal Geographic Society’s 2011 Patron’s Medal. Boyd talks to Earle about some of her early dives in the Jim Suit.
