Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i National Geographic Magazine

AT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC we love a good quest. The search for something special is so often at the heart of many of our stories, and this issue is a case in point. First up is an inside look at the hunt for the Endurance, the ship of famed explorer Ernest Shackleton, whose expedition to Antarctica in the early 20th century ended with the loss of the ship but, incredibly, of no human life. For more than a hundred years, the Endurance’s wreck had remained elusive under the polar ice, but an international crew embarked with great determination to uncover it. This month we bring you their story, which is also the subject of an exciting National Geographic documentary out now. We’ve got an expedition to one of the world’s most…

In a high-elevation forest on Jingmai Mountain, dawn broke over a green peak, bathing an ancient tea tree in warm light. A four-foot-wide trunk along with enormous branches, stretching up into a canopy of leaves, gave it an imposing bearing—nothing like the smaller tea shrubs often packed into tight rows on commercial farms throughout China. But this tree, deep within the south-western Yunnan Province, was different. And it served a different purpose altogether. A married couple named Ai Rong, 41, and Ke Lanfang, 36, had gathered with their elderly parents in front of the tree, chanting a prayer in the Blang people’s language, spoken by the Indigenous community throughout this region where five tea forests—collectively the oldest and largest on the planet—are cultivated. To the untrained eye, the tree might have…

For those seeking a unique religious experience, head to the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, an hour-and-a-half drive south of Florence. At morning mass, held at 7:30 a.m., and at evening vespers, at 6:30 p.m., resident monks partake in an enrapturing Gregorian chant. Find their service schedule at monteolivetomaggiore.it. If an evening of meditative reflection is needed, book an overnight stay at La Verna sanctuary and wander the grounds, set within the Casentinesi Forests. It is in these same woods that St. Francis communed with nature and founded the small church of Santa Maria degli Angeli eight centuries ago. Book your stay at laverna.it. Should you need your spirituality with a side of stunning views and a dose of literary and cinematic history, look no further than the Sacra di…

THE DISCOVERY of the wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance—this issue’s cover story—marks an extraordinary milestone in global exploration, a testament to humanity’s relentless curiosity and the ingenuity that drives us forward. While some may see such remarkable findings as relics of a bygone era, I believe they illustrate that we are, in fact, living in the greatest era of exploration. What is driving this new age of discovery? Humankind is advancing knowledge in ways and places that were thought impossible a century ago. At the National Geographic Society, we are funding a global community of Explorers who are developing innovative technologies to map the ocean floor, trace humanity’s origins, identify new species—and potentially even communicate with them. Explorer David Gruber and his Project CETI team, for instance, are leveraging…

Robin Hammond, p.82 An Explorer for six years, Hammond has traveled the world as a photojournalist. This issue’s story on New Zealand’s efforts to eradicate harmful predators took him back to his native country for a project that, he says, became “one of the highlights of my career.” Justin Jin, p.50 The Hong Kong–born photographer and writer, who became an Explorer last year, journeyed to Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er, China, for this month’s feature on the contemporary importance of Yunnan Province’s ancient tea forests. Esther Horvath, p.16 On the Antarctic expedition to find the Endurance, Horvath not only photographed work aboard the research vessel but also kept a journal in which she channeled Ernest Shackleton—a practice that helped her relate to the experience of the ship’s captain. Robbie Shone, p.110 An accomplished cave…

I WAS FORTUNATE to be raised in a traditional Karuk family—where dipnet fishing, renewal ceremonies, and cultural fire were practiced in concert with the annual cycles of the natural world. When I was growing up, my dad would drive an old rust-colored Chevy home from the dipnet fishery at Ishi Pishi Falls in Northern California, the truck’s bed full of glimmering áama, or salmon. We would stay up late processing fish, hanging strips in the smokehouse, and chasing away bears. As Káruk Va’áraaras, we are salmon people. We are river people. We are fix-the-world people. We are taught that our relationship to the fish is reciprocal and that as long as there is one Káruk Áraar fishing, the salmon will continue to be called to make the journey up our…

When a Tea Is Not a Tea Around the world, a huge number of nontraditional teas—like chamomile, mint, and rooibos, collectively called tisanes—are created by infusing plants such as herbs and roots. How Tea Works For the uninitiated, it can be easy to lump all caffeinated beverages together. But the differences between tea and coffee are vast. Both can increase alertness, but tea can also induce a sense of calm. Each of the six foundational styles of tea offers a different flavor and chemical characteristics that have been associated with potential health benefits. CAFFEINE The psychoactive substance promotes concentration and reduces mental fatigue by binding to receptors in the brain, blocking messages that rest is needed. L-THEANINE Found in tea plants and a species of mushroom, this rare amino acid…

THE TRAIL WAS STEEP, OVERGROWN, and slippery from rain. I had to grip tree trunks and clumps of leaves to keep from sliding down the mountainside. It was springtime, and in this forest reserve in northern New Zealand, chicks were hatching. My friend and I were part of a volunteer effort to help protect them from a ruthless invasive predator—and packed accordingly. Our backpacks contained bags of orange-scented rat poison. Except our target wasn’t rats at all. We were after stoats, small carnivorous mammals introduced to New Zealand in the 1870s that are especially deadly to native birds. These animals are lean and lithe with kitten-like faces. They’d be almost adorable, if they weren’t such devastating killers. A stoat can climb a 60-foot tree to take down a fully grown…

Greenland hosts some of the world’s northern-most caves—and one of its most unforgiving environments. In 2023 a team of scientists launched a mission into its icy, unexplored cliffside caverns to search for speleothems, layered mineral deposits holding clues to Earth’s earliest climate history. Conducting the Search The team braved storms, polar bears, and choppy helicopter flights to and from each cave. It was only in the final hours of the expedition, deep within a narrow, frosty passage of WUL-7, that the elusive specimens were found.…

Some two million invasive predators have been eliminated in a phased and accelerating effort to rid New Zealand of the unwelcome hunters by 2050. The greatest progress has been made on islands and peninsulas. Up next? The rest of the mainland.…