20080926
September 26, 2008
Killer Croc, Gatumba, Burundi, 2004
Photograph by Bobby Model
A villager of Gatumba, Burundi, displays a photograph of an infamous Nile crocodile known as Gustave as workers in the background wade in the Rusizi River. Estimated in 2004 to be 20 feet (6 meters) long and 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms), Gustave is reputed to have devoured scores, even hundreds people along the Rusizi and Lake Tanganyika.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Have You Seen This Croc?" March 2005, National Geographic Adventure magazine)

20080927
September 27, 2008
Black Sea Castle, Yalta, Russia/Ukraine, 1987
Photograph by Steve Raymer
The neo-Gothic Swallow's Nest castle perches 130 feet (40 meters) above the Black Sea near Yalta in southern Ukraine. Built by a German noble in 1912, the flamboyant seaside residence now houses an Italian restaurant.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Ukraine," May 1987, National Geographic magazine)

20080928
September 28, 2008
Ritual Dancers, Tsurphu Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet, 2000
Photograph by Maria Stenzel
Tibetans believe both the negative and positive things done during Losar, the Tibetan New Year celebration, reverberate through the year to come. Here, Buddhist monks from the Tsurphu Monastery near Lhasa chase away bad spirits with a dance honoring the dharmapala divinity.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Tibet Embraces the New Year," January 2000, National Geographic magazine)

20080929
September 29, 2008
Crumbling Billboard, Arizona, 1997
Photograph by Vincent J. Musi
A crumbling billboard overlooks Arizona’s historic stretch of Route 66. This fabled road once linked towns of all sizes from Chicago to Los Angeles, serving as the main thoroughfare for generations of westward migrants.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Romancing the Road," September 1997, National Geographic magazine)

20080930
September 30, 2008
Thermal Vent, New Zealand, 2004
Photograph by Peter Essick
Scientists believe that forests, grasslands, and the waters of the oceans act as carbon sinks—stealing back roughly half of the carbon dioxide we humans emit, slowing its buildup in the atmosphere and delaying its effects on climate.
Eons pass before carbon, buried in the Earth's crust, issues as a gas from a volcanic vent in New Zealand (above), or locked up in limestone, erodes off mountains. Carbon cycles faster when decaying from a leaf or traveling as wind-tossed pollen.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Case of the Missing Carbon," February 2004, National Geographic magazine)

20081001
October 01, 2008
Monastery, Petra, Jordan, 1998
Photograph by Annie Griffiths Belt
The moon peeks over the imposing architecture of the Monastery (Al Deir) in Petra, Jordan. The formidable Monastery, built more than 2,000 years ago, was probably a shrine for the Nabataean people of ancient Petra.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Petra, Ancient City of Stone," December 1998, National Geographic magazine)

20081002
October 02, 2008
Soccer and Sailboats, Port Townsend, Washington, 1984
Photograph by Sam Abell
A bustling seaport in the late 19th century, Port Townsend, Washington, has fought to maintain its historic charm. More than a million visitors come each year to see its Victorian mansions, mountain vistas, and water spectacles, like the Wooden Boat Festival in Puget Sound (top).
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Olympic Peninsula," May 1984, National Geographic magazine)

20081003
October 03, 2008
Approaching Storm, Wyndham, Australia, 2004
Photograph by Randy Olson
Lightning dances on the horizon at dusk near Five Rivers Lookout outside of Wyndham in northern Australia. Intense tropical storms illuminate the evening sky at the start of the "wet"—the rainy season that lasts from about December to March. "When the wet arrives and you feel the wind coming at you," says photographer Randy Olson, "that's the best feeling in the world in these hot little towns."
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Wet Down Under," November 2004, National Geographic magazine)

20081004
October 04, 2008
Islands, Wellington, New Zealand, 2002
Photograph by Frans Lanting
New Zealand is one of the world's richest and most threatened reservoirs of plant and animal life. Today more than a third of the country's land, including offshore islands, is protected as parks and reserves.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Hotspots: New Zealand," October 2002, National Geographic magazine)

真不错啊

20081005
October 05, 2008
Lighthouse at Twilight, Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 2000
Photograph by Kenji Yamaguchi
A gentle twilight surrounds North Carolina's historic Cape Hatteras lighthouse. Since the Civil War, the lighthouse has guided ships through this treacherous stretch of ocean, dubbed the Graveyard of the Atlantic. In 2000, this iconic landmark was relocated a half mile (0.8 kilometers) inland due to a shifting shoreline.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Tall Order: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Makes Tracks," May 2000, National Geographic magazine)

20081006
October 06, 2008
Tutankhamun Tomb Mural, Valley of the Kings, Egypt, 2005
Photograph by Kenneth Garrett
A mural on the north wall of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb maps out his journey to the next world. Here, the sky goddess Nut, second from left, welcomes Tut to the realm of the gods. The black, zigzaggy symbols in Nut's open palms symbolize a greeting.
Carved into the Valley of the Kings, Tut's tomb hid his mummy and funerary regalia until archaeologist Howard Carter revealed its contents to world acclaim in 1922. Though the peripheral rooms were looted in antiquity, the burial itself remained untouched.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The New Face of King Tut," June 2005, National Geographic magazine)

20081007
October 07, 2008
Coconut Palm, New Caledonia, France, 2000
Photograph by Peter Essick
A coconut palm stands on a breezy tropical beach in France's New Caledonia. Tourists enjoy these sun-soaked beaches, but botanists explore the island’s incredible plant diversity. Out of 3,400 identified native plant species, three-quarters are endemic to this archipelago and many can be traced to the Cretaceous era.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "New Caledonia: France’s Untamed Pacific Outpost," May 2000, National Geographic magazine)

20081008
October 08, 2008
Ice Hikers, South Islands, New Zealand, 2002
Photograph by David McLain
Hikers negotiate a crevasse on Franz Josef Glacier in South Island, New Zealand. This highly accessible river of ice begins in the peaks of the Southern Alps, but flows some 8,000 vertical feet (2,400 vertical meters) into the lush rain forest of New Zealand's Westlands National Park.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Action New Zealand: 12 Days and 12 Adventures on the South Island," May/June 2002, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

20081009
October 09, 2008
Yawning Tiger, Siberia, Russia, 2000
Photograph by Reza
The millions of acres of virgin forest in eastern Russia are home to an extraordinary variety of wildlife, including about 350 endangered Amur tigers, such as this adult yawning in a Siberian field.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Black Dragon River: On the Edge of Empires," February 2000, National Geographic magazine)