On Tuesday, National Geographic editors revealed their top selections chosen from stories they assigned to photographers in 2023 for the fourth annual year-end retrospective. The final photos were narrowed down from a pool of 2 million.
READ USA TODAY ARTICLE (November 14, 2023)
In this video, beekeepers Ray Sciberras and Jorge Spiteri take us back to the time of the Romans and tell us all about the Apis Mellifera Ruttneri – the Maltese honeybee. We also see how the honey they produce plays a key role at the Camilleri & Sons Bakery, where among the many delicacies, you’ll find delicate Zeppoli Ta’ San Guzepp pastries drizzled with honey.
But it doesn’t stop at pastry, as chef Robert Cassar of the MICHELIN-recommended restaurant Root 81 makes clear. “Honey, in my eyes, is like butter – you can use it with everything,” he says.
The scientific results from the international team’s weeks of work will help inform the Dominican government and its people in their resilience planning to ensure their marine environment’s irreplaceable assets continue to sustain the well-being of many generations of Dominicans.
After the harrowing experiences of Hurricane Maria in 2017, Dominica committed to transforming the island into the world’s first climate resilient nation.
by Michiel Panhuysen (Bloomsbury)
In the mad, masochistic world of ultra-marathons, one bizarre event stands above all others. The Barkley Marathons in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee, was established in 1986 but to date only 17 people have successfully finished the 100-mile course. Peculiarities include the fact that, rather than using a starting pistol, the race begins when its director lights a cigarette. Participants must collect a page from a book at each checkpoint, and the application process includes writing an essay about why they should be allowed to take part. Panhuysen, who has competed several times (always unsuccessfully) gives an entertaining portrait of a cult competition.
by Sara Wheeler (Abacus)
This entertaining memoir recounts Wheeler’s career as a travel writer, swimming against the tide of her largely upper-class male contemporaries. Despite the dangers and misogyny endured on journeys from Antarctica to Zanzibar, she admits her main fear is the mundane: “The John Lewis curtain department terrifies me most.”
by González Macías (Picador)
For Spanish writer, graphic designer and committed landlubber Macías, remote lighthouses seem to have the appeal of endangered animals. “There is something beautiful and wild in these impossible architectures,” he writes. “Perhaps because we sense these creatures are dying. Their lights are going out, their bodies crumbling . . . ships no longer need to be under their romantic guardianship.” His fascination propels this survey of 34 lighthouses from Cornwall to China, an exploration of the buildings’ histories and particularities and a study of human solitude and survival in the loneliest surroundings.
by Noo Saro-Wiwa (Canongate)
For a follow-up to the award-winning Looking for Transwonderland, the Anglo-Nigerian journalist travels to China and sets out to explore through the eyes of immigrant Africans who can travel and trade easily in the country, unlike in many European and western countries. It’s an impressionistic but revealing account of a journey through “a separate and nebulous universe”.
by Tim Hannigan (Head of Zeus/Apollo)
Cornwall is among England’s most popular tourist destinations and yet remains mysterious, mythologised and misunderstood. It is, according to historian Bernard Deacon, “a kind of halfway house between English county and Celtic nation”. Hannigan attempts to untangle the region’s history, identity and culture — from King Arthur to Poldark — as he hikes from the River Tamar in the east to his family home near Land’s End.
Out on the lake, fishermen catch féra, a delicate fish that Michelin-starred chef Jean Sulpice is particularly fond of working with. The forests that surround the lake are also a source of inspiration for the chef, who never misses an opportunity to stroll through them in search of new flavours.
Established in 1891, Itasca is Minnesota’s oldest State Park. In this 32,000 acre sanctuary, the mighty Mississippi River begins its 2,552 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Points of interest include old growth pine at Preacher’s Grove, Peace Pipe Vista, bison kill site and over 100 lakes.
Videographer: Kevin Kjergaard.
Video timeline: 00:00 Intro 00:30 Bryggen 01:37 Mini-cruise along the Osterfjord 06:30 Fisketorget food hall
From Norway’s second largest seaport, you can go on a boat tour along the Osterfjord – as our reporter Aisha Sharipzhan did. Let her take you right into the stunning landscape of Norway’s fjords!
Meet unforgettable figures like Maria Callas, Sophia Loren, and Marcello Mastroianni. With an enchanting introduction by Cesare Cunaccia and a curated collection of images, this book takes you on a journey through Italy, unveiling the origins of Dolce Vita.
A new family has moved in. Everything is fashioned from found objects, natural resources—and pure ingenuity! Follow the wood rope stairways up, up, up into the boughs and find the mother’s music den, the young sons’ nature room and the teenage daughter’s astronomy loft. Adjacent to the stairway is the home’s iconic waterwheel, which generates the energy needed to power the family’s gadgets and inventions.
Boomers Daily 