Paul Salopek is a National Geographic Explorer, writer and journalist. He has worked as a commercial fisherman in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, cattle ranched in Mexico and reported in more than 50 countries. Recipient of most of America’s top media awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes for his stories on human genetics and the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he is currently walking across the world for a 15-year storytelling project called the Out of Eden Walk.

Photo by Paul Salopek