Rhett Ayers Butler
In the Central African Republic, a country often seen mainly through instability, a different story is unfolding in its southwest. Last month, David Akana and I spent time in and around Dzanga-Sangha National Park, speaking with researchers, conservationists, community members, and park officials. What we heard was not quite reflected in the usual narrative. Bayanga, [Continue reading]
Last month, during a brief trip to Asia, I managed to spend two days out in the field in Borneo. The attached photos are a few highlights. Aerial photography invites a level of uncertainty. The ground offers clues but rarely the full picture. Once the view lifts, the patterns emerge: peat-dark water cutting through forest, [Continue reading]
There is a place where the Amazon meets the Andes, where forests climb the lower slopes of mountains before giving way to the mists of the cloud forests. To stand there is to feel the weight of two great worlds converging. The immensity of the Amazon basin stretches out below, while above, the Andes rise [Continue reading]
Last month, I had the opportunity to join a group of scientists and conservationists on an expedition to the Revillagigedo Islands, thanks to a cabin that had become available on their vessel. This remote volcanic archipelago, located roughly 285 miles off the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, is not an easy place to [Continue reading]
It’s difficult to describe the feeling of standing beneath Auyán-Tepuí, that towering table mountain in southern Venezuela, except to say that something in me changed. In the mid-1990s, I visited this place—part of Canaima National Park—drawn by the allure of Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall on Earth. But nothing prepared me for the sheer presence [Continue reading]
My obsession with Madagascar began in childhood. While my friends hung out at the mall or played video games, I hoarded books on the island’s chameleons and lemurs, dreaming of the day I would see them myself. I saved every spare dollar—from jobs, birthdays, even the Tooth Fairy—to fund my future adventure. By college, I [Continue reading]
How travel shaped my life 🥾 Growing up, travel wasn’t a luxury—it was a way of life. My father’s job meant a steady stream of airline miles, and my mother, a travel agent in the golden age of the industry, had the know-how to turn those miles into experiences on a limited budget in an [Continue reading]