When Lindblad Expeditions first set sail more than 50 years ago, travel information was found at the turn of a page rather than the click of a button. For our founder, Sven Lindblad, the key to providing travelers with the world's most authentic experiences lay in the pages of National Geographic magazine and its archive of fascinating species and cultures from the far corners of the globe.
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For the past two decades, Lindblad Expeditions has partnered with National Geographic to enhance the experiences we offer our guests through the power of our shared purpose. Together, we strive to reveal the beauty and wonder of the world through immersive travel in wild places—to help people see our planet through a new lens and think differently about our role in protecting it.
When you step on board the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fleet, you step into the pages of National Geographic magazine—and you access all the resources that stem from our shared legacy in exploration.
Our ships bear the National Geographic name because they are equipped for genuine exploration. Featuring microscopes, hydrophones, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and other essential tools, these purpose-built expedition vessels sail the high seas with a dual mission: to deepen discovery for our travelers, and to provide a basecamp for the National Geographic Experts who join us on select departures to share their important research and storytelling work in fields like oceanography and wildlife biology.
National Geographic Experts are photographers, scientists, and storytellers seeking conservation solutions in the most remote parts of our planet—and they go there with Lindblad Expeditions. They participate in our Guest Speakers Program, giving you a firsthand look at their latest findings—and the unique opportunity to view your destination through their eyes.
Dr. Ashli Akins is a cultural ecologist, writer, and photographer who is passionate about cultural revitalization and sustainable development. She has experience as a tour guide, a teacher, and Park Naturalist in British Columbia and is currently working with UNESCO on Ecotrust Canada's Indigenous Home-Lands Initiative.
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Geographer, educator, and author Stephen F. Cunha spent ten years as a national park ranger in Yosemite and Alaska. Now a geography professor at California's Humboldt State University, he studies diverse landscapes around the world. He is the author of National Geographic's Our Fifty States and How to Ace the National Geographic Bee: The Official Study Guide.
Cultural expert and photojournalist Massimo Bassano has worked for National Geographic since 1990, as well as for numerous worldwide publications. He brings with him all the warmth, curiosity, culture, and history that you find in Southern Italy, more specifically from Calabria, where he was born.
Archaeologist and storyteller Bill Saturno is best known for his 2001 discovery of a 2000-year-old Mayan mural at San Bartolo in northern Guatemala. A National Geographic Explorer and a former NASA research scientist, he has conducted fieldwork around the globe, both on the ground and from space, to understand the ideological and environmental foundations of how the great Czars, Khans, Emperors, and Ajaws of the past ruled over their societies.
Travel writer Don George is an editor-at-large for National Geographic Traveler magazine, as well as host of the National Geographic Live series of conversations with notable authors. In four decades as a travel writer and editor, he has visited more than 90 countries on five continents. Don has received dozens of writing awards, including the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year Award.
Australia-based photographer Michaela Skovranova specializes in nature and underwater photography. Her work has focused on capturing environmental stories in extreme environments—from photographing the Great Barrier Reef and capturing the remote wilderness and diverse wildlife of the Kimberley to documenting the annual humpback whale migration in Tonga and exploring the underwater worlds of Antarctica.
An ethnographer, writer, photographer and filmmaker, Wade Davis holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. He is Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. He has been described as, “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet, and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.”
A Volcanologist and National Geographic Explorer, Arianna's Ph.D. focused on Central American volcanoes, including Arenal and Poas in Costa Rica and Pacaya and Fuego in Guatemala. Currently she is a Professor at North Carolina State University. She was the scientific expert for National Geographic Kids book Absolute Expert: Volcanoes and has written for CNN and Scientific American.
Behind every photograph in National Geographic magazine is an intrepid photographer who has spent decades traveling the globe, capturing the world’s most iconic and impactful images. These National Geographic Photography Experts join select expeditions in captivating places from the Amazon to the Arctic, sharing stories from their adventures in the field and helping travelers hone their camera skills. Every expedition is also accompanied by a certified photography instructor, trained by the pros at National Geographic. They are always available to help you decipher your camera settings or improve your composition, whether you’re a beginner or a professional with a portfolio.
Award-winning photographer Sisse Brimberg has produced and photographed more than 30 stories for National Geographic magazine over the past 40 years. As contributing photographer for National Geographic Traveler, she has shot stories in Amsterdam, Casablanca, Oaxaca, Saint Petersburg, and beyond. She has earned first prize honors from the prestigious Pictures of the Year International (POY), and her images have been exhibited around the world.
Krista Rossow began her career as a photography editor at National Geographic Traveler magazine. She has shot feature stories as a contributing photographer for Traveler in Japan, South Africa, Morocco, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and various U.S. cities. She regularly judges Instagram contests for @NatGeogTravel and edits photos for National Geographic Books.
Camille Seaman has spent the last two decades documenting the rapidly changing landscapes of Earth's polar regions. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Outside, TIME, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, and American Photo, among other outlets. She leads photographic workshops all over the globe and enjoys inspiring others to develop a unique visual voice.
Jennifer Lopez leads commercial and civil lunar payloads as the Director of Business Development, Commercial and Civil Space, fostering science investigations, technology demonstrations, and media partnerships, at Astrobotic—a space robotics and lunar logistics company providing full service, end-to-end payload delivery to the Moon.
Jeff Mauritzen's assignments and adventures have immersed him in vivid landscapes on all seven continents and in more than 60 countries around the world. Whether photographing penguin antics in Antarctica or komodo dragons in Indonesia, Jeff’s work expresses an unwavering passion, respect, curiosity, and awe for the natural world.
Underwater photographers David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes are married partners who work together as a team to produce National Geographic stories from equatorial coral reefs to beneath the polar ice.
One of the first women photographers to work for National Geographic, Annie Griffiths has photographed in more than a hundred countries during her illustrious career. She has worked on dozens of magazine and book projects for the National Geographic Society, including stories on Lawrence of Arabia, Baja California, Galilee, Petra, Sydney, New Zealand, and Jerusalem.
Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Rich Reid has specialized in environmental and adventure photography for over two decades. North American Nature Photography Association elected Rich as a Fellow for his significant contributions to the nature photography industry, and he was a finalist for the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his time-lapse video documenting forest fire ecology.
On a planet where nearly every inch of land has been mapped, few places offer the opportunity for true exploration like the ocean. As part of our undersea program, developed in partnership with National Geographic, an undersea specialist accompanies each of the voyages aboard our expedition fleet to reveal the wonders hidden beneath the waves.
Our specialists don diving gear or deploy ROVs to document our marine environment, feeding footage to the ship lounge during your expedition’s daily recaps. They have been known to discover new species during dives, such as a cold-water coral in Norway. Through these images and insights, guests enjoy a rare look at life in the deep sea— whether you are exploring the turquoise expanse of the South Pacific of the icy lagoons of Antarctica.
The National Geographic Global Explorers Program was built on the belief that the natural world is the ultimate classroom where the next generation of global stewards is nurtured. Established in partnership with National Geographic Education, this interactive program teaches kids and teens age 18 and under to develop the attitudes, skills, and knowledge of an explorer in fascinating and fun places—from Alaska to Antarctica and Baja California to the Galápagos.
Kids will adopt an explorer's mindset, honing their observation skills and capturing their experiences through photographs, videos, drawings, and more. Throughout their journey, they are led by Certified Field Educators—inspiring mentors who help children connect with nature in a deeper way, sending them home with a newfound passion for the planet that lasts a lifetime.
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Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic are partners in a shared mission: to protect the world's wonders and help forge a sustainable path forward for our planet and its people—and we put that ethos into action through the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Fund.
Since the Fund's inception in 2008, it has supported nearly 250 projects designed to protect our world's ocean, restore critical marine and coastal habitats, and foster environmental stewardship in the regions visited by our fleet and beyond. Together with our guests, we have contributed nearly $20 million to support conservation, education, research, storytelling, and technology projects, including the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship and National Geographic Pristine Seas.
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