The Antarctic island of South Georgia is one of the most extraordinary places on earth.  Square miles of king penguin rookeries, thousands of fur seals, hundreds of gigantic elephant seals amidst a backdrop of massive glaciers and snow-capped mountains.

All of the animals here have no fear of you whatever and ignore your presence – except if you make the mistake of getting too close to a bull elephant seal for his comfort.  It’s a mistake I made as you can see.  Luckily, with several tons of blubber to carry, this fellow can’t move as fast as me, so I hightailed it quickly.  That satisfied him, and all was soon back to placidly normal again.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #62 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

On display in the National Museum of Congo in Brazzaville: “Ancient Money.” I took the picture because this is the money that made us human 90,000 years ago.  They are tiny Nassarius gibbosulus estuarine snail shells too small for food, perforated with small holes to string on a necklace, used as money “before the establishment of the CFA” as the sign says, the Central Africa Franc in 1945.

These are the same species of shell that was the first jewelry in history unearthed at seashore sites in Morocco and hundreds of miles inland in Algeria some 90kya (thousand years ago) – meaning they were traded.  For the first time in history, a species began to exchange things between unrelated unmarried individuals to share, swap, barter and trade, and over great distances.

Other animals do not barter. This, maintains science author Matt Ridley, is what made us distinctly human, enabling us to cooperate with other groups or tribes, to innovate, to evolve ever more complex cultures.  This little shell, used as money, is the founding of human culture. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #61 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Seventeen years ago today, October 9, 2003, I had the privilege to meet and have an unforgettable conversation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  It was at a luncheon hosted by India’s Ambassador to the US at his residence in Washington.  His Holiness loved my telling him how I had passed out over a thousand pictures of him during my three overland expeditions crisscrossing Tibet.  “Illegally, yes?” he asked, as the Chinese make this a crime.  “Oh, very illegally!” I answered as we both chuckled.

The Ambassador asked where he was born. His answer, “very remote village in far northern Tibet.”  He was startled when I interjected, “Yes, I know, I’ve been there – I even bought a doonchen (telescoping 15 foot-long Tibetan prayer horn) in your village.”  “A doonchen?” he exclaimed.  “You mean…?” and put his hands to his lips to make this really loud WHOOOH like the horn makes. I nodded and did the same, WHOOOH.  We belly laughed, while all the diplomats and Congressmen did not know what was going on.

Then he wrapped his hands around mine and I felt an electric energy run through my body.  It was his blessing. I will treasure it all my life. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #60 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is the interior of “Gur Emir,” the tomb of Tamerlane (1336-1405) in Samarkand, the great Silk Road city now in Uzbekistan.  Tamerlane was the last of the nomadic conquerors of Eurasia, a Turkic-Mongol whose conquests extended from New Delhi to eastern Turkey.

Gur Emir is only one of a multitude of extraordinary sights in legendary Samarkand that make being here a life-memorable experience.  We’ll be here during our exploration of Central Asia next May. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #59 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The Kayan tribal people live in a remote roadless valley in the Shan Hills of Burma.  Kayan women practice their tradition of beauty starting at age five.  The young girls have a few brass coils placed around their necks, adding to them progressively as they grow until in older adulthood they are wearing as many as two dozen – becoming what the world knows them as Giraffe women.  (The Shan people call them "Padaung" meaning "long-necked," but they call themselves Kayan.)

We are not here to gawk.  We are here to make friends, treat them respectfully, and learn about their traditions.  It is an intensely memorable experience to meet these ladies.  We’ll be here again in early March next year. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #58 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The Wodaabe are cattle-herding nomads in Niger, West Africa.  Their Gerewol festival features Yaake dances by the men to impress marriageable ladies with how ideally handsome they are.  Those ideals include being tall and athletic, having white eyes and white teeth, decorating themselves colorfully, and having a winning smile.

The Wodaabe are a fun-loving, friendly, and hospitable people.  You’ll meet them on our Trans-Sahara Expedition when we’re next able to operate one.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #57 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)