Exploring the Future of Storytelling

This year has been electric with momentum! One of the most exciting events on our travel calendar is the National Geographic Society Explorers Festival. For NEWF, each year has given us more opportunity to celebrate our community and see our dream of Pan-African representation growing in the Society and around the world. 

Our dream of seeing diverse catalogues of authentic stories featuring a global melting pot of culture, language and community-inclusive impact is supported by the Society through our collaboration, Africa Refocused, which is lead by explorers Noel Kok and Pragna Parsotam-Kok, Co-Founders and Executive Directors of NEWF. 

What’s most affirming for the future of African-Led impact, science, conservation and storytelling is that our program is not an entry point to the Society. These explorers have contributed to the growth of many people in their communities by paving an easier path for them to access opportunity and tell their own stories. 

Programs like these are not just dollars, rands and cents - they make a real impact with real people who are talented, passionate and determined to build the industries and equity they dream of. These resources bring the work of explorers and their innovative initiatives to life in ways that look, feel and sound like them - a ripple of change that gains momentum with the announcement of every new explorer.

Dr.Aristide Takoukam Kamla who connected with NEWF after becoming an explorer and scaling his SIREN app, shared his heartfelt career journey on the Symposium stage this year. His work highlighted the stories of a dear mentor, the late Papa Mensah, and his son Prince Kuko who has since joined AMMCO and is in the NEWF Divemaster training program - rather than a string of accolades devoid of community.

For Nancy Iraba, 2024 Kia Wayfinder Explorer, her journey to becoming a Divemaster in NEWF’s 2021 Decade Divemaster Storytelling Lab marked the start of a coral-encrusted dream to secure partnerships to train local Tanzanian Scientists and Storytellers. Now the program Lead for Aqua-Farms Organisation, this dream is part of Nancy’s determination to connect her community to the ocean and the local marine resources so few locals are able to explore and benefit from. 

Events like the Explorers Festival are exciting not only for the dynamic, thought-provoking programming and opportunity to connect with a growing, global network of impact advocates - but a reminder that resources like these bring the work of explorers and their innovative initiatives to life in ways that look, feel and sound like them - a ripple of change that gains momentum with the announcement of every new explorer.

Aika Kirei, 2023 Explorer who produced a project ‘A land of Lost Lakes’ in her homeland, Tanzania got to cheer her fellow NEWFies in the good company of countless explorers who support each other. Friend and mentor of NEWF, Malaika Vaz hosted the symposium for the first time with a charismatic and poised mix of warmth, passion and humour. 

Highlights included being deeply inspired by Richard Turere, a conservationist and the inventor of Lion Lights, who spoke at the symposium. A beacon of hope for the future as, this young conservation advocate and explorer is Kenya’s youngest patented inventor, gaining global recognition by promoting sustainable and peaceful coexistence between humans and wildlife.

But that’s not where the African pride ended, Peter Lalampaa received the 2024 Buffett Award for Leadership in Conservation. A Kenyan conservationist and Indigenous Samburu pastoralist, his deep connection with nature includes rare skills like interpreting bird calls to detect predators and tracking Grevy’s zebras to locate water sources for optimal grazing. These experiences ignited his passion for conservation which led to pursuing a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Kenyatta University (2007), and a Master of Science in Conservation Biology from the University of Kent (2011) - another step to supporting the future of wildlife and pastoralism.

Also present at this year's festival was friend, mentor and long-time supporter of NEWF, Dr.Reyhana Maktoufi - a DC-based, Iranian researcher and science communicator. A 2024 Kia Wayfinder recipient alongside Nancy and Kerllen Costa who attended the 2024 NEWF Congress earlier this year, we are excited to see how Rey uses her exploration to forward science communication through a series of passionate initiatives.

An opportunity to connect once again, we spent time with Lee Berger (Paleoanthropologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, South Africa and the USA), Shahidul Alam (Photojournalist and Explorer at Large, Bangladesh) and Tara Roberts (Explorer-in-Residence, USA) who we are excited to be collaborating with on exciting projects not quite ready to share! What we can share is that our reunion at the Explorers festival has our friend Bertie Gregory fervently counting the days to visit us back home in South Africa where he’ll be sharing his passion and experience at a Cinematography Lab.

Each of these talented people share our dream, so many are actively supporting our work and the people who make the community the thriving, Pan-African melting pot it is. We look forward to getting to know many more African explorers and to share more in-depth stories, compelling films and ceiling-shattering milestones from the amazing talent that drive change in and beyond the NEWF Community.