Residents of Tonle Sap have literally built a life on the water

Days of work go into making a single traditional woolen scarf.

Sichuan’s Anzihe Nature Reserve has more giant pandas per square mile than anywhere else

In the Faroe Islands, locals go to great lengths—and heights—to preserve a tradition of “extreme ranching”

Outside Tokyo, Buddhist monks heat their feet as a test of faith.

For a seasoned plant healer, the Amazon rainforest is nature’s pharmacy.

The "Kukeri" costume tradition was designed to scare off winter.

To please ancestors, children in Himeshima transform into animals and princesses.

High-climbing 'guaraperos' tap an iconic tree for sap in La Gomera, Canary Islands.

Iberia’s indigenous wild goat goes where other four-legged creatures can’t.

With help from trained reindeer, Siberia’s nomadic Nenets speed across the tundra.

For more than 7,000 years, aspiring “Invincible Titans” have grappled on the Central Asian steppe.

In the Atlas mountains, the Mediterranean’s only non-human primate species hangs on.

In Istanbul, boys undergo an ancient surgical procedure—and get the royal treatment.

Stealthy habits and GPS collars have helped Western Europe’s rarest wildcat hang on.

In Sulawesi, big-lunged Bajau hunters eke out a traditional living underwater.

Across Yakutia, pagan celebrations of summer are making a comeback.

Will Borneo’s big-nosed, pot-bellied primate swing and swim in the wild for much longer?

In a town on the Danube, mobs of shaggy monster-men herald the coming of spring.

Thousands of sheep crowd through the Po Valley on an annual migration between Alps and plain.

In Montana, a Native American buffalo hunt sets the scene for a conscientious frontier revival.

In New Orleans, historic “Second Line” processions bring the music to the streets.

In a tiny highland nation in southern Africa, herders dignify simple lives with striking costume.

In Otsu, a 1,200-year-old celebration honors lusty mountain gods every spring.

An ivory carver connects Nantucket to its whaling past.

The threatened Awá people shoot to kill—and to live.

An aristocratic pastime involves training, admiring—and almost becoming—a bird of prey.

A distinctive whistling language still echoes in the hills of La Gomera.

A semi-wild species has the run of a functioning city.

In the eastern highlands, grandmothers wear tribal affiliation on their faces.

Hand-picked seaweed is the pride of New Brunswick’s Grand Manan Island.

In a Galician village, a savage horse-wrestling tradition persists.

In Dubai, skilled shipbuilders supersize a traditional wooden boat.

Nova Scotia’s old-school swordfish hunters don’t use lines or nets.

The athletic challenge that turns Hamar boys into men.

In Taipei, indoor fishermen dangle for their dinner.

One man watches over an uninhabited New Brunswick island.

A no-frills approach to cheesemaking endures in the Rarau Mountains.

No creature on the planet mates quite like this.

Discarded shells are shelters for this underwater species in Anilao. Beer cans, too.

In southern Yunnan, pu-erh emerges from terraced landscapes and timeless methods.

Tradition-minded Vermont farmers swear by the scythe.

Siena’s medieval-themed processions lay bare the city’s sturdy, tangled roots. Just don’t call them reenactments.

High-country herding defines a Himalayan community..

A predatory invertebrate strikes from inside its ocean burrow.

In historic Isfahan, an official ceremony makes a girl a woman.

At Ikateq, the remains of a U.S. WWII base slowly rust on the tundra.

In a remote village in Teruel, an elderly couple are the only remaining residents.

A ride on Vienna's defining roadway.

Hardly inert, the frozen giants of the Illulissat Icefjord are harbingers of dramatic change

Kurdish singers shout the story of their embattled nation.

The magnificent, eroding limestone pillars of the Victoria Coast.

In America's first national park, an iconic omnivore roams an extremely varied path.

A bird woos mates with a "bow, walk, pause and waggle." Collaboration: Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Come mating time, the King-of-Saxony male makes a ruckus. Collaboration: Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

A male bird-of-paradise performs a dramatic courtship dance. Collaboration: Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

A singer/poet’s compilation helps preserve the Gypsy language.

One country lays claim to the world’s most tricked-out cargo vehicles.

A Lampang workshop specializes in the dha, a traditional Southeast Asian sword.

Spectacular processions in Granada bring Catholic feeling to fever pitch.

Metalworkers fashion their own masks in this East African nation’s capital.

The daily catch, viewed across decades. An ancient mariner reflects.

The giant, noisy summer colony of Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula.

Sicily’s "Beautiful Mountain" is dangerously potent.

A Cape Town specialty: boiled sheep’s head.

A single-chair lift Vermont lets purists ski the old-fashioned way.

In the Arizona desert, an underground corridor unlike any other.

Preserving the flavor of Old Vienna.

An iconic tree that grows in the Cocora Valley and nowhere else.

On the Andaman coast, a disappearing approach to married life.

In a sacred town, the most colorful Hindu celebration takes on extra meaning.

In the Basque Country, handball takes on a heroic aspect.

The homegrown skincare product that defines a nation.

Havana’s youth learn to punch above their weight.

In the Orthodox highlands, an age-old symbolic object takes many forms.

A Wyoming town revives a cowboy competition, without the frills.

The ancient city of Bagan bristles with thousand-year-old buildings.

The Hindu holy men who preside over the world’s largest religious gathering.

In Borneo, an ingenious handcrafted hunting tool still gets the job done.

Cartagena, the Western Hemisphere’s best-preserved colonial city.

Where Rajasthan’s desert herdsmen bring their beasts to market.

An ancient waterway near Guilin has inspired more poetry than any other.

In the Senegalese capital, a popular (and entirely public) workout spot.

How an unlikely seagoing species emerged in Montego Bay.

In winter, a Wyoming town welcomes to the world’s largest gathering of elk.

A graveyard for an iconic breed of Latin American public-transport vehicle.

Chefchaouen, an old town with a gloriously monotone medina.

Saut d’Eau, world’s busiest bathing spot for vodou pilgrims.

Underneath a roof of ice, the world’s southernmost mammal takes the plunge.

The freakiest-looking festival in the Himalayas comes courtesy of Buddhist monks.

In a city of ups and downs, an ingenious way to get around.

A tournament that has attracted slippery strongmen since the 14th century.

Why one historic valley district has its own customs agents and passport stamps.

Making a makoro the traditional way, using axe and wood.

Preserving ethnic traditions from the throne.

The doors that lead in and out of Kigali’s upscale neighborhoods.

A California town that preserves (and performs) its Danish roots with gusto.

The subway system that’s also a work of art.

A mighty body of water that became a desert.

A lake in Palau contains a startling surplus of golden medusae.

On Louisiana’s Avery Island, a colorful and can-do flower thrives.

The world's only swimming lizard.

In Kyoto, an exquisite and uniquely demanding profession lives on.

The musette, theme song of a bygone Paris.

The improvised, weather-resistant hunting cabins of Alaska's native Iñupiats.

Traditional painted Easter eggs, in the historic town of Ciocăneşti.

The little mountain that caused big problems.

The multi-functional motorcycles of southern Arabia, and the daredevils who ride them.

An encounter with the Serengeti's most endangered species.

In Ethiopia's Omo Valley, resident tribes break the skin in ways that cannot be undone.