National Geographic_The Year In Pictures - 2021

01.2022

A health-care worker in
India goes to extreme

lengths to vaccinate rural
populations.

SPECIAL ISSUE

A GUILLERMO DEL TORO FILM

SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES PRESENTS A DOUBLE DARE YOU PRODUCTION A GUILLERMO DEL TORO FILM “NIGHTMARE ALLEY” BRADLEY COOPER CATE BLANCHETT

TONI COLLETTE WILLEM DAFOE RICHARD JENKINS ROONEY MARA RON PERLMAN MARY STEENBURGEN DAVID STRATHAIRN LUISCOSTUME SEQUEIRA MUSIC NATHAN JOHNSON
BY
DESIGNER

CAMERON MCLAUCHLIN TAMARA DEVERELL DAN LAUSTSEN, ASC, DFFPRODUCTION GUILLERMO DEL TORO, p.g.a. J. MILES DALE, p.g.a. BRADLEY COOPER, p.g.a.
DESIGNER
FILM DIRECTOR OF PRODUCED
EDITOR PHOTOGRAPHY BY

BASED ON WILLIAM LINDSAY GRESHAM SCREENPLAY GUILLERMO DEL TORO & KIM MORGAN DIRECTED GUILLERMO DEL TORO
THE NOVEL BY BY BY

IN CINEMAS JANUARY

SPECIAL ISSUE VOLUME 241 NUMBER 1

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

THE YEAR IN

THE YEAR IN DISCOVERY: Humanity’s strides ranged from the microscopic to the cosmic. ............. Page 8
ESSAY: We fought off threats, but many roared back. In 2021, just holding on was a victory. ......... Page 10

COVID CLIMATE CONFLICT CONSERVATION

The pandemic put Massive wildfires, Disputes about In a challenged
us on a roller coaster: crop-killing drought, culture, politics, bor- year, there still were vic-
New vaccines spurred record heat, rising seas, ders, and more echoed tories in efforts to save
optimism, but misinfor- intense storms. The around the world. The threatened species,
mation and shortages alarms about climate United States faced an protect oceans, and
plagued immunizations. change have been unprecedented assault preserve historic places.
As daily routines began sounding for years, but on its democracy and The gains bore witness
to return, the virus still 2021 showed that the wrestled with the pain- to our commitment—
haunted them. crisis truly is upon us. ful legacy of racism. and our hopes.

YEAR IN PICTURES ON THE COVER

01.2022 01.2022

T he 2021 “Year in Pictures” A health-care worker in Hotter weather and
issue, our second, feels India goes to extreme drier vegetation fueled
very different from the
first. Many people have lengths to vaccinate rural destructive wildfires
called 2020 their most populations. in western states.
challenging year ever:
a pandemic worldwide, SPECIAL ISSUE SPECIAL ISSUE
racial and political strife
in the United States. Yet PHOTOGRAPH BY PHOTOGRAPH BY
DAR YASIN LYNSEY ADDARIO
well into 2021, problems
Health-care worker Nazir The Caldor fire, which
of all kinds persisted; Ahmed traveled seven hours menaced Lake Tahoe, was
in a day, on foot and by car, one of many blazes charring
the political rancor and climate to take COVID-19 vaccinations the American West in 2021.
to shepherds and nomadic Climate change creates hotter
crisis did not abate. On the other herders in the Indian territory weather, drier vegetation,
of Jammu and Kashmir. and other wildfire risk factors.
hand, vaccines and other medical
01.2022 01.2022
advances, along with behavioral
Hafiza has taken refuge near Some vulnerable
shifts, began to rein in the virus and Faizabad, Afghanistan, species are rebounding,

raise spirits. You’ll see that glint of since the Taliban seized her such as gray seals in
home village in 2019. the Gulf of Maine.
optimism reflected in many of the
SPECIAL ISSUE SPECIAL ISSUE
photographs we chose to represent
PHOTOGRAPH BY PHOTOGRAPH BY
this whipsaw year. KIANA HAYERI BRIAN SKERRY

Yet as we looked through the The war in Afghanistan A gray seal surfaces
drove Hafiza, 70, from her in waters off New England.
more than 1.9 million images added village and turned her sons Depleted since the late 1800s
into enemies as they joined by hunting, seal populations
to National Geographic’s archives opposing sides. U.S. troops rebounded after the enact-
left in August; rebel and Tali- ment of the U.S. Marine Mam-
in 2021, we couldn’t settle on one ban forces continued fighting. mal Protection Act in 1972.

photo that captured the year. So we

created four covers, each reflecting

a major theme: COVID, climate, con-

flict, and—because we’re National

Geographic—conservation.

The four images (right) embody

2021’s turbulence: destructive

droughts and wildfires … aid for

threatened animals … a woman

traumatized in conflict … and a

health-care worker, Nazir Ahmed,

delivering vaccinations. However

hard Ahmed’s life was in 2021, he

kept going, helping others. In an

issue full of memorable photos,

that one feels especially hopeful.

Thank you for reading National

Geographic.

Susan Goldberg, Editor in Chief B U Y A N Y O F T H E S E F O U R V E R S I O N S AT N ATG EO.C OM / BAC K I S S U E S .
National Geographic

AP PHOTO (TOP LEFT)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CONTRIBUTORS

Lynsey Addario Tanya Habjouqa Nairobi photographer Sarah Waiswa observed how the
A Pulitzer Prize winner, Jordan-born Habjouqa COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of people
Addario has focused on specializes in documenting such as Marylize Biubwa (front), who credits her girlfriend
COVID-19 death rituals in sociopolitical issues across for helping her get through it.
the U.K. and consequences the Middle East. Page 94
of climate change for PHOTO: SARAH WAISWA
women. Pages 2, 54, 74, 92 Kiana Hayeri
Hayeri has focused on con- Robbie Shone Yu Yu Myint Than
Juan Arredondo flict, often in Afghanistan, To promote the impor- Once on the Myanmar
In Colombia, Arredondo has where she lives. Pages 2, 18, 82 tance of caves, Shone Times staff, Than helped
looked at how former rebel has explored the world’s found a women photog-
fighters are reintegrating Zabi Karimi deepest known cave, in the raphers group in Yangon.
into society. Page 46 Karimi has photographed country of Georgia. Page 68 Pages 98, 99
news events, including
Javier Aznar González the Taliban’s takeover Brian Skerry Paolo Verzone
de Rueda of Afghanistan. Page 84 Through his films and Italian native Verzone’s
His work showcases the photography, Skerry has photo subjects range from
significance of lesser known Lam Yik Fei increased awareness of the ancient finds to modern
animals such as reptiles An independent photo- world’s marine ecosystems technology. Page 122
and insects. Page 118 journalist born in Hong and the value of conserving
Kong, Lam examines social them. Page 2 Ami Vitale
Dan Balilty issues, protests, and crises In northern Kenya,
As Israel confronted the around Asia. Page 38 Jared Soares Vitale has documented the
pandemic, Balilty trained his Washington, D.C.-based establishment of the first
lens on images of daily life Christopher Lee Soares explores community ever community-run sanctu-
and the country’s push to Lee’s work often explores and identity with portraits ary for elephants. Page 108
vaccinate residents. Page 44 vulnerable communities and photo essays. Page 30
and the culture of his home Sarah Waiswa
David Chancellor state of Texas. Page 42 Nichole Sobecki Waiswa has shared the
With a focus on Africa, Sobecki aims to tell stories of people struggling
Chancellor scrutinizes the Henry Leutwyler the story of scientists and with COVID-related mental
ways humans and wildlife New York City photogra- conservationists in the health issues and access to
intersect. Pages 57, 114 pher Leutwyler composes Congo Basin striving to care in Kenya. This page
portraits and emotionally protect this vital rainforest.
Alejandro Chaskielberg imbued still lifes. Page 87 Pages 70, 116, 124 Stephen Wilkes
Based in Buenos Aires, With his “Day to Night”
Chaskielberg has photo- Bethany Mollenkof Brent Stirton technique, Wilkes created
graphed places hit hard by Mollenkof recorded her Known for his wildlife composite images display-
natural disasters. Page 16 journey as a Black woman images, Stirton says his goal ing the scope and beauty
navigating pregnancy is to promote “the well- of bird migration. Page 10
Alessandro Cinque during COVID-19. Page 100 being of the planet.” Page 22
In Latin America, Reuben Wu
Cinque investigates the Renan Ozturk Aji Styawan Wu is keyboardist for the
effects of COVID-19 on An expedition climber and A project on rising seas U.K. band Ladytron, as
native populations whose filmmaker, Ozturk has made reflects the environmental well as a photographer
water is tainted by mining 360-degree panoramas of interests of Indonesia- of drone-lit landscapes.
operations. Pages 50, 78 Everest. Page 106 based Styawan. Page 64 Page 126

Mel D. Cole Thomas P. Peschak
Cole’s work ranges from a His wildlife photography
book on hip-hop to cover- and projections of historical
age of protests and the U.S. imagery have highlighted
Capitol attack. Page 88 the dramatic global decline
of seabirds. Pages 66, 76
Dar Yasin
A veteran photographer Victoria Razo
of conflict and disaster, Dar Based in Veracruz, Mexico,
shared a 2020 Pulitzer Prize photojournalist Razo focuses
for images from contested on the rights of migrants
Kashmir. Page 28 and women. Page 96

Muhammad Fadli Elliot Ross
Fadli has covered social As an Arctic Alaska Inu-
issues and COVID-19 in his piat community tries to lay
home country of Indonesia. plans for a future in the face
Pages 32, 40, 48 of climate change, Ross doc-
uments the effort. Page 72
David Guttenfelder
First funded by the Moises Saman
National Geographic Society His work from the Middle
in 2014, Guttenfelder exam- East and North Africa
ines the human condition. includes the book Discordia,
Page 102 on the Arab Spring. Page 120

The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world,
has funded the work of 15 photographers (marked with the yellow border logo) whose images
appear in this issue. Learn about those contributors’ projects above and at natgeo.org/impact.

FROM THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

BY JILL TIEFENTHALER

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF National Geographic is extraor- supporting talented scientists, story-
dinarily multifaceted, and therein lies its magic. A single image tellers, and educators from more than
can spark our curiosity or influence our collective consciousness. 140 nations. They’re advancing knowl-
I’ve known this since I was a little girl in Iowa, leafing through edge and protecting wildlife and wild
the pages of National Geographic magazine in my elementary places. They’re documenting urgent
school’s library. To this day, I vividly remember the impact of threats to our planet and empower-
the iconic image of King Tutankhamun’s funerary mask on this ing the next generation to help solve
March 1977 cover. It was a passport to an ancient dynasty, a visual problems.
journey of archaeological discovery that ignited my imagination.
We have a clear vision to drive sig-
Photography was published in National Geographic for the first nificant impact—and Explorers are the
time in 1889, the year after the National Geographic Society and key. The Society’s new strategic plan,
the magazine were created. It’s been a tremendous honor to build NG Next, doubles down on our com-
on this legacy during my first year leading the Society—a year in mitment to Explorers and Explorer-led
which enormous global challenges defined a before and an after. programs focused on five areas: land,
Throughout, we’ve supported National Geographic Explorers and ocean, wildlife, human history and
other journalists around the world whose photographs documented cultures, and human ingenuity. The
it all—creating an archive of history and human experiences as plan strengthens our investments in
life fundamentally changed. tools of exploration, such as photogra-
phy, and guides us in bringing together
Today the Society is one of the largest funders of individual story- Explorers, partners, donors, and others
tellers in the world. This “Year in Pictures” special issue celebrates dedicated to our mission of changing
honest, evocative images that transcend borders, stir our emotions, the world for the better.
and galvanize change. Among them: Stephen Wilkes’s field of flags,
depicting the devastating toll of COVID-19; Bethany Mollenkof’s A single image—whether it’s the like-
portraits of remembrance ceremonies, capturing the haunting ness of an ancient pharaoh or a gentoo
legacy of racial violence in America; and Thomas Peschak’s scenes penguin in a melting Antarctica—can
of Antarctic sea life, spotlighting what’s at stake for our planet. make a lasting impression. It can spur
change and even shape history. National
At the Society, we’re guided by our mission: to illuminate and Geographic stands ready to record
protect the wonder of our world. We do that by investing in and Earth’s inspiring scenes for another one

and a third centuries—and beyond. j

Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO
National Geographic Society

ILLUSTRATION BY JOE MCKENDRY

ATEM Mini Pro model shown.

Introducing ATEM Mini Pro

The compact television studio that lets you
create presentation videos and live streams!

Blackmagic Design is a leader in video for the television Live Stream Training and Conferences
industry, and now you can create your own streaming videos
with ATEM Mini. Simply connect HDMI cameras, computers The ATEM Mini Pro model has a built in hardware streaming engine
or even microphones. Then push the buttons on the panel for live streaming via its ethernet connection. This means you can
to switch video sources just like a professional broadcaster! live stream to YouTube, Facebook and Teams in much better quality
You can even add titles, picture in picture overlays and mix and with perfectly smooth motion. You can even connect a hard
audio! Then live stream to Zoom, Skype or YouTube! disk or flash storage to the USB connection and record your stream
for upload later!
Create Training and Educational Videos
Monitor all Video Inputs!
ATEM Mini’s includes everything you need. All the buttons are
positioned on the front panel so it’s very easy to learn. There are 4 With so many cameras, computers and effects, things can get busy
HDMI video inputs for connecting cameras and computers, plus a fast! The ATEM Mini Pro model features a “multiview” that lets you
USB output that looks like a webcam so you can connect to Zoom see all cameras, titles and program, plus streaming and recording
or Skype. ATEM Software Control for Mac and PC is also included, status all on a single TV or monitor. There are even tally indicators to
which allows access to more advanced “broadcast” features! show when a camera is on air! Only ATEM Mini is a true professional
television studio in a small compact design!
Use Professional Video Effects
ATEM Mini........US$295
ATEM Mini is really a professional broadcast switcher used by ATEM Mini Pro........US$
television stations. This means it has professional effects such as a ATEM Mini Pro ISO U........
DVE for picture in picture effects commonly used for commentating
over a computer slide show. There are titles for presenter names,
wipe effects for transitioning between sources and a green screen
keyer for replacing backgrounds with graphics.

Learn more at www.blackmagicdesign.com

M I L L I O N -Y E A R- O L D

MAMMOTH DNA

Two mammoth molars
more than a million years
old yielded the oldest
DNA ever sequenced. The
discovery hints that with
the right conditions, DNA
could help scientists unlock
evolutionary secrets even
further in the past.

LUXOR’S LOST CITY UNDERSTANDING THE RED PLANET
A 3,400-year-old metropolis
built by Tutankhamun’s T W O R O B O T I C E X P L O R E R S touched down on Mars’s rusty red
grandfather was hidden surface: NASA’s Perseverance rover and China’s Zhurong rover.
for millennia by Egyptian Both have a lofty goal of searching for hints of past life on Mars.
sands. Found west of mod- Zhurong marks China’s first landing on another planet. Perseverance
ern Luxor, the warren of achieved other firsts: On April 19, the rover’s onboard helicopter
buildings gives a glimpse briefly hovered above Mars’s surface, logging humankind’s first
of ancient Egyptians’ lives powered, controlled flight on another planet. The next day, rover
at the height of the empire’s instruments converted some of Mars’s carbon dioxide–rich atmo-
wealth and power. sphere into oxygen—a first that could lead to the creation of rocket
fuel or breathable air for future astronauts. Then in September,
8 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Perseverance collected the first sample of Mars to be returned to
Earth for study, which Los Alamos National Laboratory planetary
scientist Nina Lanza says will “change everything for Mars science.”

2021 brought important revelations READ MORE
and historic advances in ABOUT 2021’S
SCIENCE NEWS AND
human knowledge, from the BREAKTHROUGHS AT
microscopic to the cosmic. N G M .C O M /JA N 2 0 2 2

BY MAYA WEI-HAAS A N D JASON TREAT
I L LU ST R AT I O N S BY MATTHEW TWOMBLY

FILLING OUT OUR
FAMILY TREE

Two fossil discoveries Some researchers
added more kinks in say the skull may
the tangled branches be from a new human
of our human family species, one they
tree. One’s a stun- dubbed Homo longi,
ningly well preserved or the dragon man.
skull—hidden for Similarly, skull and
nearly 90 years in an jaw fragments found
abandoned well in in Israel presented
China—whose mash-up scientists with a con-
of ancient and modern fusing mix of features.
features suggests it’s New species or not,
more closely related to both finds show a
modern humans than surprising diversity
even Neanderthals. in our ancient kin.

THE COMPLETE
HUMAN GENOME

Scientists made waves sequence of a human COSMIC
in 2001 with the first genome, spanning
draft sequence of the 3.055 billion base COLLISIONS
human genome. But pairs across 23 chro-
headlines celebrating mosomes. The study, A billion years ago, a
a complete human which was posted black hole smashed into
genome were prema- before peer review, a dead star—and in Janu-
ture. Despite years adds nearly 200 mil- ary 2020 scientists finally
of additional work, lion base pairs and caught it in action. Ten
some 8 percent was multiple corrections days later, another clash
still missing—until to prior sequencing was detected elsewhere
May 2021, when 99 efforts. But more work in space. Each cosmic
researchers unveiled remains: Scientists collision, reported last
what they called the have yet to sequence June in the Astrophysical
“first truly complete” the Y chromosome. Journal Letters, sent out
ripples in the fabric of
MALARIA VACCINE VICTORY space-time. The study of
these gravitational waves
The World Health Organization endorsed is still in its infancy; the
the first malaria vaccine, launching a collisions suggest there’s
widespread rollout of the lifesaving shots. plenty more to see.
With a 12-month efficacy of 56 percent in
clinical trials, the Mosquirix vaccine won’t JANUARY 2022 9
replace other prevention methods but is
a valuable tool in fighting the disease.

10

SEPT. 17-19

THE PANDEMIC TOLL MOUNTS

Washington, D.C.

PHOTOGRAPH BY
STEPHEN WILKES

Planted on parkland
around the Washington
Monument, the small white
flags were both tributes
to and symbols of each
life lost to COVID-19 in
the United States. Artist
Suzanne Brennan Firsten-
berg devised the installation
to express the enormity of
the national death toll—and
also the pain of individual
deaths, as mourners deco-
rated flags with loved ones’
names and photos. During
the roughly three weeks
that the installation was
in place, the U.S. passed a
grim milestone: 700,000
COVID fatalities.

To create this composite
image, Stephen Wilkes
took hundreds of photos
from the same vantage
point during 30 hours
spanning three days.
He then merged select
photos into this single
scene. Learn more about
Wilkes’s “Day to Night”
technique on page 25.

IN THE MIDST OF 20
ACRES OF FLAGS, LOVED
ONES KNOW THEY ARE
NO LONGER MOURNING

ON THEIR OWN.”

—Suzanne Brennan
Firstenberg, artist

YEAR IN PICTURES ESSAY BY CYNTHIA GORN

• • •U N I T E D S TAT E S D E M . R E P. C O N G O
ARGENTINA A F G H A N I S TA N

It began with a surge of optimism:
2021, the year of hope and vaccines.
But then violent conflicts, a new
wave of the virus, and deadly
reminders of the climate crisis
made it clear that it would be a year
when we’d need to …

S TAY

EY YEAR IN PICTURES

IN JULY 2021 the Indonesian Tahoe. Fadli was in Indonesia, where DOCUMENTING THE YEAR
photojournalist Muhammad Fadli over the summer the daily COVID-19 INEVITABLY PULLED OUR
drove with his cameras to a cemetery infection rate had surged past India’s. PHOTOGRAPHERS INTO SCENES
on the Jakarta outskirts and under- “My brother-in-law, my father-in-law: OF ANGUISH, DESPAIR, AND
stood, again and more profoundly, COVID,” he said. “My sister-in-law: LOSS. BUT THEY ALSO WITNESSED
how wrong he had been. Over a hospitalized for almost 15 days.” BEAUTY, RESOLVE, AND HOPE.
stretch of weeks during March and
April, Fadli had let himself believe And … ? consensus that health-care workers and the elderly must be first
that life as he knew it was righting “Everyone survived.” Because they on the priority lists for protection.
itself: He saw a nationwide inocula- were lucky and—probably—because
tion campaign, markets starting to they managed to receive first vaccine F OR MANY AMERICANS, that anticipation
bustle again, malls reopening. doses before they fell ill. The Delta of 2021’s emotional respite endured for ... you know
variant crushed India and Indone- ... a week. Six days, technically. In the section of
But no. It was like that lull in the sia as it rampaged across continents this issue labeled Conflict, you’ll see Mel D. Cole’s
horror movies, the brief fake serenity this past year; a dispatch from Jakarta shoving-melee photograph of January 6—as we
before the thing roars up again. Now reported 114 Indonesian doctors now tend to refer to the violent breach of the U.S.
in this new burial area, one of six killed by COVID-19 in one two-and- Capitol by a mob protesting the 2020 election
commissioned when the pandemic a-half-week period. results that turned President Donald J. Trump
filled the city’s main public cemetery, Documenting the year inevitably out of office. As editors sifted through thousands
earthmoving machinery was clearing pulled Fadli into scenes of anguish,
more ground even as mourners bent despair, and loss. But he also made of photographs from National Geographic’s 2021
over fresh graves. pictures in places where he chose to
see hope in the ferocity of human storytelling, they found their themes (and allitera-
At the entrance gate, Fadli noted, resolve. A city bus station repurposed
hearses pulled up every few minutes as a mass vaccination site, crowded tion): COVID fills another section, as do Climate and Conservation.
to deliver the dead. Frequently they to the walls with Indonesians deter-
converged and had to wait in line mined to get their shots. A classroom There’s no abundance of respite in these pictures, to be sure.
for their turn. When drivers swung of face-masked children, respectfully
open their rear doors, Fadli realized dressed in necktie or hijab, their But there is beauty, and resolve, and hope. “Ordinary people,”
that many of the hearses held more teacher amid the wooden desks with
than one casket. “Some were carrying her arms full of schoolwork. Her Muhammad Fadli likes to say, “trying to help others.”
four,” he told me in early September, masked smile shows in her eyes.
and as both of us paused to picture This is the second time that The lone man in mask and gown, standing above a wooded
this, our phone conversation momen- National Geographic has dedicated
tarily fell silent. its January issue to photographers’ green valley, is Nazir Ahmed. He’s a health-care worker in the
impressions from the just concluded
I was at home in California, where year. In January 2021 the magazine Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir, looking for isolated
five northern counties were aflame published a visual distillation of the
and a separate 220,000-acre fire still previous 12 months’ agitation and shepherds to vaccinate against COVID-19.
was advancing toward South Lake grief. Back then it was a relief simply to
be done with that “harrowing year,” as The woman cradling a baby alpaca is Alina Surquislla Gomez.
Editor in Chief Susan Goldberg wrote
in the issue, using language more dig- She works for a Peruvian breeders’ cooperative, advising tradi-
nified than “Dumpster fire,” which was
a favored descriptor for 2020 where I tional alpaqueros whose Andean water and grazing lands are
live. The coming year seemed to hold
so much possibility—the fastest new menaced by mining pollution and climate change.
vaccine development in history, the
most ambitious global inoculation The Kenyan gently laying a gloved hand on a cheetah’s flank
plans in history, an international
is a veterinarian named Michael Njoroge; he and the two wildlife

specialists with him were part of a five-day effort, involving truck

transport and IV hookups and surgeons, to keep a wounded wild

animal alive. If you saw the August story on National Geographic’s

digital platform, which was documented by Nairobi-based

JAN. 27 CLIMATE CHANGE FUELS DISASTERS, EXTREME WEATHER

Originally brought
to Argentina for timber
plantations, non-native
pine trees now have
grown out of control,
creating an environ-
mental tinderbox
and an ecologically
fragile system in the
Patagonia region.
Near the town of El
Bolsón, a flashlight’s
beam illuminates some
remaining trees of
native species—maqui,
ciprés, ñire—dusted
with ash. Here, as in
other spots around
the globe, climate
change exacerbates
factors that create
perfect fire conditions.

UNLESS WE
MANAGE THE
NATURAL WORLD
AROUND US
BETTER, WE ARE
DESTROYING THE
VERY FOUNDATION
OF OUR LIFE ON
THIS PLANET.”

—Elliott Harris,
UN chief economist

16

El Bolsón, Argentina PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEJANDRO CHASKIELBERG

AUG. 04 A FAMILY DIVIDED BY WAR

The U.S. military’s
withdrawal from
Afghanistan in August,
after a 20-year occu-
pation, ended what’s
been called America’s
longest modern war.
But the war there goes
on for Hafiza, 70, seen
here with a grandson.
She has lived near the
city of Faizabad since
the Taliban took over
her home village in
2019. Her sons’ choices
leave Hafiza grieved
and on uncertain
ground: Two of them
fought with the Afghan
National Army, one
with a militia, and one
with the Taliban. The
fighting in Afghanistan
was among dozens
of ongoing conflicts
around the world
in 2021—recent to
ancient, international
to regional, stoked by
greed, creed, or history.

MYJIGAR GOOSHA
[DEAREST OF ALL]
ARE ENEMIES OF
ONE ANOTHER. I’VE
CRIED SO OFTEN,
SO MANY TIMES
THAT I’VE LOST THE
SIGHT OF MY EYES.”

—Hafiza, speaking of
her sons

18

Faizabad, Afghanistan P H OTO G RA P H BY KIANA HAYERI

YEAR IN PICTURES

photographer Nichole Sobecki, you already know it is cause for “Everybody grows up knowing
turbulence of the heart. So much intention. So much kindness. about cheetahs,” Sobecki said. “What
about the countless other species that
Sobecki had been working for months with Rachael Bale, the are facing these same issues? If we
magazine’s animals editor, on their September article about an can allow one of our most celebrated
international animal-smuggling network preying upon Africa’s animals to reach a place where there
threatened cheetah population. Then a Kenyan guide, with are fewer than 7,000 adults left in the
Sobecki along, found an injured adult cheetah amid the brush of wild, what about everything else?”
a national reserve. For 48 hours the two of them watched over the
cheetah while waiting for the Kenya Wildlife Service veterinary E VERYTHING else.
team alerted by local rangers. No easy delineation
separates the images
“One cheetah in one part of the world,” Sobecki said, and of this year. In 2021 the
sighed. On a call between Nairobi and Oakland, California, she triumph of COVID-19
and I were trying to figure out how we felt about the push to vaccine development
revive the wounded female, which the rangers had decided to set off its own dis-
name Nichole. Uplifting and futile, both words apply; Nichole cord. (Who knew we
the cheetah did not survive. Her injuries appeared to have been could summon such
caused by another animal, not a human hunter or smuggler.
But Nichole the photographer has been documenting vanishing rage over injections
animal habitats and the climate crisis’s toll on Africa, and she
was having a hard time disentangling one kind of sorrow from to protect us from
another. “There was a will to try to save that cheetah,” Sobecki
said. “The efforts were ambitious and sweeping. I don’t want to death?) Nearly every attempt at con-
minimize that.”
servation—of species, of economies,
If events had transpired differently, though ... if the Wildlife
Service vet had not been off duty the day they found the chee- of spots on Earth—took place against
tah or the substitute team had arrived more quickly ... if human
behavior hadn’t cost cheetahs more than 90 percent of their his- the existential backdrop of climate
toric range … Yes, you could make the case that this particular
cheetah was perhaps meant to have expired alone, under a bush, change. It was August 9 when the
undisturbed by probing hands. But sometimes we fasten on small
stories to help us hold bigger ones in our heads. United Nations’ Intergovernmental

THIS WAS THE YEAR OF TEXAS’ Panel on Climate Change released
DEEP FREEZE IN FEBRUARY,
CANADA’S HIGHEST TEMPERATURES a 2,000-page compilation of bleak
IN RECORDED HISTORY IN JUNE,
AND GERMANY AND BELGIUM’S assessments and predictions. Its sixth
LETHAL FLASH FLOODING IN JULY.
such report in the past two decades,

this one was described by UN Secre-

tary-General António Guterres as a

“code red for humanity.” Less than

a week after the report’s release, the

220,000-acre Caldor wildfire here

in California ignited and spread

through drought-parched foothills

20 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C

YEAR IN PICTURES

while firefighting crews farther north reaching South Lake Tahoe. Until and despite the whack of the
in the state were still exhausting Delta variant, millions of us were able to return to the physical
themselves working another mega- company of others—embracing, kissing grandparents, watching
fire, named Dixie. children go back to school.

The Dixie wildfire was the second On the following pages, the Howard University graduates,
largest in California history, not fully singing and dancing as they stroll together in robes and mor-
contained until the end of Octo- tarboards, haul up my spirits every time I look at them. So do
ber. London-based photographer the shining South Texas teenage mariachis, buttoned and laced
Lynsey Addario has devoted much into their new charro suits, riding the bus to performances for
of her career to capturing images of the first time since the start of the pandemic.
conflict—these pages include her
devastating portrait, from Ethiopia, The baby elephant sucking down bottled formula? Conserva-
of a survivor of repeated rape by sol- tion meets COVID, with a surprise happy ending: In a Kenyan
diers. Addario’s 2021 summer was sanctuary that houses the elephants, pandemic shipping bot-
spent in California, alongside men tlenecks blocked the powdered milk supply. So the caretakers
and women battling fire. tried substituting locally available goat milk, and the new for-
mula doubled the orphaned baby elephants’ survival rate—to
This was the year of Texas’ deep- almost 100 percent.
freeze February, Canada’s highest-
temperatures-in-recorded-history Even a whole “Year in Pictures” issue contains a finite number
June, Germany and Belgium’s lethal- of pages, of course. An arbitrary partial list of notable people,
flash-flooding July. “Global weirding” places, and things from 2021 that are not found in these images:
is the term Texas Tech University cli- the Tokyo Olympics; private space launches; the sideways-wedged
mate scientist Katharine Hayhoe likes cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal; and the inauguration of the
to use in the issue’s conversation with first Black, Asian American, and female U.S. vice president. The
National Geographic’s Robert Kunzig presidential assassination and catastrophic earthquake in Haiti.
and Alejandra Borunda and environ- The Perseverance rover rock-boring into Mars. The July 4 week
mental author Katharine Wilkinson. on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, when tens of thousands packed
Yes, that’s two Dr. Katharines, both the bars and restaurants of Provincetown, spilling out into the
exhorting us to refuse despair—and streets, because so many vacationers thought vaccination had
to allow ourselves the possibility, finally made it safe.
as Wilkinson says, that the present
moment might be both a horrifying T HE PROVINCETOWN revelry was referred
and a magnificent time to be alive on to, in the dry phrasing of the ensuing Centers for
the planet. “We have so much power,” Disease Control and Prevention alert, as “large
she insists. “There’s so much that we public gatherings in a town in Barnstable County,
can do” to combat climate change. Massachusetts.” For those of us who’d never had
(You can read highlights from their occasion to learn what breakthrough infections
conversation on page 60, and much were, now we knew: Vaccinated people who
more of it online at natgeo.com.) traveled home from Provincetown were testing
positive for COVID-19. Multistate tracing found
As you examine these photos,
maybe consider some of the 2021 only five hospitalizations among the 469 reported
headlines that did deliver on emo-
tional respite, or at least one genu- cases, and no deaths—so, yes, the vaccine pro-
ine moment of OK, breathe, managed
to make it through that. The New tects. It doesn’t entirely prevent transmission, though, meaning
Orleans levees held, remember?
The Caldor fire turned away without no relaxing of our collective vigilance, not yet.

21

SEPT. 21 A GORILLA AND HER RESCUER

Even in bleak
years, conservationists
are bright spots. They
work to preserve wild
places, protect cultural
heritage sites, defend
threatened species.
In the Democratic
Republic of the Congo,
Virunga National Park
rangers pioneered
the care of orphaned
mountain gorillas. Pho-
tographer Brent Stirton
was there in 2007 when
ranger Andre Bauma
found an infant gorilla
clinging to her dead
mother. He named the
orphan Ndakasi—and
would be her lifelong
caregiver. The rangers
built, and still run, an
orphanage in Virunga
for the gorillas. Stirton
visited regularly. He
was there in September
when Ndakasi, dying
of an undiagnosed
illness, crawled into
Bauma’s arms.

VIA GETTY IMAGES

GORILLAS’ SOCIETY,
IT’S MORE HUMANE
THAN OURS.
IT’S CARING AND
ORDERED, AND
THEY LOOK AFTER
EVERYBODY IN
THEIR FAMILY.”

—Brent Stirton,
photographer

22

Dem. Rep. Congo PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENT STIRTON

YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THE WORLD LIKE THIS

FROM ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE DARREN ARONOFSKY
AND NUTOPIA IN ASSOCIATION WITH WESTBROOK STUDIOS

HOSTED BY ACADEMY® NOMINEE

WILL SMITH

Original Series
Now Streaming

© 2021 National Geographic Partners, LLC.

YEAR IN PICTURES

THE PANDEMIC image that precedes this article. He was 45 feet in the air, photo-
ISN’T GOING graphing from an elevated lift that his crew had been allowed to
ANYWHERE,” SAID wheel onto the National Mall in Washington, D.C. When making
A RESTAURATEUR what Wilkes calls his Day to Night pictures, he works around the
WHOSE BUSINESS clock, taking multiple photos and later merging them into one
HAD CRATERED. sweeping image. For this particular Day to Night, he focused for
“BUT WE’RE NOT 30 hours on the installation spread across 20 acres at the base
GOING ANYWHERE of the Washington Monument: white flags, each representing a
EITHER. WE’RE COVID-19 death in the United States.
STRONGER
THAN THAT.” “A sea of flags,” Wilkes said.
Then he corrected himself. Wait, Wilkes said. Not exactly a sea.
“The pandemic isn’t going any- “Because of the height I’m at, I can see them almost as individu-
where,” Provincetown restaurant als,” he said. “They remind me of flickering stars.”
owner Rob Anderson said when I The artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg designed the three-
called in August to ask how he and week installation as a giant grid, with open paths to let people
others were managing. “But we’re not walk among the flags, write names on them to remember the
going anywhere either. We’re stronger dead, and plant new flags as the death toll continued to grow.
than that. We’re still standing.” A large sign at the entrance carried the latest national cumula-
tive numbers, which Firstenberg was updating by hand every
Like others in town, Anderson day. “When I came yesterday, it was 666,624,” Wilkes said. “This
watched his business crater in the afternoon it’s … ” He hesitated. I imagined him up there on his
weeks after the Provincetown break- platform, holding his camera, squinting at the distant number
through news, and he suggested I to read it off right.
consider the way a tightrope walker “670,032,” he said.
reaches the end of each rope. “What We did the math in our heads.
do you do? You look ahead,” he said. In the morning there’d been rain, Wilkes said. “I see an older
“And you stay balanced. So that’s gentleman, walking through the flags,” he said. “I see a woman
what we do.” sitting on the ground. Just planted a flag. She’s African American,
has this light-green shirt on, she’s with—looks like her husband.
This has stayed with me: the tight- They’re holding hands.”
rope walker. I was thinking about The afternoon light was doing something remarkable to the
it—how hard 2021 has made us work monument’s shadowing, Wilkes said: luminous on one side,
sometimes, just trying to remain dark on another. “Beautiful,” he said. “And it’s starting to clear
upright—when I called photographer up. It’s spectacular, when the sun comes out. Because the white
Stephen Wilkes, who as we spoke
was shooting the foldout panoramic flags just glow.” j

Cynthia Gorney is a National Geographic contributing writer.
She wrote about toxic wildfire pollution in the April 2021 issue.

25

YEAR IN PICTURES CHAPTER ONE

The pandemic put us • •I N D I A INDONESIA
on a roller coaster DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
in 2021. New vaccines
spurred optimism
and reopenings, but
immunization efforts
were plagued by
misinformation and
shortages. As the
rhythms of daily life
return, the virus
remains a threat.

JANUARY 2022 PAGE
27

• • • • •TA I WA N
TEXAS ISRAEL COLOMBIA PERU

JUNE 21

With a cooler of workers have gone
COVID-19 vaccines in to extreme lengths to
hand, Nazir Ahmed reach remote commu-
looks for shepherds nities. From Srinagar,
and nomadic herders it took Ahmed and a
in the meadows of half dozen colleagues
Tosamaidan, south- three hours driving
west of Srinagar in and then walking to
the Indian territory reach this isolated
of Jammu and Kash- spot. They spent
mir. In the race to four hours searching
vaccinate against for people and vacci-
the SARS-CoV-2 nated more than 10.
virus, health-care
AP PHOTO



MAY 08 A ‘RITE OF PASSAGE’ RETURNS

Washington, D.C. PHOTOGRAPH BY JARED SOARES

Brothers of the
Phi Beta Sigma frater-
nity’s founding chapter
haven’t truly graduated
from Howard University
until they complete
a half-century-old
tradition: a joyous,
choreographed stroll.
Passersby “stop—they
stop!—because they
know the culture, the
history,” says Travis
Xavier Brown (at far
right), a 2021 theater
graduate. “It’s a rite
of passage.” The pan-
demic forced Howard
to switch to online
classes, but as COVID-
19 cases fell, the school
opted to hold a joint,
in-person commence-
ment for the classes of
2020 and 2021.

TO GET TO STROLL
WITH ALL MY

BROTHERS—THAT
WAS LITERALLY
THE FINISHING
TOUCH OF MY
HOWARD CAREER.”

—Travis Xavier Brown,
Howard graduate

31

JULY 21 WAVES OF COVID TAKE A TOLL

Relatives pour
rose water and offer
flowers at a COVID-19
victim’s grave in Cilin-
cing, North Jakarta.
Rorotan Public Ceme-
tery opened in March
with space for 7,200
plots, but it quickly
began filling up as
Indonesia suffered a
huge spike in cases in
July. At the peak, the
world’s fourth most
populous country saw
an average of 50,000
cases a day.

PEOPLE DON’T
UNDERSTAND
WHAT IS GOING ON
IN TERMS OF THE
SPREAD OF THE
VIRUS AND HOW
DANGEROUS IT IS.”

—Irma Hidayana,
co-founder of
Indonesian data
collective LaporCovid-19

32

North Jakarta, Indonesia P H OTO G RA P H BY MUHAMMAD FADLI

BY BIJAL P. TRIVEDI

Opportunities Lost: IT WAS SUPPOSED to be a
New strains of the virus and uneven triumphant year, the year we defeated
responses to vaccines delayed the COVID-19. Revolutionary vaccines—
developed at breakneck speed from
world’s return to normal. genetic technology decades in the
making—were rolling out, ushering
34 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C in the largest global immunization
campaign in history. Lockdowns, iso-
lation, masking, and sparsely attended
funerals would give way to open bor-
ders, family reunions, and rebounding
economies. In 2021 life would return
to normal.

What we didn’t know, though, was
that the vaccination drive would falter.
In the United States, millions spurned
vaccines despite a deadly winter surge
followed by another in the summer.
Scientists making discoveries and
adjusting recommendations aroused
suspicion. Misinformation and snake oil
spread as rapidly as the virus. Vaccines
were denounced as a form of govern-
ment control; masks a violation of
personal liberty. In much of the world,
by contrast, immunizations were
simply, tragically, unavailable.

As we squandered the opportunity
to reach herd immunity, the virus took
advantage. SARS-CoV-2 multiplied,
yielding countless mutations. With
each genetic change came a chance
for the virus to grow deadlier—to dodge
the immune system, infect cells more
easily, trigger more severe disease,
spread across borders. We were at the
mercy of high-speed natural selection.

Thus began the rise of the variants:
Alpha, in the United Kingdom; Beta,
in South Africa; Gamma, in Brazil; and
then, from India, Delta.

More infectious and possibly more

YEAR IN PICTURES: COVID

lethal than any of its predecessors, given in high- and upper-middle-income countries. While people
Delta swept through the world’s second in poor nations were still waiting for a first one, wealthy nations
most populous country with relent- were approving boosters for vaccinated individuals.
less ferocity, overwhelming health-
care workers, packing hospitals with The result: Millions around the world have died from a disease
feverish, oxygen-starved patients, and that in most instances can be prevented with a single injection or
sending bodies to crematoria where a two-dose regimen.
funeral pyres blazed around the clock.
Even as vaccines are distributed, we may never be completely
By July, Delta was becoming the rid of this virus. The four coronaviruses that cause the common
dominant variant worldwide, and by cold are endemic, as are the viruses descended from the one that
September, it had pushed U.S. deaths sparked the Spanish flu, which killed 50 million people worldwide.
past the toll from the 1918 Spanish flu,
making COVID-19 the deadliest pan- Experts say the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus most likely will hang
demic in the nation’s history. More around, evolving and circulating for years. But as people develop
than 750,000 Americans had died by immunity, outbreaks will be smaller and the virus will cause less
early November. But the coronavirus acute illness.
has hit some communities harder:
Indigenous, Hispanic, and Black Amer- We will be stuck not only with the virus but also with a little-
icans have died at the highest rates. understood and harrowing legacy: Ten to 30 percent of the
hundreds of millions infected may suffer from lingering and
The pandemic laid bare another potentially debilitating symptoms. So-called long COVID—which
glaring health disparity, the global includes ailments from brain fog, memory loss, and fatigue to
vaccine divide: an abundance of doses erectile dysfunction and menstrual changes to loss of smell and
in countries where people didn’t want taste—will require new treatments and therapies.
them and a shortage, or absence, in
those where people did. In the meantime, as long as many of us are unprotected, none
of us is safe. Unvaccinated people provide a reservoir for new
Nine months after the first COVID- variants to arise. It’s imperative both to persuade those who are
19 vaccine was authorized, more than hesitant to get a vaccine—which provides greater immunity than
80 percent of all the shots had been getting COVID-19—and to deliver vaccines to even the most remote
communities. COVAX, a multinational initiative to make COVID-19
SARS-COV-2 MOST vaccines available everywhere, expects to reach the two-billion-
LIKELY WILL EVOLVE dose milestone early this year.
AND CIRCULATE FOR
YEARS. AS LONG AS That’s a step in the right direction. But as 2021 showed us, and
MANY OF US ARE as Delta has taught us, the virus doesn’t care about our timeline
UNPROTECTED,
NONE OF US IS SAFE. or our rules. j

Bijal P. Trivedi is a National Geographic editor and the author
of Breath from Salt, which chronicles the quest to cure children
with cystic fibrosis—and the dawn of personalized medicine.

Protein
spike

RNA

Original strain Variant

COVID-19 injects a strand A virus with a mutation
of replication instructions— that changes its behavior
its RNA genome—into host or efficiency is called
cells. Any naturally occurring a variant.
errors are called mutations.

An evolving threat

Scientists can identify transmission trends when they
study SARS-CoV-2 genomes. The genetic lineages of
the sampled genomes with mutations all link back
to the original virus first identified in Wuhan, China.
Mutations in early 2020, thought to increase the virus’s
transmissibility, were a harbinger of what was to come.

This chart shows nearly May 2020
4,000 genomes (dots) sampled A change in its
from coronavirus infections spike protein makes
since the pandemic began. it more infectious.

January 7, 2020 20F
The COVID-19
genome is isolated.

Original
strain

19A

Dec 2019 Feb 2020 Apr Jun Aug Oct Dec

SMALL CHANGES, The Delta variant’s rapid spread—despite SHARE OF Variants under
BIG PROBLEMS changes in less than 0.5 percent of its COVID-19 monitoring
genome—took scientists by surprise. Within VA R I A N T S ,
months of when the first mutation was GLOBAL CASES
detected, in October 2020, the Delta variant
had quickly outpaced all other variants.

SOURCES: STUART C. RAY, JOHNS HOPKINS U. SCHOOL OF MEDICINE; EMILY N. POND, JOHNS HOPKINS CORONAVIRUS RESOURCE
CENTER; ALBA GRIFONI, LA JOLLA INSTITUTE; DANIEL S. CHERTOW, NIH; GISAID; NEXTSTRAIN; WHO; CDC; OUR WORLD IN DATA

Early 2021 brought a glimpse of normal life as INFECTION AND
COVID-19 vaccines began to be administered. But a INEQUITY AROUND
new threat was starting to emerge. Slight changes THE WORLD

to the virus’s genetic code were steering the Contagion
pandemic in even more dangerous directions.
All viruses replicate. Some are
BY MANUEL CANALES highly transmissible, having
A N D PATRICIA HEALY evolved efficient methods to
spread. Human behavior also
VARIANTS OF CONCERN contributes to local and travel-
Threat to public health related transmission.

Delta

Beta Alpha
Gamma

VARIANTS OF INTERE ST ORIGINAL STRAIN
Risk to public health DELTA VARIANT
Lambda

Mu

VARIANTS UNDER MONITORING WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION OF VARIANTS Vaccine equity
Potential risk to public health
Lower income countries, facing
Eta challenges getting and distrib-
uting vaccines, have lower
Theta Iota Some mutations give vaccination rates. Until most
the virus no advantage; of the world is immune, public
Kappa others lead to more health measures such as testing
Epsilon severe illness. They and masking will remain vital.
can also make the virus
20E more infectious and bet- SHARE OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE
20G ter at evading immunity. RECEIVED AT LEAST ONE DOSE

20C High-income countries

68%

Upper middle

63

20D Lower middle
20B 31

20A Low
19B 2

Feb 2021 Apr Jun Aug Oct
Beta Gamma
100% 6 BILLION VACCINE
Alpha SHOTS
The Delta variant CASES GIVEN
Variants accounts for nearly
of interest Cooperative global efforts are
all new infections. under way to distribute vaccines
more equitably and to boost this
0 number much higher in 2022.

DATA THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2021

JULY 19 TIGHT RESTRICTIONS TURN THE TIDE

A torrent of rush
hour scooters flows off
a bridge into Taipei,
bringing commuters
from nearby Sanchong
to the capital. The
Alpha variant of SARS-
CoV-2 caused a wave of
cases from May to July,
striking fear in many,
but Taiwan was able to
tamp down new cases
thanks in part to strict
quarantine policies and
thorough contact trac-
ing. The total case rate
is more than 190 times
lower in Taiwan than in
the United States.

PEOPLE ARE
SIMPLY TRYING
SO HARD TO
REMAIN [IN]
THEIR NORMAL
ROUTINE.”

—Lam Yik Fei,
photographer

38

Taipei, Taiwan PHOTOGRAPH BY LAM YIK FEI

SEPT. 06 BACK TO CLASS

In South Jakarta’s
Manggarai village,
teacher Erdah Desiana
at Elementary School
No. 1 leads a small
group of students.
This school was one
of hundreds around
Jakarta that restarted
in-person classes with
stringent health
protocols. Schools
were open three days
a week with half the
students present one
day and the other
half there the next.
Students at home
attended via video-
conference. Outbreaks
of COVID-19 were still
plaguing Indonesia,
but the government
pushed ahead with
in-person school,
arguing that the
educational benefits
outweighed the risks.

WE HAVE SEEN
A DECLINE IN
LEARNING
ACHIEVEMENT;
MANY CHILDREN
DROP OUT
OF SCHOOL.”

—Nadiem Makarim,
Indonesia’s minister of
education and culture

40

South Jakarta, Indonesia P H OTO G RA P H BY MUHAMMAD FADLI

SEPT. 16 THE SHOW GOES ON

Students Jorge
Gutierrez, Montserrat
Olvera, and Tiffany
Rodriguez dole out
face masks and adjust
their outfits as they
ride the bus with other
members of Mariachi
Nuevo Cascabel—the
varsity mariachi band
at Mission’s Sharyland
High School. The group
had gigs at nearby
schools to celebrate
Hispanic Heritage
Month and Mexican
Independence Day. The
tour marked the band’s
first live shows since
the pandemic began,
after a year of virtual
rehearsals. Those per-
formances paid off: In
October, the students
played as the opening
act for Mariachi Vargas
de Tecalitlán, widely
considered the world’s
best mariachi band.

NO MATTER HOW
TIRED THEY WERE,
THEY STILL WERE
HAPPY TO PLAY
MUSIC TOGETHER
FOR AN AUDIENCE
IN REAL LIFE.”

—Christopher Lee,
photographer

42

Mission, Texas PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTOPHER LEE

MAR. 19 A FULL HOUSE, PANDEMIC STYLE

Spaced out across also rolled out a “green
the Tel Aviv opera pass” system for fully
house, a masked audi- vaccinated or recov-
ence takes in a revue ered Israelis. From
by the Israeli Opera’s late April to late June,
sopranos. By the mid- Israel had an average
dle of March, Israel of fewer than 100 new
had vaccinated more COVID-19 cases a day—
than half its citizens—a until the arrival of the
world first that sharply more contagious Delta
drove down its case variant, which fueled
counts. The country a third wave of cases.

Tel Aviv, Israel P H OTO G RA P H BY DAN BALILTY

MAY 16 FORMER REBELS FIGHT A NEW BATTLE

With her son
next to her, Marinelly
Hernández receives
a vitamin infusion
while recovering from
COVID-19 at the La
Guajira reintegration
camp, one of 24 built
to help former fighters
with the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of
Colombia return to
society. Since the
militants signed a
peace deal with the
government in 2016,
former rebels such
as Hernández have
reunited with their
families at these sites.
Fewer than 50 resi-
dents of the La Guajira
camp were diagnosed
with COVID-19, a num-
ber possibly kept low
because of their rela-
tive isolation from the
outside population.

LACK OF PROPER
TREATMENT HAS
FORCED FORMER
REBELS TO SEEK
TRADITIONAL
TREATMENT AND
HOMEOPATHIC
REMEDIES.”

—Juan Arredondo,
photographer

46

La Guajira, Colombia PHOTOGRAPH BY JUAN ARREDONDO

JULY 17 FROM MASS TRANSIT TO MASS VACCINATION

East Jakarta, Indonesia P H OTO G RA P H BY MUHAMMAD FADLI

Over two days in
July, some 10,000 peo-
ple filed through East
Jakarta’s packed Pulo
Gebang bus station
to receive a COVID-19
vaccine. Indonesia
has a population of
more than 270 million
across a far-flung archi-
pelago, so its rollout
of COVID-19 vaccines
has faced challenges.
Kinks in its vaccine
supply have also caused
problems, but during
the summer, the coun-
try rapidly ramped up
its efforts. More than
a million people a day
were receiving shots.

THERE WERE
PEOPLE LITERALLY

EVERYWHERE ...
THE SOCIAL
DISTANCING
PROTOCOL
COULDN’T BE
ENFORCED.”

— Muhammad Fadli,
photographer

49

APR. 24 A CITY’S CEMETERY IS OVERWHELMED

With a sunset’s
fading light behind
them, workers from a
funeral home in Huan-
cavelica wait for the
end of a service to
move a coffin into a
niche at the city’s
general cemetery.
Although COVID-19
death counts are unre-
liable, Peru has one of
the world’s highest per
capita death tolls. In
the rural area around
Huancavelica, the
pandemic has claimed
more than 1,160 lives.

WE HAVE MOVED
TO NEARBY
CEMETERIES TO
HELP ENSURE
THAT OUR
DECEASED ARE
NOT ABANDONED.”

—Manuel Mendizábal,
Society of Public Charity
of Huancavelica

50

Huancavelica, Peru PHOTOGRAPH BY ALESSANDRO CINQUE

YEAR IN PICTURES CHAPTER TWO

• • • •C A L I F O R N I A
K E N YA INDONESIA A N TA R C T I C A AUSTRIA

Huge wildfires,
drought, record heat,
melting glaciers, rising
seas, intense storms.
The alarms have been
sounding for years,
but 2021 showed that
climate change is here
and can’t be ignored.