Travel With Extraordinary Individuals
When you travel with National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions, you'll enjoy exclusive experiences featuring renowned individuals from the worlds of science, exploration, literature, music, photography, culture and more, thoughtfully curated to enrich your expedition.
From performances of original music inspired by the destinations we visit to treks with iconic explorers, our guest speakers offer in-depth insights and compelling conversations, helping you to connect more deeply to the people, places, and wildlife along your journey.
Legendary adventurer Peter Hillary explores New Zealand and shares why our expeditions keep drawing him back.
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Lauren Eckert is a conservation scientist, storyteller, and Ph.D. candidate based in British Columbia. Her work engages communities directly in conservation and supports human well-being and rights alongside ecosystem protection.
Join her aboard the or the Apr. 27, 2025 departure of Treasures of the Inside Passage and the Sep. 1, 2025, departure of Voyage to Great Bear Rainforest: Native Culture and Wildlife in the Land of the Spirit Bear.
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Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza is a chemical biologist, conservationist, National Geographic Explorer, and award-winning artist. With her scientific-based explorative nature, she connects the micro-to-macro worlds to nourish our appreciation for biodiversity in all its magnitudes.
Join her on the Sep. 6, 2025, departure of Greek Isles Odyssey: Mythology, History, and Cerulean Seas; the Sep. 20, 2025, departure of Passage Through Egypt aboard Oberoi Philae; and the Nov. 8 or 15, 2025, departure of Upper Amazon aboard Delfin II.
See BioChris Rainier is a documentary photographer whose life's mission is to put on film both the remaining natural wilderness and Indigenous cultures around the globe, and to use images to create social change. He is a Fellow at the Royal Geographic Society in the UK and won the prestigious Lowell Thomas award given by The Explorers Club. He has served as a contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler magazine, a contributing photographer for National Geographic Adventure magazine, and a correspondent on photography for NPR.
Join him aboard the Oct. 19 or 26, 2025, departure of Panama and Colombia: Exploring the Caribbean Coast; the Dec. 29, 2025 departure of Voyage to Antarctica; the Feb. 10, 2026, departure of Antarctica and Patagonia: Legendary Ice and Epic Fjords and the Aug. 20, 2026, departure of A Journey from Nome to Tokyo: Ring of Fire to Ainu Culture.
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.
Join him on the Aug. 9 or Aug. 30, 2025, departure of Ancient Mediterranean: Exploring Greece, Croatia, and Albania; or the Aug. 16 and 23, 2025, departures of Croatia's Dalmatian Coast and Montenegro.
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.
Join him aboard the the Jul. 23, 2025 departure of Crossroads of the Ancient World: Exploring Greece and Turkey; the Aug. 2, 2025 departure of Greek Isles Odyssey: Mythology, History and Cerulean Seas; Aug. 10, 2025 departure of Under Sail: Greece and the Dalmatian Coast Aboard Sea Cloud; and the Jan. 28, 2026 departure of Voyage to Antarctica.
See BioNora Shawki is a National Geographic Explorer and Egyptian archaeologist. She has been excavating ancient sites in the Nile Delta for seven years. She has served as a field archaeologist on foreign missions at sites including Tell Timai (Thmuis), Sa El Hagar (Sais), and Tell Mutubis in Egypt as well as Tombos and El Kurru in Northern Sudan. Currently working on her Ph.D. in a joint program at Cairo University and Durham University, she studies settlement archaeology, a relatively new subfield that focuses on non-elite settlements and the daily lives of the communities that lived in them.
Join her aboard the Sep. 6, 2025 departure of Passage Through Egypt aboard Oberoi Philae or the Nov. 14, 2025 departure of Exploring Egypt Aboard Sun Goddess.
See BioKrista 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.
Join her on the Apr. 18, 2025 departure of Islands of the Azores: Basalt Peaks to Volcanic Vineyards or the Sep. 23, 2025 departure of Crossroads of the Ancient World: Exploring Greece and Turkey.
See BioAward-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.
Join him aboard multiple 2025 and 2026 departures in the Caribbean, Antarctica, Patagonia, Alaska, the Channel Islands and Egypt.
See BioUnderwater 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.
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.
Join him on the Jun. 24, 2025 departure of Svalbard, Iceland and Greenland's East Coast; the Aug. 15, 2025 departure of Croatia's Dalmatian Coast and Montenegro; and the Nov. 19, 2025 departure of Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands.
See BioCamille 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.
Join her on the Apr. 29, 2025, departure of Svalbard in Spring: Arctic Wildlife, Light and Epic Ice; the Jul. 1, 2025, departure of Fire and Ice: An 8-Day Sail Around Iceland; the Jul. 9, 2025, departure of Iceland's Wild West Coast to East Greenland; or the and the May 7, 2026, departure of North Atlantic Wonders: Iceland, Scotland and the Faroes.
See BioTodd Gipstein has been a photographer, writer, producer and lecturer for more than 50 years. A graduate of Harvard University, he has worked with National Geographic since 1987 and has served as the Society’s Director of Multi-Image and Executive Producer for Multimedia. His award-winning documentaries have dealt with a diverse range of topics, including photography, the environment, history, and travel. Known worldwide for his evocative visual storytelling, Todd has journeyed across the globe—from Cuba and the Galápagos to the South Pacific, the Arctic and more—in his pursuit of inspiring images.
Join him aboard the Aug. 28, 2025 departure of Croatia Under Sail: Dubrovnik, Split & Zadar aboard the Sea Cloud Fleet.
See BioRalph Lee Hopkins is a popular photo instructor and geologist who also serves as a National Geographic Photography Expert aboard the National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions fleet. His wildlife images have appeared in National Geographic's books, magazines, and online galleries, and are represented in the National Geographic Image Collection.
Join him aboard the May 31, Jun. 7, and Jun. 14 departures of Greek Isles Odyssey: Mythology, History and Cerulean Seas.
See BioNatalie Sinclair is a Scottish marine biologist and conservationist. She has worked with a diverse range of fauna, utilizing non-invasive technologies for animal behavior research and conservation monitoring. The recipient of a Carnegie PhD Scholarship, she is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of St Andrews. Her research focuses on the fine-scale cultural evolution of humpback whale song in the North Atlantic and South Pacific oceans.
Join her aboard the Jul. 21, 2025 departure of Scotland's Highlands and Islands Aboard Lord of the Glens.
See BioIn his 30 years with the National Geographic Society, Rob Hernandez has served as senior editor of National Geographic magazine, the head of Strategic Planning and the founder of its International Publishing division. His work has appeared globally in numerous popular media, including books, magazines and TV. He joined eco-travel visionary Lars Lindblad in developing ship-borne adventure travel to some of the world’s most remote regions, serving as an expedition leader and chief naturalist on the pioneering vessel Lindblad Explorer.
Join him aboard the Nov. 17, 2025 departure of Voyage to Antarctica and the Feb. 25, 2026 departure of Southern Patagonia: Glaciers, Fjords and Wildlife.
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In addition to the guest speakers who join our voyages, our fleet hosts fascinating scientists from fields such as environmental science, oceanography, and wildlife biology as part of our Visiting Scientist Program. We also facilitate a range of citizen science initiatives on our expeditions that invite travelers to engage with and further active research efforts in fascinating destinations across the globe.
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