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Photograph by Tommy Heinrich
From "Climbing K2," National Geographic, April 2012A rare view of the epic ridge on the Chinese side of K2—so remote and difficult that most climbers tackle the Karakoram Range peak from the Pakistani side. Here, members of the 2011 expedition ferry equipment to the base of the 28,251-foot summit.
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Photograph by Klaus Nigge
From "Flamingos," National Geographic, April 2012Flamingos, fiercely loyal in wild flocks, move in unison when there is a threat. Here, near Sisal, Mexico, a research plane is passing overhead. Several major breeding groups live in estuaries around the Caribbean and beyond.
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Photograph by Tyrone Turner
From "Maroon People," National Geographic, April 2012A lone chimney is all that remains of a sugar plantation in Frechal, which was partially deeded to former slaves in 1925. The quilombo applied for, and received, protected status in 1992.
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Photograph by Nancie Battaglia, Sports Illustrated/Getty Images
From "Visions of Earth," National Geographic, April 2012United States—On Fourth lake in new york's adirondacks, a crush of 1,902 canoes and kayaks attempts to break a "largest raft" world record. Rules dictate that the mega structure float freely for at least 30 seconds, held together only by hands.
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Photograph by Klaus Nigge
From "Flamingos," National Geographic, April 2012When chicks are a few weeks old, parents leave them in a crèche and go in search of food, taking turns returning day and night to feed them. Though watched by a few adults, babies are vulnerable to predators such as dogs and jaguars.
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Photograph by Tommy Heinrich
From "Climbing K2," National Geographic, April 2012A tiny pinprick of light emanates from the tent of the successful summit team (on the peak at center left), signaling their return to the bivouac site at 8,300 meters after 15 hours of climbing. Photographer Tommy Heinrich's 14-minute exposure was made from Advanced Base Camp, more than two miles away.
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Photograph by Chris Kotsiopoulos
From "Top Shots," National Geographic, April 2012A severe thunderstorm sparked the imagination of Kotsiopoulos, 39. On Ikaria island, he set his camera on a tripod and took repeated 20-second exposures, then combined 70 of them into a single frame. "After 83 minutes," he says, "I ended up with this wall of lightning!"
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Photograph by Tommy Heinrich
From "Climbing K2," National Geographic, April 2012It took dozens of camels and eight Kyrgyz drivers to haul 2.2 tons of gear across the bed of the Shaksgam River to Chinese Base Camp. The cost: $17,000—plus eight pairs of sunglasses.
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Photograph by Klaus Nigge
From "Flamingos," National Geographic, April 2012Flamingos gather to perform a courtship display on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.
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Photograph by Tommy Heinrich
From "Climbing K2," National Geographic, April 2012A full moon illuminates the north face of K2.
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Photograph by Klaus Nigge
From "Flamingos," National Geographic, April 2012Roused before dawn and herded into an enclosure to be banded, young flamingos huddle in Mexico's Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve. Flocks may move hundreds of miles together in search of food.
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Photograph by Andrea Gjestvang, Moment
From "Visions of Earth," National Geographic, April 2012Greenland—Snow-covered ice saturated with winter twilight sets the stage for recreational soccer in the village of Aappilattoq. Athletic moves in bundles of warm clothing can prove more challenging than maneuvering on the frozen surface.
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Photograph by Klaus Nigge
From "Flamingos," National Geographic, April 2012Pigments in brine shrimp, abundant in the Yucatán where these flamingos were photographed, lend the birds' feathers their coral hue.
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Photograph by Tyrone Turner
From "Maroon People," National Geographic, April 2012After Brazil's coastal forests were leveled for sugarcane plantations in the 16th century, millions of slaves were imported from Portuguese Africa. Today farms like this one in the northeast near Rio Formoso produce sugarcane for ethanol, a major export.
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Photograph by Tommy Heinrich
From "Climbing K2," National Geographic, April 2012Kaltenbrunner (in red), Załuski (orange), and Zhumayev follow Vassiliy Pivtsov up a snow slope below Camp II.
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Photograph by Klaus Nigge
From "Flamingos," National Geographic, April 2012A Caribbean flamingo runs to take off from the shallow backwaters of Ría Lagartos. The birds are adept aviators, whether flying alone or in flocks.
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Photograph by José Antonio Martínez
From "Visions of Earth," National Geographic, April 2012Spain—A poppy's ardent color provides the perfect complement to a brilliantly hued Psilothrixbeetle. Springtime foraging is common for the insect in the semidesert Bardenas Reales, a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
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Photograph by Paul Hennessy
From "Top Shots," National Geographic, April 2012Hennessy, 58, has "a passion for photographing wildlife, and anything strange and unusual." A two-headed albino Honduran milk snake filled both bills. Hennessy photographed the "serpent oddity"—owned by a local university biologist"—on a black T-shirt at a Florida breeding facility.
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