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The Black Zone
Most villages within Karen state are only accessible through a network of jungle paths. Supplies are carried in by porters, many of them young women who carry up to fifty pounds up and down steep mountain routes. Medical supplies, as well as basic necessities, are smuggled in from Thailand then trekked to remote villages.
Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy may have pushed Burma from an isolated nation to potential partner to the rest of the world. But a trip deep inside the rebel camps tells a different story.
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Issue: Summer 2012 / Volume 88/3
Published: July 31, 2012
Robert Young Pelton is an author and filmmaker known for overcoming dangerous obstacles in order to chronicle history-shaping events. In addition to his work as contributing editor at National Geographic Adventure, Pelton has worked for Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, CBS’s 60 Minutes, and other major media networks. Pelton...
Jason Florio is a freelance photojournalist who has worked around the globe for publications including the New Yorker, the New York Times, Outside, Libération, and the Times of London. His photography portfolio in the Spring 2013 issue of VQR, “Life on the River Gambia,” was a...