9781422277027

for cancer, or even the secret of eternal life? Here are the stories of four of these great and curious explorers. PERCY FAWCETT AND THE LOST CITY OF Z Percy Fawcett was a British officer, geog- rapher, mapmaker, archaeologist, and explorer who became fascinatedwith tales about a lost city in the Brazilian Amazon jungle that supposedly was the remains of El Dorado (El Dorado was the legendary native city of unimaginable gold and

British explorer Percy Fawcett returned to the Amazon seven times, ultimately disappearing into the jungle forever in his futile search for the Lost City of Z.

293.6

860

Ed Stafford is a twenty-first-​ century explorer who wanted to become famous. He achieved his goal in 2009–2010 when he hacked through more than four thousand miles of Amazon jungle with amachete in 860 days.

In November 2016, fifty trees were discovered in the rainforest of Borneo that break all previous records for height. These trees measure between 293.6 feet (89.5 m) and 308.7 feet (94.1 m) tall.

Chapter 1: Expeditions 11