Robert Young Pelton

Biography

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 is best known for his book Robert Young Pelton’s The World’s Most Dangerous Places (HarperCollins, 2003).

See Work

REPORTING / Summer 2012

The Black Zone

By Robert Young Pelton ,  Photography by Jason Florio

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.

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.