It’s not often that you meet a real-life explorer, but for Alizé Carrère, seeing—and saving—the world is her nine-to-five.
It’s a windy afternoon in New York’s Hudson Valley, and Alizé Carrère is trying to figure out how best to feed a herd of hungry alpacas without losing grasp of her free-flowing tunic. Just a few hours ago, the 27-year-old explorer was at the ophthalmologist, getting her eye lasered in an attempt to mend a detached retina, but now, Carrère is taking on her first magazine photo shoot, albeit still somewhat blind. “I’m really sorry if I’m flashing anybody,” she says with a laugh, before walking into the alpaca abyss.
When it comes to handling unconventional experiences, Carrère is a seasoned pro. In the past, she’s trekked through the king penguin colonies of South Georgia Island, stood on the edge of a lava-spewing volcano in Vanuatu, and found herself in the middle of a Malagasy village in Madagascar during an outbreak of the bubonic plague.
But unpredictability is part of her job—or jobs, rather. As an expedition leader for Lindblad Expeditions, a company that has pioneered aquatic travels for over 50 years, and a National Geographic Explorer, Carrère divides her time by traveling the world as a cultural ecologist, excursion planner, climate researcher, and bona fide adventurer. Thus far, she’s visited an impressive 37 countries, 17 in the last year alone, which naturally raises a more important question for the rest of us: How on earth does someone become an explorer?
“I feel like I have the world’s most amazing job, but the majority of people who follow me on social media don’t know what I actually do,” says Carrère. “They probably think, ‘She’s on ships a lot.’”
This story is from the February 2017 edition of NYLON.
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This story is from the February 2017 edition of NYLON.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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