![In The Land Of Vanishing Giants](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/9627/379723/5dc94dcd07fde/Wildlife.jpg)
On the evening of april 5, 2017, an Emirates Boeing 747 freighter landed at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane, Laos, and waited on the tarmac for several hours. Its dead-of-night mission involved receiving a sizable consignment, loading it quickly, and ferrying it ten hours back to Dubai, all without attracting undue attention. Emirates had certainly sent the right plane for the job. A 747F is one of the world’s largest commercial freighters, capable of schlepping more than 300,000 pounds of cargo. The cargo in this instance consisted of 16 elephants. Whether those elephants could arrive at an airport and board a plane undetected remained anyone’s guess.
The air was hot and humid that night and full of acrid smog, because rice farmers were burning their fields before planting. Laos is a mostly rural country: mountainous, landlocked, and poor, a socialist backwater overshadowed by powerful neighbors like China and Vietnam. It’s also become a global hub for wildlife trafficking, a place where politically connected kingpins make millions smuggling ivory, rhino horn, and other dead-animal parts around the world. In 2013, when the United States slapped a $1 million bounty on the criminal network of Vixay Keosavang—a.k.a. “the Pablo Escobar of wildlife trafficking,” according to numerous press accounts—Laos made no move to arrest him.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 2019 من Outside Magazine.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 2019 من Outside Magazine.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
![#she hunts](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f684c9f5c644/crp_she-hunts.jpg)
#she hunts
A new school of social-media influencers are giving hunting a fresh and decidedly female face. Food writer RACHEL LEVIN joins two rising stars of“Instagram” in the Arizona backcountry to chase mule deer for her first photographs by Jen Judgetime. Can she stomach what it takes to be an omnivore?
![Breaking the Waves](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f6858060588a/crp_John-John-Florence-Surf-Surfer-Surfing.jpg)
Breaking the Waves
What has life under lockdown taught the greatest surfer on earth? That switching it up was exactly what he needed.
![Wellness That Endures](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f684329620e7/crp_Wellness-That-Endures.jpg)
Wellness That Endures
Strategies and tips to help you get through anything
![The New Reality](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f685df771bcd/crp_The-New-Reality.jpg)
The New Reality
AFTER A NEARLY TWO-DECADE HIATUS, ECO-CHALLENGE MAKES A COMEBACK ON AMAZON PRIME AT JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT
![Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f685657321ee/crp_Out-There-Nobody-Can-Hear-You-Scream.jpg)
Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream
Two years ago, LATRIA GRAHAM wrote about the challenges of being Black in the outdoors, and countless readers asked her for advice. She didn’t write back, because she had no idea what to say. In the aftermath of a revolutionary summer, she responds.
![Mr.Freeze](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f68520638994/crp_MrFreeze.jpg)
Mr.Freeze
Wim Hof became famous for submerging himself in frigid water with the calm of a Zen master, and his teachings about breathwork and the health benefits of cold plunges have attracted millions of followers. Our writer traveled to Iceland to chill with the man who made cold extremely hot.
![Life Is a Highway](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f685cc1ccdde/crp_Life-Is-a-Highway.jpg)
Life Is a Highway
TOOLS TO HELP YOU SAVOR THE JOURNEY
![Enter Sandman](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f685a6553d64/crp_Enter-Sandman.jpg)
Enter Sandman
SLUMBER WELL IN CAMP, NO MATTER HOW FAR OFF THE BEATEN PATH YOU PARK
![All Together Now](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f68595d30811/crp_All-Together-Now.jpg)
All Together Now
MARINE BIOLOGIST AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON BECAME A STAR IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT BY DEFTLY COMMUNICATING WHAT FEW PEOPLE UNDERSTAND: THAT CLEANING UP THE PLANET REQUIRES A COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL JUSTICE
![In It for the Long Haul](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/9627/504115/5f685ba33a25d/crp_In-It-for-the-Long-Haul.jpg)
In It for the Long Haul
GEAR THAT STANDS THE TEST OF TIME