The National Geographic Genographic Project

Finally! I got my hands on one of the National Geographic Genographic kits and I will be doing my swab tests tomorrow. Though I’m sure I did, I may not have mentioned the project when I blogged about my Tajikistan travels, but it is something to spread if you’re into science, genetics, and discovering the journey your ancient ancestors took according to the coding in your DNA. I’m sure so many of you are down for this sort of stuff, right? I knew it.

Anyway, I was standing there waiting for the super-jam-packed marshutka from Khorog to take me and the rest of the passengers down to Dushanbe when I saw an American man snapping photos away at the bazaar. I shot him a smile as to say, “Hey! You’re not from here either.” He walked over and said the same thing I had been thinking only seconds earlier and from there I found out he was in Tajikistan on an assignment for National Geographic! No way, I’m thinking! Way… My guide Teo started probing for some additional information, but first he asked whether it would be too much for them to taxi me down to Dushanbe with them. If I didn’t mention the ride down before let me do so now. The ride from Khorog to Dushanbe is long. Think 16 hours of rough, rocky mountain road with a vehicle packed with 15 passengers or more all praying the marshutka doesn’t tip over or slide off the cliff. It can be an adventure to ride one, but there have been many unfortunate tales of travel as well. To my luck they said I was welcome to join them and off came my bags from the original marshutka onto theirs.

Just because I went down the mountains with the Americans it didn’t mean the ride was any less bumpy, but it really was filled with hearing all their amazing tales from working on the Genographic project in places like Chad and the South Pacific. I think the two Dave’s I was riding with both agreed that Chad was one of the most dangerous places they had ever been. I took it all in. Long story short I had met some people doing some very heavy duty research in the world of genetics and the journey of man. To think I had met Dr. Spencer Wells (brainchild of the project) and David Evans (photographer extraordinaire) in a place as remote as Tajikistan’s Pamirs is one of those things I can’t easily shrug off. Why? What does it mean? Anything?

Yes. Since I still had a little time left in the nation’s capital I decided to go down to the National Geographic Explorer’s Hall to pick up one of the kits. They were on back order online, but after opening up communication with David Evans and some others at Nat Geo I learned I would be getting one this weekend after all. Once I send everything off on Monday it will take about eight weeks for my results to post online due to extensive lab research. When they are revealed you can sure bet I’ll be blogging about it here for anyone else interested in learning or participating in the project.

Adrienne

David Evans as he photographs our Tajik driver and his companion on the ride out of the Pamirs.