The treasure seekers

Top seven modern-day adventurers say
'follow your heart, never compromise'

In this story:

'We're really entering a new era'
A view of different cultures
'My rate of exploration is increasing'
Greater need to preserve planet

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WASHINGTON(CNN) -- There are ancient ships at the bottom of the Black Sea, and Robert Ballard says he can find them. And as the discoverer of the Titanic wreckage, he is likely the man to do it.

He is among six other modern-day explorers who believe that those ancient ships -- and hundreds of other forgotten treasures -- are just waiting for someone to unearth them.

While some say the Earth is a shrinking entity, these seven, brought together by the National Geographic Society, say there is still plenty to find on the planet.

They have probed the deserts of Africa, the depths of the Atlantic Ocean and the delicate connection between humans and animals. Recently they became the society's first "explorers in residence" and will receive funding for their next projects.

Unlike past pioneers who often explored and conquered, these modern-day adventurers campaign to preserve the fragile areas they study: the seas; the rain forests; the deserts; the world's disappearing wildernesses.

As advisers on National Geographic projects, they serve as beacons of inspiration to adults and children alike who are concerned about natural and cultural resources.

'We're really entering a new era'

The seven -- Ballard, Stephen Ambrose, Wade Davis, Sylvia Earle, Jane Goodall, Johan Reinhard and Paul Sereno -- say there are numerous areas left to explore.

"We're really entering a new era where we're going to discover a lot of things," said Sereno, a paleontologist and a professor in the University of Chicago's department of organismal biology and anatomy.

"There are places where nobody has been on earth, while we look at the stars," Sereno said. There are huge sections of the desert in Africa where not a word has been written about them.

"We're going to dinosaur-age beds, huge tracts of the Sahara that nomads may have crossed, but there's not a word written about that."

Anthropologist Davis has a dream "to sort of participate in a pilgrimage of the heart with a famous Sherpa mountain climber, to understand what is the nature of life and death on the ice slopes of Everest."

Sherpas are Tibetan people who live on the slopes of the Himalayas and help mountain climbers make it up Everest.

Davis will be spending his tenure searching the world "to find those great stories of wonder found within various cultures that teach us something about human experience."

As to what he would pass on to the children of the world, Davis said, "I say follow your heart, never compromise and trust in serendipity.

"But the only way that serendipity can happen to you is if you put yourself out there where the winds of chance can blow you about."

Deep-sea explorer Ballard discovered the wreck of the Titanic. He credits technology for opening new frontiers and making them easier to explore.

"I'm very excited about this century because I think it is the true century of exploration. This summer we're going to the Black Sea. We expect to find the most perfectly preserved ancient ships of anywhere on the planet."

Ballard said his daily commute to the ocean floor used to be five hours. "But now with robots, with fiber optics in particular, I can create a tele-presence, a simulated presence.

"I can put my robots down at the bottom of the ocean and leave them down indefinitely, so my rate of exploration is increasing by a factor of 10."

Goodall, the foremost authority on chimpanzees, is concentrating on preserving African wildlife.

"Tragically they're just disappearing from the wild so fast, especially in their stronghold in the great Congo Basin.

"That's chimpanzees, gorillas, elephants, monkeys -- everything down to birds and bats -- shot for food."

Goodall said the eating of the flesh of wild animals was preferred in that part of Africa to that of domestic animals. "We reckon that in about 20 years there'll be none left."

Even 20,000-foot-high summits in the Andes, where archaeologist Reinhard discovered a frozen 500-year-old mummy, are not safe.

"We're also seeing massive destruction take place that we've never seen before," Reinhard says. "People can get in and dig up tombs and use dynamite in order to try to get at these treasures."

Adults who encourage inquisitiveness are key to nurturing the next generation of explorers, said these pioneers.

Marine biologist Earle said, "There was nothing basically so far-fetched, so out of reach that I couldn't perhaps do it if I tried hard enough.

"I'd like to convey that to the next generation. If they just understand their momentous time on the planet, when they can change things, they can protect the prosperity for humankind for all time.

"But the time is now."