Cher & the Loneliest Elephant

Between 1405 and 1433, Admiral Zheng He of China led seven epic voyages to more than 30 countries, including Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Kenya and Tanzania. The admiral and his crew gathered knowledge and wealth from Indochina to Africa for China's Ming empire. These voyages were the biggest naval expeditions mounted at the time. Zheng He was bigger than life and could have changed the course of history. But after the seven voyages, he and his Treasure Fleet were forgotten by China, and the world, for six hundred years. National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita sets sail to discover why. To celebrate the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's maiden exploration voyage, Michael Yamashita traveled over 10,000 miles from Yunnan in China to Africa's Swahili coast taking over 40,000 pictures for the feature story on this great explorer, published in the July 2005 edition of National Geographic.

Marco Polo became a legend after his epic, 24 year trek across Asia. Was he the world's greatest overland explorer? Or the biggest liar? National Geographic's own legend, Michael Yamashita, used Polo's book as a guide to find the truth.

A raw and intimate portrait of Vivian Siu, an amateur female racing driver with a burning desire to race the world’s greatest street track, the legendary Macau Grand Prix. Notorious amongst drivers for being the ultimate test of skill and courage, it’s terrifying blind corners and relentless high speed straights, present a unique challenge that has been the making of champions for 70 years. Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton and many other famous names all took on the formidable Guia circuit. Self-funded and with almost zero driving experience, Vivian leapt from junior karting to becoming the first female driver in Formula 4 Chinese Championship within just a few months. But the gulf between reality and her dream became evident on every level and most gave her little chance of success.