Extraordinary jobs

Meet workers with some of the most unique jobs around the world and learn how they do what they do.

Mangrove planting in Mexico

Keila Vázquez Lira is a guardian of the mangrove wetlands, planting high-carbon-storage trees that are crucial in the fight against climate change. 

The DMZ gift shop worker

Tourists visiting the border between South Korea and North Korea want souvenirs, and Wanbae Lee supplies them.

A Welsh island warden oversees the cycle of life

The island of Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel has a population of one — Simon Parker, who took up the wardenship in March 2023.

A Sorbian teacher keeps the language alive

Speakers of Germany’s minority Slavic language are in high demand as the country attempts to preserve its heritage.

A commercial diver navigates the deep

About 3,700 people in Australia are certified to work as commercial divers, one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

A full-time ninja carries on ancient traditions

Kunoichi — female ninjas — have played a special role in the history of Japan, and exist to this day.

The motorbiking polio worker in Pakistan

Musarat Durani risks backlash and dehydration in her mission to vaccinate children against polio.

Of Pakistan’s 338,000 polio vaccination workers, 62% are women.

The zero-gravity chaperone

Michelle Peters has completed over 5,000 parabolas on more than 200 flights as an educator with a commercial space company.

Working at the penguin post office

Kit Adams spent a summer working as the postmaster at Port Lockroy, a remote island off the coast of Antarctica.

42 countries operate research stations in Antarctica.

Hamburg’s swanfather: Keeping birds out of trouble since 1674

Olaf Nieß holds one of the oldest civil servant jobs in Germany. His most important task? Taking care of Hamburg’s swans.