Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Salopek was on assignment for National Geographic in August 2006 when he was detained with two Chadian colleagues in the troubled western region of the Sudan known as Darfur.

He and his translator and driver spent the next 34 days in custody and were about to face charges of espionage, entering the country illegally and "writing false news" when the three men were released after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson negotiated with Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Salopek, who was on leave from the Chicago Tribune where he won Pulitzers in 1998 and 2001, was living with his wife, artist Linda Lynch, in the New Mexico border town of Columbus, the Albuquerque Journal reported after his release.

The story he was assigned to write appears in the current issue of National Geographic magazine, titled "Lost in the Sahel."

In addition to the story, you can also find on the National Geographic's Web site, a video of Salopek's journey into the harsh and volatile region between Africa's desert and forest with photographer Pascal Maitre, a photo gallery of Maitre's work and a Q&A with Salopek titled "Field Notes."

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