I want to be an explorer, how do I acquire the funding?

By explorer, I mean someone who finds places in the world or things in the world people rarely know exist. I would like to travel, maybe work with National Geographic, maybe study languages or people. How would someone get the funding for a research expedition? I saw on yahoo these guys discovered caves in Vietnam and I have already decided doing things that involved adventure and travel would be right for me. Please help on where the funding would come from or any ideas. I am not looking to get into the travel industry.