Why do people become treasure hunters? Job, dream, some other reason?

What are some occupations that would take you deep into an island or some mountains e.g. the Tibetan Mountains? Better yet why would someone want to go into these types of locations searching for treasure in the first place... I need a good idea of why my character is going to go searching for some treasure in a dangerous, exotic location? Its for my action / adventure Media Studies exam in the near future so I am limited in time so I don't have much time to search the web for this hard to find answer :)