South Georgia

South Georgia is a must see for those who want to follow in Sir Ernest Shackleton’s footsteps. The Allardyce and Salvesen mountain ranges outline the long, narrow island that offers a magnificent scenery of glaciers, ice-caps and snowfields with a surprising history and boundless wildlife.

• Be overwhelmed by South Georgia’s sweeping king penguin rookeries
• Observe how male elephant seals defend their breeding territories
• Enjoy the rich history and boundless wildlife in a breathtaking scenery
• Visit the Grytviken whaling station and the grave of Sir Ernest Shackleton
• Remote and challenging to reach, South Georgia is on the bucket list for many

South Georgia was claimed by Captain Cook in 1775, but it is best known for its part in Shackleton’s extraordinary rescue journey following the loss of his ship Endurance in 1915. On the island you will find the historic Grytviken whaling station, once the world’s largest whaling centre and now home to the whaling museum and active British Antarctic Survey. Grytviken is where the epic escape of Sir Ernest Shackleton ended when he found help to save his expedition members and what later became the great Antarctic explorer’s final resting place.

Besides a rich history South Georgia offers a magnificent scenery and boundless wildlife. The unique position of the island outside the limit of the yearly sea ice makes it home to wandering albatrosses, petrels, gulls and tens of millions of breeding penguins. Salisbury Plain is famous for the colourful king penguins that crowd its beach. From fuzzy little chicks to fattened adults, hundreds of thousands of king penguins can be seen at a time, set against a snow-covered backdrop of towering mountains and impressive glaciers. Other landing sites feature huge elephant seals and some of the estimated 2 million noisy fur seals that rule some of the beaches.