Get intrepid in the final frontier, without giving up your creature comforts.
Nothing says ‘grand adventure’ quite like a journey into Antarctica. After all these years, it’s still at the top of most people’s must-see lists, an adventurous undertaking that’s once-in-a-lifetime. But, despite the adventure and exploration side of this destination, the world’s most remote luxury camp, White Desert, makes sure that there are also creature comforts.
Someone who knows polar adventure is Patrick Woodhead. He has broken world records for leading the youngest team to the South Pole, the first East-to-West traverse of Antarctica (with his wife Robyn) and even one for the fastest horizontal crossing of Greenland. In 2005, he established White Desert with the intention of allowing non-scientists to experience the interior of Antarctica. Twenty years later, the company has won many travel awards for its Antarctica tours – and the two luxury camps guests get to stay in.
Gaze at a colony of emperor penguins.
Operating out of Cape Town, guests fly for five hours to Antarctica, landing on a rare blue ice runway. Itineraries include highlights like visiting the lowest point on Earth (the Geographic South Pole) and gazing at a 20,000-strong colony of emperor penguins. But the true show stopper is snoozing in one of the world’s most remote luxury camps each night.
Whichaway camp
Spend your evenings in luxury and comfort.
Whichaway was the first luxury camp in Antarctica, so named after the founder was lost in this very spot, unsure ‘which-away’ to go. Surrounded by fresh water lakes, this camp is set up on exposed rock – a rarity as 99 per cent of Antarctica is covered in ice.
Up to 12 guests can be accommodated in six pods, all with ensuite bathrooms and large glass conservatories overlooking the surrounding icefall. Not to mention interior decor that harks back to the golden age of exploration.
Elsewhere in the camp, find a central hub with a dining room, a library and a separate lounge, a yoga pod, a sauna and an ice bath.
Echo Base camp
Combine remote adventure with creature comforts.
With the same number of pods and most of the same amenities, Echo Base is perched on the edge of a vast, ancient glacier at the base of the Henriksen Nunataks’ rocky mountains. Which can be explored by those feeling particularly intrepid.
Here, expect the vibe to be more futuristic and luxurious, with floor-to-ceiling windows letting the outside (visually) in at all times. Also find the addition of a central shower pod, a kitchen, dining and observation area and lounge.
Details
Land on a rare blue ice runway, then explore the area.
Dining
What is a luxury camp without delicious dining? Now this is particularly difficult to do in the middle of nowhere (a single can of Coke costs over $40 to deliver here). So White Desert focuses on a sustainable menu that is both sophisticated and unpretentious.
Rates
Prices start from around A$71,500 (subject to change with the new season of travel), which includes flights from Cape Town, five days in Antarctica, all activities and a trip to see the Emperor penguins.
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Kassia Byrnes is the Native Content Editor for International Traveller. She's come a long way since writing in her diary about family trips to Grandma's. After graduating a BA of Communication from University of Technology Sydney, she has been writing about her travels (and more) professionally for over 10 years for titles like AWOL, News.com.au, Pedestrian.TV, Body + Soul and Punkee. She's addicted to travel but has a terrible sense of direction, so you can usually find her getting lost somewhere new around the world. Luckily, she loves to explore and have new adventures – whether that’s exploring the backstreets, bungee jumping off a bridge or hiking for days.
Antarctica has long been the ultimate destination for intrepid travellers. Does a lifelong dream live up to the promise?
I’m gazing at a cluster of 20 sapphire-blue-tinged icebergs bobbing around in tranquil seas on a brilliant sunny day in Antarctica. Battered over time by high winds and waves, these glistening white monoliths range in size from colossal skyscraper-high street blocks and angular silhouettes to a Disneyland look-alike castle.
Antarctica is definitely putting on a show today. Suddenly a humpback whale pops up as if checking us out and, when satisfied, disappears under a blanket of silver-crested waves.
Incredible wildlife
Witness penguins during an Antarctica cruise. (Credit: Unsplash/Bob Brewer)
Two hours later, we travel by Zodiac and step onto the White Continent, walking among playful penguins that are as curious about us as we are about them. Brown fluffy baby chicks huddle together for protection, reminding me of a fun kindergarten party. Nearby, hefty southern elephant seals are sunbaking and surveying us with one eye open, while the more active Antarctic fur seals frolic in the shallows.
They say nothing quite prepares you for this icy wonderland, and they are right. There’s something mystical and magical about Antarctica, a place I have always longed to visit.
See Antarctica’s ice magic up close. (Credit: Renato Granieri)
Polar explorer Roald Amundsen was spot on when he compared this beautiful untamed land to something straight from a fairytale. But it’s so much more than that.
It’s an assault on all your senses. For sight, it’s the endless white land; sound – the sharp cracking of icebergs calving; smell – wafts of pungent penguin poop known as guano. For taste, it’s the freshest air ever. And as for touch, I run my hand over the smooth snowy ice.
Learn from passionate scientists
Grytviken is a hamlet on South Georgia. (Credit: Getty/Ian Deng)
Scientist and expedition leader Marco Favero, who leads A&K expedition cruises in his summer break, ensures we don’t miss a thing. Along with researching ornithology and marine biology in South America and Antarctica, he is devoted to seabird conservation.
“Antarctica is always an adventure and I never get tired of it; there’s always something different to see,” he says.
His wife, Dr Maria Patricia Silva Rodriguez, a noted ornithologist, agrees. She is on hand with a team of experts, sharing her vast knowledge of Antarctica’s bird and wildlife on our daily excursions or up on deck.
Discover the White Continent on a PONANT EXPLORATIONS luxury expedition ship. (Credit: Renato Granieri)
Onboard lectures present the facts and figures of this vast continent in a way that makes you appreciate it even more. Passionate master storyteller Rob Caskie waves his signature walking stick as he shares harrowing tales of Antarctica’s intrepid explorers and their defiance in the face of what can only be described as impossible odds.
We learn about noted Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his survival story aboard the Endurance expedition (1914–1916), where he saved his entire crew despite their ship being crushed by ice. So gripping are his tales, it’s not hard to imagine the desperation of these men and the extreme cold that seeped into their bones. I can picture the weight of heavy sodden clothes that never dry, food shortages and the need to wear nine pairs of socks. It’s in stark contrast today as we sit in a heated theatre for educational lectures on PONANT EXPLORATIONS’ elegant expedition cruiser Le Lyrial.
Walk in the footsteps of explorers
An albatross glides gracefully at sea. (Credit: Renato Granieri)
The stories are all fascinating, but it’s not until you take those first steps on this land that you glean a little of what fuelled those explorers to tackle the utmost adventure.
I love the contrast of our ports, including the isolated Falkland Islands – home to more than 4000 people and a haven for wildlife. There are five different penguin species, elephant seals, sea lions and 65 per cent of the world’s black-browed albatross population.
The Historic Dockyard Museum in the capital Stanley showcases the lives of Antarctic explorers, as well as the impact of the 1982 war.
Wondrous wildlife sets the scene on South Georgia Island. (Credit: Getty/Cheryl Ramalho)
South Georgia, the remote, mountainous British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, is most memorable for its millions of king penguins, fur seals and albatrosses. It’s an overwhelming sight while we witness some of their amusing antics as they slip and slide on the ice.
Animals abound on the South Atlantic island of South Georgia.
Long after I return, I reflect on so many poignant memories. One of the most unforgettable? Shackleton’s grave in the Grytviken Cemetery on South Georgia Island. It faces south, towards his beloved Antarctica, with the gravestone inscription: “I hold that a man should strive to the utmost for his life’s set prize,” a Robert Browning quote.
Tourism and conservation in Antarctica
A breathtaking ice window captured at Wilhelmina Bay on the Antarctic Peninsula. (Credit: Renato Granieri)
Although tourism to Antarctica is increasing – you can now fly in and cruise – it is strictly controlled by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators along with Antarctic Treaty nations that restrict passenger numbers, landings and environmental impact.
It is somewhat of a conundrum, weighing up the threat of overtourism in this special part of the world with my burning passion to see this stunning natural reserve dedicated to peace and science, firsthand. But I leave convinced the rigid bio-protection protocols that are enforced, and the limit of tourist numbers, ease these concerns.
The wonder of the Antarctic, the coldest, driest, highest and windiest continent on Earth, simply leaves me in awe and ignites a burning desire to help preserve it for future generations.
The verdict
My heart beats a little faster whenever I see the names of those early explorers who opened up this vast land and endured incredible hardship. This chance to visit one of the world’s last true wilderness areas is definitely life-changing for me.
Months later, I close my eyes and recall the unsurpassed beauty and the vastness, reliving the glorious rhythm of nature that played out in front of me. There really is nowhere else quite like it in the world.
Ways to cruise Antarctica
Explore one of the most untouched territories on Earth with Abercrombie & Kent’s Antarctica.
Abercrombie & Kent’s Antarctica, South Georgia and Falklands: Holiday Voyage covers 19 days and five destinations with a maximum of 199 guests. Prices start from $36,730.
Want to travel to Antarctica solo? Do so sans single supplement on selected trips with HX Expeditions, where 20 per cent of guests are doing the same.
Environmentally conscious travellers can sail Antarctica with PONANT EXPLORATIONS aboard Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s only luxury icebreaker and first hybrid electric, LNG-powered polar exploration vessel.
Or, if you want to travel without sacrificing comfort, Silversea’s time-maxxing Antarctica Fly Cruise voyages will soon include a stay at The Cormorant at 55 South, the southernmost hotel on Earth.
