At the suggestion of a photographer friend of Ralph in November 2015 we joined WildPhoto on a photo journey to the South Georgia Islands. The South Georgia Islands are located in the Southern Ocean, south east of the Falkland Islands. The raw beauty of the terrain with an abundance of wildlife makes the islands a dream destination for photographers and adventure seekers. We first visited the South Georgia Islands with National Geographic/Linblad on a natural history/wild life/photography expedition in 2011. While our first trip covered a broader scope of interests this trip’s focus was mainly on getting more time to photograph this magnificent place.
The South Georgia Islands can only be reached by sea. Our home during our stay in the South Georgia Islands was the MS Polar Pioneer. It is operated by Aurora Expeditions from Australia. The ship was built as a research ship and was originally used by the Russian Academy of Sciences. The staff and crew are Russian. Like the National Geographic Explorer we were on board in 2011, the Polar Pioneer is an ice-strengthened ship equipped to sail in icy seas in arctic regions. Unlike the NG Explorer, which is considered a luxury expedition ship holding 148 guests, the Polar Pioneers is a basic functional ship holding only 54 guests. It is one of the smallest expedition ships operating in the Southern Ocean. It is often chartered by interest-focused groups with the desire to keep the number of guests small. Aside from the amenities such as the ship’s appointments, layout and food etc. one important but subtle different between the NG Explorer and the Polar Pioneer that the Polar Pioneer is not equipped with stabilizers. This makes the ride through the seas more challenging for those prone to seasickness. We were upgraded to a suite on the upper deck with private bath. Except on really calm days, it was hard to get from the bed to the bathroom when the ship was in open water. We had to keep the chairs by the desk lying on the floor so they would not fall over with a crash. We generally prefer a cabin on the lower deck where it is more stable. This time we booked too late to secure a cabin on the lower deck.
Our journey started by flying from San Francisco on to Houston then directly to Santiago, Chile. While in Chile we took a day tour into the Andes just to stretch our legs and see a bit more of Chile. Two days later we made our connection on a weekly flight to the Falkland Islands where the Polar Pioneer was waiting for us. We spent our next three days sailing to the South Georgia Islands. The next 8 days were spent in the South Georgia Islands photographing. The return trip home was pretty much the same in reverse but this time we found time in Chile to spend a day in and around the coastal port Valparaíso. On this excursion, we were struck by how similar the climate of the area around Valparaíso is to that of the area around San Francisco.
For those who may be wondering why we flew over Argentina to get to the Falklands, there is no commercial flights from Argentina to the Falklands due to political conflicts over ownership of the Falklands. The only commercial air route to the Falklands is via Chile with only one flight a week. The UK Department of Defense operates 2 flights a week via a fairly direct route from the UK, but these flights are not open to all tourists.
To get a feel of the South Georgia Islands, one must get a feel of the weather. The temperature in November typically ranges between freezing and 6°C (43°F). On average the precipitation is about 100mm (4”) for the month. The wind varies the most, from dead calm to hurricane force winds strong enough to knock you off your feet. The weather can change quickly. We got everything from sunny warm days with no wind to hurricane force winds driving snow and sleet under a dark grey sky. It is common to see a huge variation in the weather in a single day. Visitors must prepare themselves both mentally and physically to deal with the variable weather in order to keep comfortable.
Being in a photography tour and not a workshop with instructions, much effort was spent on getting the guests onshore in various conditions to allow ample time to onshore. The key subjects for the photographers the are penguins, in particular the king penguins, southern elephant seals, fur seals, wandering albatross, and various other sea birds in the area. Shore excursions started early in the morning in order to catch the light at sunrise. Early morning in this case means up at 2:00 a.m. and be ready to get onshore by 2:30 a.m. This is because we were so far south that daylight is about 18 hours long. Staying late onshore anticipating a sunset shot also makes days very long. The time on ship was mainly to eat and sleep. Each day we visited more than one location. Sailing between locations it allowed time for some to have a few drinks in the lounge or edit pictures if we were doing nothing else such as sleeping or photographing sea birds from the ship. The WildPhoto staff estimate that a guest who spent as much time as possible ashore at each stop would have spent approximately 60 hours ashore. Many tourist trips to South Georgia spend only a few hours ashore.
If you zoom in on the South Georgia Islands in the above map (this are towards the lower left) you can see the tracks for most of our photography excursions. Similarly, you can zoom in on Santiago to see the tracks for our two land excursions there.
Penguins
We saw 4 species of penguins on or near South Georgia: King, Macaroni, Gentoo and Chinstrap. By far the most common are the King Penguins. They are the second largest of the penguins and possibly the most colourful. King Penguin chicks hatch with brown feathers which they retain for over a year. The chicks are referred to as “Oakum Boys.” The Oakum Boys cannot swim and rely on their parents to fee them. In general, King Penguins are curious and will walk up quite close to people on the beach. On our 2011 trip we found an all-black melanistic King Penguin at Salisbury Plain. This time we were not so lucky.
Southern Elephant Seal
Southern Elephant Seals are the largest of the pinnipeds (which includes seals, sea lions and walrus). Mature females average about 770kg and mature males average about 3175kg. The largest Southern Elephant Seals are found on South Georgia. Generally the Elephant Seals are quite calm, but it is very important to not get between two conflicting males—if they choose to fight anything between the combatants will get crushed. The elephant seal pups are quite curious and will come right up to humans and press against their boots. Some people think that they are checking you out to see if you will provide some milk to feed it. The pups grow very fast and are fed often.
Fur Seals
Fur Seals are the most difficult animals to deal with in South Georgia. The males are large and fiercely defend their territories. On some beaches almost all the land is claimed by fur seals which makes travel very difficult. You have to try to walk on the boundaries between the animals’ territories. This can be difficult and progress is slow. The females are much less aggressive and the pups can be quite cute. We even came across a blond-coloured pup. The light colouration is found in maybe 1 in 1000 pups.
Wandering Albatross
The Wandering Albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird and so is often considered the largest flying bird (the heaviest flying bird is the male Kori Bustard from Africa). They breed on South Georgia and other sub-antarctic islands but spend most of their lives at sea. Wandering Albatross lay a single egg that they incubate for approximately 11 weeks. Once the chick hatches the parents take turns protecting the chick while the other parent forages. As the chick grows, it will be left alone and both parents will forage to feed the chick. The chicks will spend a year on the nest before they fledge. When they fly for the first time, they will be heavier than their parents—an interesting challenge for a bird that is well known to have difficulty getting airborne. The young will spend 11 to 15 years at sea before they return to land to breed.
South Georgia Pipit
The South Georgia Pipit is a small (sparrow sized) song bird found only in South Georgia. On our 2011 trip we saw pipits only on Prion Island—one of the few islands that was free of rats. Since then, the rat eradication project has been quite successful and we saw pipits in several locations. The South Georgia Pipit is small and drab in colour but is prized by birders because it is so rare.
When traveling to wild places visiting wildlife, it is important not to stress the environment including its inhabitants. Stressing an animal in our mind is when an animal changes its behavior due to human action. While this is not completely preventable, the goal should be to minimize human induced stress. On the WildPhoto trip, the photographers were encouraged not to stress the animals while photographing them. Each photographer had free rein to go where they wanted and do what they wanted so long they returned to the landing site at the set time to return to the to ship. With this arrangement, the responsibility was with each photographer to behave appropriately with the wildlife. Not all can take this responsibility well. We observed photographers intentionally provoked wildlife into action for an action shot. We also observed photographers charging through a wildlife colony just to get to a subject without consideration he/she had disturbed other wildlife along the way. While these events were not the norm, they occurred because the photographers were free to roam on their own out of sight of the few staff onshore. In the NG/Lindblad trip, small groups were formed, each lead by a naturalist. Depending on the location, the group may spread out but almost always within sight of one naturalist or another. This placed a certain amount of restriction on the photographer in terms of photography but put less stress on the animals. In terms of human safety, being close to a group also maximize safety as more eyes were watching out for each other. As an example, one day Winnie spent some time in an area full of elephant seals lined deep along the beach and was walking away when she heard elephant seal commotion. It appears that fellow photographer neglected to pay attention to a group of female elephant seals with young. He backed too close to the group, disturbing the group and causing one of the females with young to react. The female defending its young reached out with her mouth wide open and aimed at the photographer. The photographer sensing something touching his head from behind turned and fell when he realized what it was. Fortunately he was able to roll and kick himself away from the female. From Winnie’s vantage point, the female mouth could have engulfed the photographer’s entire head if only it was a little closer. During this couple of seconds’ encounter, the female managed to grab the photographer’s head and then his back. This resulted in a cut on the photographer’s head through a heavy jacket hood and wool hat, and a separate hole on the back side of his jacket exposing the insulation. The photographer was not aware of the cut on his head until Winnie pointed it out. Due to the bacteria that elephant seals carry in their mouths, Winnie suggested the photographer to get the ship’s doctor to attend to his cut immediately. Traveling in remote places injury carries extra risk. Despite the risk, the South Georgia Islands remain one of the most fascinating natural places to visit.
| Winnie's Pictures |
| Ralph's Pictures |
| Andes Mountains Tour |
| Valparaíso Tour |
| Pictures of Fellow Photographers |
| Pictures about the Trip |
Some of Winnie and Ralph's Other Journeys