Here are a few things it pays to remember before you visit South Georgia: first, don’t step on the penguins; second, don’t run if an Antarctic fur seal or a southern elephant seal charges at you (they’re bluffing); and third, don’t be fixated on the islands’ most famous permanent resident – there’s more to South Georgia than downing a shot of whisky beside Ernest Shackleton’s grave.
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they → pay → grave
Fewer than 15,000 people visit each year, compared with the 120,000 expedition ship travellers to Antarctica.
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people → visit → Antarctica
Going to South Georgia, a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 1300 kilometres north-east of the Antarctic Peninsula, will mean a longer expedition, of course – with a higher premium – but it feels very different to being in Antarctica.
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it → go → Antarctica
South Georgia is dubbed the “Serengeti of the Southern Ocean” for its proliferation of wild animals.
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Georgia → dub → animals
The sea that surrounds it teems with all kinds of whales because the nutrient-rich ocean currents off South Georgia create a biological factory for krill.
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currents → surround → krill
I’m visiting as part of a 20-day combined-destination expedition which also includes the Falkland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula.
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which → visit → Islands
We left the Falklands nearly three days ago with little to see except the occasional whale, so there’s a sense of excitement among the passengers on the fifth-floor observation deck when we arrive off South Georgia’s northern coast.
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we → leave → coast
It’s late November, the middle of breeding season, and thousands of penguins and seals line up along the beach – one of the longest in these islands at five kilometres.
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thousands → ’ → kilometres
So dense is the coverage, I can’t see any of the beach at all.
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I → see → beach
When I finally lift my gaze from the beach, I see the foothills that lead to the towering, gnarled ice and black rock mountains beyond, which are also crammed with penguins that make up one of the world’s largest king penguin colonies with a population over 120,000.
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that → lift → 120,000
As we step onshore from the tender, a fur seal pup mock charges our boat.
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pup → step → boat
It’s a defensive tactic, apparently it will only advance further if you run, since fast movement triggers its fight-or-flight response.
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movement → ’ → response
King penguins, the second-largest penguin behind the emperor, waddle toward me and stare up.
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penguins → waddle → me
When I walk across the snow in my heavy boots, they shuffle beside and behind me, as a kind of escort.
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they → walk → escort
When I pause to take a photo, I swear two of them stop and pose.
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two → pause → them
Fur seals may bark and grunt to show who’s boss, but king penguins are the most gracious of hosts.
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penguins → bark → hosts
Among the white-and-orange and yellow-coloured king penguins, I see thousands of penguins wearing brown fluffy fur coats.
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thousands → see → coats
Early researchers called these penguins fluffy penguins.
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researchers → call → penguins
It didn’t take them long to realise that, even though many of them are heavier than their parents, these are king penguin chicks.
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these → take → parents
I’m barely ashore in South Georgia, and already I’m having one of my most unusual wildlife moments.
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I → ’m → moments
I don’t feel like I’m looking at animals, but rather existing among them.
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I → feel → them
And I get the distinct impression they are doing just as much ogling.
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they → get → ogling
We move between bays on the north coast, each one as thick with penguins and seals as the last.
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one → move → last
At Drygalski Fjord, I kayak around a waterway abundant with cascades where macaroni penguins slide down sheer, slippery cliffs on their bellies into the water beside me.
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penguins → kayak → me
Seals appear all around us, and yet more penguins who move across the water with much more grace than they possess on land.
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they → appear → land
They seem to fly-swim across the surface.
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They → seem → surface
And yet, for all the life on display in South Georgia, it’s death that defines it.
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that → ’ → it
From the late 18th century, sealing was so widespread the fur seal population was almost wiped out.
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population → wipe → century
We motor halfway down the north coast to the island’s largest settlement, Grytviken.
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We → motor → settlement
It shelters within an enormous cove beneath the three-kilometre-high peaks of the Allardyce Range.
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It → shelter → Range
Here you can find the remains of South Georgia’s biggest whaling station.
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you → find → station
Through fog, I make out decaying buildings and giant rusted whale-oil tanks.
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I → make → buildings
There’s a silence that suits the deathly mood.
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that → ’ → mood
The fog clears, and we arrive at the settlement by tender, keeping our distance from the elephant seals who have taken over town.
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who → clear → town
Grass pushes through concrete and the seals sleep in spaces where men once lived.
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men → push → spaces
Nature, as harsh and unforgiving as it can be, has defeated humanity.
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it → defeat → humanity
Only researchers and a handful of summer staff members who run the South Georgia Museum live here now.
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who → run → Museum
I head to the settlement’s most visited site, Grytviken Cemetery, where Sir Ernest Shackleton is buried.
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Shackleton → head → site
His simple grave is marked by a stone that faces south to the Antarctic to honour his polar ambition.
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that → mark → ambition
Shackleton’s amazing survival story made these islands world-famous.
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islands → make → ?
…and 9 more, not listed.
