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There are increasingly opportunities to travel to Antarctica today than there overly have been before, but most people still relegate this trip to the “someday” category.
A bucket list destination for many nature lovers, Antarctica is a remote and isolated continent full of inspiring natural wonder.
It’s widely regarded as one of the most strikingly trappy places on the planet, with pristine landscapes and a wealth of wildlife thriving in one of the last corners of the Earth that minutiae hasn’t truly touched.
But with a rapidly warming climate waffly the ice-covered landscape and limited space to satisfy an ever-increasing tourism demand, those who wait might find themselves too late to see the continent at its best.
The pursuit are 20 unconfined reasons to travel to Antarctica now, surpassing your personal “someday” never comes.
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Reasons to Travel to Antarctica Guide
- The Antarctic Islands
- Antarctic Wildlife
- Penguins
- Seals
- Whales
- Dolphins
- Birds of Antarctica
- The Venture
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Visiting a Scientific Research Base
- Zodiac Rides
- Camping on the Ice
- Taking the Polar Plunge
- Unique Antarctica Photo Opportunities
- Luxury Small Ship Cruising
- Exploring a Relatively Untouched Frontier
- Because the Climate is Changing
- The Price Mirrors the Temperature
- The Future of Antarctic Tourism is Uncertain
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1. Travel to the Antarctic Islands
While the mainland is often the primary witchery for people traveling to Antarctica, Antarctic cruises moreover take in many fascinating islands.
These sub-Antarctic islands can be just as much a highlight of your trip, as they’re teeming with wildlife and a diverse landscape that ranges from ice shelves to volcanos.
The famous Falkland Islands are a true wildlife oasis where you can see several species of penguin you won’t find on the mainland (including the Rockhopper, Magellanic, and Macaroni penguin).
Charles Darwin unquestionably spent increasingly time on the Falkland Islands than he did in the Galapagos islands, considering these islands are so rich in a diverse variety of polar wildlife.
Elephant Island is much closer to the Antarctic Peninsula. Here travelers get to see first-hand the place where Ernest Shackleton and his hairdo sought refuge from the shipwreck of the Endurance.
The island is moreover home to a large colony of Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins, as well as the oversized elephant seal (this is unquestionably one of the weightier places in the world to find them).
And then you have Deception Island, which boasts an zippy volcano and a black sand beach in the middle of Antarctica’s icy waters.
This is where many travelers segregate to take the polar plunge, transiently swimming in the frigid sea surpassing sepulture themselves in the warm sand of the geothermal volcano.
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2. Antarctic Wildlife
Wildlife is obviously one of the biggest reasons to visit Antarctica. Despite stuff the most remote and isolated continent, this is a paradise for a number of species that thrive in a place where human presence has never taken off.
Antarctic animals roam freely, and visiting the continent feels a bit like you’re living out a David Attenborough documentary. Most of the animals here have no fear of tropical contact with humans.
In fact, many of them can be very curious. Penguins will often tideway as you walk withal the beaches, Humpback whales will surface within 50 feet of your boat, and seals will saunter nearby.
Unfortunately, there are an variety of threats to the Antarctic environment, including climate change, overfishing, pollution, and the exploitation of natural resources.
Next, we’ll examine a few of the prominent species of Antarctic wildlife you can still see now.
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3. Antarctic Penguins
The charismatic penguins of Antarctica are unchangingly a highlight of any trip to the frozen continent. These funny, flightless birds are the most worldwide unprepossessing you’ll see in Antarctica, with some colonies increasingly densely populated than your stereotype small city.
The Emperor Penguin, with its unexceptionable yellow plumage and impressively tall stature, is one of the most iconic symbols of the South Pole. But they tend spend most of their time inland, which is usually out of reach for most Antarctic cruises.
You will, however, see thousands of Chinstrap, Adelie, and Gentoo penguins. While these increasingly teeny species may not have the same star quality as the Emperor or King penguin, you may find their personalities increasingly endearing.
Especially the little penguin chicks, which are often seen during the peak of Antarctica’s trip season (December through February).
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4. Antarctic Seals
There are six variegated types of seals in Antarctica. While they tend to spend a lot of their time feeding underwater, you’ll have a unconfined endangerment to spot many of them sunning themselves on rocky shorelines or resting on top of ice floes.
The largest and most spectacular species is the Elephant seal, and places like Elephant Island offer the endangerment to get up tropical and personal with the massive beasts.
Since they often weigh in glut of 8,000 pounds, they’re very slow moving, which makes for easy photo opportunities.
Also alimony an eye out for the Crabeater Seal, the cute Weddell Seal, and the Antarctic fur seal. Alimony your loftiness from the fiercest of the lot, the Leopard seal, which is known to prey on penguins.
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5. Antarctic Whales
Antarctica truly puts the rest of the world to shame when it comes to whale watching: You can spot 10 variegated species of whales here.
And when we say “spot,” we don’t midpoint merely transmissible glimpse of a tail off the in the loftiness through your binoculars. We midpoint drying off from the spray, considering a Humpback whale has breached within a few hundred feet of your boat.
The reason you’ll find such a upper concentration of whales in Antarctica?
The massive swarms of krill that live in these waters. Squint out for the Minke whale, Blue whale, Sperm whale, Southern right whale, and Humpback whale, all of whom are motivated by the invitation of a storeroom feast!
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6. Dolphins
If you’re a fan of cetaceans, you’ll be pleased to find an zillions of dolphins in Antarctica as well.
Dusky dolphins are the most wontedly seen species, expressly virtually Ushuaia, Argentina as you’re navigating the Beagle Channel at the start and/or end of your cruise.
You should moreover alimony a keen eye out for the Orca. While wontedly known as the killer whale, the orca is unquestionably the world’s largest species of dolphin.
It has been unscientific that increasingly than 70,000 killer whales live in the oceans virtually Antarctica. If you’re lucky you might be lucky unbearable to reservation sight of a hunt, which they often do in partnership as a pod.
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7. Birds of Antarctica
Antarctica is a fantastic destination for anyone with a love of birds (or at least a healthy fascination). The continent is home to over 100 million seabirds, which are moreover scattered throughout the sub-Antarctic islands.
You’ll find fascinating species such as the same penguins, fulmars, petrels, prions, and the Southern royal albatross.
While the responsibility is an iconic species (its 9.5- to 11-foot wingspan is the largest of any bird on the planet), it’s the South Polar Skuas you should really watch out for.
The skua is a unwieldy brown seabird that often strategically chooses to nest virtually penguin colonies. This enables them to swoop in unexpectedly and feed on eggs and newborn chicks.
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8. The Antarctica Adventure
Antarctica is one of those rare, remote destinations where the process of getting there is a huge part of the adventure.
The Drake Passage is widely considered one of the most turbulent stretches of ocean you’ll overly cross.
However, tourism flights to Antarctica have recently been introduced. Considering of unpredictable weather conditions plan on subtracting a few uneaten days to your itinerary to victorious and depart.
Once you get there, the venture never ends. Next, we’ll take a squint at the huge range of incredibly tomfool things to do in Antarctica.
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9. Antarctica Hiking
Most people who travel to Antarctica want to set foot on the continent, so hiking its icy landscape is a huge draw. It doesn’t matter how in shape you are: There are hiking opportunities for practically every fitness level, and most of them are non-technical.
Whether you’re taking a short walk wideness a volcanic beach rocky or hiking up a short hill to a glacial lookout, the scenery that surrounds you is so stunning that you won’t plane notice the exercise.
After all, in what other destination on Earth will you have a endangerment to trek wideness an ice shelf to a trappy bay filled with glistening icebergs, passing through the middle of a massive penguin colony withal the way?
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10. Antarctica Kayaking
If you’ve never kayaked in the unshut sea before, Antarctica is a magical place to do it for the first time. It’s moreover one of the weightier ways to immerse yourself in the unrenowned scenery you see from the ship.
As you paddle through the area’s icy waters, you’ll get up tropical to towering icebergs and have a endangerment to explore inlets that are too small for the trip ship to navigate.
You may find yourself squatter to squatter with penguins, whales, and/or seals, getting a rare endangerment to see them at eye level as they swim slantingly you.
Kayaking is typically a limited worriedness that you may have to typesetting as an extra. It’s well worth booking in whop if it’s something you really want to do, as this is a popular activity, and the spaces often fill up quickly.
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11. Visiting an Antarctica Scientific Research Base
Visiting a scientific research base is an unexpected highlight of most Antarctic trip itineraries. Roughly 30 countries have scientific research bases set up wideness Antarctica.
The scientists based there are continuously studying the climate, wildlife, and geology of the region. And while some might resemble a run-down shack on a hillside, others are slick, modern villages the size of a small town.
Most cruises to Antarctica offer the endangerment to visit a couple of research bases, permitting you to walk virtually the facilities and yack to the staff who work on the base.
This is a unconfined opportunity to proceeds insight into the realities of human life in Antarctica. It’s from here that you’ll be worldly-wise to send postcards to friends and family, drink at an Antarctic bar, or add unique stamps to your passport.
These bases are considered the territory of the country that runs them, so you can hands visit Chile and Russia (and get those tomfool stamps) in the same day.
Because the political and economic priorities of these countries may shift over time, it’s a good idea to travel now for this experience, while Antarctic research still receives a good deal of funding!
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12. Antarctica Zodiac Rides
While Zodiacs are often used as a practical way of transporting travelers from ship to shore, these small, motorized rubber boats moreover make for unconfined cruising on their own.
Zodiac vita indulge travelers to wangle increasingly remote islands, go wrecked on beaches, and trip through channels that are too small for a full-sized ship.
But unlike a kayak, a Zodiac has the power to take off quickly if you spot whales or other wildlife in the distance.
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13. Camping on Antarctica Ice
While your trip ship may have all the luxuries of home– a comfy bed, hot shower, entertainment, prepared foods– some venturesome travelers willingly trade all of that for a night out on the Antarctic ice.
Camping in Antarctica is an incredible way to immerse yourself in the landscape and wits the type of bare-bones walk-up that explorers like Ernest Shackleton endured.
Your camping gear will be provided, but that doesn’t midpoint you should expect to be issued a tent. Many Antarctic camping excursions require you to hike to the top of a glacier and dig yourself a hole!
Of course, you’ll be given a sleeping bag, a mat, and a waterproof bivvy bag, settling lanugo as an ocean of stars sally above.
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime wits to watch as the midnight sun sets and indulge yourself to be engulfed by the continent’s vast silence. You may wake up to the sounds of ice calving off nearby glaciers, or penguins calling out for their mates.
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14. Taking the Polar Plunge in Antarctica
A swimsuit may not be the first thing you think to pack for Antarctica, but the Polar Plunge is a long-held tradition among venturesome travelers.
Jumping in for a unenduring dip into sub-freezing unprepossessed waters is considered a rite of passage for Antarctic explorers.
Depending on your Antarctic trip itinerary, you may have the endangerment to jump from your ship or swim out from the shore of the waterfront at Deception Island.
When your warm skin hits those 29º Fahrenheit waters, the adrenaline rush unquestionably prevents you from going into shock.
Thankfully, you won’t spend increasingly than a few seconds in the water, and there’s often a shot of liquor on hand to warm you up as you get out.
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15. Unique Antarctica Photo Opportunities
In this era of Instagram, it’s increasingly rare to come home with unique vacation photos.
From the Grand Canyon and the Eiffel Tower to the Taj Mahal, many of the world’s most iconic destinations suffer from overtourism and the landmarks have been photographed to death.
But, for now, Antarctica remains a relatively off-the-beaten-path destination that few have had the privilege of visiting. Virtually 45,000 people travel to Antarctica each year, compared to the five million who visit the same attractions annually.
So you can take pride in photographing scenes most people have never seen before, such as ice calving from glacier or a kayaker moving through the water in the shadow of a humpback whale.
These days scrutinizingly everyone throws their photos up on social media without a trip.
But the pictures you take in Antarctica are the type you’ll unquestionably want to print or possibly plane make a photo typesetting from. They’re memories you’ll want to revisit for the rest of your life.
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16. Luxury Small Ship Cruises in Antarctica
Whether it’s high-rise apartments replacing family homes or a shrinking value of leg space in economy, the trend these days seems to be well-nigh maximizing profits by cramming in as many persons as possible.
Many destinations are now buckling under the strain of mass tourism, but thus far Antarctica has yet to fall prey to it. Still, with Antarctic tourism numbers tripling in the past 20 years, who knows how much longer that will be the case?
Small ship cruises– which are often limited to less than 200 passengers– indulge for a much increasingly intimate and immersive experience. It moreover gives you the endangerment to enjoy true luxury, and it’s moreover largest for the environment than massive trip ships.
Life onboard today’s weightier Antarctic trip ships is the opposite of the conditions the early explorers had to endure.
You’ll have wangle to luxury spas, fitness rooms, fine dining, fully stocked libraries, expert guest lecturers, and outdoor hot tubs that indulge you to literally soak in the view.
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17. Exploring a Relatively Untouched Frontier
Despite the increase in travelers to Antarctica over the last few decades, it’s by far the world’s least visited continent.
This is one of the biggest reasons to visit now: Antarctica is one of the rare places in the world that still feels largely untouched by man. When you go there, you finger like an intrepid explorer as opposed to a typical trip ship passenger.
As you’re hiking wideness vast glaciers, with penguins hopping slantingly you and icebergs dotting the horizon, it hits you that you’re doing things that go vastitude the realms of typical travel.
It’s something that very few people in the world have overly had the endangerment to do, which makes the wits finger truly special.
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18. Considering the Climate is Changing
The effect of climate transpiration in Antarctica is increasingly obvious than in other parts of the world. This is not the same Antarctica that Shackleton and Mawson explored a century ago. And in as little as 5 to 10 years, science suggests it won’t be the same as it is today.
Temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula have risen by 5º Fahrenheit since 1950. In fact, Antarctica is warming increasingly rapidly than any other region on earth, making it one of the destinations most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
The oceans surrounding Antarctica protract to rise as large ice shelves like the Larsen-C unravel off, and the continent’s largest glaciers protract to recede.
Warming oceans midpoint that Antarctic ice is melting at an viperous rate– five times faster than it should.
A large part of the continent is gradually disappearing, and in the future major ice breaks could rationalization huge issues for visiting trip ships.
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19. The Price Mirrors the Temperature
As the temperature in Antarctica continues to rise, so does the forfeit of visiting. This is the result of rising fuel costs, as well as an increased demand for tourism to the region.
In order to preserve the pristine environment, Antarctic conservation laws limit the number of trip ships and passengers unliable to sail through at any one time.
Since the season for misogynist departures is once such a small window (late October through March), increased tourism demand makes availability increasingly limited.
Some small ship cruises are once starting to fill up increasingly than a year in advance, and these days most sail at full capacity. So with every year that passes, not only does the price increase, but it may wilt harder and harder to typesetting a spot.
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20. The Future of Antarctic Tourism is Uncertain
The governing persons who regulate Antarctic tourism, such as the IAATO, have strict regulations in place in order to ensure that all tourism is undertaken responsibly, without any wrongheaded effects to the local environment.
But some environmentalists have argued that the most responsible thing we can do for Antarctica is not to travel there at all.
While this faction is quite small, there is unchangingly the future possibility that, for the sake of conservation, visitor numbers may be remoter restricted or cut off entirely.
So, as the preservation of Antarctica has wilt a matter of global importance and international treaties like the Paris Agreement have been enacted to write global warming, the future of travel to Antarctica remains uncertain.
If you don’t visit Antarctica soon, it simply may not be an option when your “someday” finally comes. –by Megan Jerrard courtesy Green Travel Media, all photo by Bret Love & Mary Gabbett unless otherwise noted.
BIO: Megan Jerrard is an Australian Journalist and the founder and Senior Editor of Mapping Megan, an topnotch travel blog bringing you the latest in venture travel from all over the globe.
The post 20 Reasons to Travel to Antarctica Now (Before It Changes) appeared first on Green Global Travel.