The weather is getting warmer by the day and thoughts are turning to getting away from it all to somewhere cooler, somewhere different and new.
There isn’t anywhere that suits that description better than Antarctica – the land at the bottom of the world, the land of ice and penguins.
And let’s face it whether it is playing a starring role in a nature documentary or a blockbuster animation, few are impervious to the charms of a waddling penguin.
The opportunity to encounter this loveable flightless bird in their natural habitat is one that draws many to Antarctica and sightings of colonies never fail to awe and entertain.
From Adélie penguins, who are 70 cm tall, to Gentoo penguins, who are the world’s fastest diving birds, there are so many fascinating penguin species to possibly encounter on a Viking Antarctica expedition voyage.
Viking offer a chance to “discover the “Last Continent”.
This ultimate adventure takes travellers to the Antarctic Peninsula, where they can witness towering glaciers, snow-covered landscapes, immense icebergs and epic wildlife.
It’s a chance to explore it in luxury – to follow in the footsteps of explorers such as Amundsen, Shackleton and Scott, to be one of the few to discover the world’s last truly wild frontier.
To go on a cruise where each day brings new surprises and the opportunity to change plans to maximize wildlife sightings and adapt to ever-changing weather.
The Antarctic Explorer is AU$19,495 from Australia and take travellers on a 13 day cruise taking in Argentina and Antarctica and travelling to the bottom of the earth.
The adventure begins (and ends) in Buenos Aires, Argentina with visitors checking in to a hotel in Argentina’s cosmopolitan capital – a place which is an eclectic combination of Latin and European influences – for the night. The tree-lined streets and postcolonial architecture draw on the city’s Spanish, French and Italian heritage, while the many cafés and bodegas and vibrant nightlife are decidedly Argentine. Its barrios, or neighborhoods, exude an intimate atmosphere that belies the city’s size.
After breakfast the next morning it’s time to check out of the hotel and board a charter flight to catch up with your home for the next 13 days. Travellers join the cruise in Ushuaia – the southernmost city in the world. Its splendid setting, tucked between the Beagle Channel and the southernmost slopes of the Andes, lends it an outpost atmosphere, as do the Antarctic explorers readying for the expeditions that depart from here.
Ushuaia is the capital of and gateway to the celebrated Tierra del Fuego, the “Land of Fire,” named by Spaniards upon seeing the constant flames burned by the indigenous Yámana to keep warm.
This largely unspoiled region comprises the large island of Tierra del Fuego and countless Chilean and Argentine islands.
First stop is the Drake Passage – named for 16th-century English privateer Sir Francis Drake, the frigid waters of the Passage stretch for some 600 miles between Cape Horn and Livingston Island in the South Shetland archipelago. There is a chance to attend an informative lecture or watch a film on Viking’s 8k laser-projected panoramic screen in The Aula, one of the world’s most advanced venues for learning at sea before the first-hand adventure begins – the chance to explore Antarctica for the next seven days.
At once ethereal and majestic, Antarctica has inspired explorers and adventurers for centuries. In this icy wilderness, marvel at icebergs glimmering in serene bays and mountains cloaked in white rising from the mainland basalt cliffs. These stunning landscapes evoke both utter tranquility as Weddell seals lounge on ice floes, and breathtaking drama as glaciers thunderously calve into the sea. In these cold and nutrient-rich waters, humpback, fin and minke whales have been known to greet expedition ships that venture into their habitat.
With memories made it’s time to return back through Drake Passage, Cape Horn and back to Argentina and everyday life.
For further information please visit www.viking.com or phone 138 747.
