The World's 5th largest continent still has no permanent residents, but it is home to raw nature and untamable forces like nowhere else on Earth. Watch baby penguins take their first steps or gigantic whales in spectacular scenery. If you want to visit all of the continents in the world, you have to go to Antarctica as well. And really, how many people can say that they've been to Antarctica?
The white desert
Owned by no one and yet by everyone, Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest place on Earth and considered to be a white desert. The dry valleys of the continent have been without precipitation for over two million years. Yet, you can never experience such abundant wildlife and surreal stillness anywhere else.
Antarctica is the southernmost continent on Earth. Almost all of it is south of the Polar Circle and with its 14 mio. km2 it is the 5th largest continent after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice with an average thickness of 1.6 km.
Explored for the first time only about 200 years ago, Antarctica stayed long neglected. There are no permanent inhabitants. However, anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 scientists reside in scientific stations for yearlong periods. Still, there are cold-adapted lifeforms including penguins, seals, mosses, lichen, and different types of algae. There are also more than 70 lakes in Antarctica, some of them literally ice-blue, many mountains, and volcanoes - of which Mount Erebus is known to be the only active one. Spectacular aurora borealis cover the winter sky with amazing colours. If you are lucky you can enjoy a unique spectacle called diamond dust, a cloud-like fog composed of tiny ice crystals under clear skies.
The weather in Antarctica
Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth. The record is −89.2 °C, which is 11 °C colder than the freezing point of dry ice. During the summer months Antarctica experiences near constant daylight, which then disappears completely in the winter. The continent is also the windiest place on Earth, but in the interior the wind is usually milder. The best time to go to Antarctica is between November and March (summer in the southern hemisphere), when the temperatures are milder. It is not advisable to go during the winter months as ice makes the trip difficult if not impossible and the extreme weather will be challenging to even the most adventurous explorers.
Travelling to Antarctica
Cruises to Antarctica depart from Ushuaia in Argentina. The cruises are expensive, but include all meals, accommodation, and transportation through Drake Passage to Antarctica, and it will be an absolutely unique and unforgettable experience, unlike any other.
Onboard the ship "M/S Expedition" you will experience a magical trip from Cape Horn to Antarctica. Along the way you will see leopard seals on floating blocks of ice, enormous penguin colonies, and often the ship is followed by whales, albatrosses, and other seabirds. Among the places visited are:
- South Georgia Island: Enjoy your day with thousands of King Penguins, get to see one of the world’s most impressive congregations of wildlife few will experience.
- Antarctic Peninsula: Be impressed by the massive icebergs of the Antarctic Peninsula that create this dramatic landscape.
- Drake Passage: Here you can experience the penguin rookeries and seal colonies in a true adventure.
- South Shetland Islands: Another great way to see the penguin rookeries and seal colonies is by island-hopping.
- Lemaire Channel: See the humpback whales in celestial icy wilderness.