All Around the World with the Most Travelled Indian
By NITIN GAIROLA
So what exactly is the end of the world? Is it the actual end of the world? Is it the end of your world at a personal level? Well, here I mean Antarctica, the far end of the world, a frozen world that has become synonymous with the final frontier, the last hurdle and the ultimate goal in any traveller’s life. However I don’t see Antarctica that way. I didn’t see this distant landmass as my final travel journey and I hope it isn’t. I did this at the age of 43 because I didn’t want to wait till I’m 60 and live my travel dreams post retirement. I don’t want to ration my life and wanted to experience this amazing wonder at this age when I am able to do so.
So for me, Antarctica is at the far end of the geographic world and it is here in the coldest and driest desert on Earth that I had some amazing encounters with the wildlife that can be found nowhere else in this whole wide world. This also tells you that life can be found in some of the most difficult habitats imaginable on this planet. We knew there would be wildlife but honestly didn’t expect such abundance in the driest desert of the world.
The build-up all started on board the ship with the scientists who gave some amazing lectures. It felt like we were back in school, with us rushing from one lecture to the other in between our wildlife viewing, meals and rest time. One of the scientists was Caroline, the official penguin expert and she gave us lots of interesting insights into these amazing graceful birds (when in water) and awkward ones (when on land). By the end of it, we knew our Gentoo Penguins from our Chinstraps and the Adelie from the Magellanic Penguins. These scientific lectures added a lot more colour and context into the whole experience of being out there in the world of these flightless birds.
We often think of penguins as just one species, but in fact, there are many penguin species out there and they are really far more different from each other than are the species of Lions, Tigers or Elephant. Out of the total of around 18 penguin species, 5 of them live in this white continent itself and another 4 live in the nearby sub-Antarctic islands. The Emperor Penguins are the largest (think ‘Happy Feet’) but are in the interiors of the icy landmass and are virtually not seen by any cruise ship passengers. So there is a warning that if you grew up on ‘Happy Feet’ and that’s the reason for your visit, then please be prepared to be disappointed.
But jokes apart, the King Penguins (2nd largest after the Emperors) are just as majestic and in my books they are actually more regal with the yellow band on their black and white bodies. We found these King Penguins in ridiculously large numbers in the Falkland Islands (or Islas Malvinas) which are a group of sub-Antarctic islands on the eastern side of Argentina, quite a bit north of the main Antarctica continental landmass. However, down south in the frozen world, it was the Gentoo Penguins who stole the show along with the Adelie and the Chinstrap species. On one of Antarctica’s volcanic island, we saw a penguin colony of 100,000 members and needless to say that it was something I will never forget as long as I live.
All these 3 species (Gentoo, Adelie and Chinstrap) are what you would call mid-sized penguins that all smaller than the Emperor and King (their names are a giveaway) but all bigger than the Magellanic , Rockhoppers, Macaroni and other penguin species found here. The Magellanic are very similar to the ones that you would find on the beaches of Cape of Good Hope in South Africa or in New Zealand.
In one of the grimmer moments, we also saw a Gentoo on a small iceberg with four ravenous Orcas (Killer Whales) following it. In such a scenario where the penguin can’t be reached (since it’s on an iceberg), these clever Orcas disturb the waters by working in tandem. Their violent tail flapping wobbles the iceberg and in all the confusion the scared penguin jumps into the water and into the jaws of death. In our case we are not sure what happened to that penguin as the iceberg had drifted away from our sight, but I suspect the Orcas had a sumptuous breakfast that day.
We also had an ornithologist named Alan, who was an Albatross expert from Manchester, England. He gave us a lot of knowledge on these birds which have the longest wingspan ‘of any bird’ on earth (3.5 meters or 11.5 feet from wing tip to tip. The albatross also has many species and the largest one (the Wandering Albatross) flies over the waters of Antarctica. They were many other bird species as well which were being identified by Alan and shown to all the shutter bugs on deck who were happily clicking away.
Caroline, Alan and Bob (a geographer) also knew a thing or two about whales. Just as in the case of the penguins we think of the whale as just one but in reality there are so many different species of them. We have the mega Blue Whale which is the largest creature to have ever lived (yes, even bigger than the biggest dinosaur). Then there is the acrobatic Humpback Whale that often breaches out of water and gives you the best view of any whale that you can get from sea level. In fact, we saw a lot of Humpbacks but most of it was a view of the spray that blows from the head and also a bit of tail flapping that they do. But in a few cases we did see these giants jumping out of the water and do a proper breach for those ready with their cameras to capture the moment. Besides we also found a few seals and sea lions that really completed all the wildlife that you can possibly hope to witness here.
A parting tip from my side to you is to plan your trip in December or January since the ships run from mid-November to mid-March each season. This is the window that the Southern Hemisphere summer offers since it is the only time when the ice releases its hold from the Southern Ocean and passenger vessels can reach this magical place on which man first set foot just under 200 years ago. Mid-December onwards is also the best time to see whales and penguins in action, with December and January having the added benefit of more pristine and larger icebergs as compared to later in the summer. And did I mention the near 24 hours of daylight in the land of the mid-night sun.
So our last Christmas and New Year’s was spent in and around this continent, completely disconnected from the rest of the world that was busy celebrating with family and friends. Were we alone? – Yes, in a way we were. Were we lonely? – No!! How could we be lonely in this part of the planet surrounded by such an abundance of wildlife? I just wish I could have sent a postcard home, from the end of the world.
Nitin Gairola is from Dehradun and has travelled the natural world more than almost any Indian ever. He has set world travel records certified by India Book of Records, has written for Lonely Planet, and holds National Geographic conservation certifications. He is also a senior corporate executive in an MNC and in his early days, used to be a published poet as well. More than anything else, he loves his Himalayan home.
