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Antarctica - An Audience with the Emperors
         A&K > EXTREME ADVENTURE
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ANTARCTICA: AN AUDIENCE WITH EMPERORS
ANTARCTICA - AN AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPERORS TIMELINE:

Days 1 - 2
Punta Arenas, Chile
Arrive in Punta Arenas, where you meet your guide for an expedition briefing. Complete final preparations, equipment checks and safety reviews.

Days 3 - 4
Patriot Hills, Antarctica
Fly south to the Patriot Hills base camp at 2,800 feet above sea level for acclimatization. Push ahead by ski plane into the remote Antarctic interior, one of the most difficult places in the world to fly.

Day 5
Weddell Sea Coast / Emperor Penguin Colony
Depart camp and fly east over the Ronne Ice Shelf to Berkner Island to re-fuel. Continue to the coast, searching for the penguin colony and a suitable place to land. Once on the ice, scout a route to the colony and unpack in your field base camp, a warm refuge from the polar extremes.

Days 6 - 12
Emperor Penguin Colony Stationed on Dawson-Lambton Glacier
You live among the penguins, observing and photographing them from as close as 50 feet. This colony consists of about 5,500 breeding pairs and an estimated 3,300 chicks. Also within walking distance of your camp, the Weddell seals with pups cavort in the salty waters, popping their slick heads between blue icebergs. Snow-white Antarctic terns disappear against the ice cliffs, and the occasional lone Adélie penguin runs pell-mell through the field of emperors. Your expedition ornithologist is an expert on penguin behavior and lifecycles, as well as the challenges of conducting research under these extremes.

Day 13
Emperor Penguin Colony / Patriot Hills
Return via ski plane to the base camp for a celebration dinner and a toast to your achievement and overnight.

Days 14 - 15
Patriot Hills / Punta Arenas
Dependant on weather, depart in the charter flight from Patriot Hills back to Punta Arenas. The following day fly from Punta Arenas home.

"My binoculars were trained on a father penguin and chick when suddenly the view went fuzzy. I looked up to see two adolescent penguins waddling straight toward me, curiously eyeing my camera bag."
 

EXPEDITION GUIDE

Dick Filby Antarctica expedition guide Dick Filby - An Audience with the Emperors

For nearly 20 years, Dick Filby has led adventures to key birding habitats. He has guided journeys to Antarctica every year since 1990, and has camped at emperor penguin colonies numerous times. Filby has traveled the world in search of birds, most notably on a seven-month driving expedition from London to India and Nepal.


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EXPEDITION LOG: DAYS 6 - 9
The black blur stands out starkly on the white-and-grey shadows of the coastal ice. We pull out binoculars for a closer look. The "blur" is alive. It is, in fact, some 15,000 emperor penguins, huddled together against the sub-zero winds coming off the sea. We've found the colony.

We settle in to camp, a warm and welcome refuge on the flat Antarctic plain. The Weddell Sea and the blue-white ice cliffs become our camp boundaries, and after a few days we feel a part of this polar community. With 24 hours of sunlight, the days merge with one another, and we come and go as we like with no regard for the clock. There is so much to watch, with adult penguins sliding on their bellies and downy chicks sitting on their parent's feet to keep warm. We are asked to keep a respectful distance from the penguins, but the birds themselves are under no such restriction: they frequently waddle up to us as we observe them from our thermal mats, just as curious about us as we are about them. The constant trumpeting and mingled calls of the colony are indecipherable to us, and we are astonished every time parent and chick are able to locate each other amid thousands of other birds, just by these calls. To hear the penguin symphony is to understand how finely tuned nature truly is. We watch, take photographs and learn.
 
                 ENVIRONMENT & CONDITIONS

  • DIFFICULTY LEVEL: 2 Moderate - These programs take place in environments with potentially extreme temperatures, and may include light physical activity.

  • Average temperatures of 20º F

  • Altitudes above 3,000 feet

  • Winter camping

  • Good physical condition required

  • Latitude 79º 30' S

  • Longitude 47º 30' W
                       DATES & RATES
2008 Departure Dates
November 07, 2008 - November 21, 2008

 
Price per person  
2008: US $41,100 2009: TBA
Single Supplement  
2008: US $340 2009: TBA
Regional Air  
2008: US $TBA 2009: TBA

*Precise departure date dependent on weather conditions; itinerary is approximate.

Alternate Departure Dates can be arranged. Prices are subject to change.
 
                           TOUR MAP

Antarctica - An Audience with the Emperors tour map
 
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