Adventure Travel Blogs

A year in the life of Antarctic penguins caught on camera

Sixteen 'hidden' cameras planted by scientists have survived some of the planet’s harshest winter conditions to capture the annual comings and goings of penguin colonies in Antarctica..

Researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and University of Oxford used tour ships to set up 16 cameras around Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia.  Penguin research normally takes place...

MSc Student Gemma Clucas joins Tom to conduct her thesis project, which will evaluate long-term changes in genetic diversity of Adélie penguins. 

Ben and Tom continue their journey along the Antarctic Peninsula, encountering frenetic penguins, and have the experience of a lifetime with two humpback whales…

For the second half of our trip, we move north through the peninsula islands of Danco and Cuverville, with continent landings at Neko and Orne Harbours.  The weather continues to hold and we are fortunate to have bright sunshine and very little wind. It makes for easy work setting out the rest of our camera array (it’s all...

Ben and Tom continue their journey along the Antarctic Peninsula, setting up new time-lapse cameras.

The first few days of landings have been spectacular.  Our first landing was at Booth Island.  We were deposited by zodiac for a 3 hour landing, dropped off on shore with a couple of barrels of safety kit, and left to our own devices.  On the zodiac ride in, we passed a Minke whale, and a couple of crab-eater seals hauled out on an ice flow. Minkes are rarely curious enough to ...

Ben and Tom continue their journey south, crossing the Drake Passage towards Antarctica.

It’s 8 am on the 16th of February, and we have just crossed latitude 66 degrees 60 minutes south; the Antarctic Circle.  Since our departure from Ushuaia, the temperature has gradually fallen, and the wildlife out on the open ocean has started to change from the South American continent associated fauna, to truly marine species of the Southern Ocean, and the Antarctic continent.  Aside from a sl...