Wildlife Encounters at the End of the World

All Across the World with the Most Travelled Indian

By NITIN GAIROLA

So what precisely is the tip of the world? Is it the precise finish of the world? Is it the tip of your world at a private degree? Nicely, right here I imply Antarctica, the far finish of the world, a frozen world that has change into synonymous with the ultimate frontier, the final hurdle and the last word objective in any traveller’s life. Nonetheless I don’t see Antarctica that approach. I didn’t see this distant landmass as my remaining journey journey and I hope it isn’t. I did this on the age of 43 as a result of I didn’t wish to wait until I’m 60 and stay my journey desires publish retirement. I don’t wish to ration my life and needed to expertise this wonderful marvel at this age when I’m able to accomplish that.

So for me, Antarctica is on the far finish of the geographic world and it’s right here within the coldest and driest desert on Earth that I had some wonderful encounters with the wildlife that may be discovered nowhere else on this complete vast world. This additionally tells you that life might be present in a few of the most troublesome habitats possible on this planet. We knew there could be wildlife however actually didn’t anticipate such abundance within the driest desert of the world.

The build-up all began on board the ship with the scientists who gave some wonderful lectures. It felt like we had been again in class, with us speeding from one lecture to the opposite in between our wildlife viewing, meals and relaxation time. One of many scientists was Caroline, the official penguin professional and she or he gave us numerous attention-grabbing insights into these wonderful sleek birds (when in water) and awkward ones (when on land). By the tip of it, we knew our Gentoo Penguins from our Chinstraps and the Adelie from the Magellanic Penguins. These scientific lectures added much more color and context into the entire expertise of being on the market on the earth of those flightless birds.

We regularly consider penguins as only one species, however in actual fact, there are lots of penguin species on the market and they’re actually way more completely different from one another than are the species of Lions, Tigers or Elephant. Out of the overall of round 18 penguin species, 5 of them stay on this white continent itself and one other 4 stay within the close by sub-Antarctic islands. The Emperor Penguins are the most important (suppose ‘Completely happy Toes’) however are within the interiors of the icy landmass and are nearly not seen by any cruise ship passengers. So there’s a warning that for those who grew up on ‘Completely happy Toes’ and that’s the explanation on your go to, then please be ready to be dissatisfied.

However jokes aside, the King Penguins (2^nd largest after the Emperors) are simply as majestic and in my books they’re truly extra regal with the yellow band on their black and white our bodies. We discovered these King Penguins in ridiculously giant numbers within the Falkland Islands (or Islas Malvinas) that are a bunch of sub-Antarctic islands on the japanese aspect of Argentina, fairly a bit north of the primary Antarctica continental landmass. Nonetheless, down south within the frozen world, it was the Gentoo Penguins who stole the present together with the Adelie and the Chinstrap species. On one in every of Antarctica’s volcanic island, we noticed a penguin colony of 100,000 members and evidently that it was one thing I’ll always remember so long as I stay.

All these 3 species (Gentoo, Adelie and Chinstrap) are what you’ll name mid-sized penguins that every one smaller than the Emperor and King (their names are a giveaway) however all larger than the Magellanic , Rockhoppers, Macaroni and different penguin species discovered right here. The Magellanic are similar to those that you’d discover on the seashores of Cape of Good Hope in South Africa or in New Zealand.

In one of many grimmer moments, we additionally noticed a Gentoo on a small iceberg with 4 ravenous Orcas (Killer Whales) following it. In such a state of affairs the place the penguin can’t be reached (because it’s on an iceberg), these intelligent Orcas disturb the waters by working in tandem. Their violent tail flapping wobbles the iceberg and in all of the confusion the scared penguin jumps into the water and into the jaws of loss of life. In our case we aren’t certain what occurred to that penguin because the iceberg had drifted away from our sight, however I think the Orcas had a luxurious breakfast that day.

We additionally had an ornithologist named Alan, who was an Albatross professional from Manchester, England. He gave us plenty of data on these birds which have the longest wingspan of chook on earth (3.5 meters or 11.5 toes from wing tip to tip. The albatross additionally has many species and the most important one (the Wandering Albatross) flies over the waters of Antarctica. They had been many different chook species as nicely which had been being recognized by Alan and proven to all of the shutter bugs on deck who had been fortunately clicking away.

Caroline, Alan and Bob (a geographer) additionally knew a factor or two about whales. Simply as within the case of the penguins we consider the whale as only one however in actuality there are such a lot of completely different species of them. We now have the mega Blue Whale which is the most important creature to have ever lived (sure, even larger than the most important dinosaur). Then there may be the acrobatic Humpback Whale that always breaches out of water and provides you the perfect view of any whale you could get from sea degree.  In actual fact, we noticed plenty of Humpbacks however most of it was a view of the spray that blows from the top and likewise a little bit of tail flapping that they do. However in a number of circumstances we did see these giants leaping out of the water and do a correct breach for these prepared with their cameras to seize the second. Moreover we additionally discovered a number of seals and sea lions that actually accomplished all of the wildlife you could presumably hope to witness right here.

A parting tip from my aspect to you is to plan your journey in December or January because the ships run from mid-November to mid-March every season. This the window that the Southern Hemisphere summer season gives since it’s the solely time when the ice releases its maintain from the Southern Ocean and passenger vessels can attain this magical place on which man first set foot slightly below 200 years in the past. Mid-December onwards can also be the perfect time to see whales and penguins in motion, with December and January having the additional advantage of extra pristine and bigger icebergs as in comparison with later in the summertime. And did I point out the close to 24 hours of daylight within the land of the mid-night solar.

So our final Christmas and New Yr’s was spent in and round this continent, fully disconnected from the remainder of the world that was busy celebrating with household and associates. Have been we alone? – Sure, in a approach we had been. Have been we lonely? – No!! How might we be lonely on this a part of the planet surrounded by such an abundance of wildlife? I simply want I might have despatched a postcard residence, from the tip of the world.

Nitin Gairola is from Dehradun and has travelled the pure world greater than nearly any Indian ever. He has set world journey data licensed by India E book of Information, has written for Lonely Planet, and holds Nationwide Geographic conservation certifications. He’s additionally a senior company govt in an MNC and in his early days, was a broadcast poet as nicely. Greater than anything, he loves his Himalayan residence.