South Georgia Island
The ruins of Stromness Whaling Station on South Georgia Island.
South Georgia Island is a mecca for wildlife photographers, ecologists and documentary film makers.
With dramatic landscapes and abundant wildlife a visit to South Georgia Island will likely be one of your greatest travel experiences.
Stomness, named after a town of the same name on Orkney, Scotland is a former whaling station on the northern coast of South Georgia Island.
As you can see the whaling station is located in a beautifully rugged landscape. Notice how I’ve utilized color and texture to add impact to this distant view of the whaling station.
I was fortunate to visit Stromness on a clear, blue sky day. The blue sky provide a vivid color contrast with the dry grass terrain and the red roofs of the whaling station.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
South Georgia Island is, by far, the largest island in the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands group, a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
At 165 kilometers (i.e., 103 miles) long and 35 kilometers (i.e., 22 miles) wide South Georgia Island is a formidable landscape displaying a harsh and dramatic beauty.
There are a number of smaller islands, some of which are also visited by tour groups, located just off the coast of South Georgia Island including the following:
Bird Island
Saddle Island
Cooper Island
Annenkov Island
Grass Island
Jomfruene
Pickersgill Island
Trinity Island
Welcome Island
Willis Island
The more remote and colder South Sandwich Islands are around 1,000 kilometers further south.
Population of South Georgia Island
The population on South Georgia is non permanent, varying from around sixteen people during the winter months up to thirty or more during the warmer summer months.
However, with wildlife a major drawcard, several thousand tourists now visit South Georgia Island every year.
Tourists sleep, eat and make use of bathroom facilities on their cruise ship and undertake short excursions to a variety of locations on South Georgia with the aid of extremely versatile zodiac inflatable boats.
My own visit, co-leading a photography tour to South Georgia Island and Antarctica, was a truly fantastic experience.
Hungry king penguin chicks on Salisbury Plain on South Georgia Island.
Photography Opportunities on South Georgia Island
I've only visited South Georgia Island once, but very much hope to return. The landscapes are dramatic and the quantity and diversity of wildlife is mind blowing.
In addition to the dramatic landscape you’ll be somewhat overcome by significant populations of southern fur seals, elephant seals and King penguins on the island.
To make sense of the massive amounts of wildlife it’s a good idea to isolate individual subjects from their surroundings. The best ways to do so include the following:
Use a telephoto lens to zoom in on your subject
If required, and it’s safe to do so, more in closer to the subject
Utilize a shallow depth of field
The ruins of several whaling stations also provide fantastic opportunities for photography.
Actually it’s quite surreal wandering around these sites, located in dramatic landscape locations, while keeping an eye out for territorial fur seals and extremely dangerous elephant seals.
You shouldn’t be worried about such wildlife, so long as you follow your tour guides recommendations for maintaining a safe viewing distance.
So long as you don’t approach wildlife closer than the recommended distance you should be able to photograph without fear.
Just keep an eye out for wildlife when walking through habitat with terrain that provides natural camouflage.
Likewise be careful not to stumble onto a sleeping elephant seal. That might not end well for you.
Penguins on South Georgia Island
In addition to large colonies of King penguins there are said to be three million breeding pairs of macaroni penguins, the largest population in the world.
If you love wildlife South Georgia Island offers a wide range of photography opportunities. Other wildlife, accessible to group tours on South Georgia Island, includes:
Albatross
Petrels
Prions, Shags and Skuas
Gulls and Terns
Whaling On South Georgia Island
Whaling and the harvesting of large numbers of seals took place for over one hundred years on South Georgia Island.
The historically important sites at Stromness and Grytviken Whaling Station provide a valuable insight into early human settlement on South Georgia Island.
These sites also act as powerful reminders that warn of how badly human kind has managed natural resources on the otherwise pristine South Georgia Island.
Visiting these now abandoned Whaling stations will be educational, emotional and will add variety to your photography adventures on the island.
About To Travel?
How To Get To South Georgia Island
All you have to do is find your way to this isolated, barren and largely inhospitable group of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.
That's almost certainly going to be as part of a tour group. The trick then is to join the right one. For example, the one that I co-ran.
Hopefully I’II get to run another photography tour that includes the magnificent South Georgia Island in the not too distant future.
South Georgia Heritage Trust
It’s said that rats, introduced accidentally onto the island, are responsible for the loss of tens of millions of ground-nesting bird eggs and chicks over the years.
The good news is that a rodent eradication program, the largest of its kind in the world, has now resolved this terrible problem.
A great thanks to all the folks associated with the South Georgia Heritage Trust for their work in this area.
Spectacular view of low lying cloud over mountain peaks, South Georgia Island.
Hiking on South Georgia Island
Here’s a photo made on a relatively short walk between the atmospheric Salisbury Plain and the Grace Glacier on South Georgia Island.
I love how the low lying cloud seems to hover over the mountain peaks. It adds a graphic and somewhat surreal note to this highly detailed image.
The Shackleton Walk
The most famous hike on South Georgia Island follows the route taken by Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1916.
Shackleton led the British Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition between 1914-1916. The plan was to cross Antarctica, via the South Pole, from a base established on the Weddell Sea to McMurdo Sound.
Unfortunately the expedition ship, the Endurance, became trapped in ice off the Caird coast and drifted for 10 months before the pressure from the surrounding ice pack crushed it.
After drifting on ice floes for 5 months the expedition finally escaped in boats to Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands.
Apparently they survived by hunting and consuming seal and penguin meat. They also slaughtered and ate their sleigh dogs.
Survival meant that these brave souls needed to continue their journey all the way to South Georgia Island 1,300 km (800 miles) to the northeast.
Shackleton and 5 members of his crew sailed and rowed for 16 days, in a whaleboat, across the Scotia Sea to reach South Georgia.
Still their adventure continued.
Arriving at Cave Cove on King Haakon Bay Shackleton and group members, Worsley and Crean, then made the first traverse of South Georgia Island to find help at the whaling station of Stromness.
The determination of the exhausted companions was so strong that they labored on for 36 hours until they reached Stromness.
It took 4 relief expeditions and 4 months before Shackleton succeeded in rescuing his crew from Elephant Island. What an amazing story.
It is possible to walk in the footsteps of Ernest Shackleton and cross South Georgia Island. There are two options available.
It’s a challenging 35.5 km hike from King Haakon Bay, on the western shores of the island, to Stromness where the abandoned whaling station and a large colony of Gentoo penguins await you.
The full hike follows this route:
Depart from King Haakon Bay
Ascend to Murray Snowfield
Continue upwards and over Trident Pass to Crean Camp
Ascend Crean Glacier to Great Nunatak
Cross Fortuna Glacier
Descend to Fortuna Bay
Hike onward to Stromness
Depending upon the exact route taken Shackleton’s Walk can vary in distance from 35 to 50 km. It’s a significant undertaking involving the crossing of large, heavily crevassed glaciers and alpine passes.
With good weather it’s possible to complete the hike in two days, though tour groups often allow three.
Most folks, following in the footsteps of Shackleton and his companions, opt to complete the last leg of this heroic journey across South Georgia Island.
Traversing glaciated and mountainous terrain it’s a strenuous 6 km hike from Fortuna Bay to Stromness that’s suitable for folks with alpine trekking or mountaineering experience.
The scenery is spectacular and provides the opportunity to immerse yourself in some of the world’s most rugged and remote terrain.
Abstract image on the water's surface off Prion Island, South Georgia.
Zodiac Landings on South Georgia Island
Our numerous shore excursions were made after a short journey from our cruise ship to beaches via zodiac inflatable boats.
Our landing on the beach at Stromness required passing through the gauntlet as I made my way through a bunch of feisty fur seals.
I can remember facing down the harassment to make the short jaunt back to shoreline easier for my customers.
However, being the last one to head back to the zodiacs, I had no such support.
And those pesky seals made the most of it.
Once offshore I was able to make a few last photos of elephant seals and, just meters away, this abstract image made on the fly from our zodiac inflatable boat.
I love the momentary patterns formed on the water by the motion of the zodiac. Immediately after I made the photo those patterns were gone.
It’s incredibly exciting to experience such a transient moment. To be able to preserve such fleeting experiences through photography is at the heart of my own creative journey.
If you’re thinking about a trip to Antarctica I most certainly recommend you consider an itinerary that includes South Georgia Island.
Despite a history based around whaling and seal hunting South Georgia Island is now a haven for wildlife.
What’s more, other than the possibility of meeting up with one or two of a few dozen workers and scientists, the only people you’ll likely see will be folks from your own tour group.
Exploring the spectacular South Georgia Island, as part of a tour group full of like-minded photographers, is a great way to spend your day.
I can’t wait till I return. Perhaps we’ll travel there together.
