Antarctica

From floating behemoths of ice to dormant volcanoes, creatures on land and in the sea, atmospheric diversity and cold waters that both nourish and challenge life, Antarctica is truly remarkable.

The region has long been a source of food and minerals, a void in scientific knowledge, a land of peace, and a lab to monitor global climate change. However the intrepid visitor heads due South to view unsurpassed wildlife and to experience the extremes, beautiful and serene, savage and violent on a mind-boggling scale.

Antarctica is the most isolated continent on the planet and as heroic explorers such as Shackleton, Scott, Nansen, Peary and Franklin discovered, a journey to the polar south must still be earned. Six million square miles of wilderness harbouring untold secrets. An ice sheet covers all but 2.4 per cent of Antarctica's 14 million square kilometres, encompassing 70 percent of all the world's fresh water. Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest continent. The world's record low temperature of -89.2 degrees Celsius and gusts of nearly 90 metres per second have been recorded there. Yet in winter the population still averages 1,200 hardy souls.

The Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands (an archipelago of over 20 islands) are less than two days� sailing from the mainland South America and Ushuaia, the southernmost town in Argentina. The Peninsula has relatively mild weather conditions with temperatures as high as 15 degrees Celsius. This mild climate leads to a proliferation of wildlife and, in �summer�, endless twilight.

Many species of Antarctic wildlife are unique to the southern region. They all take their food from the sea that surrounds the continent; indeed, most live at the shore, although some breed on land. The major groups of animals are the birds (particularly the sea birds and penguins), and the mammals (the seals and whales).

With the signing of the Protocol of Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty it is hoped that Antarctica will remain a wonder for those who set foot there, a dream for those who have yet to venture there and a source of inspiration and hope for humankind.