South Georgia, UK Territory

28 November 2007

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Finally! I had arrived at one of the centerpieces of my trip. South Georgia and its extraordinarily abundant wildlife and over the next three days, amidst some great weather, we managed to make seven landings.

The number one draw for many visitors of the British Overseas Territory are the massive colonies of King Penguins, spread alongst a number of the beaches on the east coast of the island, some of which such as Salisbury Plain have estimated populations of over 200,000 pairs. The sight of that many of the resplendent birds packed onto one beach is simply quite staggering, and was for me the main draw. I literally must have spent at least 12 hours hanging out with surfing, swimming, arguing, mating and arguing birds, and could easily have spent more.

As in many bird species (and counter to most mammals) the King chicks are not the most attractive, their dull brown down coats contrasting negatively with the beauty of their parents, but I very quickly fell in love with them as well. Their curiousity about us (especially when you lay down), their incredible resilience and their passionate desire to get out to see (the hordes of chicks at Gold Harbour just feet from the heavy surf were constantly in danger of being swept out to a sea in which their not-yet waterproof feathers would be no help).

King Penguins are one of only 4 bird species who due to their size take more than a year to raise their chicks (the others being the Emperor Penguin and the Wandering and Royal Albatrosses). The young are normally hatched in early January and then proceed to gorge themselves on the food their parents bring in from their fishing trips. By the time winter comes, the parents head out to sea to bulk themselves up and the chicks are left in huge crèches to endure the harsh winter. Early spring sees the parents return to feed offspring that have often lost over 60% of their bodyweight over the previous frozen months. A few months of fattening and then the now newly fletched yearlings finally head out to sea to begin their proper penguin lives.

But the Kings are actually not the most populous penguin on South Georgia – it is estimated that there are more than 1 million Macaroni Penguins, though the biggest rookeries are in isolated and impossible to get to crags and cliffs. We did get the opportunity to visit with a small, albeit dense, population on our last day at Cooper Bay. The Macaronis are by far the bolshiest of the penguins, constantly getting into loud arguments, which can lead to much amusement for onlookers.

But penguins are not the only draw. Southern Elephant Seals and Antarctic Fur Seals are in abundance. By the end of November all of the massive Beachmasters (the mature males who can weigh up to 5000kg) have already left, having mated with cows and produced the cute doe-eyed wieners. The fur seals, nearly extinct in the 1930’s, are now taking over so many beaches that a number of landing sites have had to be abandoned. Some visitors consider the Fur Seals to be very aggressive, but the truth is that they are much more neurotic, especially during the mating season of late Novermber-December when the males jockey for prime beach real estate to set up room for their harems.

Alien (or introduced) species (especially rats, cats and dogs) are a huge problem for indigenous wildlife on islands around the world, and Albatross and Petrel populations on South Georgia have been especially impacted. All visitors must watch a documentary before arriving, and check in at King Edward Point and ensure that they are not bringing any such organisms in. A combination of such species and long-line fishing have caused the Wandering Albatross populations to plummet over the years, and whilst some think they may be on their way to extinction, there is some hope as the last year or so has seen populations possibly stabilize. A repercussion for visitors is that we can no longer visit any of the nesting sites (primarily on the scientist-only Bird Island the Fur Seal-infested Prion Island), so my only chance to see these spectacular birds with their 12-foot wing span was at sea as they gracefully soared by.

A near mandatory stop for all visitors is Grytviken, just across the bay from the government camp at King Edward Point. Called by some the “Auschwitz of Whaling”, it was very prominent in the whaling trade in the early 20th century. Founded by the Norwegian whaler Carl Anton Larsen a factory was erected to produce whale oil from the huge bounty to be found around the island and over nearly 50 years in existence it is estimated that huge numbers of whales were slaughtered here. A small but fascinating museum now stands amidst the rusting old buildings. Grytviken is also famous for being the final resting place of Sir Ernest Shackleton, who died whilst on his ship Quest just off of King Edward Point.

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