Antarctica Travel Forum

Hi everyone,

I would like to go to Antarctica in December 2007 / January 2008 and I would like to see emperor penguins.

Do I need to go further south than the "usual" Antarctica tour to see emperor penguins? Do I need to go on a smaller ship?

How much do these tours where you can see emperor penguins cost? I know Antarctica isn't cheap, but how much is the least expensive tour that includes emperor penguins? Any recommendations?

Thank you very much for your help.

Kiki

Hi, Firstly I dont believe emporer penguins are guaranteed on any tour. According to rumour and photographic evidence the crew of the GAP explorer know the location of a colony near the Weddel Sea. Given the perfect weather and ice conditions it may be possible to see them. I would rate your chances at about 10% or less. Just because Emperor penguins are the famous ones and are in all the movies, dont dismiss all the other breeds of penguins. Gentoo, chinstrap and Adelie penguins are really cute. If you go to the South Shetland islands you will most likely see King penguins that look a lot like the Emperors. Antarctica is not just about the penguins it is the entire experience, if you want to go just to see a particular penguin and take a photo, then buy a book.

Thank you very much for your answer. I really want to see other penguins too and I'd love to see icebergs, maybe also whales. I guess the other penguins are more or less a "guaranteed" sight. And of course the other penguins are very cute too! I want to do the tour not just because of the emporer penguins, but if I really manage to do a tour to Antarctica, I just don't want to miss out on anything. I went to Arctica twice (crossed the Arctic Circle) and I enjoyed it very much. Now I would love to see Antarctica as well. The emporers are just one part of Antarctica I don't want to miss...

Hi there,

I am in Antarctica at the moment - also updating my Antarctica page as we go along. So far I have not seen any Emperors, though lots of other species, even though we are now in the region for almost three weeks and another week to come... so I think it is not a guarantee to see Emperors here.

From King George Island

Michael

Yes, it is possible to do tours where it is nearly guaranteed that you will see emperor penguins (remember, nothing in Antarctica is ever fully guaranteed because of weather). To see them though, you'll need to head further south down the Peninsula than most cruises travel, or go to the coast of the Antarctic continent itself. That limits your choices of course, and also tends to add expense.

I know of two tour operators which should meet your needs. They are:

Orion Expeditions, operating a 4000 tonne/107 passenger ship called the "Orion" - they have two trips scheduled from Australia/New Zealand in December 2007 covering pretty much the places I went in my Antarctic trip (in my VT pages). This takes in the coast of East Antarctica and several sub-Antarctic islands. Along the way, there is an emperor penguin colony at the French base of Dumont d'Urville. Website is www.orioncruises.com.au and the lowest cost is $16,920A.

Quark Expeditions, website www.quarkexpeditions.com . They operate with a Russian full icebreaker, the "Kapitan Khlebnikov" and have three 14 day tours in late 2007 down the Peninsula to emperor penguin territory. Lowest cost is $9,995US and they have helicopters as well as zodiacs. They have another tour coming up which is 38 days from the Falkland Islands to Fremantle,Australia following the Antarctic coastline much of the way (looks great, but very costly).

To be quite honest, the king penguins are almost as large as emperors and are more colourful - as Josilver has already pointed out. If your urge is to see the "deep Antarctic", yes, it's great and I'd recommend it: but think about whether the extra costs are justified if your interest is only in the emperor penguins, rather than the Antarctic itself.

Hope all this helps.