Sailing onboard a powerful purpose-built icebreaker with the ability to penetrate the ice of the Weddell Sea, you can now visit the Snow Hill Emperor Penguin rookery and observe these extraordinary creatures early in their breeding season. This safari is ideal for photographers and nature lovers as you will have extended time in the rookery with plenty of chances to record the Emperor’s life in its natural environment. The Emperor Penguin is one of the most fascinating and also one of the hardest birds in the world to see. The only ‘true’ Antarctic bird, Emperor Penguins breed in the middle of winter, when night lasts for months and temperatures reach minus 60°C. They have no nest and the female lays a single egg that is incubated by the male on his feet for nine weeks. The Emperor Penguin safari is timed for early spring, when the chicks have hatched and the colony is alive with activity. Reaching the Snow Hill rookery under the best possible conditions is the goal of the expedition. The Captain and Expedition Leader consult charts, weather bulletins and satellite images to determine where to position the icebreaker for efficient helicopter flights to the rookery. The icebreaker’s helicopters will ferry you to a landing site about two kilometres or more from the rookery and you will walk a well marked path across the metres-thick sea ice to within a short distance from the penguins. Visiting early in the breeding season the Emperor chicks are still young, so you may see them brooding on their parents’ feet or huddling together in large, communal crèches. Nothing can match the sight of these remarkable creatures tobogganing, with surprising speed, across the ice – or shooting out of the sea onto the shore. While the Emperors are the priority on this voyage, you may also have an opportunity to visit colonies of Adélie, Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins at the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. Your exact route will be determined by the conditions encountered during the voyage. Snow Hill Island Emperor Penguin Safari In 2004, 4,000 pairs of Emperor Penguins were confirmed at a previously unknown site near Snow Hill Island in the Weddell Sea – this voyage will take you there! S E E U S O N T H E W E B AT wildlifeworldwide.com Itinerary Day 1. Ushuaia Day 2. Embark in Ushuaia Days 3 & 4. Crossing the Drake Passage Days 5 to 7. Snow Hill Island rookery Days 8 to 11. Antarctic Peninsula Days 12 & 13. Return to Ushuaia Day 14. Ushuaia and disembark Vessel Kapitan Khlebnikov (see Vessel pages for more details). Things you need to know Embark Ushuaia, Argentina Disembark Ushuaia, Argentina Voyage nights 12 nights Departure dates 8 to 21 Oct, 20 Oct to 2 Nov, 1 to 14 Nov Price From £6,395 in a twin share cabin Single supplement On request. If you are travelling alone ask about our request share programme which enables solo travellers to share a cabin with another solo traveller. What’s included Pre-cruise hotel night in Ushuaia, voyage including guided shore, helicopter & zodiac excursions, all meals onboard & transfers. Guide price for flights & accommodation package Around £1,250 including return flights from the UK, 1-night in Buenos Aires & 1-night in Ushuaia. [We recommend at least one night in Buenos Aires. One pre-cruise night in Ushuaia is essential.] 177 You can also join a land-based trip where you will fly by specially equipped ski-aircraft to the remote Weddell Sea coast and camp with the Emperor Penguins for four to six days. Your small group will be fully immersed – day and night – in the sights and sounds of the Emperor colony as literally thousands of birds call, display and feed their young. Prices from Punta Arenas £21,395 (8 to 20 November). The Alexsey Maryshev will operate a 12-day voyage in search of the Emperor Penguin, 21 November to 1 December, prices from £3,195. Please ask us for further details. Photo David Rootes

This is an unusual and utterly fascinating icebreaker expedition to the incredible icy realms of the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. Focusing on the historic huts and celebrated sites from the Heroic Age of early Antarctic Exploration, this voyage will have a special guest onboard. Adrian Raeside is the grandson of Sir Charles Wright, who was a physicist and glaciologist on Robert Falcon Scott’s 1910 expedition. Adrian is writing a book to celebrate the centenary of the expedition and whilst on board will recount some previously unknown details found whilst researching his book. During the voyage you will visit Scott’s famous hut at Cape Evans and his remarkably preserved 1901-1904 Discovery Hut at McMurdo Sound, the site of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds (built during his ‘Nimrod’ polar expedition in 1907-1909) and the 1899 hut at Cape Adare where Carsten Borchgrevink was the first person to overwinter on the Antarctic continent. Some of these huts are still stacked with tinned goods, along with seal blubber that was hoarded as emergency fuel. Sailing from Lyttelton, New Zealand on a fully classed polar icebreaker, your first stop will be the wildlife-rich sub-Antarctic islands of Campbell and Enderby for Royal Albatross and the rare Yellow-eyed Penguin. Your icebreaker’s onboard helicopters will be utilised for passenger flightseeing and landings at otherwise inaccessible locations. One such place is the remote and seldomvisited Dry Valleys with its amazing ‘otherworldly’ landscape of wind-eroded rocks and desert scenery unlike anywhere else in the world. As you approach in helicopters from the sea, the expanse of fast ice stops abruptly revealing a parched land with no vegetation other than lichen that grows inside rocks. Whilst sailing through the breathtaking scenery of mountains, glaciers and mile-long tabular icebergs of the Ross Sea, you will hear more about the many discoveries of James Ross after whom the sea and the ice shelf are named. Minke and Orca Whales are commonly found in this area and you will land at Cape Adare, home to over half a million Adélie Penguins. On your return journey, and subject to permissions, you will land on Macquarie Island a UNESCO World Heritage Site where huge numbers of Royal Penguins live. Your voyage ends in Hobart, Tasmania. Great Antarctic Explorers Visit historic huts left behind by the expeditions of Scott and Shackleton as well as the surreal Dry Valleys and the worldrenowned McMurdo Station. F O R R E S E R V A T I O N S C A L L U S O N 0845 130 6982 Itinerary Day 1. Christchurch, New Zealand Day 2. Embark in Lyttelton Days 3 to 5. Campbell & Enderby Islands Days 6 to 9. Sailing to the ice edge Day 10. Drygalski Ice Tongue Days 11 & 12. McMurdo Station, Scott Base, Cape Evans & Cape Royds Days 13 & 14. The Dry Valleys & the Ross Ice Shelf Days 15 & 16. The Bay of Whales Days 17 to 21. The Ross Sea Days 22 & 23. Macquarie Island Days 24 to 26. North to Hobart and disembark Vessel Kapitan Khlebnikov (see Vessel pages for more details). Things you need to know Embark Lyttelton, New Zealand Disembark Hobart, Tasmania, Australia Voyage nights 24 nights Departure dates 13 Dec 2008 to 7 Jan 2009 Price From £10,295 in a twin share cabin Single supplement On request. If you are travelling alone ask about our request share programme which enables solo travellers to share a cabin with another solo traveller. What’s included Pre-cruise hotel night in Christchurch, voyage including guided shore, helicopter & zodiac excursions, all meals onboard & transfers. Guide price for flights & accommodation package Around £1,495 including return flights from the UK & 1-night in Hobart. 178