Festival of Wildlife 2025: Discover the Falklands & South Georgia

Fancy mingling with some of the largest concentrations of wildlife on the planet? With 60 million seabirds and more than five million seals crammed onto an island the size of Essex, it’s impossible to exaggerate the sheer wonder of remote and beautiful South Georgia. The colour, the noise and the commotion of this avian Glastonbury guarantees sensory overload at every turn.

I’ve been there more times than I can remember over the past 30 years and every visit leaves me speechless (the only problem, if that’s the right word, is that every time I leave, I vow to return, and I see no end in sight). Combined with a completely different assemblage of wildlife on the Falkland Islands, this is my ultimate South Atlantic adventure.

I think it could be the best Festival of Wildlife yet!

First stop is the Falkland Islands, a rugged, weather-beaten archipelago that's ruled by wildlife, not people. This is a chance to socialise with two penguin species we're unlikely to see on South Georgia - rockhopper and gentoo - among many other local specialities from black-browed albatrosses and striated caracaras, to endemics such as Falkland flightless steamer ducks and Cobb’s wrens. There's time for a short stop in Port Stanley, the colourful capital of the Falklands, and we hope to encounter two of the most beautiful dolphins in the world.

The idea of dolphin watching in the Falklands may seem about as likely as wine-tasting in Mongolia, but this is one of the best places to see otherwise elusive Commerson’s and Peale’s dolphins.

Next stop: South Georgia. Made famous by the ultimate explorer Ernest Shackleton (we go to pay our respects at his grave in Grytviken), this is one of the most impressive wildlife-viewing locations anywhere.

Let me give you just a little taste of what it's like. If I had one day left on Earth - and could spend it anywhere - I’d choose a particularly wild beach on South Georgia, called St Andrew’s Bay. It’s a real showstopper. Against a rugged mountain backdrop, 150,000 pairs of king penguins crowd the beach in numbers that'll take your breath away. It’s all a bit overwhelming.

Hundreds of the penguins set off on their fishing expeditions every few minutes - it looks as if the island is full to overflowing, and they're spilling over into the sea. The beach is also home to writhing masses of hundreds - sometimes thousands - of car-sized southern elephant seals.

I call St Andrew's a real showstopper, but then so are many other places on this wildlife-rich island. Best of all, far from bolting in the opposite direction every time a person steps onto a beach or wrestles their way through the tussock grass, most of the local inhabitants merely stand and stare. Or they come to have a closer look.

Along the way, cruising aboard the Magellan Explorer from Punta Arenas in Chile, we’re likely to encounter good numbers of albatrosses and other seabirds, and cetaceans. In fact, these rich waters offer some of the best whale watching in the world. With a little luck, we’ve a good chance of seeing hourglass and dusky dolphins, humpback, fin and sei whales, southern right whales and killer whales.

Over the years, I’ve seen everything from blue whales and Antarctic minke whales, to Arnoux’s beaked whales and long-finned pilot whales.

One guarantee with this trip - there'll never be a dull moment!

 

If you'd like to join us on our Festival of Wildlife Falklands & South Georgia in October, we have limited spaces still available! Contact our friendly team today.