The Penguins of South Georgia

P-p-play with a penguin
by LYN HUGHES - Monday, November 24, 2008

On the anniversary of its 100th issue, Lyn Hughes, editor-in-chief of Wanderlust, Britain's leading magazine for independent-minded travellers, remembers her top five places.

Her # 5 Place: Among the penguins of South Georgia, 2005

Set between South America and Antarctica, the remote island of South Georgia is a sensory overload. It has a population of just four people, plus scientists, but a staggering amount of wildlife, from shaggy reindeer to massive elephant seals.

With a glacier at one end of the beach, the huge expanse of Salisbury Plain would have been impressive even without the 100,000 king penguins dotted along its length and up the hillside behind.

The kings seemed oblivious to us as they went around their daily business. We'd been told to keep a distance of 15 feet (4m), but they clearly hadn't been at the same briefings. Sit down and you just became a blob of Gore-tex in a sea of sleek black and white. It's the only time I've known fellow travellers spontaneously cry at the natural wonder of it all.

www.wanderlust.co.uk

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