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Antarctica

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Ship entering the Lemaire Channel, Antarctica.
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Overview

No place on Earth compares to this vast white wilderness of elemental forces: snow, ice, water, rock. Antarctica is simply stunning.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • This historic hut, at Cape Evans, on the shore of Ross Island, in the Ross Sea, was the starting point for Robert Falcon Scott's ill fated trek to the South Pole. The hut is in remarkably good condition, thanks to its proximity to New Zealand's Scott Base and the US' McMurdo Sound Base, and regular visits from conservators,

    Terra Nova Hut

    Antarctica

    Scott’s hut from the Terra Nova expedition is steeped in an incredible feeling of history. Here, dog skeletons bleach on the sand in the Antarctic sun,…

  • ANTARTICA - JANUARY 14:  In this handout image provided by the Monaco Palace, a general view of the wooden hut built by Earnest Shackleton in 1907, visited by Prince Albert Of Monaco, now kept by Dr David G Ainley in Cape Royds on January 15, 2009 in Antartica.  (Photo by Monaco Palace via Getty Images)

    Shackleton’s Hut

    Antarctica

    Shackleton erected this structure on his Nimrod expedition in February 1908. Fifteen men lived in the hut, which is much smaller than Scott’s at Cape…

  • Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

    Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station

    Antarctica

    The South Pole station was built in phases, so the first group of occupants was able to take up residence in January 2003, and it was officially…

  • Antarctica Lemaire Channel snowy mountain

    Lemaire Channel

    Antarctic Peninsula

    This steep-sided channel – just 1600m (5250ft) wide – runs for 11km (7 miles) between the mountains of Booth Island and the Peninsula. So photogenic that…

  • Christ Church Cathedral

    Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)

    The great peat slip of 1886, a landslide which killed two people and damaged numerous buildings, wiped out Stanley’s Holy Trinity Church. The foundation…

  • Ceremonial South Pole

    Antarctica

    The resplendent flags of the original 12 Antarctic Treaty signatories surround this red-and-white-striped ‘barber’ pole, capped by a chromium globe, so it…

  • IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the south pole station; Shutterstock ID 1146088580; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Science Facilities

    Antarctica

    Most of the scientific facilities at the Pole are off-limits to visitors, to avoid disrupting research. Other laboratories are off-limits because their…

  • Borchgrevink’s Huts

    Antarctica

    In February 1899, four years after Kristensen’s landing here, Borchgrevink was back at Cape Adare as the leader of the Southern Cross expedition. It took…

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