Sit Among 500,000 King Penguins

The adventure

The Zodiac grinds onto black sand at St Andrews Bay and the noise hits you first: a constant, trumpeting roar from a colony that stretches back towards the glaciers of the Allardyce Range. Then the smell. Then the sheer scale, a moving carpet of orange, white and grey that runs as far as you can see.

Sit still at the edge of it and the penguins come to you. Kings stand almost a metre tall and are endlessly curious, tilting their heads to inspect your boots and camera. Fluffy brown chicks, bigger than their parents, huddle in creches, while elephant seals snort and belch on the beach and young fur seals chase each other through the tussock grass. Everywhere you look something is happening, and it's very hard to get back in the boat.

King penguins are the second-largest penguin after the emperor, standing up to a metre tall, with a slate-grey back, a white front and a glowing orange and gold patch on the neck. South Georgia, a remote island in the Southern Ocean, is home to some of the biggest colonies on the planet.

Why it’s epic

• St Andrews Bay holds South Georgia's largest king penguin colony, with well over 100,000 breeding pairs plus chicks.
• Kings grow to around 90 cm tall, second in size only to emperor penguins.
• Brown fluffy chicks and sleek adults share the beaches, because kings take more than a year to raise a chick.
• Southern elephant seals, fur seals and albatrosses, plus Shackleton's grave at Grytviken.

What it is

South Georgia's Salisbury Plain and St Andrews Bay host hundreds of thousands of king penguins.

How to do it

Visit on an expedition cruise from Ushuaia that combines the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica.

Top tip

Pack long lenses, but you'll often be very close.

Need to know

• South Georgia is reachable only by ship, usually on voyages of about three weeks from Ushuaia that also visit the Falklands and Antarctic Peninsula.
• Strict biosecurity applies, with clothes, bags and boots vacuumed and disinfected before every landing.
• Keep at least 5 metres from wildlife and let penguins approach you; fur seals can be territorial in November and December.
• Landings depend on weather and swell, so no site is ever guaranteed.

Plan this trip

Rough cost

£5,000 or more per person, including flights from the UK

Time needed

2 to 3 weeks

Best time to go

November to March

Fly into

USH airport

A South Georgia voyage is a long expedition cruise, and fares run to many thousands of pounds per person.

Sample itinerary

1. Days 1–2Fly to Ushuaia or Stanley (Falklands) and board the ship
2. Days 3–6Falkland Islands landings, then sail on to South Georgia
3. Days 7–10South Georgia: hundreds of thousands of king penguins at Salisbury Plain and St Andrews Bay, and Shackleton's grave at Grytviken
4. Days 11–18Onwards to the Antarctic Peninsula or back across the ocean

Do it yourself

• Antarctic and Arctic expeditionsOceanwide ExpeditionsThe small expedition ships I sailed to Antarctica with, including the Hondius.
• FlightsKiwi.com
• Adventure travel insuranceWorld NomadsWe receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.

Some of these are affiliate links: if you book through them I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. More about this.

Kit I'd pack

South Georgia landings are wet, windy and unforgettable. Bring a way to see the colony up close without getting too close.

• Compact binocularsAmazonYou keep a 5 metre distance from the wildlife. These close the gap.
• Waterproof over-trousersAmazonWet landings and penguin-covered beaches.
• 20L dry bagAmazonYour camera rides in this on the Zodiac.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. More of my travel kit.

My experience

Ticked off, but the full story is still to be written up.

Watch it

• Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands: my expedition on the HondiusWatch on my YouTube channel