South Pole & Penguins

Fewer than 500 people reach the South Pole each year. This journey is built around that rarity — along with a rare encounter of its own, at one of the continent's Emperor Penguin colonies.

The Bottom of the World

Ninety degrees south is one of the most consequential coordinates on the planet — the axis point of the Earth itself, and the milestone that defined a century of polar exploration. Arriving there means crossing the High Polar Plateau at 3,000m, a landscape with nothing on it but ice and sky in every direction. There's very little to do once you're standing there, and that's rather the point: every direction from the Pole leads north.

Getting there is its own expedition. From the main camps, guests travel 2,400km into the continent's interior — a five-hour flight to Dixie's Camp, a refuel, and then onward across the same terrain that once took early explorers months to cross on foot. The return leg breaks the journey with an overnight at Dixie's Camp, 83°S — a night spent inside the silence and scale of Antarctica's interior that very few people will ever have reason to experience.

The Emperor Penguin

Emperor Penguins are the largest and toughest bird on the continent — up to 1.2m tall, 45kg, built to survive temperatures below –50°C and winds past 190km/h on nothing but dense waterproof feathers and a heavy layer of insulating blubber. Their defining act happens in deep winter, invisible to almost anyone: males hold a single egg on their feet under a brood pouch and fast for up to two months, the whole colony huddled together through the polar night.

By December the chicks have shed their down for juvenile feathers, and by late January the colony breaks up as the young head for the sea for the first time — which is the window to see them: still curious rather than wary, often approaching visitors without any fear at all.

Reaching them means a short Basler flight over the ice shelf and open ocean, then a PistenBully approach to the colony at a respectful distance. There's a moment, watching distant specks resolve into thousands of birds, when the scale of what they endure actually becomes visible. It's a rare privilege, and a genuinely fragile one.

Sample Itinerary

01 — Arrival in Antarctica
A 5.5-hour flight from Cape Town, crossing the Polar Circle into endless daylight. Landing on a blue-ice runway, followed by a first evening toast — cocktails cooled with ice that's 10,000 years old.

02 — Journey to Atka Bay
A 2.5-hour flight to Atka Bay to walk among the Emperor colony — a sight almost no one gets to witness in the wild.

03 — Peaks and Panoramas
A hike above the ice sheet to untouched peaks, a champagne picnic, and a further push with your guide to a standout lookout point.

04 — Journey to the South Pole
Departure by Basler aircraft over vast mountain ranges, a refuel at Dixie's Camp, and arrival at 90°S — passport stamp included. The night is spent back at Dixie's, camping as the early polar explorers once did.

05 — South Pole Return
Waking under canvas on the High Polar Plateau, then a flight back to camp that takes in the scale and solitude of the continent from above, followed by a celebratory three-course dinner.

06 — At Your Leisure
Options ranging from gentle hikes to abseiling and summiting a nunatak — or simply slowing down for the explorer team's stories of Antarctic history and record-setting expeditions.

07 — Explore Wild Horizons
A dramatic cliff-side hike led by IFMGA-certified mountain guides, through some of the last true wilderness left on Earth.

08 — Departure Home
A final look at Antarctica as your A330 or A340 lifts off the blue-ice runway — with time beforehand at Wolf Fang's Ice Bar, White Desert's own boutique, or simply unwinding before the return to Africa.

A Note on Weather

Flight safety comes first here — itineraries are built week to week around the optimal windows for reaching the Pole and the penguin colonies, and guests should expect a degree of flexibility built into the schedule as a result.