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Swoop Specialist

History

The Art of Suffering

Swoop Specialist

A brief stroll across St James’s Park in London delivers you to Waterloo Place, where you are met by the statues of two tragic Polar figures: John Franklin, Byronic in stature and with an expression of fortitude; and Scott of the Antarctic, dressed in expedition clothes, gazing heroically into the distance. The actual bodies of... Read More


Amundsen / Antarctic / Arctic / Franklin / North Passage / Polar / Scott / Shackleton / South Georgia / South Pole / exploration
Adventure
Penguin Post Office

Postcard from the Penguin Post Office

Swoop Specialist

As you approach the Penguin Post Office at Port Lockroy, located on a tiny island off the Antarctic Peninsula, three days of navigation from Ushuaia, you are greeted by the “roo roo roo” sound of 600 pairs of nesting gentoo penguins. Early in the season, you may have to climb up a snow staircase or later in the season Read More


Antarctica / British Antarctic Territory / Penguins / Port Lockroy
Environment

The Future of The White Continent

Swoop Specialist

The bedrock of east Antarctica is more than three billion years old. Pause for a moment and say that out loud: “three billion years”. It’s difficult to imagine a time line that long, or to try to visualise what earth would have been like three billion years ago, a time when multi-cellular Read More


Antarctic / IAATO / Tourism / Wildlife
Environment

Do we all have the Right to Roam?

Swoop Specialist

Argentina has the third oldest national park system in the world and Chile has one of the most extensive. These national parks are a matter of great national pride: they conserve huge areas of land and they also give people the right to access some of the most beautiful and wild areas Read More


Hiking / National Park / Torres del Paine / W Trek
Environment

The Call of the White Continent

Swoop Specialist

I remember the feeling of embarking on my first expedition to Antarctica very clearly. Cruising the Beagle Channel during the first day in early March 2006 brought back that incredible sense of freedom that I had only ever experienced sailing. It also awakened many memories of my family, Read More


Antarctica / Penguins / Whales / Wildlife
History

Pass the Penguin: Diets of the Early Explorers

Swoop Specialist

One stinging truth the study revealed was quite obvious: most heroes tend to die. Scott, Shackleton, Franklin, and my favourite, Titus Oates – who spoke the immortal last words – “I’m just going outside and may be some time”, all perished. But is it the actions of a person, or their last words that make Read More


Antarctica / History / Polar Exploration
History

A Little Piece of Antarctica in Warwickshire

Swoop Specialist

In preparing for a voyage to Antarctica, I had written the usual packing lists, read some more books about Antarctica, and checked the weather forecast plenty of times. In my research I stumbled across an intriguing story of an English church, an Antarctic voyage and Sir Robert Falcon Scott’s last ever journey. Read More


Antarctica / History
Culture

An Englishman in Patagonia: Book Review

Swoop Specialist

In ‘An Englishman in Patagonia’, John Pilkington beautifully details his eight-month backpacking trip, south from Santiago, winding his way along the Andes, through the heart of Patagonia to the end of the world in Ushuaia, before heading back up the Argentine coastline. Read More


Argentina / Aysen / Chile / Chiloe Island / Fitz Roy / Punta Arenas / Santiago / Torres del Paine