A dream becomes true: we are sitting in the plane to an exclusive destination: the Falkland Islands! They are about 350km off the east coast of South America, little known and maybe that’s why they are so fascinating! The islands are the home of 100.000s of penguins and birds of every kind. And nowhere else in the world their places are so accessible and close to each other than on this 380 islands.

The Falklands belong to Britain. For us that means mostly: culture shock! After nearly one year in South America we are not used to the short grass in the garden, the tidy homes and the BIG choice in the well fitted super market! All the things we were looking for since months are all available here in this isolation! Our first night in the most southern capital on earth, Stanley, we spend in the house of an eldery lady: Kay. She’s baking cookies and cakes for the cruise ship visitors every week and the leftovers find their way to our plates for the Tea Time and open the doors to paradise!

This paradise-feeling continues when we start out to Saunders Island! On 29 Feb we are hopping on a bright red 6 seater plane which tries to stand the hefty turbulences and strong winds during the flight. The pilot seems to be born and bred here: he’s writing notes and enjoying the views during we fall and rise metres and metres and finally land safely on the grass stretch of the family farm of Saunders Island.

The stories of the people on the islands could fill pages. For example is there the daughter of the family on Saunders, who had only half an hour a day school lessons over the telephone (6 years ago). Twice a year she flew to Stanley to have one full day school and one day for shopping... Today the kids of the outer islands (Saunders lies at the very far North-West) stay in Stanley and do only return during holidays back home. And before the Falkland War in 1982 there were only a total of 5miles of dirt roads on the islands - today there are more than 300!

But this lonely place is the home of four different penguin species. We are camping in a place called “The Swiss Hotel”: under an overhanging rock, where we can overlook the ocean and having a family of Magallanic penguins living in a burrow, only one metre in front of our tent. If there are no dolphins surfing the big waves, there will be some chicks chasing their parents to the sea: get more fish! The way to our tent goes right through the big colony of Gentoo Penguins. Right beside there is the home of 1000ds of Rockhopper Penguins - our personal favourites! They jump up and down the steep cliffs and “fly” through the water and breaking waves like artists. What a sight!

It is difficult to describe the feeling, when an Albatross, with his 2.5m wing span flies only 5 cm in front of you. And what noise that makes. We are sitting in amazement right next to the colony of Black Browed Albatrosses - watching their majestic flights and plump landings. Their grey chicks sit in round nets above the high cliffs and are always hungry. One curious Albatross goes right for my shoe - biting in it and checking out if it might be suitable for building a nest or not... The animals here know no fear at all! No wonder - it’s only us and a BBC Discovery Team here - next to a thousands of penguins and birds! Later that day we witness the massive, 3-4m long Elephant Seals lying in the sun. It is breath taking nature! At the beach are the remains of a bleached-out whale skeleton to find - one vertebra as big as a small table.

The evening before our return to Stanley the names of the flight passengers are broadcasted on the radio. It still feels very first-class like to be only with 1 other person on the flight and enjoying the view over the blue archipelagos and colonies of penguins below. It is our journey to a new highlihgt of that trip: our visit to the King Penguins! They are the reason why we are here. A long, bumpy 4WD ride brings us to their place, where a 1000 breed, feed, relax, fish and have a walk through the dunes. They are stunning animals: very royal indeed! If they want to lay down they need to support their upper body by sticking the beak into the sand fist - otherwise they would fall over! But they are not as curious as the young Gentoos - one of them let me come that close that I can even touch its wing!!!

The Falkland people are like a big family. Everybody knows each other and everything changes when the population of 2000 inhabitants in Stanley doubles when a cruise ship arrives! After that everything gets back to normal. The daily task for many people seems to be to find eggs! During high season there are so little of them, that they really need to have good relations to somebody to get some of the precious imports. On the other hand the Islands are often well travelled and very open minded people. Most of them are farmers and have, since the last years, tourism as an additional income. We hope that the newly established oil industry does not destroy even this last paradise we found here!!!

Did you know that on the islands are more than 600.000 sheep but only 3200 live?

In our next report we will tell you more about our thrilling travels to Hong Kong and our impressions here. Hope you’ll stay with us!!!

Monique und Rene

Last Updated ( Friday, 10 February 2012 22:55 )