ANTARCTICA A HEAVEN ON EARTH

-By Ratan Purwar

Antarctica, the fifth largest and southernmost continent, is uninhabitated, unpolluted and mostly ice covered land mass. It does not belong to any country but it is goverened by a group of nations through international partnership. It is managed through Antarctica Treaty system, which means original Antarctica treaty and various agreements. The first treaty was signed in 1959 by 12 nations viz. Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States. The central ideas with full acceptance were the freedom of scientific research in Antarctica and the peaceful use of the continent. There was also a consensus for demilitarization and the maintenance of the status quo. The treaty prohibits nuclear testing, military operations, economic exploitation, and territorial claims in Antarctica. It is monitored through on-site inspections. The only permanent structures allowed are scientific research stations. The original signatory countries hold voting rights on Antarctic governance, with seven of them claiming portions of the continent and the remaining five being non-claimants. Other nations have joined as consultative members by conducting significant research in Antarctica. Non-consultative parties can also adhere to the treaty. In 1991-1992, the treaty was renegotiated by 33 nations, with the main change being the Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection, which prohibited mining and oil exploration for 50 years. The whole thing can be reviewed in the year 2048.
I have been interested in visiting Antarctica for the last many years, but could not visit due to one reason or the other. Finally in December 2023, I visited Antactica alongwith visit to Argentina and Falkland. I left from Mumbai by Emirates Airlines on 13 December 2023 and reached Buenos Aires on 13 December 2023 night. Though total travel time was more than 25 hours, but due time difference between India and Argentina, I reached on the same date.

Ushuaia and Tierra Del Fuego:- After sightseeing in Buenos Aires, I reached Ushuaia, also known as southern most village on Earth, on 15 December at 11 am, and I visited Tierra Del Fuego National Park. The park is spread over 2 nations Argentina and Chile. It is known for spectacular scenic landscapes that feature coastline, forests, glaciers, lakes, mountains, and waterfalls. Tierra Del Fuego, means land of fire, a name given by Spanish explorers. I could see various variety of plants in the beautiful surroundings. For the first time I could see redfox (Pic 1).

Embarkation for Antarctica:- After visiting Tierra del Fuego, I embarked on the cruise MS Roald Amundsen with 250 passengers and 170 crew members on board at 5 pm. The cruise started moving at 6 pm, but before moving, a safety drill was conducted for all the passengers. A beautiful rainbow (Pic 2) could be seen during cruising.

Passing Drake: Passage:- It is the body of water between South America’s Cape Horn, Chile, Argentina and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean. It is considered as one of the most treacherous voyages for ships to pass through. The Currents do not meet any resistance from any land mass and waves upto 12 meter high often occur and thus causing lot of sickness to the passengers. The width of this passage between Ushuaia and South Shetland island of Antarctica is approximately 1000 Km. We started cruising in drake passage at around 7 pm on 15 December 2023, and most of the passengers were suffering from sea sickness on next morning. Though by evening, a large number of passengers were better. We could see variety of birds while cruising. Some birds can be seen in Pic 3-5. A number of icebergs could be seen for 17 December 2023 onwards (Pic 6).

Reaching Antarctica Islands and Falkland:- After about 48 hours of cruising, we reached the Antarctica Islands. During visit to Antarctica, on many occasion, we faced heavy winds due to which we could not do landing during that period. In flanders bay, the snowfall was so heavy that the visibility was restricted to a great extent (Pic 7). We passed through a very beautiful Lemaire channel (Pic 8). Various nations have established their research stations. We visited Brown station established by Argentina. For landing in various islands, we used zodiac boats, a kind of inflatable boat, to go from cruise to island. At all places, it was wet landing, i.e. landing in water. A special kind of knee high rubber boot was provided for going out of cruise for boating or landing, which provided very good protection from the severe cold. We visitied Brown station, Damoy point, Mikkelson harbour, floating iceberg in Weddel sea. The landing on floating iceberg was a very adventurous activity as the thickness of ice was only 70 cms. and during our landing to iceberg, it actually drifted by about 700 meters (Pic 9-author standing on 70 cm thick iceberg).

Touching Falkland:- After crossing Weddel sea, we moved towards Falkland, and landing was done in Saunders island, Stanley island and New island. Falkland is a overseas territory of U.K, inhabited by 3700 people. There is long standing dispute over Falkland territory between Argentina and U.K. A referendum on political status was held in the on 10-11 March 2013. The islanders were asked to vote on their support for the continuation of their status as an overseas territory of U.K. Almost everyone voted to remain a British territory, with only three votes against. The dispute between Argentina and U.K. still continues.

Penguins:- There are 28 spp. of penguin. During this trip, we spotted variety of penguins, including Emperor (Pic 10), King (Pic 11), Gentoo (Pic 12), Chinstrap (Pic 13), Adelie (Pic 14), Magellanic (Pic 15), Rockhopper (Pic 16), Macaroni (Pic 17). These penguins have their colonies (Pic 18) in various islands. We could reach very close to these birds, but we were advised to keep a distance of 5 meters from the birds due to spreading of bird flu. We came across penguin highway, on which penguins move frequently. We were advised to avoid standing on these highways. Total hygienic precautions were taken and nobody was allowed to sit on the ground to put any item including camera tripod on ground. Immediately after returning to cruise, everybody was disinfected.

Other Animals:- During our trip, we spotted humpback whale, Dolphin and few varieties of seals. Though there are huge variety of sea wildlife in this region. But we could spot only few.

The sightseeing in Antarctica, in itself, very interesting. Many passengers were just watching from the cruise and enjoying the surroundings. In our group of almost 250 passengers, only 11 indians joined on this trip (Pic 19-Indian flag). Overall, it is very beautiful and worth visiting.