Today we visited two unique islands in the West Falklands. Keppel Island, once an early missionary to Christianize Tierra del Fuego Indians in the 1850s and later, as most places here, an active sheep farm, it now lies vacant since 1992 when the last occupants shuddered up the stone and timber buildings. Very few visitors ever step foot here, and this morning we had time to explore the ruins of the old settlement and trek over 6 km across the island in hopes of spotting birdlife utilizing the several insular ponds. For the afternoon’s attraction we crossed over to neighboring Saunders Islands to once again cast our eyes on both a thriving black-browed albatross and rockhopper penguin colony. Later on the ship repositioned to the other side of Saunders where we had a special champagne reception on the historic site of Port Egmont, the first settlement in the Falklands dating back to 1766.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 21 Mar 2017
Keppel and Saunders Islands, West Falklands, 3/21/2017, National Geographic Explorer
- Aboard the National Geographic Explorer
- Antarctica
Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands
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