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MTP Member Photos - Crozet Islands
.JPG "Photo: by Jorge Sanchez: Our helicopter landing in Crozet (Jorge Sanchez)")
MTP Member Posts - Crozet Islands
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2005 Sep by Jorge Sanchez |
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The Antarctic continent belongs, in theory, to the entire Humankind and can not be exploited for commercial purposes, but the following seven countries have pretensions to it: Argentina, Chile, United Kingdom, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and France. USA has the greatest scientific base in the Antarctica: McMurdo (a whole village with over one thousand people living permanently there), apart from Palmer in the Antarctica Peninsula, plus a third base in the Geographical South Pole. Russia has many bases, including one in the Magnetic South Pole. Italy, Spain, China, Brazil, Japan, India, Germany, and so on until forty countries, have also bases in the Antarctica. The Antarctic Islands have a different status and are officially owned by several countries. Since there are no airports in the French Austral and Antarctic Islands the unique way to travel to them is by the scientific ship MARION DUFRESNE, which sails from Reunion Island four times a year and accepts only 14 visitors in each voyage (those who have family members in the islands are given preference to book the places); the rest are scientists, maintenance personnel, cooks, etc. Indeed, they are very inaccessible islands, but it is worth to get there if you wish to observe the Antarctic animal’s life in their milieu, without being bothered by the humans. Apart from different kinds of penguins and seals you can watch sea elephants, sea leopards, whales, orcas, albatross, petrels, and many other birds. The whole journey took me 29 days with 28 nights. From Reunion to Crozet there are six days of navigation, then three more to Kerguelen, two more until Saint Paul, which is uninhabited by humans, and a few more hours to Amsterdam. Finally we returned to Reunion (six more days). Apart from Malagasies of Madagascar, who worked in the ship machines, downstairs, and rarely mixed with the French, the rest of the crew on the ship were all French, including visitors. I was the only “foreigner” in that Terra Incognita. We were anxious to reach our first Island, CROZET, but the scientists of the Alfred Faure base were still more eager than us to meet new faces. The welcome was superlative: lots of food, drinks and sweets. We landed there through our 5 seats helicopter because there are no ports in the islands, only small piers for the zodiacs. The pilot was very careful to choose a no direct route from the boat to the island without over flying the numerous albatross nests. Crozet Island, apart from the colonies of penguins, is particular because of the albatross. The more characteristics are the black eyebrow ones, with a weight of about 5 kilos. When they open their wings they reach a width of two and a half metres. After the copious lunch we made a long trekking to their nests. The babies adopt an anchorite position in their nests and wait for weeks to their parents, without moving, even if it rains, snows or is very cold. Their parents have to fly sometimes very far away during days to bring food. | |
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