Falkland Islands

Rockhopper penguins returning to their nests on Bleaker Island

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Falkland Island Flag 1948-1999

Falkland Island Flag 1948-1999

Denis and I have now visited the Falkland Islands on four separate occasions, the first in February 2014. We used International Tours and Travel (ITT) to book our trip to the Falklands, working with them to create our preferred itinerary. After looking at their wildlife calendar we timed our visit to coincide with when the Gentoo, Magellanic, Rockhopper and King penguins (the four main penguin species breeding on the islands) and the Black-browed albatross would have chicks.

I chose our destinations primarily for the abundance and accessibility of the wildlife, not only Penguins but also Striated caracara, Southern elephant seals, South American sea lions, many sea birds and a host of waterfowl and passerines.

We spent our first night in Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, and then visited the following islands for 2 or 3 nights: Sea Lion, Pebble, Saunders and Carcass with a day trip to West Point. We spent one night at Port Howard before flying back to Stanley for our final two nights, with a grand finale visit to the King penguin colony at Volunteer Point on our last full day in the Falklands.

We also spent the month of February 2015 in the Falklands on a photographic expedition for our book LAND ROVERS OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.

After publication of our book we took 75 copies to the Falkland Islands for a book launch in February 2017. All copies were sold and more were ordered. In November 2019, after a visit to Patagonia, we were once again in the Falkland Islands with another 40 copies of the book, which continues (despite its niche market) to sell well.

How to get to The Falklands? LATAM flights to and from Chile depart Santiago and arrive Mount Pleasant (via Punta Arenas) on Saturdays. It is possible to fly with LATAM to and from London, UK via Madrid. LATAM is now offering a return flight on Wednesdays from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Mount Pleasant.

All internal flights in the Falklands are operated by Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS) which operates on demand.

In the gallery below you will find images of Stanley.

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This video was taken by Denis on Pebble Island to the north of West Falkland. During our stay we had a full day tour of the eastern part of the Island where there are many penguin colonies including Gentoo, Rockhopper and Magellanic. Our guide explained that if we sat still near a colony the penguins, who are very curious, would probably come to see us. It was an amazing experience to be surrounded by these Gentoo penguins.