The Falkland Islands are a group of over 200 islands lying some 300 miles east of southern Argentina and Chile and 1,000 miles north of Antarctica. There is a population of around 2,000, 1,000 of which live in the capital city of Stanley. The rest of the Falklands is known as the Camp and people live in settlements of one to sixty inhabitants to an island, most of which are sheep farmers. Except for Stanley, there are no roads and only poorly defined tracks so all travel is done in Land Rover type vehicles. There is an internal airline which flies nine seater aircraft that go from island to island and land on grass airstrips. The schedules for the airline are arranged daily and you have to listen to shortwave radio at 7:25 each night to see at what time you are scheduled to fly.
Each "airport" is merely a metal shed which houses a trailer with fire fighting chemicals on it which is hooked up to the Land Rover upon takeoff and landing of the aircraft.
The flight from the U.S. to Santiago, Chili was 10 hours and we stayed there overnight. The next morning we boarded our plane for the six hour flight to the Falklands.
We arrived at the military airstrip and were driven to the capital city of Stanley. The most striking feature was the "rock runs" which are essentially rivers of rock - huge rocks - which covered the hillsides. No on can explain them, but my guess (ha) would be that they were created during the ice age when glaciers receded. Another disconcerting feature were the mine fields that remained from the war with Argentine in 1982.
We wandered around the "city" and happened upon a house which had whale skulls in the front yard and stop whaling signs. The owner happened to see us and took us around showing us the Orca (killer whale) and Sperm whale skulls. He went into the house to get a photo album which showed the whale's bodies. The whales somehow got beached and everyone tried to save them. They got them out to sea, but sadly they both perished. In the front yard were also harpoons and a harpoon gun that killed 20,000 whales between 1937 and 1965.
The following day we took off for our next destination, Saunders. This is an island of 30,000 acres and was owned by one family and only seven people live there (along with all their sheep). The children are taught by traveling teachers who goes to an island for two weeks time and teaches the residents' children (usually only one or two kids). She then goes to the next island and does the same thing, living in primitive conditions (having to keep peat stoves burning), etc.
We stayed at a part of the island called "the neck" which is a narrow piece of land with water on both sides. On the drive there we saw our first penguins which were Magellanic penguins or called jackasses because of their donkey-like braying.
Our palatial estate consisted of a metal outbuilding called the Portakabin which was put there by the military. It was about 35'X10' divided into two areas - one room which had two bunk beds and another with two beds, sink, stove, heater, table and some chairs. Oh yes, the toilet was "down the hill a piece". We had to bring our own provisions and the first night we ran out of propane for the heater and had to steal the bottle from the water heater so we had to wash with cold water and boil water to wash the dishes.
The weather on the islands is quite unpleasant with winds averaging 30 mph and are constant. Temperatures are around 50 and intermittent rain occurs (some sleet, too). It is so windy, our cabin was lashed to the ground with guy wires! We were warned to stay away from cliff edges as people have been blown off. I am tall and thin and had a hell of a time keeping from being blown around. This was the only place that we had an outhouse and, of course, the only place where nature called in the middle of the night. I slept in my thermal underwear and just went outside in that, bent at a 45 degree angle against the wind. "Going" was an experience because the wind blew up the "long drop" - Dave rather enjoyed it! One night the door to the outhouse was blown right out of my hand and another the cabin door blew open and bent the frame making it difficult to close from then on. It never gets dark so I was able to walk without the aid of a flashlight. The wonderful thing about this cabin is it is within walking distance of four species of penguin, colonies of which you can see right from the front windows. The first type you come across are the Gentoos who walk inland and nest in large colonies, on bare ground, within close proximity to keep predators from their eggs and/or chicks. When we were there, the check were in various slzes depending on the colony. There must have been at least 15 colonies within a short distance of each other, each with over 50 birds each. Walking a bit further we came upon the small colony of King penguins. They are rather scarce on this island so we had to keep our distance so we would not disturb them. They are quite regal and the largest penguin on these islands. The whole area on which we've been walking is flat and sandy but we are now approaching the cliffs and more rugged terrain. Things are getting greener and we have seen a number of different sea birds. We've not come upon some cliffs and this is where the Rockhopper penguins nest. Theare the smallest and most fun. They jump out of the water onto the rocks and hop from one rock to another, all the way up the cliff to their nest - sometimes climbing over 100 feet. We sat and watched them for hours and they just walked around us. We have pictures of them right above our heads - not three feet away! We walked to the top of the cliff to see the colony which also has King Cormorants nesting among the penguins - they are also black and white and quite beautiful. We wanted to see the Black Browed Albatross colony which we couldn't see from the bottom and came upon them - they reminded me of the Laysan Albatross we saw on Midway. This was a small colony and the nest on the side of a cliff rather than on the ground.
After two wonderful days here on Saunders, we were picked up to go to the "airstrip" for our flight to Sea Lion Island, our next destination. Sea Lion Island is the most isolated of the Falklands and boasts of having one of the most southerly hotels in the world and one of the most remote. The island is small being only 7 miles by 1 mile in size, but over forty species of birds visit and nest on the island. One of the rarest birds of prey in the world, the Striated Caracara nests on the island and are locally called Johnny Rooks because they steal anything left unattended. One of the people in the hotel left his backpack on the ground and the birds unzipped it, opened a tupperware container, ate his entire lunch, poked a hole in his juice container and drank everything in it. He was not amused, especially since the wind blew over and damaged his $7,000 lens. These birds walk right up to you and are quite gregarious.
We took a walk to a beach near the hotel (which has 7 rooms, which along with some outbuildings and one other house for the people that worked in the hotel and tended the livestock, was the only thing on the island. The hotel owners also own the island). The first thing we saw (other than penguins and several kinds of geese) was a group of Southern Elephant Seals, two of which were bachelor males that were practicing fighting. We walked along the beach and saw perhaps seven different kinds of birds including ducks, geese, penguins, wrens, tussoc birds, and chicks of every size and kind. There is so much wildlife, one forgets to just look at the beautiful scenery.
The owners then took us on a tour of the island in the land rover so we could get our bearings to know where we wanted to go later. The diversity of the landscape on such a small piece of land is amazing, not to mention the number of species it supports. Most of the other islands have been turned over to sheep farming which tends to keep the natural tussock grass from growing as the sheep will destroy it. The owners of this island decided to return it back to nature, which has been a great success, and makes it one of the best stops in the Falklands. Princess Anne and the Duke of Kent came there as well as many other officials of th UK. The first place we decided to visit is where the Rockhoppers and King Cormorants nest. You walk passed thousands of birds on their nests (feeding their chicks) to a sheer cliff. The waves crash against the cliffs with such force, it almost sounds like thunder. Looking down in the foam are dozens of black specks which are dashed against the rocks. Each one is a Rockhopper penguin who, somehow grabs onto a rock and climbs up to the top, hopping from one rock to another, to the top without a scratch or care in the world then waddling to their nest. I wish I could describe how rough the water is where these hapless little birds chose to come to land. The splash from the waves hit us in the face, some 900 feet from the water and that's how high they had to climb (well, to be precise, hop).
We walked a little further and came upon the most beautiful spot where the waves made an arch out of the rocks. Dave is afraid of heights and won't get too close to the edge of our bed. Well, this was HIGH and was on the windy side of the island. I, of course, wanted to get the best picture possible of the waves and rock formations and he literally had to wrap his arms around me to keep me from being blown off the cliff. It really was a little scary.
The next day we chose to go to a small lake in the middle of the island that is surrounded by tussock grass. It is quite a scenic spot and such a change from the violence of the cliffs. There was a variety of waterfowl as well as elephant seals lying all over the place. You had to walk around them (and they are rather cranky, not unlike myself, so you don't want to step on one). The tussock grass can grow to 10' and is quite dense. The seals like to lie in it as it offers protection from the wind, rain, sun and cold. There are paths throughout the tall grass where the seals have hauled themselves and, if they didn't snort all the time, you do stand a good chance of tripping over them. My intrepid husband was 10' away from us and we had to call out so he could find us. I call him "pathfinder" because of his great sense of direction. He gets lost trying to find the bathroom at home everynight!
This is pretty much the way we spent our days, walking to the various beaches, cliffs, lakes, etc. taking in all the beauty and wildlife. After three days it was time to fly back to Stanley were we stayed in the same hotel as before. We weren't to leave for Chile until after 2:00 so we decided to hire a boat for a few hours to see if we could see any dolphin but saw only one. It is very unusual to see a solitary dolphin as they always travel in pods.
At 2:00 we were picked up for the ride to the military airport. After our six hour flight to Santiago we arrived just before midnight, at the wrong terminal, had to get our luggage, walk to International, check in and catch our flight home which was 10 hours in the air. We arrived in Dallas and finally arrived in St. Louis 24 hours after leaving our hotel in Stanley. I think you'll agree - it was worth it
