Name: My Trip to the Falkland Islands | The Land of 1 MILLION Penguins
Uploaded: 2024-06-07T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 8 min 4 s
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Hello from me and about 1,000 king penguins here in the Falkland Islands.

Transition words & phrases

I've made it to the Falkland Islands, thanks to Falkland Islands Tourism, who's hosting me for this trip.

Modal verbs - B1

And if you're like a lot of people I spoke to leading up to this trip, you might be wondering, "Where are the Falkland Islands?"

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean.

They're about 300 miles east of the Southern Patagonian Coast.

And this is a very exciting destination for me because it's known for incredible wildlife.

This is one of the best places in the world to see penguins.

In fact, right behind me on this beach is a Gentoo penguin colony.

I'm currently on Bleaker Island, and something really fun about the Falklands as a destination is one of the best ways to get around is by plane.

They have the Falkland Islands Government Air Service, or FIGUS, that does daily flights to different locations.

So this morning, I hopped on a plane, flew out here, got some amazing coastline and water views on the way.

I am the only person here on this beach with hundreds of penguins I can see around me.

Something I will never get over is how penguins nap.

They tuck their beaks back behind a wing, and it is the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

But they also are one of the most interesting sleepers in the animal kingdom because they nap thousands of times per day, averaging just seconds per nap.

So these penguins are actually falling asleep for a few seconds, then waking up.

And studies suggest this adds up to a solid 10 plus hours per day of sleep.

And it's been an adaptation to survive in a constantly disruptive environment.

This morning I'm back out exploring, but I've come to a different part of the island with a Rockhopper penguin colony.

And oh my gosh, I thought the gentoos were cute when they were sleeping.

The rockhoppers with their eyebrows are so adorable.

And someone told me that there's one random macaroni penguin in this colony.

So for the past 20 minutes, I've been walking around, keeping my eye out for a penguin that doesn't look like the rest.

And I thought, maybe I'm not gonna see him.

And then lo and behold, he's standing in a pile of his own molten feathers.

I'm at these cliffs and there are these giant waves breaking against them.

And with the penguins on the cliffs, it's so photogenic.

This afternoon, I'm out at Volunteer Point, which is probably the thing I was most excited for on this trip because there's a large colony of king penguins here.

When I got to this colony, I was speechless.

They're even prettier than I imagined and so fun to photograph.

Just looking through my viewfinder already at the images.

And they're currently in their breeding season.

It is a dream come true to be here photographing them.

I spent the next couple of days exploring East Falkland with guides and it was really cool to travel across the countryside and see just how vast these islands are.

There are over 700 islands in the Falklands, but a total population of less than 4,000 people.

So you can really feel the sense of community here as well.

This is a box that a local farm fills with fresh baked goods and it's an honor system to pay what you think is fair for what you take.

Most of these drives were pretty long with a lot of off-roading.

The Falkland Islands have the largest population of Gentoo penguins in the world, along with four other species, Rockhopper, King, Magellanic, and Macaroni.

Around a million penguins nest here every summer and they are one of my favorite animals to watch.

I swear I spent half of this trip walking backward to keep my distance from them.

Something I learned about penguins on this trip is their tuxedo coloring is counter shading to camouflage them while swimming.

When seen from above, the black on their backs blends with the depths of the ocean and when seen from below, their white bellies blend with the surface and sky.

One of my favorite places I visited in East Falkland was the Mural Farm with Kidney Cove Tours.

This is one of the most incredible pieces of private land I have ever seen.

It's 10,000 acres and it has an amazing coastline and four species of penguins choose to live here.

I mean, can you imagine this being the wildlife in your own backyard?

I asked the owner if he ever gets offers to buy the land and he said yes and they are turned down very quickly.

If you come to the Falkland Islands, your main launching pad is going to be the town of Stanley.

The buildings have colorful roofs and there's some shops and restaurants.

They have a museum showcasing the history of the Falkland Islands.

A lot of the hotels and restaurants have water views.

I've been staying at the Malvina Hotel this week and my room has this beautiful view of the water.

And the nice thing about Stanley is while it's a great spot to use as a launching pad to take flights out to other islands or to do these off-roading trips like I've been doing this week, there are also a lot of great places to visit nearby.

Right now, I'm out in the Gypsy Cove and York Bay area.

This is about 15 minutes outside of Stanley.

It's this beautiful spot with a hiking trail along the coastline and beautiful beaches and some wildlife.

So it's easy to just run out here for a couple hours and hike around and explore the coastline.

And today is my last day here in the Falklands.

I knew I was going to see wildlife here, but I really didn't expect to see so many penguins.

Like if you are into penguins, this is a penguin paradise, especially if you're interested in seeing this kind of wildlife, but you don't want to do something like an Antarctic cruise.

Like when I posted all of my Antarctica content last year, I got a lot of messages from people that were like,

"I would love to go see the penguins, but I can't do ships. I get seasick."

So this is a destination that you can fly to and drive out to see the penguins.

Easily one of the most unique places I've ever visited and still so untouched.

There is just so much wide open space here.

Thanks for watching and coming along with me on this one.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing a bit of the Falklands with me and I'll see you in the next one.

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My Trip to the Falkland Islands | The Land of 1 MILLION Penguins

constantly

incredible

grab

adorable