Falkland Islands and the penguins

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PENGUINS, PENGUINS AND MORE PENGUINS


Expect to see them on the pier in port Stanley just sunbathing
In order to visit this island, you must be on a cruise ship or by air and there are flights to Port Stanley once a week due to the remote location of the island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The population of the Falkland Islands is 3,398 and the capital is Port Stanley.
The first time I have visited the island went on a tour to see the King, Gentoo, and Magellanic penguins. The tour was quite basic, drive to the Bluff Cove by minibus, transfer in 4WD vehicles, visit the largest King penguins colony and at the end of the tour tea and homemade and delicious cookies offered at the Murrell Farm. The drive was absolutely bumpy as the terrain is rugged and due to the presence of Tussac grass that looks and feels like a fluffy carpet.


Tussac Grass



Seeing the penguins for the first time I have cried and screamed so loud! Tears of happiness as I could not believe I made it and that I am so lucky to travel to all these places that I never even dare to dream about! I was so emotional and happy that words cannot describe!
Picture was taken by one of my colleagues Filippo that was with me on this tour
First time for my husband on the island and third time for me, obviously Kevin wants to stop for fish and chips, the traditional British exquisite cuisine was calling Kevin's name. Not many things to do on the island if you are not a nature lover and explorer, the internet is rare almost non-existent, so we stopped at a local pub, hot tea and fish and chips. Once this was done I knew Kevin will be ready on a full stomach for a local tour to see for the first time in his life PENGUINS!

But if you love nature, hiking, birds watching and want to see the penguins, definitely, this is the place to go!
But plan in advance as the island has no car hire and you need to pre-book a tour no matter if you arrived on the island on a ship or by air. 
Especially if you are on a ship and you do not want to spend the overpriced tours they offer you should pre-book a local tour as the vehicles to get around are really limited. 
We did not plan anything as I have been there before and Kevin was not so bothered to stay in the freezing cold. But we got luck taking a taxi transfer to the Penguin or Gypsy Cove for little as 20-30 GBP, the driver dropped us there and came back to pick us up and drive us back to the port after one hour.
Although was a sunny day by the time we finished the lunch started to be extremely windy so our stay at the penguin community had to be resumed by only watching them from far away. You are not allowed to disturb them anyway. 












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