Antarctica
Wind-scoured sub-Antarctic islands home to penguins, albatrosses and scientists.
The French Southern and Antarctic Lands include the Kerguelen Islands, the Crozet Islands, Amsterdam and Saint-Paul islands in the southern Indian Ocean, the Scattered Islands around Madagascar and Adélie Land in Antarctica. There is no permanent population, only researchers and support staff at bases such as Port-aux-Français on Kerguelen. The islands support huge colonies of king penguins, elephant seals and albatrosses.
There is no tourism in the usual sense. The main way in is aboard the supply ship Marion Dufresne from Réunion, which carries a small number of paying passengers on its rotations between the bases. Life aboard is part research voyage, part expedition. The southern summer, roughly November to March, is when conditions are least severe.
December.