An adventurous trip to the world’s last pristine wildness

We all have dreams. Some dreams are wild. The wild dreams are difficult to fulfill. Do you have any such wildest dream? The question itself is irrelevant as the human beings are still incapable to win their own nature of dreaming like idiots.

Have you ever dreamt about an adventurous trip to the world’s last pristine wildness? Just like the majority of our readers, the writer also has experienced such a wild dream.

With the presence of monster winds, frightening silence, unbearable coldness and inescapable loneliness, the land where the writer has been taken to by his wild dream has been equally fearful and adventurous.

Have you ever heard about such a land? Only land which qualifies all the disturbing characteristic features mentioned in the aforementioned sentence which describes the writer’s wildest dream is Antarctica.

Antarctica is neither a country nor an imaginary world. It is the fifth largest continent of the world. Unlike other continents, there are no permanent settlers in this continent. It truly deserves the title, ‘the world’s last pristine wildness’.

Less than fifty thousand people visit this land yearly. Of these visitors, less than two thousand people stay more than seven days in this land every year. The preponderance of those who live more than seven days in this continent are scientists reached the land at the behest of their respective nations to do research operations carried out in their respective country’s research houses operating in the continent.

Though there is no formal government in Antarctica, the activities of those who have interest in this land is regulated using the Antarctic Treaty System, which had came into force in the year 1961.

Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, The United Kingdome and the United States are the first signatories of the treaty. At present, there are nearly fifty-three signatories to this treaty.

The treaty prohibits the countries to use this continent for resource exploitation, military purpose, nuclear experiments and nuclear waste dumping. The treaty allows the countries to establish research centers, to perform experiments, and to constitute watchdogs. The International Court of Justice is granted the right to adjudicate the disputes between those countries which have interest in this land in the matters related to the treaty and this continent.

There is no industry, and thus no economy, in this continent. Only recently, the potential of the tourism industry has been explored. The tourism sector of this continent is at a very primitive stage due to the unavailability of proper infrastructure and connectivity and due to the presence of harsh and rapidly fluctuating weather condition. Nonetheless, at least forty thousand people visit this continent yearly. Antarctica is a perfect destination for adventurous tourism. It offers those adventurous experiences which one never dares to attempt a second time.

Travelers can either use the aircraft services or the cruise or ship services to reach this adventurous destination. The majority of travelers prefer the cruise or ship services over the aircraft services as the former is more adventurous and economical than the latter, which is less frequent and highly susceptible to weather fluctuations which are unavoidable and very common in this part of the world.

South America’s southernmost tip is the place from where the Antarctica cruise or ship trip normally begins. A sea trip to this continent is not easy like other similar sea trips. The nature has many defence mechanisms to make this land inaccessible. One such defence mechanism is Drake Passage, the region in the sea where travelers usually experience some difficulties such as seasickness, particularly if the weather condition is not good. This fight against the nature to reach its treasure is actually worthy. Most travelers get chance to see fearless whales, beautiful icebergs and splendid scenery in this adventurous sea journey.

Different travel agents organising the ships and cruises trips take travelers to different regions of the continent in accordance to their permitted trip route.

The travel enthusiasts who wish to book a trip to this land must make sure that the places like Deception Island and Port Lockroy are there in the offered route and the adventures such as kayaking, polar plunge, camping and zodiac tour are there in the to-do list.

Kayaking and zodiac tour may sound odd, but it is actually possible even though the water of this continent is freezing cold and filled with hard ice.

Polar plunge and polar camping are two things one never dares to attempt for a second time, but it is defiantly the most adventurous activities available in our earth.

Most of the polar animals are very friendly and curious. Like the whales which will continuously surround your boat, and, thus, fill your heart with joy, during your trips, the polar penguins will definitely shower you with happiness with their naughtiness once you enter this land.

For photographers, there is no other place as photogenic as Antarctica in this world. Natural enthusiasts easily fell before the beauty of this land. This land and its inhabitants (the animals like whale and penguin) are very innocent.

Those who wish to use this innocence filled in this Antarctica air to cleanse their heart should not make a second thought before booking the trip to this gifted land.

Photo Courtesy : Google/ images are subject to copyright