After a sleepless night a long awaited dream came finally true at 5.30am. We were finally reaching one of the most desolate islands of our planet: the Kerguelen.
Hidden deep within the southern Indian Ocean, the Kerguelen Islands are one of the last truly remote places on Earth. Nicknamed the “Desolation Islands,” they lie thousands of kilometres from any continental shore and are inhabited only by a small seasonal community of scientists and support staff. For everyone else, they remain little more than a name on a map (if even that!) – a wild archipelago of volcanic mountains, endless grasslands, dramatic coastlines and extraordinary wildlife that few people will ever have the chance to experience.
The Kerguelen Islands are often described as remote, but that word barely does them justice. Located roughly halfway between Africa, Antarctica and Australia, the archipelago sits in one of the most inaccessible regions of the southern Indian Ocean. Let me give you some geographical context:
Being the first foreign visitors to set foot on the Kerguelen Islands since 2019 felt incredibly special. This vast volcanic archipelago, larger than Bali, lies isolated in the southern Indian Ocean and is almost completely devoid of human presence, apart from a small French research station at Port-aux-Français.
Until 2019, only around 40 tourists per year had the rare opportunity to visit Kerguelen aboard the French resupply vessel from La Réunion – a rugged 35-day round trip with only the most basic comforts. Following the pandemic, however, these voyages were never resumed.
After years of lobbying on previous expeditions, Ponant finally decided to make it happen. As a French operator, the company was able to secure the necessary permits to land not only on the Kerguelen Islands but also on the even more remote Crozet Islands, another two days’ sail away on our route toward South Africa. To the best of my knowledge, no other cruise ship has ever visited both archipelagos on the same voyage.
Untouched wilderness at its very best. Visiting the French Southern and Antarctic Lands had been a long-standing dream, and finally crossing them off my list was an unforgettable moment.
So far, we had been remarkably lucky with the weather. That was about to change. The forecast for our two-day crossing to the Crozet Islands showed head-on seas with waves reaching up to seven metres—exactly the kind of conditions I had secretly been hoping to experience aboard this ship. Still we are away a full nine day voyage from Cape Town:
Upon arriving in the Kerguelen Islands, our first landing took us by the way to the abandoned whaling station of Port Jeanne d’Arc. Once one of the most important industrial sites in the archipelago, it served as a hub for the region’s whale oil industry during the early 20th century. Today, its weathered buildings and rusting machinery stand as silent reminders of a very different era, slowly being reclaimed by the harsh subantarctic environment.
A few more impressions from our unforgettable landing on the Kerguelen Islands, where dramatic landscapes, abandoned history and extraordinary wildlife came together in one of the most remote places on Earth. I let the pictures sink in.
