Relatively few people have ever been to the Falkland Islands for any reason and it is safe to say that the majority of those who opt to take a vacation here are adventurous types, or trail-blazers, who relish the thought of going to distant places where few others have been before . These are the kind of visitors that we love, if only to see the surprise on their faces when they discover just how comfortable living at the ends of the earth can be and just how much there is to see and do.

Ornithology and Wildlife Photography
Fly-fishing
It’s up to you

Let’s start with ornithology and wildlife photography. The Falkland Islands are a naturalist’s dream, often compared to how the Galapagos Islands were thirty years ago before the crowds arrived and also, like them, a place whose singular wild-life once gave food for thought to Charles Darwin. While it is, perhaps unfair to single out any of the over fifty species of birds that breed on the islands, first we have to mention penguins; five kinds breed here from the feisty little rock-hoppers to the majestic kings; nor should we forget the world’s biggest colonies of the majestic black-browed albatross, superb flyers whose skill in the air is only matched by the ubiquitous, and less well-loved, giant petrels or ‘stinkers’. Not only are these superb birds here in great numbers, along with colonies of marine mammals such as elephant seals, sea-lions, fur seals, dolphins (Commerson’s and Peale’s) and killer whales, but they are uniquely approachable. A five minute stroll from breakfast at Sea Lion Lodge, for example, will in one direction find you in the middle of a colony of several thousand gentoo penguins and in another, observing the domestic life of several hundred elephant seals. In neither case will anything other than an empty stomach tell you that your time is up and that you have to move on.

Fly-fishing. Two months either side of the peak season for bird-watching (November to February) is, by happy coincidence, the best time to pursue fresh-run sea trout in the rivers of the Falklands. (Throughout the rest of the austral summer scarcity of water in the river system keeps the fish in the tidal pools at the river mouths) The best centre for fly-fishing on the West Falklands is to be found at Port Howard Lodge, from which two productive but quite different rivers are available: the Chartres is a high-yielding river where daily catches of thirty or forty trout between 3 and 5 lbs per rod are not uncommon, while the Warrah yields fewer, but bigger fish. The Falkland Islands record for sea trout stands at 22lbs 12½ ozs. This monster was caught in the San Carlos River on East Falklands, which with the Murrell River is easily fished either from Stanley or from Port San Carlos.

It’s up to you With access to the Islands from the South American mainland by air still very much in its infancy and small visitor numbers there has been little chance or need to develop the necessary infrastructure for a wide range of outdoor activities, but there are lots of things to do for those prepared to organise themselves and companies, like Hebe Tours, listed in the Falkland Islands Tourism web-site, prepared to help the more adventurous achieve their goals. Among recent visitors to the Falklands have been yachtsmen, both lone and in groups, sea-kayak enthusiasts, mountain-bikers, climbers, hikers, campers, dry-stone wallers, painters, and poets. The prize for the nation providing the craziest visitors, however, must go to the French, who one year gave us the entertaining spectacle of a crossing of the entire Falklands by wind-powered bicycle, and the next year a clown from Paris, who performed his complete repertoire to an audience composed entirely of penguins. Think you can beat that? Falkland Islands Tourism tourism@horizon.co.fk would love to help you try.