Program
“Discover Queen Maud Land”
(Code: QML)

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival at Cape Town

Our staff will meet you upon your arrival at Cape Town International airport and take you to your hotel.
The day is for you to relax and enjoy Cape Town and its surroundings. On your request we can arrange a program for you.

Day 2: Cape Town . Pre-flight briefing

The morning is at your disposal.

In the afternoon you will be collected and taken to our Antarctic Club in the centre of Cape Town to meet your field guides and other guests.  You will have an orientation & safety briefing telling you about your flight to Antarctica, current weather situation and forecast and much more. After that the guide will go through your equipment with you, demonstrating how the clothing systems work and making adjustments where necessary. The field guide will be able to answer any question you may have.

After briefing we will have a cocktail party to relax in anticipation of the journey ahead of you.

Day 3: Cape Town . Departure for Antarctica

The morning is for you to pack, relax and enjoy Cape Town.

In the evening, you will receive a preliminary confirmation on your flight at 6 pm and a final “green light” at 7 pm, after which, we will collect you from your hotel at 8:30 pm for transport to the airport.
(Please note that a flight to Antarctica depends on a number of different factors, such as wind, cloud cover, snow accumulation on runway etc, all of which may alter the scheduled flight time.)

After a safety briefing on board of the plane we will fly south. Departure is scheduled for 11:30 pm. Flight duration is approximately 5.5 to 6 hours depending on the winds.

Day 4: Arrive to Antarctica . Visit to the Russian scientific base

Our flight passes over the Ocean, which is called here – The Southern Ocean because Atlantic and Indian Oceans merge here and you can’t tell the border between them.

 In about 4,5 hours we will cross the Antarctic Circle (66,5 degrees South). Along this circle the sun never sets during the austral summer solstice and never rises during the austral winter solstice. Further south these Antarctic days and nights lengthen until at the Geographic South Pole the sun rises and sets only once a year.

Continuing our flight south you will see (if the weather allows) first icebergs. It is a time to change your cloths for the polar ones.  The IL-76 jet will arrive at Novo runway at approximately 03-30 a.m. local time (GMT). We will land on the blue ice runway.

Novo runway

After landing you should collect your luggage and follow the guide to the heated mess tent of the Airbase where you will get breakfast.

After that we will bring you to our Guesthouse complex called “Oasis” where you will be accommodated during your Antarctic trip. The Guesthouse is situated in an ice-free, rocky area - the Schirmacher Oasis - about 14 km from the runway and it takes about 20-30 min to drive there with an overland vehicle. At Oasis you will have some rest after a long overnight flight.

We invite you for a lunch at 2 pm followed by a visit to the Russian scientists at the all year round Research Station Novolazarevskaya (or Novo, for short) situated in about 400 meters from our base.

Ice falls in Schirmacher Oasis

We continue our trip by a 3 hour trekking tour to the edge of the Oasis. This is also the edge of the Continent. Further on stretches a shelf ice. At the edge of the Oasis Adelie penguins are often breeding and if you are lucky you will have a close look at these fascinating, funny birds. For those who travel at the end of December and January we also plan to visit ice grottos, a frozen world of shining blue. We will be back in time for a delicious dinner and nice talks in the evening.

Day 5: Overland trip to the ice barrier

After breakfast we start our full day overland driving trip to the ice barrier. We go there by Toyota Hilux cars specially modified in Iceland for polar travel. During 2008-09 Antarctic season these vehicles made an amazing trip to the South Pole and back and proved to be reliable and comfortable way of Antarctic transportation. It will take us about 3 hours to drive to the ice barrier.

Toyota on its way to the ice barrier

Ice barrier is a place where icebergs calve from the edge of a shelf ice and start their way across the Southern Ocean. Here you have a big chance to see penguins and seals. To the North from the barrier you will see giant icebergs shading the horizon. Later in the season Antarctic vessels come to the barrier to unload cargo for scientific bases. We will have a travel lunch en route.

Depending on the surface condition in the direction of the barrier (during warm weather some streams cross the ice surface and driving becomes impossible) we may change plan and drive to a fantastic ice wall which is situated about 25 km from the Oasis. We picnic there and make an easy assent of the adjoining mountain.
We come back to the Oasis late afternoon for dinner and celebration of your visit to Antarctica. That evening, our field guide will tell you stories and show slides or a movie about Antarctica.  After presentation you are welcome to the Russian Antarctic bathhouse (sauna).

Day 6: Visit to Indian Station. Airborne excursion

After breakfast we continue the tour of the Oasis by foot. We will walk near vertical drops of the Antarctic glacier, which embraces the Oasis from the South. Then we pay a visit to the Indian Scientific base – Maitri. You will have a chance to speak with the scientists, walk around the base and learn something of the work being carried out. After the excursion we will bring you to the airbase for a lunch followed by a scenic flight on board of our twin-propeller plane (Basler BT-67). The plane will do a dedicated tour of the stunning nearby mountains. You will see this continent from the air, getting a rare appreciation of its immense scale and beauty. We plan to land in the mountains to have a close look at this unique Antarctic landscape.

Queen Maud Land mountains. Aerial view

Late in the evening, the IL-76 jet will return you north, passed the Antarctic Circle and back to a warm morning in sunny Cape Town!

Day 7: Cape Town

We arrive in Cape Town around 6:30 a.m. Transfer to your hotel. 

Excursion on your own.

Day 8

Depart for home or a program in South Africa.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: We recommend clients arrive in Cape Town no later than 2 days before the scheduled date of departure for Antarctica. Depending on prevailing Antarctic weather patterns, the flight may depart up to one day earlier than scheduled.  Also, once in Antarctica, the listed activities may be changed in reaction to varying weather conditions.