Falkland Islands Wildlife

Our 17 night holiday takes in all aspects of the islands' wildlife and visits most of the important wildlife sites. We fly to the islands with the Royal Air Force from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and start our holiday in the capital, Stanley. From here we'll visit Volunteer Point, home to the majority of the King Penguins on the islands before starting our island-hopping. We'll stay on Pebble Island, Sea Lion Island and Carcass Island (with a day trip to West Point to visit the mixed Black-browed Albatross and Rockhopper Penguin colony) and also at Port Howard as a base for our exploration of West Falkland.

As well as the penguins, albatross, elephant seals and sea lions, the islands team with bird life and, of course, the scenery is superb with a lovely clarity of light. It's one of those holidays where we used to tell people to take at least twice as much film as they thought they would need - now it's an extra memory card!

Everything about the Falklands is at the same time familiar and yet different. The islands are unspoilt and the people welcoming, the wildlife incredibly unconcerned by the presence of man and there is the added bonus of travelling between the settlements in 8-seat Islander aircraft which is a wonderful way to travel. On land transport is by LandRover. Accommodation is in comfortable hotels or lodges and you'll certainly not go hungry. The hospitality of the islanders is legendary.

Alternative Falklands Tours

• Falkland Islands Photographic Tour • Feb. 2013
• About our Falkland Island tours

Your Itinerary

Day 1:
The group assembles at RAF Brize Norton in the evening for the flight over the South Atlantic Ocean via Ascension Island. The one and a half hour stop on Ascension next morning gives us a chance to stretch our legs and try to find the Myna birds that frequent the airport and to see if those dots over the ocean beyond are Frigatebirds or Boobies.

Day 2: Stanley
We are met at Mount Pleasant by a Stanley Services representative and are soon on our way to Stanley where we will be staying at the Malvina House Hotel for the next two nights. On the way we'll have our first view of Upland Goose, Turkey Vulture and Kelp Gulls and get our first feel for the Falklands landscape. Having settled in, there should be time for a walk along the waterfront before dinner, looking for Falkland specialities such as Giant Petrel and Dolphin Gull.

Day 3: Stanley (Volunteer Point)
Today we take a LandRover excursion to Volunteer Point, home to the islands' principal King Penguin colony, a visit to which has to be one of the highlights of your Falklands holiday. The three-hour LandRover trip takes us through typical Falkland landscape and we will spend lots of time with the delightful King Penguins.

Days 4 - 6: Port Howard
Today we fly to Port Howard, the largest settlement on West Falkland where we stay in the farm manager's old house, now converted to a lodge with a small museum dedicated to the Falklands conflict. During our stay we'll take daily LandRover excursions to explore West Falklands, each settlement we visit having an atmosphere all of its own. We'll be on the look out for Red-backed Hawk and Southern Caracara as well as the "regular" Falklands species and taking special note of the fascinating flora.

Days 7 - 9: Carcass Island
Our next base is Carcass Island where we'll stay for three nights. We'll have plenty of time to explore this lovely island with its Gentoo Penguin colony, its wonderful scenery and abundance of the smaller birds of the Falkland Islands such as the Falkland Pipit, the Rufous-chested Dotterel and so many more star turns. In addition, we are hoping to be able to take a boat trip to nearby West Point with its mixed Black-browed Albatross and Rockhopper Penguin colony and its delightful "English Garden" settlement where they serve superb teas! This trip is obviously weather dependent.

Days10 - 12: Pebble Island
This morning we head to the domestic airport for our 9-seater Islander aircraft flight to Pebble Island. This is a relatively large island which offers a variety of habitats from long sandy beaches to large pools and inland lakes on which the attractive Blacknecked Swan can be seen along with many other ducks and waders. The rugged cliffs are home to Red-backed Hawks and Peregrine and the island is host to several penguin colonies. As this is the nearest large island to South America there is often the chance of seeing some of the more unusual species that can turn up. We'll spend three nights here, going out on daily excursions to enjoy the variety of habitats and wildlife to be found.

Days 13 & 14: Sea Lion Island
Sea Lion Island, with its amazing array of spectacular wildlife, is the most southerly of the Falkland Islands. As nature is so close at hand here we will spend our time on foot exploring pools and coasts of the island. The majority of all Falklands breeding birds can be found on this island, including three different species of penguin, and it is also home to one of the rarest birds of prey in the world, the Striated Caracara. One of the great sights of the holiday are the Elephant Seals hauled up on the sandy beach as they moult. The lodge has views right across the island to the sea and the occasional pod of Killer Whales can be seen. After exploring by Land Rover every day up until now, it is a delight to spend our time walking over easy terrain on this small and very special island.

Day 15: Darwin
Our final inter-island flight of the holiday takes us back to Darwin where we'll stay at the lodge. Depending on the flight time (and we never know that until the night before) there'll be an opportunity for a last look round Sea Lion Island or an initial exploration of the area around Darwin.

Day 16: Darwin
For many, the place names Goose Green and Bomb Alley bring to mind the events of the Falklands War in 1982. On today's tour we will start exploring our local environment of Darwin and Goose Green where the large sheep sheds were used to house POWs and the locals were kept in the settlement hall. Our route will then take us up over the Sussex Mountains from where we can get superb views out over Falklands Sound towards West Falklands. On the other side of the hill we can see down the length of Bomb Alley as San Carlos Water was named at the time. It all looks so peaceful now but the memorial at San Carlos is a poignant reminder of those dangerous days. There is also plenty of wildlife to see, from the waterfowl that seem to frequent every pool or strip of coastline to the Dark-faced Ground Tyrants that pop out of the blue onto a nearby post every so often. Out over Falklands Sound Southern Giant Petrels glide low over the water with the occasional Black-browed Albatross a little further out if we are lucky. Closer to shore South American Terns will be feeding over the Kelp beds not far from their breeding colonies. We also get the chance to see what life is like out in 'camp' where self sufficiency has been a way of life for many years.

Day 17: Falklands - Ascension Island - Brize Norton
We have a relatively early start for our transfer from Darwin to Mount Pleasant Airport for our flight to the UK via Ascension Island.

Day 18:
We arrive back at Brize Norton at 0730 hours.

Please note that the itinerary can be changed at the sole discretion of Island Holidays or our representatives.