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You would not think it, but Antarctica can get crowded with tourists at times, and during the summer, more than 100,000 visitors can flock to the loneliest continent on the planet.

While Antarctica doesn’t have many permanent residents – so there is no chance you will get squirted with a water gun by an annoyed local – the unusual tourist destination at the bottom of the world does indeed get crowded.

According to IAATO, Antarctica’s association of tour operators and the continent’s de facto tourism authority, the 2023-2024 travel season has seen a 40% increase in arrivals, with an unofficial number of 105,000 tourists making their way to the pole this season.

While the vast majority of travellers arrived on cruise ships that set off from ports in South America, not everyone is so keen on braving the arctic oceans aboard a floating mall.

For those with a bit more bank to splurge on the trip of a lifetime, luxury camps with a landing strip for your private jet are the obvious choice, and for that authentic South Pole experience, luxury tour operator White Desert is taking trekking to a whole new level.

With Antarctica’s only private aircraft runway set atop a mile-thick slab of ice, White Desert‘s three 12-person polar camps allow guests to witness the White Continent in a way that has long been exclusive to scientists and intrepid explorers. Best of all? They only allow 250 guests, and all by private plane. Hence the ‘exclusive’.

Patrick Woodhead, the record-holding polar explorer who cofounded White Desert in 2005 says he “wanted to create something far more bespoke than a cruise.”

“When it’s only 12 of you observing a colony of some 20,000 penguins, it’s a nigh-on spiritual experience. But if you’re one of 200 guests, following a marked path to see the penguins, you lose that sense of serendipity.”

 

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White Desert doubled down on the ‘serendipity’ vibe with the 2022 introduction of Echo, its third camp, which has six spheroid “sky pods” made of fibreglass and a communal core with a dining area, lounge, and hot shower amenities. (It is also one of Robb Report’s Top 50 Hotels in the World.)

 

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Besides the stunning scenery, visitors can experience guided rock climbing and abseiling in the adjacent Nunatak Mountains, cross-country skiing expeditions, and expert-guided campouts in remote valleys.

White Desert’s ski-equipped Basler BT-67 planes can also take guests on day trips to Atka Bay, home to one of the largest Emperor Penguin colonies on the planet, and the rarely visited Geographic South Pole that includes an overnight at Dixie’s Camp, an ultra-remote tented base whose nearest neighbour is the International Space Station that circles some 400 kilometres overhead.

This uber-exclusive holiday does however come at a cost. A week-long stay at Echo will set you back R1.3 million per person, and because everything needs to be flown in, a can of Coke will cost you a cool R375.

Still, if you have the money, it’s worth it.

[source:robbreport]