In today’s rapidly changing world, nature invariably takes a back seat and is exploited beyond any sustainable level.

Not so long ago, there were over a million elephants and bison roaming their respective continents, and herds of Springbok would take days to pass through South Africa’s arid Karoo. Sadly, such days are a thing of the past, but there remain a few isolated places where human footfall is scant. It is in these places where the fortunate few who visit them can glimpse what life on earth must have been like before the human pursuit of “progress” began.

Having travelled the length and breadth of the planet, there is one such place that stands out to me: South Georgia Island, a tiny speck in the ocean over 1,600 kilometres east of South America. It is here, on this 160-odd kilometre-long island, where some of the greatest densities of marine wildlife on the planet are to be found. With jaw-dropping scenery and a history that tells tales of incredible survival, cruelty and over-exploitation, you find one incredible bay after another crammed with penguins, seals and sea birds.

I will never forget the first time I set foot in what must be the jewel in South Georgia’s crown: St Andrews Bay. With a gentle offshore wind blowing, it was the cacophony of sound that we could hear from our boat’s cabins that first made me realise that what I was about to see would, in all likelihood, be beyond belief. Then, when we came ashore, it was the hustle and bustle of tens of thousands of colourful penguins, nearly a metre high, going back and forth to the beach, carefully navigating a route through thousands of 4,000-kilogram southern elephant seals as they did so. The magnitude of the life before us was truly unimaginable.

I simply sat down, stared, listened and engaged my senses. I was alone in Paradise, away from my kind but surrounded by so many others.

Available Sizes

Exhibition: 173cm x 77cm (68” x 30”)
Large: 146 cm x 62.5 cm (57.5″ x 24.7″)
Classic: 118cm x 52.4cm (56” x 25”)