The Falklands is a strange place. A small part of Britain a long way from home. A flight from Chile brought us here for a week (an expensive week, at that). We had a couple of islands lined up and then a couple of nights in Stanley. Immediately on landing we transferred to a FIGAS plane for the short, low altitude hop to Sea Lion Island, our first stop. Within seconds of landing I started ticking the rare birds around the lodge. Penguin colonies were visible already.
A landrover tour on the first day showed us the lie of the land and also showed us Elephant Seals. With the layout sorted we were left to our own devices over the next few days to wander the tracks to see what we could find. We got everything we expected apart from missing Killer Whales, but we hit a bonus with 3 King Penguins. There is also a memorial to HMS Sheffield.
From Sealion we flew to Carcass, different but just as interesting. Some of the beaches could have come straight from the Caribbean, but with penguins. On the day we were due to leave, fog descended and we were stuck for an extra night. Eventually we left and headed to a shortened stop in Stanley.
A trip to the King Penguin colony was the highlight here, followed up by a bit of a battlefield tour to see all the key locations (Harriet, Tumbledown etc). A final walk to see the Margaret Thatcher memorial and the war memorial and we were off.
