Falkland Islands Wildlife Expedition: 7 Days Penguins & Remote Wilderness

Tour Overview

Itinerary Highlights

Day 1: Arrive Mount Pleasant — Stanley

Arrive at Mount Pleasant Airfield (RAF base, with twice-weekly LATAM flights from Santiago via Punta Arenas). Your guide, a Falkland Islander, meets you with a warm “Welcome to Camp!” (Islander term for anywhere outside Stanley). Scenic 55km drive across the wild Falklands landscape — vast open plains of diddle-dee (red crowberry) and tussac grass, dotted with sheep farms and the carcasses of old shipwrecks. Arrive in Stanley, the world’s most remote capital city (population 2,500). Afternoon orientation walk: the brightly colored corrugated-iron houses, Christ Church Cathedral with its whalebone arch monument (made from blue whale jawbones in 1933), the 1982 Liberation Memorial, and the Historic Dockyard Museum. Welcome dinner at a traditional pub featuring Falklands lamb and local-brewed beer. Overnight at Stanley guesthouse.

Day 2: Volunteer Point — The King Penguin Kingdom

Full-day 4×4 expedition to Volunteer Point, a 3-hour off-road drive across the rugged Falklands landscape — an adventure in itself. Volunteer Point hosts the Falklands’ largest king penguin colony with over 1,000 breeding pairs. Unlike most penguin species, king penguins breed year-round, meaning you’ll see the full cycle: eggs, fluffy brown chicks (once mistaken for a separate species), and majestic adults with their orange-yellow ear patches. Spend 4-6 hours observing and photographing these magnificent birds against the backdrop of white sand beaches and turquoise South Atlantic waters. Also present: gentoo penguins (recognizable by their white headbands) and Magellanic penguins peering from their burrows. Picnic lunch on the beach among the penguins. Return to Stanley in the evening. Overnight at Stanley guesthouse.

Day 3: Sea Lion Island — Southern Elephant Seals

Morning domestic flight on a Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS) Islander aircraft — an experience in itself, flying at low altitude over the archipelago’s 778 islands. Destination: Sea Lion Island, the Falklands’ premier wildlife site. Here, southern elephant seals — the world’s largest seals, with males reaching 4,000 kg — haul out on the beaches. Walk among gentoo, Magellanic, and rockhopper penguin colonies. Southern sea lions lounge on the rocks. Killer whales patrol the kelp forests offshore. The island is also home to the striated caracara (Johnny Rook), one of the world’s rarest birds of prey, intensely curious and known to untie bootlaces. Overnight at Sea Lion Lodge, the only accommodation on the island, with panoramic views of the wildlife spectacle.

Day 4: Sea Lion Island — Full Day Immersion

Dawn photography session as the first light hits the elephant seal colony. Full day of wildlife observation: watch male elephant seals engage in dramatic battles for beach dominance, gentoo penguins porpoising through the waves as they return from fishing, and rockhopper penguins making their comical, determined ascent up the cliffs from the sea. Afternoon guided walk to see nesting giant petrels, imperial shags, and the endemic Cobb’s wren. The absence of introduced predators on Sea Lion Island means birds are extraordinarily approachable. Overnight at Sea Lion Lodge.

Day 5: Return to Stanley & Port Howard — West Falkland

Morning FIGAS flight back to Stanley, connecting to Port Howard on West Falkland, a historic sheep station with dramatic coastal scenery. Visit the 1982 war museum at Port Howard, housed in a former shearing shed, telling the story of the Falklands conflict from the perspective of those who lived it. Walk the pristine coastline spotting dolphins in Port Howard Sound and witnessing the extraordinary birdlife of the western islands. Visit a working sheep farm to understand the Falklands’ wool economy — the islands have 500,000 sheep and just 3,600 people. Overnight at Port Howard Lodge with home-cooked Falklands hospitality.

Day 6: West Falkland Wilderness

Full-day exploration of West Falkland. Morning drive to the dramatic coastal cliffs at the western edge of the island — some of the most remote and spectacular scenery in the Falklands. Spot black-browed albatrosses riding the updrafts, with their 2.4m wingspan. Visit a gentoo penguin colony on an isolated beach. Afternoon: hiking through the pristine landscape of the Hornby Mountains (the Falklands’ modest “mountain range” topping out at 705m at Mount Adam). Return to Port Howard for a traditional Falklands dinner: roast lamb with all the trimmings, followed by “diddle-dee” berry crumble. Overnight at Port Howard Lodge.

Day 7: Return to Stanley & Departure

Morning FIGAS flight back to Stanley. Time for last-minute shopping: Falklands wool products, penguin-themed souvenirs, and diddle-dee jam. Transfer to Mount Pleasant for your onward flight.

Inclusions

• 6 nights (Stanley 2, Sea Lion Lodge 2, Port Howard 2)
• All meals throughout
• FIGAS domestic flights (3 flights)
• 4×4 expedition to Volunteer Point
• Sea Lion Island wildlife guiding
• Port Howard farm & war museum visits
• English-speaking local guides throughout
• All conservation area entry fees
• Airport transfers in Stanley

Why the Falklands

• Volunteer Point — over 1,000 king penguins and their “teddy bear” chicks, one of Earth’s great wildlife spectacles
• Five penguin species — king, gentoo, Magellanic, rockhopper, and macaroni — in one archipelago
• Sea Lion Island — walk among 4,000kg elephant seals and orca-patrolled kelp forests
• Intimate wildlife encounters — with no native land predators, animals are extraordinarily approachable
• FIGAS flights — possibly the world’s most scenic “bus service” across 778 islands
• One of Earth’s last truly wild places, just 3,600 people on islands the size of Northern Ireland