Travel to Polar Regions

Antarctic Oasis: Under the Spell of South Georgia

Format: Hardcover
Author: Tim Carr
ReleaseDate: May, 1998
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Rating:

Antarctic Adventure
I am going in November and feel this is probably the one book for people to read if they are going there. Over 20,000 people a year go to Antarctica and only 5400 people went to South Georgia last year. Everyone I have talked to that has gone to the Antarctic Circle says that South Georgia is a must. Read this book before you book your cruise and if it is in your budget add South Georgia. It is one of the great ecosystems of the world so if you have done Africa and the Galapagos or other A list eco-tours this book will probably convince you to add South Georgia.

Travelling to such an unreachable land
Such remote and unreachable place for normal people as I am, but to dream with. It is a wonderful collection of pictures taken by Tim and Pauline Carr, during their long stay in the South Georgia Island. . . . a land where the human touch almost changed the landscape, but where the nature took over, after the last whalers left the island, with the rebirth of a new natural chain. .

5 Stars for the Colour Photography. Next best to going there
Apart from the stunning bird photographs with those amazing snow-capped peaks, there is the effusive commentary, emphasizing the natural moods of the place, with journeys by boat, hiking, on skis, explorations made more meaningful with some of the scientists from their bases. Fitting tribute to the sometimes threatened wildlife on this island - South Georgia. In fact the Carr's are the only permanent residents here, so taken with the wildness of the place, and actually run the Whaling museum. Not the least of characters is the famed one hundred year old Falmouth (England, UK) built cutter with whom we can share it's history in the final chapter of the book. This is no ordinary boat, not for all that the Carr's have taken her through these last 25 years. First hearing of the Carr's exploits in John Ridgeway's 'Then we sailed away', somehow the dangers of their journeys, although not exactly glossed over, are not depicted as felt experience as in the Ridgeway work, feeling more like the safe narrative encountered in a childrens' version of a day at sea. The reader is not aware of the friction and general mayhem that is so well recounted by John. Also there is no sense of the 'burden of the possession of mind', lonely outposts bringing on philosophical musings than is done here, unless of course they were were always an idyllically matched and happy couple. It is not that sort of book, rather allowing the displacement of humanity as much as possible in order to bring out into greatest relief, the exorbitant wildlife.

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