A trip into the white: The world's purest land
By Wang Lihui and Shen Li |
May 28, 2013, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AFTER adventures on the Himalayan mountains and in the Hoh Xil isolated region in western China, 48-year-old Jiading businessman Jiang Xiaochuan set his sights on Antarctica.
Jiang and 180 teammates boarded the ship on December 1 last year at Ushuaia in Argentina, setting out for a 10-day tourist voyage to the South Pole. The trip was organized by the China National Geography magazine for its members.
At midnight of the second day aboard the ship, some team members staying on the deck caught the sight of the first iceberg floating from the South Pole. Their excited cries woke Jiang.
The following day was cold and overcast with strong winds. Standing on the deck, Jiang suddenly saw an iceberg as big as a house, which filled his tired body with excitement. In the hours that followed, more and more icebergs came into view and Jiang knew that the South Pole was pretty close.
Landing on the pole
On the fourth day, the ship sailed cautiously between icebergs as the captain made arrangements for the team to land on the Cuverville Island.
An initial landing party on speedboats marked suitable landing areas on the island for the rest of the team.
Jiang's first impression was that Antarctica was not as cold as he had thought before.
The dry air and the heat from the sun made him feel that the place was not as cold as Shanghai in wintertime. Standing in snow up to his knees, Jiang even posed topless with several team mates for photos.
Working in the industry of color technology, Jiang found that Antarctica's color was not just a boring white. The major color is white, but among the whites are scattered different kinds of blues which change with the light and angle of view. "These colors will make every one at the scene indulge in them," Jiang said.
Jiang saw penguins as soon as he landed on the island. "Penguins are cute and interesting," he said.
Stealing stones
Summer in the southern hemisphere is the season when penguins incubate their eggs and penguins will build a nest with stones to cushion the eggs to prevent melted ice and snow from soaking and freezing the eggs.
But with Antarctica all ice and snow, where to find the stones for tens of thousands of penguins to build their nests?
The answer is to steal them, and this seemed to be one of the penguins' favorite activities.
Jiang took a series of snapshots after a family's male penguin dived into the sea for food: A penguin sneaks closer while the female is hatching her eggs.
The penguin thief approaches with small steps and the female penguin cries out as soon as she finds the thief's attempt. But she dares not move off the egg for fear that the egg would be stolen by the skuas behind. So, just outside her reach, the thief picks up a stone from the nest in his mouth and makes his escape.
On this continent, stones are as precious as diamonds and single males try to build as pretty a nest as they can to win favor from the females.
Tourists' rules
Besides penguins, Jiang also saw Arctic terns, blue-eyed cormorants and snow petrel. Weddell seals, who like to rest on floating ice, and the imposing minke whales were other highlights of Jiang's trip.
In Antarctica, Jiang said tourists must follow a set of rules: before first landing, all clothing and backpacks are required to be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner; all tourists should be disinfected before boarding and getting off speedboats; they are not allowed to take or leave anything; they should keep a distance of at least five meters from any animal; they mustn't feed animals, not even when they appear to be starving - this is their natural environment and should not be disturbed by humans.
On December 10, Jiang and his team members left Antarctica to return home. "We left nothing on Antarctica except our own foot prints," Jiang said.
Jiang and 180 teammates boarded the ship on December 1 last year at Ushuaia in Argentina, setting out for a 10-day tourist voyage to the South Pole. The trip was organized by the China National Geography magazine for its members.
At midnight of the second day aboard the ship, some team members staying on the deck caught the sight of the first iceberg floating from the South Pole. Their excited cries woke Jiang.
The following day was cold and overcast with strong winds. Standing on the deck, Jiang suddenly saw an iceberg as big as a house, which filled his tired body with excitement. In the hours that followed, more and more icebergs came into view and Jiang knew that the South Pole was pretty close.
Landing on the pole
On the fourth day, the ship sailed cautiously between icebergs as the captain made arrangements for the team to land on the Cuverville Island.
An initial landing party on speedboats marked suitable landing areas on the island for the rest of the team.
Jiang's first impression was that Antarctica was not as cold as he had thought before.
The dry air and the heat from the sun made him feel that the place was not as cold as Shanghai in wintertime. Standing in snow up to his knees, Jiang even posed topless with several team mates for photos.
Working in the industry of color technology, Jiang found that Antarctica's color was not just a boring white. The major color is white, but among the whites are scattered different kinds of blues which change with the light and angle of view. "These colors will make every one at the scene indulge in them," Jiang said.
Jiang saw penguins as soon as he landed on the island. "Penguins are cute and interesting," he said.
Stealing stones
Summer in the southern hemisphere is the season when penguins incubate their eggs and penguins will build a nest with stones to cushion the eggs to prevent melted ice and snow from soaking and freezing the eggs.
But with Antarctica all ice and snow, where to find the stones for tens of thousands of penguins to build their nests?
The answer is to steal them, and this seemed to be one of the penguins' favorite activities.
Jiang took a series of snapshots after a family's male penguin dived into the sea for food: A penguin sneaks closer while the female is hatching her eggs.
The penguin thief approaches with small steps and the female penguin cries out as soon as she finds the thief's attempt. But she dares not move off the egg for fear that the egg would be stolen by the skuas behind. So, just outside her reach, the thief picks up a stone from the nest in his mouth and makes his escape.
On this continent, stones are as precious as diamonds and single males try to build as pretty a nest as they can to win favor from the females.
Tourists' rules
Besides penguins, Jiang also saw Arctic terns, blue-eyed cormorants and snow petrel. Weddell seals, who like to rest on floating ice, and the imposing minke whales were other highlights of Jiang's trip.
In Antarctica, Jiang said tourists must follow a set of rules: before first landing, all clothing and backpacks are required to be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner; all tourists should be disinfected before boarding and getting off speedboats; they are not allowed to take or leave anything; they should keep a distance of at least five meters from any animal; they mustn't feed animals, not even when they appear to be starving - this is their natural environment and should not be disturbed by humans.
On December 10, Jiang and his team members left Antarctica to return home. "We left nothing on Antarctica except our own foot prints," Jiang said.
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