FALKLAND ISLANDS

King penguins

Monument to the fallen in Falklands Conflict

The Falkland Islands comprise two main islands, East and West Falkland, and over 700 smaller islands, a total land area of about 4,700 square miles.  They are 300 miles to the east of southern Argentina. This isolated dependent territory of Great Britain is 8,000 miles from the home country.  Port Stanley, the capital and only place of any size, is situated on the east coast of East Falkland, which has around 2,500 inhabitants. 

We had a magnificent sail in, calm seas and very little wind; even the tender ride ashore was without incident, which is very unusual. We had been warned to wrap warmly, with several layers of clothing, hats, gloves etc, so most of us emerged on the quayside looking very similar in shape to the penguins themselves!  However, the drizzle that greeted us soon made way for clear skies and warm sunshine and that remained for most of our stay.

We were taking a tour to Bluff Clove Lagoon, to the penguin colony – mostly Gentoos – which can be seen in the little video, but the photograph shows a small group of King penguins in the middle of the colony.

The driver of our mini bus was Trudie and it was her husband Charles who took the four of us in his farm Land Rover for a bone shattering 20 minute “ride” to the cove.  I can see why people with any back problems were warned against going on this trip, as I have never before been taken on tracks where the ruts were over 2ft deep and many a time the steepness of the sideways angle made us sure the vehicle would tip over.  Our heads made contact with the roof of the vehicle on many an occasion!

A bit more information about Trudie – I don’t know if any of you will have heard about a lady on the Falklands who 30 years ago guided paramedics many many miles in the dark to groups of severely – and many critically injured soldiers. Thankfully it was a moonlit night and as she walked, Trudie held up her hands on which she wore white gloves so the paramedics could see where she was going. Only a local would have that knowledge and this was a remarkable feat by a very brave woman for which she received a well-deserved commendation. The terrain is the most bleakest imaginable with no trees at all, huge boulders and not much grass, so impossible to get your bearings. She said she was so angry that her island was being invaded that she would have done anything to help the British troops.

A large British military presence of about 1500 men and women remains on the Falklands and the islands remain strongly pro-British.

What a privilege to have visited these remote islands and so refreshing to get the true picture from the Falklanders themselves regarding the 1982 invasion and subsequent conflict.

A final piece of useless information – Port Stanley is on the same latitude south of the Equator as Watford is to the North!