The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) is sending two “resilient” teams 9,000 miles south to manage a base at Port Lockroy on Goudier Island and to Blaiklock Island Refuge in Antarctica
A British team is set to embark on a five-month mission in Antarctica, where they will be counting penguins and carrying out conservation work.
The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) is sending two “resilient” teams 9,000 miles south to manage a base at Port Lockroy on Goudier Island and to Blaiklock Island Refuge in Antarctica. The team will depart in October and will be stationed at Goudier Island for five months. Their duties will include managing the world’s southernmost post office and museum and monitoring over 1,000 gentoo penguins by counting nests, eggs and chicks.
The newest recruits will be living and working on an island the size of a football pitch, with near constant daylight and sub-zero temperatures. They will have to adapt to life without running water or a flushing toilet.
Do you have a story to tell us? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com
Each member will be allowed to bring just one small box of home comforts, including their favourite games, books, photos and treats. The team includes Lou Hoskin, who will be the base leader, Maggie Coll, who will work as a wildlife monitor, and George Clarke, who will run the post office while Aoife McKenna will manage the museum and Dale Ellis will be in charge of the shop.
The team has already undergone extensive training, including a talk from a penguin-ologist.
When the jobs were advertised in March this year, it was said that the available positions up for grabs were general assistant, shop manager and base leader, with salaries ranging from £1,375 to £1,985 per month. Applicants were warned they’d have to be prepared to share a room with five other people, go for extended periods of time without phone or internet and up to two weeks without showering.
For the worker on the lowest salary, £1,375 works out at just under £46 a day, if each of the 30 days in a month they’re at Port Lockroy is counted.
For the first time, a group of specialist conservators will later travel to Blaiklock Island Refuge, UKAHT’s smallest and most inaccessible site. The remote island was once part of the Jones Ice Shelf that has since disappeared due to climate change, so can now only be reached by boat. Here the team will be working in “inhospitable conditions” to complete urgent repairs to make the site safe and restore its historic buildings.
Blaiklock Island is the last known example of a 1950s refuge used by scientists in the Antarctic, so the team will also catalogue artefacts and capture digital footage of the site. The team includes filmmaker Michael Duff, conservation carpenters Dale Perrin and Graham Gillie, and conservator Lizzie Meek.
“We have selected the team, not just for their love for Antarctica and a desire to preserve and protect its human history, but also for their resilience too,” said UKAHT CEO Camilla Nichol.
“We feel confident we’ve found people with the specialist skills we need to attempt our first conservation season at Blaiklock Island Refuge this year.
JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP: Discover your next dream getaway in the UK or abroad by joining our free Mirror Travel WhatsApp community HERE.
GET THE NEWSLETTER: Or sign up to the Mirror Travel newsletter for a weekly dose of the best holiday deals, travel warnings, expert advice and hidden gems, straight to your inbox.
“While the sea ice and ocean currents can make reaching this remote island very challenging, it feels critical that we restore it now so we don’t lose this little time capsule forever. Our fundraising efforts are still in full swing for this season, so the public can help us make this happen by donating what they can it’s hugely appreciated.”
Port Lockroy and Blaiklock Island Refuge are one of the six heritage sites managed by UKAHT, whose role is to conserve British Antarctic heritage on the Antarctic Peninsula.
