Intent on travelling in retirement Mike Cullis, an award winning photographer, sought advice on the one place to visit. It appears that the Falkland Islands was this place. It offered a different experience, was a special place and presented the opportunity to create an audio/visual presentation where the accompanying music would reflect the character of the wildlife portrayed. Just getting there was a challenge. The RAF flight from Brize Norton was not the most salubrious of travel experiences. Guest accommodation on the islands was limited and resources, including water, were scarce. Within the islands travel was largely by 4x4 over rough terrain with the occasional small plane.
He began with photos of the recognisable islands - everything has to be imported, the Falkland's War Memorial, Margaret Thatcher and Government House. Less familiar was the shed graveyard and the once a year horse race. However, it was the wildlife that he was there for and first up was a striated caracara. Unique to the Falklands and the southern tip of South America. Steamer duck and silvery grebe were next before a trip west to West Point Island offered up fascinating images of the albatross in a colony surprisingly tolerant of humans. Panda dolphins provided a change of focus before rockhopper penguins with their funny hopping antics provided some amusement. Cormorants and elephant seals provided a distinct contrast. There are resident penguins and migratory penguins on the Falklands. The previously mentioned rockhoppers are nutcases. Magellanic penguins burrow underground. Gentoo penguins provided the penguin equivalent of rush hour in the early evenings when many penguins return from the day at sea and mass along their ‘highways’. King penguins were, of course, majestic, but displayed incidences of slapping fellow penguins. Mike's final offering was southern sea lions the population of which is declining. It was clearly an exceptional place to visit and photograph.