March 8, 2025

Volunteer Point is home to 1,200 adult king penguins plus at times several hundred chicks. It is the largest colony of king penguins in the world. Seeing king penguins at all, let alone up close, is an almost unheard-of event. It is an enormous privilege for even the most experienced traveler, and it was not an experience that Chongae and I could pass up.

Volunteer Point is approximately 2½ hours outside of the main city of Stanley. Most of the route is an adventure in itself, as it is over rough terrain in a 4×4 vehicle. The route takes in a variety of challenges that fully test the skill of the off-road driver. Back breaking travel over streams, broken bridges, large ditches and countless peat bogs must be endured before you reach your destination. After you arrive at the sheep farm of Johnson Harbour, that is where the real adventure begins. The reward is that, eventually, you will arrive at the king penguin colony situated between a beautiful, long, white-sand beach and a saltwater lagoon.

There are wonderful photo opportunities as the outgoing and friendly king penguins elegantly pose, dressed to kill in their superb coloring of white, gold and black feathers. They are unafraid and are happy to go about their day as if you were not there. We were lucky to have an early summer visit which provided a chance to see one of the fluffy brown chicks.

The sandy beach allowed us to view the king penguins as they headed out to sea in search of food or return to their colonies to rest. Mostly, it was a joy to watch these fascinating penguins play and interact together.

However, as promised the journey was worth the effort as evidenced by what was waiting for us on the other side of the lagoon.

It was as if we had entered this unique “penguin neighborhood” where residents were going about their daily lives.

You could definitely tell who the leaders were, and some seemed to be practicing for a wedding ceremony.

I believe because king penguins look like waddling waiters dressed in cute little tuxedos that we seem to personalize them more and project our own human emotions on them. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could swear these little guys were pointing and laughing at my outfit.

All in all, to see these king penguins playing and resting together was a real joy. And we did get to see one of the fluffy brown chicks.

Stanley is a quaint little town, and we had a great guide in Shawn. A seventh generation Falklander he shared with us “insider” information about Stanley. The weather was cold and winder. That’s Shawn below in a tee shirt. That’s a Floridian next to him in a parka!

And some of that “inside” information Shawn shared with us:

There is only 1 ATM machine on the Falkland Islands. It is located at the gas station. The one bank on the Falkland Island didn’t think that Falkland currency would work in an ATM machine. So, the gas station owners bought a used ATM machine on eBay (who knew?) and converted in for Falkland currency.

That same gas station is the only gas station in the Falkland Islands and the owners have the lifetime right to sell gas from the government but can only charge 2 pence (2 cents) over their wholesale price. Shaun says they pump enough gas to make a nice living.

And for you investors, the Johnson Harbor farm that leads to Volunteer Point was purchased 2 years ago by an 80-year-old environmentally sensitive Falkland woman who did not want the property purchased by a Chinese investment group that planned to put up a hotel on the property. The cost was 1.3 million dollars. The size of the sheep farm=56,000 acres. That number is correct Fifty-Six Thousand Acres! That is about $23.00 an acre. She is charging $25.00 per person for each person to access her farm to get to Volunteer Point. Shaun anticipates she will have the cost of the farm paid off in short order.

A pretty smart 80-year-old!

Thanks for traveling with us.