Why we built the Antarctica page

We added Antarctica to the Marula Hill destination map late, and we did it carefully. A short note on why, because the page sits among countries we have walked ourselves, and Antarctica is the one we have not.

Vikki and I built Marula Hill around lodges we know personally or through trusted partners. The continent breaks that rule. Neither of us has been. No paying client has travelled there with us yet. We thought hard about whether to publish the page at all, and the answer in the end was yes, with the honesty written into the page itself.

The shape of the decision

Clients ask. Often. The same families who have done Botswana with us in the wet, and then Kenya in the migration, eventually want the white version of the same idea. The room with nothing outside the window except a different kind of wilderness. Antarctica is the obvious answer. There are very few once-in-a-lifetime trips that still feel that way after the trip, and the people we trust most in the industry tell us this is one of them.

We could have ignored the request. We could have stayed inside our African footprint and told clients to phone someone else. We chose not to, for two reasons:

• The operators we would book through for Antarctica are people we already work with in Africa or know through long-standing trade contacts
• The clients who ask us are the same clients we already know well, and handing them off to a stranger felt wrong

So we made a page. It says, quietly, that we work the trip but we have not been. The voyages themselves are run by a small group of expedition operators who have been doing this for decades. We act as the bridge between the client we already know and the team on the ship.

Why it sits inside a luxury safari business

The honest version of the answer is that Antarctica is the natural next chapter for a certain kind of Marula Hill client. The ones who have seen the migration, walked in Mana Pools, done a sleep-out in the Sabi Sand. The continent is not a substitute for Africa. It is the trip you book the year after you have finally exhausted what you came to Africa for, and you want to feel small in a different way.

The other reason is that the booking process is closer to a tailored safari than people think. You are picking a small ship, not a hotel. You are matching a route to a window of about ten weeks each year. You are choosing between operators who run very different styles of voyage, from the science-led ships with naturalists on board to the heli-skiing add-ons. The work of picking the right one for a particular family is exactly the work we do in Africa. The geography is the only thing that changes.

What we will and will not say on the page

The Antarctica page is shorter than our African destination pages, and on purpose. We do not invent first-hand experience we do not have. We do not name a favourite cabin or a guide we love. We have no first-hand stories from the continent, and putting one in would be a small lie that compounds.

What we do write about is the trip shape. The voyages we recommend. The questions to ask before you book. The honest constraints, including the things people get wrong, like how much of the trip is the crossing rather than the continent. We point clients to the operators we would book them with, and we explain why we picked those operators over others. The page is useful and brief. That is the most we are willing to claim.

What happens next

Vikki and I will eventually go. The plan is to travel on one of the operators we already book clients through, off-season and at our own cost, the way we approach every new destination we add. When that happens, the page will change. There will be a real first-person piece. We will write about the things you cannot know from a website, the silence, the colour of the ice, the small business of getting into a Zodiac in the mornings. Until then the page stays as it is. A planning resource, written carefully, with the absence of personal experience admitted up front.

There is a small editorial principle in here that matters to both of us. We would rather be the safari business that says we have not been than the one that pretends. The map will catch up.

FAQ

Have you been to Antarctica yourselves?

We have not. Neither founder has set foot on the continent. We are honest about this on the Antarctica destination page and on every Antarctica piece we publish.

Why do you offer it then?

Because the clients we already work with for Africa ask us to plan it, and because the operators we would book through are people we already know through the industry. We act as the bridge. We do not pretend the bridge is more than it is.

What kind of trip is an Antarctica voyage?

A small-ship expedition voyage, typically out of Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina, lasting between ten days and three weeks. The crossing of the Drake Passage takes around two days each way. Once on the continent, you go ashore in Zodiacs from the ship, usually two excursions a day.

When is the season?

The Antarctic summer, roughly November through March. Each part of the season has a different character. Early season is heavier ice and pristine snow. Mid-season is peak penguin chick activity. Late season is the best chance for whales close to the boat.

Is it really a once-in-a-lifetime trip?

For most travellers, yes. The cost is significant, the planning window is short, and the experience is unlike anything else in the wild-places world. We do have a small number of clients who go back. For the vast majority, one voyage is the trip.

Do you pair Antarctica with anything else?

Most voyages depart from Ushuaia, which is at the southern tip of Argentina. Plenty of travellers add Patagonia at the front or end. We do not plan the South American leg ourselves, but we do hand off to specialists we trust for that side of the trip.

How do we start planning?

Drop us a note via the contact page with a rough month and a sense of what you are looking for in the trip. We will come back with two or three voyage options and a frank conversation about the trade-offs. Lead times are long. Most clients book at least nine to twelve months ahead, often more.

Sian Loehrer is co-founder of Marula Hill Travel. We plan boutique safaris across South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Namibia, and Mozambique. We work only with lodges we know personally or through trusted partners.