Falkland Islands · FK

Saunders Island

There is nowhere else in the world quite like Saunders Island for the sheer density of seabird life you can witness in a single afternoon. Five species of penguin breed on this northwest Falklands island — gentoo, king, rockhopper, magellanic, and the rare macaroni — alongside eleven thousand pairs of black-browed albatross whose wings stretch wider than your armspan. The island's most photogenic spot, the narrow sandy isthmus called The Neck, funnels albatross and penguins past you within a few metres of your hiking boots. You are not peering through binoculars at a distant colony. You are walking through one. Beyond the wildlife, Saunders carries a surprising layer of history. Port Egmont, founded in 1765, was the first permanent British settlement in the Falkland Islands. Walking the short path from the modern settlement to the ruins, you can trace where sailors and marines lived more than 250 years ago, and some visitors are invited to raise the Union Flag at the site. The island is still a working sheep farm run by the Pole-Evans family, which gives a day here a texture that no purpose-built tourist lodge can replicate — you might hear dogs calling a flock or see farm workers gathering sheep before breakfast.