To the Ends of the Earth

Kerguelen Island

Sterile, dreadful, blessed, cursed, strange, majestic, awesome, fabulous, windy, desolate – just a few of the adjectives used to describe Kerguelen, a French island situated 13,000 miles from France, an island that no French dignitary – and few others on Earth – has ever visited.

This is hardly surprising, since the island and its surrounding archipelago of a further 85 islands is – at 49°20'S, 70°20'E – a speck on the map. It is in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean, midway between Africa, Australia and the Antarctic, with the Antarctic being its closest major neighbour.

Not only is it some way off most tourist routes, but its climate is inhospitable in the extreme. It is the windiest place on Earth, exposed to the strong westerly gales of the 'roaring forties' – gusts frequently top 60mph. With rain, sleet and snow falling on around 300 days of the year, temperatures rarely reach above freezing.

Why go there?

Why on earth would anyone want to go to Desolation Island? That's a good question. Matthew Parris had reasons of a personal nature, and other travellers who want to wander far from the beaten track might find it intriguing.

Surprisingly, it is possible for ordinary tourists to reach Kerguelen. Mer et Voyages, a French travel company, organises trips on the oceanographic research vessel Marion-Dufresne, the only ship that goes from Réunion to Kerguelen and back. These voyages are pricey: a single berth costs Ff36,000 (roughly £3,600), while a double will set back each person Ff28,000.

While few of us would pick Kerguelen for our summer holidays, for scientists Kerguelen's isolation makes it a unique and important location. Untouched and untarnished by human activity, it is an almost pristine environment in which to study nature.

Mountains, volcanoes, fjords

Although the island is large – about the size of Crete, spanning 75 by 87 miles – no point on the island is further than 12 miles from the sea, thanks to the fjords and inlets that cut into Kerguelen's shores. As a result, its coastline is as long as France's. About a third of the island's surface is covered in ice, while its mountains are heavily glaciated.

Kerguelen is the most mountainous of the islands in the archipelago. Its highest peak is Mount Ross, towering 6,068 feet (1,850 metres) above sea level. One of the other mountains is actually an active volcano, and all the Kerguelen islands were created by a series of lava flows.

Wildlife

Despite its inhospitable climate, Kerguelen is home to a wide range of animals, birds and insects that have adapted to its ferocious and bitterly cold winds. The butterflies on Kerguelen, for example, are wingless because they would be unable to fly in the gales. Other insects are similarly condemned to walk and crawl.

Not all of the animals found on the island are natives. Reindeer, which were imported to Kerguelen, are now considered a pest and have to be culled. The feral cats there are also more recent arrivals. They are the descendants of shipwreck survivors, providing a unique link between the Kerguelen of the 21st century and the explorers who first ventured there in the 18th and 19th centuries. The cats of Kerguelen are the only truly feral ones on Earth, so remote are their chances of human contact.

Perhaps the most impressive mammals found on the island are the elephant seals. These vast, blubbery, blue-grey beasts can grow to 21ft (6.4m) in length, with the largest males weighing more than 7,700lb (3,490kg). The males are aggressive during the breeding season, fighting each other for dominance. Those that succeed gather harems of up to 40 females with which to mate.

The hunting of Kerguelen's fur seals brought them to the brink of extinction in the 19th century. However, today, as an endangered species, they are under protection and are flourishing.

Desolation Island is also rich in birdlife. It is home to four species of penguin, the Cape pigeon, two varieties of giant fulmar, no fewer than 11 types of petrel as well as terns, gulls and – perhaps most appropriately – grey-headed and light-mantled sooty albatross.

Plants

While Kerguelen wildlife is abundant, its plant life is more disappointing. Although fossils show that great forests once covered the island, these disappeared after a glacial period in which the entire land mass was covered with ice. Today, the only plant that arouses much interest is the Kerguelen cabbage. This looks much like an ordinary cabbage, but it holds a special place in the island's history. As well as having a distinctively pungent taste, it contains a hefty amount of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and explorers and their crews ate it boiled and raw, helping to protect them against scurvy.

It, too, has had to adapt to its environment. Normally, it would be pollinated by insects, but since Kerguelen's insects are wingless, it has modified itself for wind pollination.

Matthew's dream

Kerguelen Island

A history of Kerguelen

Five lonely places

Matthew Parris

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