Antarctica by private jet: The Wolf's Fang luxury polar camp. Photo / Kelvin Trautman, White Desert
Antarctica by private jet: The Wolf's Fang luxury polar camp. Photo / Kelvin Trautman, White Desert
Antarctic base camps have not normally been associated with comfort or luxury.
However, one South African polar tourism company has opened new temporary accommodation in the white continent's interior that would put Scott and Schackleton's tents to shame.
Launching this month, Wolf's Fang camp is connected to an ice runway in Dronning Maud Land. It's part of Antarctica rarely seen by tourists. Due south of Cape Town, guests are flown in via private charter on a Gulfstream jet.
The luxury continues far beyond the transport.
The new camp features six heated sleeping tents, with space for up to twelve guests in total.
Welcome to Antarctica: the ice bar on the Wolf's Fang runway. Photo / Marko Prezelj, White Desert
With catering and an Ice Bar to provide cocktails made from glacial ice, there is plenty of space to unwind after activities on the ice.
24 hour sunlight allows for activities such as snowbiking, ski touring and ice climbing.
There is also the optional extras for visiting one of Antarctica's largest Emperor Penguin colonies, tracking 28,000 birds or a charter flight to the Geographic South Pole and Amundsen Scott base.
The fur-lined Wolf's Fang lounge. Photo / Marko Prezelj, White Desert
Founded by Antarctic explorers Patrick and Robyn Woodhead, the company owners are no stranger to the harsher side of the white continent.
Patrick has three world records for polar exploration including the first East to West crossing of Antarctica, skiing 1850km in a total of 75 days.
Wolf Fang camp guests will enjoy heated, twin sleeping tents. Photo / Kelvin Trautman, White Desert
"Ever since I first visited these mountains, I've dreamt of setting up a camp that would allow clients a chance to reconnect with nature, but also be adventurous," said Patrick.
The camp gains its name from the Fenriskjeften or Wolf's Jaw mountains whose jagged peaks surround the camp.
4250 kilometres south of Cape Town and 500 kilometres inland, it's a landscape normally only seen by a handful of researchers or hardy polar explorers.
Guests can enjoy ice climbing and 24-hour daylight activities. Photo / Kelvin Trautman, White Desert
First discover by Nazi scientists during the 1938 German Antarctic expedition. It is the sort of landscape you could envisage a Bond Villain lair.
"Wolf's Fang camp allows guests to experience something totally unique and that's not something easily found these days," says Patrick.
Far cry from Scott's camp: The Wolf's Fang luxury polar camp. Photo / Kelvin Trautman, White Desert
Patrick's wife Robyn sits on the Executive Committee for IAATO, the official body for international Antarctic tourism which works with the Antarctic Treaty parties to promote environmentally responsible tourism in the continent.
Ulvetana, the highest point in the Fenriskjeften or Wolf's Jaw mountains. Photo / KelvinTrautman, White Desert
Wolf's Fang is the second private camp to be opened by White Desert. The first, Whichaway oasis. Accommodated in igloo-like pods, it was opened in 2005 on the shores of the Whichaway freshwater lake.
The first summer expeditions departing next week, 28 November. Guests departing Cape Town can expect to spend upwards of $64,000 or $119,000 for an 8 day itinerary to the Geographic South Pole.
