Lonely Planet Antarctica [ペーパーバック]

Lonely Planet have been setting the standards for travel guide-books for a number of years now.

Jeff Rubin's guide-book to Antarctica is a treasure, first of all because guide-books on Antarctica are still very rare indeed, secondly because it is exhaustively comprehensive in its detail and yet so readable.

Antarctica is a unique place. The last true wilderness remaining on earth. A land where diverse and warring nations co-exist together to work, study and explore in peace. A land where Man can watch Mother Nature act alone, undisturbed. The highest, windiest, driest continent and yet the one containing the most water. Jeff Rubin gives profound insights on this last continent, this last true frontier. This book is packed with facts about history, geology as well as environmental issues (by Dr.Maj de Porteer) and antarctic science (by Dr.David Walton).

This book also contains a wildlife guide with more than sixty entries packed with pictures and with information essential for those who want to go and observe the wilderness of Antarctica.

Practical tips on when, how and with whom to go is both up to date, independent and as complete as one can get.

Plenty of information on the main Antarctic gateways is also provided as well as my most treasured part of the book - the chapter on the Sub-Antarctic Islands packed with information which is very diffuclt to find anywhere else with details on such isolated islands like Bouvetoya - the most isolated land on earth, Ile Crozet, Ile Kerguelen and many many others.

There are more than 20 maps in this book including, believe it or not, a map of non-existent islands. Throughout his book Rubin adds boxed text which provide to-the-point information on varied subjects ranging from Helicopter Safety, Taking Photos in Antarctica, Why one should not collect anything from Antarctica, Glaciology, the Aurora Australis and How to cope with isolation.

It is a pity that Rubin does not deal with such sensitive issues such as the exploration of the undergroung lake Vostok and attempts by many groups to ban sampling from this lake so as to avoid contamination.

A selection of photos is also present in this book, although unfortuantely not even one new photo has been added when compared to the first edition.

This book is a must for all those who are going to Antarctica as well for all those are interested in Antarctica but who do not have the good fortune, or the necessary finances to go to the most beautiful place on earth in person. Instead through Jeff Rubin one can practice on a regular basis armchair tourism. The only pity is that here in Malta the temperature is 35 degress Celsius. To feel truly there, I need a 2 metre tall freezer so as to at least feel what is it like to be in a very hot Antarctican summer day!

This book from Lonely Planet is, as always, the ultimate choice of guidebook for travelers. It provides excellent and up-to-date information which any type of traveler will find invaluable. Despite the fact that Antarctica is probably the least visited of the many regions of the world covered by LP, the authors have managed to put together an outstanding agglomeration of data and advice, well edited and excellently written. But... furthermore, on top of being an excellent travel book, this LP guide is also (like many other LP guides, but even more outstandingly) a great book about Antarctica's reality: the place itself, the peculiar or unique characters of this wonderful land, etc. Truly wonderful material is provided in this book, ensuring excellent reading for the armchair traveler, or the Antarctica beginner alike. Its many chapters and additional text boxes about a variety of topics, contain and provide extremely rich information on matters from history to politics, from geography to biology. All in all, a masterpiece.

This book, while relatively well written with a good survey of the exploration history of the continent and much detail on the many parts of Antarctica where virtually no one goes, is almost totally useless as a travel guide.

The single, by far most important decision that a prospective traveler makes is to choose the type of ship and, within the type, which individual ship. According to IAATO there were some 38,000 visitors to Antarctica during the 2009/2010 season. Almost exactly half were passengers on large standard cruise ships that the big operators reposition to the Valparaiso (Chile) to Buenos Aires route during the Northern Hemisphere winter. As a little "bonus extra" these ships skirt Antarctica as they round the Horn and let their passengers view the continent between trips to the groaning buffet tables. Ships of more than 1000 passengers make no landings, while ships with between 400 and 1000 do sometime make a single landing of groups of 100 or less. The same is the case for ships of between 100 and 400 passengers which may venture to make a couple of landings.

The other half, some 19,000, opt for one of the "expedition travel" choices. The vast majority of these book a cruise on one of the roughly 20 ice strengthened ships that are able to navigate in Antarctic waters and, since they carry less than 100 passengers, can land passengers on the continent. As Mr. Rubin points out in the book, 80% of these travelers visit 30 different spots on the Antarctic Peninsula and half of these visit just 10 of the sites, and finally 30% visit only 5.

Therefore, while the 19 pages on the Antarctic Peninsula are useful, I question what value the other 200 pages on East Antarctica, Ross Sea, Weddell Sea, pre-Antarctic Islands and even South Georgia, the Falklands etc are since no more than a handful of tourists visit these locations.

But the real failure is that there is almost no information that could help prospective visitors choose with whom they will travel. There are obviously vast differences between the big cruise ships and the expedition ones. For the purpose of this discussion let's put aside passengers on the big cruise ships; they are at best accidental visitors to Antarctica. But there are also huge differences between the expedition ships. About half are Russian research vessels that are chartered out to large tour operators for the season. They are technically good ships but accommodations are often Spartan and onboard service frequently spotty. At the other end of the spectrum are the Lindblad ships and the Hapag-Lloyd ones which are super luxury and with price tags in accordance.

Then there are several ships in between, including the only two locally owned ships, the Chilean Antarctic Dream ( [...] ) and the Argentine Ushuaia ([...] ). Both offer typical cuisine of the two countries with notable examples of both countries wines. The Antarctic Dream is a bit more upscale while the Ushuaia is somewhat more for the backpacker set.

In short what this guide book lacks is guidance on the most important decision that an Antarctic traveler will make; how to get there.