Where can you see King Penguins on an Antarctic cruise?

King Penguins are the second largest penguin species. When they were first sighted by Europeans in the early 18th century it was assumed that they were the largest species – hence the name “King Penguins”.

But then in 1844 that George Robert Gray from the British Museum separated them from the even larger species, the Emperor penguin that had been seen for the first time during Captain Cook’s second voyage.

Full grown King penguins can reach 95cm in height – pretty impressive when close up.

There are a number of places in the Antarctic and sub-Antractic where King Penguins are found but for expedition purposes there are two obvious locations:

There are a number of reasons to visit South Georgia not least its significance in the history of Antarctic exploration. 

But the main reason is the King Penguins. 

There are hundreds of thousands of King Penguins on South Georgia – probably half the world’s population in fact.