Cape Crozier

ASPA 124

Antarctica · Antarctica (Ross Island, Ross Sea)

Antarctica (Ross Island, Ross Sea)Declared in 196632 km²

The setting of The Worst Journey in the World, an almost suicidal 1911 expedition to collect emperor penguin eggs in the depths of the polar winter

Area

32 km²

Declared in

1966

Region

Antarctica (Ross Island, Ross Sea)

Best time

November to March

Polar

Plan your visit

Best time: November to March
Area: 32 km²

Highlight

The setting of The Worst Journey in the World, an almost suicidal 1911 expedition to collect emperor penguin eggs in the depths of the polar winter

Protected since 1966, Cape Crozier holds one of the few emperor penguin breeding colonies relatively easy to reach from the bases of the Ross Sea area. It is the setting of the celebrated worst journey in the world, an almost suicidal expedition made in the depths of the Antarctic winter of 1911 by three members of Scott's Terra Nova expedition — including the naturalist Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who gave his memoirs that title — who walked for weeks at temperatures down to -60°C to collect emperor penguin eggs, then thought to be the key to understanding the supposed evolutionary link between birds and reptiles.