Cape Royds

ASPA (Antarctic Specially Protected Area) 121

Antarctica · Antarctica (Ross Island, Ross Sea)

Antarctica (Ross Island, Ross Sea)Declared in 196662 km²

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The southernmost Adélie penguin colony in the world, beside Shackleton's hut of 1908

Area

62 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: 62 km²

Highlight

The southernmost Adélie penguin colony in the world, beside Shackleton's hut of 1908

Protected since 1966 (today ASPA 121), Cape Royds holds the southernmost known Adélie penguin colony on the planet, monitored continuously since 1955 in one of the longest-running Antarctic wildlife population studies in the world, which has documented a decline in the 1960s followed by a partial recovery after a giant iceberg calved in 2005. The headland also holds the hut that Ernest Shackleton and his crew built in 1908 during the Nimrod Expedition, today designated a Historic Site and Monument and looked after by New Zealand's Antarctic Heritage Trust, which has meticulously restored its interior, personal belongings and original expedition provisions included.