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The greatest day trip on earth - Antarctica

White Desert has successfully returned from our first ever day trip into Antarctica on Tuesday 24th November 2009.  Flying the five hours from Cape Town, our luxury converted Boeing 727 landed for the first time on the blue ice runway near White Desert camp.  Our 34 clients enjoyed an action packed 10 hours in Antarctica, along with a gourmet meal and a range of cocktails from the first full service bar on the frozen continent.

The day trip included a walk across the stunning lakes of the Schimacher Oasis, before arriving at the summit of the rock cliffs lining its edge. From there, clients looked across immense views, from the ice waves directly below them to the icebergs stuck fast at the edge of the frozen sea. 
 
The walk was followed by an exclusive tour of the nearby Russian Science Base called Novolazarevskaja (Novo, for short). There was even a sauna for the braver clients before everyone settled down to a gourmet five-course meal, and a couple of cocktails from the bar. 

What our clients thought…

‘This was probably one of the most exciting and invigorating experiences of my life – in the run up to our trip I almost felt as if I was on my way up to “space” – this place is so foreign to so many of us in this world! I felt so privileged to be a part of it, not too many ordinary people have the opportunity to go on an adventure of this kind, yet it is on our doorstep. I couldn’t believe it was a mere 5-hour flight from Cape Town. This is one to add to your “bucket list” of things to do before you die – its one I’d like to return to. Congratulations to White Desert – it was an honour to be a part of the inaugural “White Desert day trip experience”.’ Paul Gardiner, Mantis Group

‘The whole day consisted of a series of adventures, the ride from Novo airstrip in the Russian tank (the Antarctic Ratanga junction ride), the amazing hike with breathtaking views and your expert knowledge on everything, the divine drink from the snow bar after the long hike, the delicious food, the beautiful music during the lunch, the hard to resist vodka shot ( or two) the warm hospitality I received from everyone involved. I am already looking forward to my next trip.’ Lynn Angel, Cape Angel Gueshouse
 
‘The most action packed twenty hours of my life, incredible…’ Rick Garratt, Homechoice

White Desert would like to thank our partner company, The Antarctic Company (TAC) for all their support in making this happen.  We would also like to thank PicknPay and Source Management for the wonderful food and Liquidchefs for providing the cocktails and flying the bar in for the day. 

For more information on the White Desert experience,  contact Robyn on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

White Desert Offers the Ultimate Safari

For our third trip this coming season, White Desert has come together with the Mantis Group to offer the ultimate adventure safari - Africa and Antarctica in one package (nicknamed ‘the hardest trip to pack for’!). As well as everything White Desert has to offer, you will end your trip at one of Africa’s most beautiful safari lodges, where you will come face to face with the only free ranging white lions on the planet and be and intricate part of rhino tagging!

Click here for more

New Vehicles introduced

The specially adapted 4x4s used last year during the South Pole Race and soon to be featured in a major BBC documentary on UK television, are going to be available to White Desert clients this coming season. The vehicles, owned by our logistical partner, TAC, will mean we can now access some stunning new areas in Antarctica that until now have been too difficult to reach.

In addition to all the other activities whilst clients are at camp, we will now offer day trips to areas such as the formidable ice barrier (see images), or the amazing frozen lake system in the nearby mountains. We’ll even use them to visit the nearby Russian base to have a sauna!

Dunhill Store Launch Party

In June, White Desert launched the new dunhill experience at the luxury good’s flagship store in Jermyn Street, London. With TV presenter and fellow explorer, Ben Fogle starting the night off by introducing Patrick Woodhead, over 200 guests came to hear more about what the ten day experience was all about.

Amongst penguin ice sculptures, a replica camp from the days of Shackleton and Scott, and custom-designed dunhill merchandise frozen in great blocks of ice, the guests learnt all about this new experience over a few glasses of G.H.Mumm champagne. 

Stephane Husson joins the White Desert team!

We are delighted to announce that Stephane will be guiding at our camp this coming season. Stephane is one of the best ice climbers in the World and has over 50 first ascents to his name. A high mountain guide from the famous climbing village of Chamonix in the French Alps, Stephane brings a whole raft of new skills to the experience. We can’t wait to see him down on the ice!

(For more information on Stephane and the rest of the WD team, please see the ‘Meet the Team’ section of the website).

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