Our Essential Travel Resources :
There are plenty of travel companies, but these are my favorite websites and resources for planning an unforgettable trip. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. For flights, we recommend Hopper to compare the cheapest travel dates. Car rentals comparisons are best through Discover Cars - just make sure to bring your international driver's permit with you! We always use Expedia's easy to use platform for hotels. To keep cell service while traveling internationally, we always use Airalo’s easy eSIM’s (no installation required), and NordVPN to stay safe while connecting to different wifi. For fun things to do, we always recommend Viator to find the best tours in the area, otherwise Get Your Guide also does the trick. Just in case, Safetywing is the insurance I always use for travel insurance. Lastly, my packing list for any international or domestic travels.
Best Ways to See Wildlife up Close
The best way to see wildlife in Antarctica is to keep your eyes peeled at all times - you truly never know when wildlife will pop up and there's a chance to see some kind of wildlife at all times. On our cruise to Antarctica, each room was provided with binoculars to use, of course, if you also have a zoom lens for your camera that works great for seeing wildlife up close too. I brought my 200-400mm lens and it was perfect. If you're visiting in the winter season (Antarctica's summer) then it'll also be bright almost the entire night - meaning wildlife viewing is a great activity if you can't sleep!
If you're really wanting to see the most wildlife on your trip to Antarctica, we recommend upgrading to a room with a balcony if you're able to. We had the best wildlife encounters straight from our balcony, with whales, penguins, and seals showing up within 50 feet of us. If you're lucky and have good weather like we did, then chances are you'll be able to sit out on your balcony to enjoy the sunny weather and the views! We most often spotted whales dipping above the surface in calm water and penguins and seals on large icebergs enjoying the sun. 
The type of wildlife you see on your trip primarily depends on what areas of Antarctica you'll be visiting. On our cruise we stayed around the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula - where most cruises stay - and we were still able to see multiple species of penguins, seals, whales, and birds. If you want to maximize your chance of seeing wildlife, I also recommend signing up for extra activities like kayaking and camping that get you away from the ship! Even though most voyages include 1-2 zodiac tours each day, we recommend trying to get off the ship as much as possible.
Our Favorite Tours around Ushuaia :
- Tierra del Fuego National Park - Vinciguerra Glacier & Lagoon Trekking - Beagle Canal Cruise & Hiking
Wildlife to See in Antarctica
Penguins
There are 7 main species of penguins in Antarctica, and we were able to see 3 of them on our trip. Depending which area of Antarctica you're visiting will highly influence the types of penguins you have a chance to see. On the main continent of Antarctica are the Emperor and Adelie Penguins. Along the coasts and islands you can find the Gentoo, Chinstrap, King, Macaroni, and Rockhopper penguin species. During our trip we were able to spot the Adelie (along with their babies!), the Gentoo, and the Chinstraps. The most common places we spotted penguins were in the water, swimming around our zodiacs and our cruise yacht, and on land, where they were waddling around, belly sliding, or tending to their babies. If you see black birds jumping around in the water, it's more than likely that these are penguins. Each of these 7 species have different visual characteristics, and they're fairly easy to identify. 
Seals
There are 6 main species of seals in Antarctica - and they're typically much larger than seals you'll see in other places of the world (like Alaska). When visiting Antarctica you'll have the chance to see Leopard Seals, Weddell Seals, Crabeater Seals, Ross Seals, Elephant Seals, and Fur Seals. On our cruise around the Peninsula we were able to see 3 of these, the Leopard, Weddell, and the Crabeater Seals. I'll be honest, it was pretty difficult for us to differentiate between these 3 seals, but our expedition guides were quickly able to identify each one. 
Whales
In Antarctica there are about 8 main whale species, with the most popular being the Humpbacks, Orcas, and Minke Whales - but also including Blue Whales, Fin Whales, and Sperm Whales. During our expeditions we were able to see a minimum of 3 of these species, the Humpbacks, Orcas, and Minkes. We say a minimum of 3 because unless we were close to them or saw them breach the surface, it was sometimes difficult to identify from far away. During our trip we saw Humpbacks the most often, which were easily recognizable from their backs that often surfaced and through their tales breaching if they were going down for longer periods of time. We see these often in Alaska, and these are our personal favorites because of how friendly they can be and how majestic they are. We also saw a large pod of Orcas on our trip, nearly 20 of them, with babies that were attempting to hunt a Humpback Whale. Our ship left before anything happened, but we watched the Orca Pod circling the Humpback for nearly 30 minutes as they continued to breach. Minke Whales were the most difficult for us to identify, because their backs often looked similar to Humpbacks - however these whales never showed their tales and often seemed to disappear after an initial sighting - not nearly as friendly as Humpbacks. 
Birds
Birds in Antarctica fall to the bottom of our list, only because we found ourselves constantly drawn to the larger animals like whales and penguins. However, there are plenty of birds to spot on a trip to Antarctica for you birders out there, with Google estimating about 40-60 different species. The most common to look for (other than penguins) are the Albatross, Petrels, Skuas, and various other seabirds and shorebirds. We found that birds were actually the most difficult to spot and identify, as they often are due to their size and movement, however we found the easiest spot to identify them was right from our balcony. Here, we could spot the birds that circled our yacht, and zoom in on them without breaking any IAATO rules.
Watch our Antarctica Adventures here!
Coming Soon!
Other Antarctica Blog Posts you might be interested in :
-> Avoid Sea Sickness on the Drake
Pin this Antarctica Wildlife Guide for Later!
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Hi, we're Deborah & Tyler!
After our first move to Alaska, we decided to take a gap year and visited 30+ countries on a budget of $100 a day. This blog shares our best budget saving travel tips & international itineraries.
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