South Georgia Island, first explored by Captain Cook in 1775, has had a long history.  It quickly became an important harvesting ground for sealers and in the early 1900's for the whaling industry. By 1950 the whales and seals were on the brink of extinction and all whaling and sealing activities stopped. 

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In recent years wildlife conservation has become the focal point of the South Georgia government.  As a result the wildlife is again flourishing with king Penguin Colonies as large as 200,000 pairs.  The Antarctic Fur seal once close to extinction now exist in number of about 3 million.  

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There are 4 species of Albatross that nest on South Georgia.  Unfortunately their populations are not doing so well.  It is believed that this is primarily a result of accidental deaths due to fishing activities in the area and predation due to rats on South Georgia.  New fisheries rules have been introduced to try and reduce albatross mortality and rats have been removed from South Georgia.  The hope is that the Albatross and other seabird colonies will now also start to  recover. 

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The initial set of pictures from South Georgia are posted below.  These will be refined as the antarctic collection as a whole is organized to avoid duplication.