Things to do in French Southern Territories

Witness one of the largest king penguin colonies on the planet, with thousands of birds stretching along the black-sand beach of Ratmanoff on the Courbet Peninsula, a spectacular wildlife spectacle framed by the Southern Ocean.

Scale the glaciated summit of this remote stratovolcano at 1,850 meters for sweeping views of the Kerguelen archipelago's fjords, ice caps, and tundra-like valleys.

Experience the isolated administrative hub and research station of the Kerguelen Islands, with its laboratories, living quarters, and tiny Notre-Dame des Vents chapel set against a dramatic volcanic backdrop.

Stand at a respectful distance as massive southern elephant seals haul out, molt, and spar along the shoreline of this sheltered bay, one of Kerguelen's prime marine mammal gathering sites.

Step ashore at the only inhabited base of the Crozet archipelago on Île de la Possession, where scientists study albatrosses, penguins, and the island's untamed sub-Antarctic ecosystems.

Hike up to this windswept plateau to see wandering albatrosses performing their elaborate courtship dances on the very nesting grounds that make the Crozet Islands a globally important seabird sanctuary.

Trek to the 1,090-metre summit of the Crozet archipelago's highest mountain on rugged Île de l'Est, a dormant stratovolcano offering commanding views of the surrounding sub-Antarctic seascape.

Discover the moss-covered stone remains of early 19th-century sealing huts at Pointe Goodenough, a haunting testament to the era of Antarctic maritime exploitation on this isolated volcanic island.

Scale the iconic spire-like promontory of Le Pignon on the rim of Saint Paul's broken caldera for a vertigo-inducing panorama of the flooded crater and the vast Southern Ocean beyond.

See the entire world population of this critically endangered albatross, which breeds exclusively on the remote peat bogs of Amsterdam's Plateau des Tourbières, a true naturalist's pilgrimage.

Arrive at this small but vital permanent base where researchers monitor climate, magnetism, and the island's unique ecosystem, surrounded by volcanic walls and the calls of endemic seabirds.

Frame the dramatic basalt stack of Phoquier rising from the turbulent sea near Baie de l'Oiseau, a photogenic monolith sculpted by relentless Southern Ocean swells.

Navigate by Zodiac through the narrow, cliff-flanked entrance into the flooded volcanic crater of Saint Paul, an immense natural amphitheatre alive with seabirds and fur seals.

Explore the rusting infrastructure and decaying wooden buildings of this early 20th-century Norwegian whaling base, an eerie relic of industrial whaling on the shores of the Golfe du Morbihan.

Search for the endemic Kerguelen cabbage, a hardy plant that once saved sailors from scurvy, its glossy green rosettes clinging to the rocky shores and valleys of Grande Terre.

Approach the immense snout of Cook Glacier from the western coast, listening to the creak and calve of ice that has covered this sub-Antarctic landmass for millennia.

Traverse the lava fields and tussock grasslands of this high plateau under the watchful sky, reaching the very heart of Amsterdam Island's volcanic wilderness.

Slip into frigid waters at Baie du Norway to snorkel with graceful young elephant seals weaving through giant kelp fronds, an unexpectedly interactive marine encounter.

Land on the tiny, storm-lashed Tromelin Island to see its automated weather station and the ruins of an 18th-century shipwreck survivors' camp, a true castaway experience.

Walk carefully among millions of sooty terns and other seabirds nesting on this low-lying coral island, a critical stopover in the Mozambique Channel now protected as a nature reserve.

Approach the whitewashed lighthouse standing sentinel over Europa Island's lagoon and fringing reef, a lone beacon in one of the most pristine and militarized wildlife sanctuaries of the Indian Ocean.

Enter the warm tropical waters of the Glorieuses archipelago to snorkel among thriving coral gardens, sea turtles, and reef fish around these disputed and rarely visited Indian Ocean atolls.

Cruise deep into this classic sub-Antarctic fjord flanked by dark cliffs and cascading waterfalls, a landscape carved by ancient glaciers and blanketed in silence.

Gain the flanks of this young basaltic cone for a close-up look at recent lava flows and blast craters that shaped the eastern side of Amsterdam Island, a geologist's dream.

At Cap de l'Est on Île de la Possession, watch robust fur seal bulls guard their harem territories among tussock slopes, a raw display of sub-Antarctic life.