The White Continent · Interior
Antarctica with Exclusive Villa Collection: the continent’s interior, reached by air from Cape Town, with White Desert’s three camps in Queen Maud Land, the South Pole and the emperor penguins.
Now in Antarctica
From Choose a departure city Approx. flying time, non-stop equivalent
The White Continent · Interior
Most travelers who see Antarctica see its edge. More than 120,000 people a year reach the coastline by ship; fewer than 800 travel into the interior: the ice sheet, the mountains that break through it, and the High Polar Plateau, where at the Pole the only direction left is north.
We open the interior through White Desert, founded in 2005 by the polar explorer Patrick Woodhead: Whichaway Camp in the Schirmacher Oasis, Echo Base among the nunataks, and Explorer Camp beneath T-Rex Mountain, three camps of no more than twelve guests each, in Queen Maud Land.
White Desert’s camps belong to our Wild Frontiers collection, and the week on the ice itinerary sets out the days.
Why visit
Featured properties
Houses we know by name, each one we would send you to first.
Schirmacher Oasis, Queen Maud Land · Antarctica: six pods, twelve guests
White Desert’s original Antarctic camp: six pods with glass conservatories on the rare exposed rock of the Schirmacher Oasis, above a chain of freshwater lakes.
Henriksen Nunataks, Queen Maud Land · Antarctica: six sky pods, twelve guests
White Desert’s Echo Base: six award-winning sky pods on an ancient Antarctic glacier beneath the Henriksen Nunataks, conceived in conversation with Buzz Aldrin.
Beneath T-Rex Mountain, Queen Maud Land · Antarctica: six tents, twelve guests
White Desert’s Explorer Camp: six heated, chalet-style tents beneath T-Rex Mountain in Antarctica, and the base for the journey to the South Pole.
The house
A first reading of the stay: rooms, light, and the quiet between them. Each still is a note, not a catalogue.
Sub-destinations
Towns, islands, and smaller landscapes that sit inside this one.
When and how
Each season keeps its own calendar. We plan the transfer around it.
Best time to visit
The interior opens only in the Antarctic summer. White Desert’s season runs from November to February, under twenty-four hours of daylight. November and December are the height of the emperor colony at Atka Bay; the Blue Rivers run in high summer.
Seasonality
Each camp takes no more than twelve guests, and departures are set season by season. On the ice, the order of the days always follows the weather. Temperatures on the ice average around −5°C.
Airport / logistics
Guests arrive in Cape Town at least two nights ahead for a safety briefing and kit check. The flight south lands at Wolf’s Fang, a blue-ice runway; onward flights to the camps, the South Pole and Atka Bay travel on White Desert’s ski-equipped aircraft.
Month by month
Seasons follow the notes above. Average daily high and monthly rainfall for 2015 to 2024 from ERA5 reanalysis, via Open-Meteo.
Luxury experiences
Suggested journeys
Days held in sequence, not a list of nights.
From the Journal
Where we write about this place: the seasons, the houses and how the days are best arranged.
Journal · 6 min read
Rock and freshwater lakes in the Schirmacher Oasis, sky pods on a glacier and heated tents beneath T-Rex Mountain: how to choose between the three camps of the Antarctic interior.
Read the storyJournal · 6 min read
Cottar’s in the Maasai Mara, andBeyond Sandibe in the Okavango Delta and Sossusvlei in the Namib: private camps for a first safari or a fifth, and when to go.
Read the storyJournal · 6 min read
A lake house in Austria, a hilltop Residence on a Fijian reef, a staffed villa in Bali and a house on the Maasai Mara: where three generations travel well together.
Read the storyRelated destinations
Landscapes that sit well beside this one.
Destination
Kenya with Exclusive Villa Collection: Olderkesi conservancy safari in the Maasai Mara with Cottar’s, and Sirai House, a private home on Laikipia’s Borana.
Destination
Okavango Delta floodplains, private concessions bordering Moremi, and Exclusive Villa Collection’s Botswana stay through andBeyond Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge.
Destination
Red dune seas, dark-sky nights, and Exclusive Villa Collection’s Namibia stay through the Sossusvlei / Namib Desert corridor.
Plan My Trip
Tell us the season, the company, and the feeling you want to keep. We will write back with a considered path, not a link to a search.
Write to an advisor
