Tag: conservation

Islands are nature’s laboratories. Their small self-contained ecosystems can allow animals and plants to flourish that wouldn’t be possible elsewhere. But their size means that those ecosystems can be fragile when exposed to outside influence. Within 60 years of the first sailors landing on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, the flightless dodo had been […]

The Subantarctic island of South Georgia is a marvel of the natural world. It’s a hundred mile long mountain range that erupts out of the Southern Ocean, with more marine wildlife than anywhere else on the planet. Penguins and fur seals here are counted by the million. It’s a scene that’s all the more extraordinary […]

Antarctica is often closer than you think. From the fish in your supermarket to the supplements in your health food store, traces of its most important animal are everywhere, hidden in plain sight. Krill, the tiny crustacean at the centre of the Antarctic food web eaten by everything from gentoo penguins to whales, is being […]

In 2023, Swoop achieved its B Corp certification, a mark of our commitment to our environmental stewardship, contribution to communities and service to our customers. To celebrate this year’s B Corp Month in March 2024, we’re celebrating by getting involved in a citizen science project, and using the Swoop Conservation Fund to contribute to the […]

At Swoop, we are firm believers in the power of travelling for good. Since the company was founded in 2010, we have tried to ensure our actions as a company are fully aligned with that belief. Swoop has always been an advocate for our destination at the ends of the Earth and it’s critical that […]

When it comes to Antarctic wildlife, penguins, seals and whales grab all the attention but there is one species that visitors are unlikely to see but without whom the entire ecosystem would be vastly different. To celebrate World Krill Day on August 11 we spoke to krill biologist Dr Kim Bernard, who is currently over-wintering […]

One of the biggest attractions of travelling to Antarctica is getting to see wildlife that has no natural fear of humans. But you don’t always have to get up close to appreciate the penguins and seals: some of the most interesting scientific research can be done from a very long way away indeed. We spoke […]

One of the best wildlife experiences I had when I visited South Georgia last year was also one of the most unexpected. I was standing in the tussac grass at Salisbury Plain, almost deafened by the metallic trumpeting of its enormous king penguin colony, when one of the guides told me to look up. As […]