Waypoint Journeys Presents
Antarctica: The Long Stay
Whichaway · Echo · South Pole
8 Days · Late-season departures on request
Two Antarctic camps, the Blue Rivers and the South Pole with White Desert
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Both Camps, the Rivers, and the Pole
White Desert runs two main camps in the interior of Antarctica, and they are different places. Whichaway is the original: a ring of heated domes on the shore of a frozen lake in the Schirmacher Oasis, one of the rare ice-free corners of the continent, with the Blue Rivers within a hike. Echo is the newer camp, a line of glass-fronted pods beneath the peaks of the Drygalski range, built to feel like a station on another planet. Most guests see one. This itinerary sleeps at both.
From Whichaway's oasis landscape, the journey continues to the Geographic South Pole via Dixie's Camp. An overnight on the High Polar Plateau separates the outward flight from the return to Echo.
White Desert calls this two-camp journey The Long Stay. Its current sample programme spans eight days, with dates and availability confirmed on request. Waypoint Journeys coordinates your booking and the Cape Town arrangements.
"Whichaway for the oasis and the rivers, Echo for the mountains, and the Pole between them."
Two Camps, Two Landscapes, and Everything in Between
The original White Desert camp: heated domes on the shore of a frozen lake in the Schirmacher Oasis, a stretch of ice-free rock and lakes shared by less than three percent of the continent. Hikes across the oasis, the ice waves where the glacier folds over the rock, and the blue ice tunnels are all within reach of the door.
The second camp is a line of pods with floor-to-ceiling glass set beneath the peaks of the Drygalski Mountains, designed to feel like a base on another world. Its country is the mountains themselves: rock and ice climbing, abseiling, fat-biking on the ice, and the ice caves of the range.
Explore the blue river landscape during the Whichaway portion of the stay. Access, walking routes and timing depend on the summer conditions.
Fly south by Basler aircraft via Dixie's Camp to the Geographic South Pole. Stand at 90° South, take photographs and stamp your passport, then return to Dixie's for a night under canvas on the High Polar Plateau.
The extra days are the point. Weather in Antarctica takes days away, and on a week-long trip a lost day is a lost highlight. Here a reserve day is folded into each camp, so the Pole and the rivers both get their chance, and the guides have room for the things shorter trips skip: a night camped out on the ice, a nunatak summit, a second visit to the tunnels.
The stay begins and ends in Cape Town. White Desert briefs you the day before departure and checks your polar kit; you fly south the next morning and return more than a week later, with the Winelands, the Garden Route or a safari a short flight away. We are glad to build either end.
The Expedition
White Desert's current eight-day sample: Whichaway, the South Pole with a night at Dixie's Camp, then Echo. The operator may change the order for weather and flying conditions.
Fly to Antarctica and transfer to Whichaway. Settle into your heated sleeping pod and enjoy the first evening at camp.
Explore the rocky oasis and blue ice with your guides. The programme introduces Whichaway’s ice waves and blue river landscape as conditions allow.
Choose guided ice activities or a gentler day with lake walks, viewpoints and time to relax at camp.
Fly south by Basler aircraft via Dixie's Camp to the Geographic South Pole. Stand at 90° South, take photographs and stamp your passport, then return to Dixie's for a night under canvas on the High Polar Plateau.
Fly back from the plateau and settle into Echo, your second Antarctic camp. Celebrate the South Pole journey over dinner.
Explore Echo’s mountain surroundings with your guides, choosing from hikes and ice activities suited to conditions.
Join an IFMGA mountain guide for a challenging hike through the peaks. Confirm the route and fitness requirements with the team.
Transfer to Wolf's Fang for the return flight to Cape Town. Flight timing depends on conditions; allow two days after the scheduled return before your onward flight.
What's Included
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common Questions About This Expedition
Original Antarctic destination illustrations.
Expedition Investment
per person sharing · Whichaway and Echo
White Desert's published rate. Includes return Antarctic flights, programme transfers and the South Pole journey, seven nights across Whichaway, Dixie's Camp and Echo, Antarctic meals and standard drinks, guides and selected loan clothing.
Commercial flights to Cape Town, Cape Town accommodation and meals, insurance, required clothing beyond specified loan items, delay expenses, excess baggage, satellite phone use, purchases and gratuities. Late-season departures on request.
Reserve Your SpotThere is no crime in Antarctica; the risks are weather, cold and remoteness, and this operation is built around all three. White Desert has flown guests to the interior for two decades, runs its own runway, aircraft, field camps and medical cover, and cancels or delays a flight whenever conditions say so, which is why we ask you to keep two days' slack in Cape Town on either side. The plateau is high (Dixie's Camp at about 2,640 metres, the Pole at 2,835) and dry, so guests are briefed on altitude and hydration; the cold is managed with the issued clothing and a guide who watches for it. The longer stay is the safety margin: a reserve day at each camp means a lost flying day rarely means a lost highlight. Medical clearance within 30 days and specialist insurance are conditions of travel, and we help arrange both.