As you round a treeless bend, you see that the noisemaker is a southern elephant seal. Make that hundreds, if not thousands, of southern elephant seals. The bulls—the largest of the seals—are enormous. They must weigh 6,000 pounds, if not more. They have large black eyes, a trunk-like snout, a tail fin, and webbed feet, while their thick skin looks like leather. Furry black pups stay close to their mothers. Plus yellow-crested macaroni and long-tailed gentoo penguins huddle in the background.
Welcome to one of the most isolated places on Earth. The Kerguelen Islands are more than 2,000 miles from the nearest human settlement. The 300 islands sit in the southern Indian Ocean, just north of the Antarctic Circle. They were first discovered by a Breton-French navigator in 1772. American, British, and Norwegian whalers and sealers hunted here in the 18th and 19th centuries. Then French scientific researchers arrived in 1950. They’ve been the Desolation Islands’ only inhabitants ever since.
But back to those seals. Those noisy, smelly, fascinating southern elephant seals. Some are sleeping. Others are making aggressive posturing movements. And a young pup is waddling in your direction. His voice isn’t nearly as loud or as deep as the rest of the seals, and, at this point, he only weighs a couple hundred pounds. You’re quickly falling in love. Luckily, you can see exactly what this little guy will look—and sound—like as an adult. Otherwise, you might be trying to figure out how to get him on the boat heading home.