Where can you see king penguins in the wild?

King penguins are not especially rare. Seeing them in the wild is.

They are the second largest penguin on Earth, nearly a metre tall, with silver backs, black heads and flashes of orange gold along the neck. The species is currently considered Least Concern, but most of its great colonies lie on remote subantarctic islands such as South Georgia, the Falklands, Crozet, Kerguelen and Macquarie Island.

That geography is what makes the experience precious. At South Georgia, you can stand before colonies numbering in the tens or hundreds of thousands, but simply reaching them may require days aboard an expedition ship and a landing that depends on weather. Volunteer Point in the Falklands is easier to reach, while Chile’s Reserva Natural Pingüino Rey offers the unusual chance to see a small wild colony without crossing the Southern Ocean.

Then there are the chicks.

King penguin chicks look almost unrelated to their parents. Instead of sleek black, white and gold plumage, they wear enormous coats of chocolate brown down. Their childhood is unusually long, with chicks taking roughly 10 to 13 months to reach independence. That means colonies can contain different generations at the same time.

If the fluffy brown chicks are the goal, November through March is generally an excellent window, with January through March particularly good in the Falklands.

And then there is the king penguin’s even rarer relative.

The emperor penguin is larger, but far harder to see. Kings breed on ice free subantarctic beaches. Emperors breed on Antarctic sea ice during winter, often in colonies so remote they are located by satellite rather than visited by people.

Emperor penguins are also now considered Endangered, largely because their breeding cycle depends on stable sea ice.

So the distinction is important.

Seeing wild king penguins takes effort.

Seeing emperor penguins at a breeding colony is close to the outer limit of wildlife travel.

That is part of what makes the king penguin experience so special. Nobody brought the penguins to you.

You went to the edge of the world to find them.

Would you want to experience any of these someday? Make them part of your World →