Among South Georgia’s penguins, king penguins are the largest species apart from emperors, and the sight of these colorful, three-foot-tall birds is unforgettable. Imagine setting food amid a colony of hundreds of thousands of king penguins gathered at Salisbury Plain or Gold Harbor South Georgia, their cries audible for miles around.

When people think of wildlife in the Antarctic region, they usually think of South Georgia penguins and not much else. But the island is actually one of the most biodiverse places on earth, a result of its large size and isolation from the mainland. Visitors can count on seeing a tremendous variety of mammals and birdlife, such as the light-mantled sooty albatross, all of which can be found on Gold Harbor South Georgia, perhaps the island’s most abundant wildlife region.

Known as one of the most remote islands in the world, South Georgia is actually a partially submerged extension of the Andes mountain range, and so boasts peaks topping 11,000 feet. Visitors often liken their first sight of South Georgia to seeing the Swiss Alps rising from the sea, and it makes for one of the journey’s indelible highlights.

South Georgia looms large in the history of the Antarctic region. It was the center of the whaling industry in the Southern Ocean, and visitors can tour the remnants of an old supply station used by the whaling ships. Legendary adventurer Ernest Shackleton is also buried here, and visiting groups pause at his grave to drink a traditional toast to “The Boss.”

South Georgia’s coast is a treasure trove of glaciers and fjords that make for spectacular cruising, and Drygalski Fjord is probably the most scenic of them all, with its combination of towering cliffs and impossibly blue glaciers; this is also one of the best points in the expedition to witness glaciers calving, an amazing natural wonder. See South Georgia on Antarctica.