Antarctica
Echo Camp
In one of the most remote and untouched places on Earth, the small and exclusive Echo Camp places you in the heart of Antarctica’s icefields and mountains. You’ll stay in futuristic luxury pods, enjoy exceptional shared spaces, and savour superb food to fuel each day’s astonishing adventure. In one of the most remote and untouched places on Earth, the small and exclusive Echo Camp places you in the heart of Antarctica’s icefields and mountains. You’ll stay in futuristic luxury pods, enjoy exceptional shared spaces, and savour superb food to fuel each day’s astonishing adventure.
In one of the most remote and untouched places on Earth, the small and exclusive Echo Camp places you in the heart of Antarctica’s icefields and mountains. You’ll stay in futuristic luxury pods, enjoy exceptional shared spaces, and savour superb food to fuel each day’s astonishing adventure. In one of the most remote and untouched places on Earth, the small and exclusive Echo Camp places you in the heart of Antarctica’s icefields and mountains. You’ll stay in futuristic luxury pods, enjoy exceptional shared spaces, and savour superb food to fuel each day’s astonishing adventure.
Location
Set on a vast ice plain punctuated by deep crevasses and the jagged nunataks of the Drygalski Mountains, Echo Camp gives you access to a landscape of raw, elemental beauty.
At 1,130 metres (3700 ft) above sea level and more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Antarctic coast, it sits in Queen Maud Land – first explored in 1938 by the Third German Antarctic Expedition. Today, it remains largely untouched, with Echo Camp’s low-impact design carefully adapted to protect the fragile environment.
You’ll arrive by private plane from Cape Town, landing at Wolf’s Fang Runway – Antarctica’s only private airstrip, which also transports around 150 scientists each year.
Echo is the sister camp to White Desert’s original base, Whichaway Camp – another gateway to extraordinary adventure in a unique Antarctic setting.
At 1,130 metres (3700 ft) above sea level and more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Antarctic coast, it sits in Queen Maud Land – first explored in 1938 by the Third German Antarctic Expedition. Today, it remains largely untouched, with Echo Camp’s low-impact design carefully adapted to protect the fragile environment.
You’ll arrive by private plane from Cape Town, landing at Wolf’s Fang Runway – Antarctica’s only private airstrip, which also transports around 150 scientists each year.
Echo is the sister camp to White Desert’s original base, Whichaway Camp – another gateway to extraordinary adventure in a unique Antarctic setting.
Accommodation
Looking like habitations from an extra-terrestrial outpost in a science fiction movie, the six ‘sky pods’ of Echo Camp may seem futuristic, but they exist right now, albeit only for the lucky few each year. Accommodating a maximum of only 12 people, this could be the ultimate place to stay for a group of friends or family looking for the most exclusive and astonishing shared adventure.
Of course, superlatives run short when illustrating the awesome beauty and grandeur of Antarctica, so describing any human construction in such a location as ‘stunning’ seems banal. Even so, the pods at Echo Camp are exquisite.
Of course, superlatives run short when illustrating the awesome beauty and grandeur of Antarctica, so describing any human construction in such a location as ‘stunning’ seems banal. Even so, the pods at Echo Camp are exquisite.
Their rounded forms sit like humble pebbles on the icefield visible through their enormous hyper-insulated windows. To lie in bed and contemplate your remote existence while gazing out at an apparently infinite frozen ocean can be life-changing. Perhaps even better, and certainly different, is to have that experience from the comfort of a warm shower.
The ultra-luxury doesn’t finish in the sleeping pods. You’ll also find a phenomenal observation/library pod and an Art Deco lounge impressively well-stocked with drinks. What’s more, you’ll be treated to a futuristic experience of fine dining that would have seemed impossible to imagine for the first explorers of the 7th Continent. Given the location, though, the dress code is best described as ‘adventurous’.
The ultra-luxury doesn’t finish in the sleeping pods. You’ll also find a phenomenal observation/library pod and an Art Deco lounge impressively well-stocked with drinks. What’s more, you’ll be treated to a futuristic experience of fine dining that would have seemed impossible to imagine for the first explorers of the 7th Continent. Given the location, though, the dress code is best described as ‘adventurous’.
Experiences
Echo Camp offers a rare glimpse of the 0.25% of Antarctica that isn’t covered by ice – pockets of exposed rock that break the great white expanse. The teeth-like Drygalski Mountains form a backdrop to the camp, amplifying the drama and scale of this timeless landscape.
- You’ll trek out onto the ice on skis or on fat-tyred bikes. The groomed 10 km Explorer’s Loop is ideal for the ultimate bike ride on ice that’s 2 kilometres thick!
- The terrain is ideally suited to skidoo touring, and you can even have a picnic amid the chilly wilderness, with drinks served with 10,000-year-old ice.
- For those in need of a challenge, scaling a nearby nunatak is a taste of polar adventure that seems too good to be true. Potential adventures don’t end there, though, for you can try your hand at ice climbing, rock climbing and even abseil into crevasses.
- A two-hour flight away is an unforgettable experience: up to 28,000 emperor penguins and chicks, all of whom are completely unafraid of humans. This is one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on the planet.
- Walk around the world in just a few paces at one of the world’s extreme locations. From Echo Camp, you can fly to the true South Pole and the Amundsen-Scott base. You’ll be the world’s most southerly person.
Best Time to Go
White Desert’s Echo Camp operates from November to February, providing an exclusive opportunity to experience the Antarctic summer, a time of year with 24 hours of daylight and temperatures that make all the experiences possible.
It would be hard to argue for a better venue for a guaranteed white Christmas, and it’s even the option to indulge in the ultimate treat by flying to the South Pole.
For more information or to book your adventure, please get in touch with our team.
Enquire now >
It would be hard to argue for a better venue for a guaranteed white Christmas, and it’s even the option to indulge in the ultimate treat by flying to the South Pole.
For more information or to book your adventure, please get in touch with our team.
Enquire now >
Positive Impact
We prioritise working with properties that address location-specific conservation, environmental and community needs . We assess our partners to ensure the people we work with share our values of ensuring our trips continue to act as a force for good. Here we share some of the positive impacts your stay here contributes to.We prioritise working with properties that address location-specific conservation, environmental and community needs . We assess our partners to ensure the people we work with share our values of ensuring our trips continue to act as a force for good. Here we share some of the positive impacts your stay here contributes to.
Environment
Carbon neutral since 2007, White Desert was the first Antarctic operator to trial sustainable aviation fuel on the 7th Continent. In addition to bringing guests, White Desert also airlifts more than 150 scientists each year, thereby limiting environmental impact by sharing efficient transport logistics. White Desert operates all its activities in accordance with the Antarctic Protocol and has almost two decades of experience at preserving Antarctica’s environmental equilibrium.
Conservation
Wolf’s Fang Runway is located on the blue ice region near the peak of Ulvetanna and is 135 km from the closest conservation site: the Svarthamaren Antarctic Special Protected Area (ASPA) and the Gruber Mounts Important Bird Area. When planning a location, it was crucial to minimise the potential impact on populations of the Antarctic petrel, snow petrel and south polar skua.
Community
There may be no permanently resident humans on the continent of Antarctica, but that does not mean that people aren’t important. White Desert is a proud partner of the international scientific community, helping research teams with the logistics of travel and supplies, and working closely with them to ensure that conservation and environmental considerations remain at the forefront of the company’s operations. The community of Antarctica is global in its reach.
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