Where can you see the Imperial Shag?
Some of the best places to see the Imperial Shag in the wild include Los Glaciares National Park (Argentina), Lemaire Channel (Antarctica) and Elsehul Bay (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) — among 33 wildlife hotspots across Antarctica, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Argentina and Chile. Every hotspot below shows real sighting data and the best seasons to visit.
Brown Bluff
Brown Bluff, Antarctica
+23 birds+9 mammals
Where rust-colored volcanic peaks pierce the Antarctic Peninsula's icy realm, a geologist's dreamscape unfolds beneath towering cliffs of iron oxide and ancient lava. Brown Bluff rises…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPECape Dolphin
falskland islands, Falkland Islands
+54 birds+1 mammals
Where windswept grasslands meet dramatic coastal cliffs, the Falkland Islands' northern reaches reveal one of the Southern Hemisphere's most compelling seabird sanctuaries. The terrain here is…
VIEW NATURE RESERVEChiloé National Park
Dalcahue, Chile
+122 birds+6 mammals
Temperate rainforest cloaks the Chiloé archipelago's northwestern reaches, where granite ridges thrust through dense, moisture-laden canopy and freshwater streams carve ravines toward the Pacific. Across approximately…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCooper Bay
Cooper Bay, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+28 birds+5 mammals
Where black-sand beaches meet towering cliffs striped with cascading meltwater, one of the Southern Ocean's most dramatic amphitheaters reveals itself. Cooper Bay cuts a deep indent…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPECorcovado National Park
Chaitén, Chile
+39 birds+1 mammals
Where temperate rainforest meets the raw Pacific coastline of Chilean Patagonia, Corcovado National Park sprawls across 6,585 square kilometres of some of South America's most pristine…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCuverville Island
Cuverville Island, Antarctica
+19 birds+10 mammals
Granite peaks and sculpted ice define this windswept archipelago off the Antarctic Peninsula, where steep rocky shores plunge into waters thick with drifting brash ice. Cuverville…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGODanco Island
Danco Island, Antarctica
+17 birds+10 mammals
Dramatic black rock pierces the Antarctic Peninsula's icy waters, crowned with permanent snow and ringed by calving glaciers that thunder into the sea. This volcanic outcrop…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGODeception Island
Gabriel de Castilla Base, Antarctica
+26 birds+10 mammals
Steaming geothermal vents pierce a landscape of blackened volcanic sand and ice, where the earth's raw power still trembles beneath your feet. This horseshoe-shaped caldera, flooded…
VIEW ISLAND & ARCHIPELAGOElsehul Bay
Bird Island Station, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
+33 birds+4 mammals
Granite peaks rise sheer from the Southern Ocean, their weathered faces streaked with cascading meltwater and cloaked in tussock grass that bends beneath relentless winds. This…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPE