Where can you see the Southern Right Whale?
Some of the best places to see the Southern Right Whale in the wild include Lemaire Channel (Antarctica), Fitzgerald River National Park (Australia) and Elsehul Bay (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) — among 12 wildlife hotspots across 6 countries, including Australia, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Antarctica and South Africa. Every hotspot below shows real sighting data and the best seasons to visit.
Ben Boyd National Park
Eden, Australia
+255 birds+47 mammals
Where the temperate forests of the far south coast meet towering sea cliffs, Ben Boyd National Park unveils one of New South Wales' most dramatic coastal…
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 LANDSCAPEDeception 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 LANDSCAPEFitzgerald River National Park
Fitzgerald River National Park, Australia
+209 birds+11 mammals
Where granite peaks rise above windswept heathlands and pristine river systems carve through untamed wilderness, one of Australia's most biodiverse landscapes unfolds across the southwestern corner…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKGarden Route National Park
George, South Africa
+353 birds+54 mammals
Sweeping across the Western Cape's coastal and mountainous terrain, this sprawling national park encompasses over five thousand square kilometers of extraordinarily diverse landscape—from coastal limestone cliffs…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKGreat Otway National Park
Australia
+255 birds+42 mammals
Temperate rainforest and wet eucalyptus woodland cloak the ridges and gullies of Victoria's Great Otway National Park, where persistent moisture and mild year-round temperatures sustain a…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLemaire Channel
Orne Harbour, Antarctica
+25 birds+13 mammals
Where granite peaks plunge into steel-grey waters, the Lemaire Channel carves one of Antarctica's most dramatic passages. This narrow strait, squeezed between the Antarctic Peninsula and…
VIEW PROTECTED LANDSCAPERoyal National Park
Sydney, Australia
+296 birds+46 mammals
Where sandstone ridges plunge toward the Tasman Sea, Royal National Park unfolds across 343 square kilometres of southeastern Australian coastal wilderness. The park's defining character emerges…
VIEW NATIONAL PARK