{"id":4684,"date":"2025-11-11T10:39:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T10:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/?p=4684"},"modified":"2025-11-11T10:39:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T10:39:20","slug":"beyond-the-mainland-exploring-new-zealands-subantarctic-frontiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/beyond-the-mainland-exploring-new-zealands-subantarctic-frontiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Mainland: Exploring New Zealand\u00b4s Subantarctic Frontiers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Far beyond the mainland of New Zealand lie some of the wildest, most remote islands on Earth\u2014windswept, isolated, and full of life. On this journey, I had the chance to visit Campbell Island, the Snares, and experience the true bite of the Southern Ocean. Each place revealed its own rhythm, beauty, and challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campbell Island<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How lucky to have been able to visit Campbell Island! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Raphael Sane<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A New Zealand sub-Antarctic territory, it is the furthest island from land, at 660 km! Far from any mainland, this island is a true refuge for birds: it’s one of the most important places in the world for albatross diversity! Six species of albatross nest there, and one of them even nests only on Campbell! In 2001, a major rodent control program took place. The invasive and devastating species brought by humans during the seal and whale hunts at the end of the 19th century had completely upset the balance and seriously threatened the local inhabitants (fauna and flora!). Eradication was a complicated project, but the teams worked hard to complete it! And today, we can only applaud this colossal effort and observe the results!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snares Islands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From Campbell, we made our way to the next stop on this sub-Antarctic journey: the Snares Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Raphael Sane<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s the big departure for the sub-Antarctic islands. The first one we visit is the Snares, made up of several islands. Unlike many others, they have never been home to unwanted species. This makes them a very special and wild island. However, access isn’t easy with a strong cross swell! We thought we wouldn’t be able to get close by Zodiac, but the tenacity of the entire team allowed us to have an incredible ride. Numerous cavities and arches make the ride spectacular, as do the Snares penguins, spread across about a hundred colonies nesting in the forest!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a real change of scenery for me, as I’m used to seeing them in Antarctica. Here, the penguins are among the trees! Note that the vegetation is also impressive, with twisted trees with beautiful yellow flowers\u2014Brachyglottis stewartiae!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ross Sea – Antarctica<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After these island experiences, nature reminded us just how extreme this region can be. There are days when the cold is more biting… Despite wearing adapted gear, the sea spray that turns to ice makes you immediately realize it doesn’t penetrate your clothes… But the wind, the humidity\u2014every last patch of skin must be hidden, protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 Alexandre Herbrecht <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can’t afford to make a mistake, because magic can quickly turn into hell. But despite that, I appreciate these moments. I take care of myself, my equipment, and I enjoy every moment. My binoculars experienced the Big Freeze (\u201313\u00b0C on the thermometer, but with 25 knots of wind…!), and they too froze! But that didn’t stop them from working to spot an emperor penguin! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these places\u2014Campbell, the Snares, and the Southern Ocean\u2014showed me a different face of New Zealand’s wildest frontier. Together, they form a powerful reminder of how precious, fragile, and fiercely beautiful the subantarctic world truly is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Far beyond New Zealand\u2019s mainland, I explored the wild subantarctic islands\u2014Campbell and the Snares. Home to rare albatrosses and forest-dwelling penguins, these remote places reveal nature at its rawest and most breathtaking. Harsh winds, icy seas, and untouched beauty made it an unforgettable journey into Earth\u2019s southern frontier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":4685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,932,933],"tags":[],"topics":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-4684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-experience1","category-destination"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"ZEISS Birding Team","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/author\/zeissbirding\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/08\/Campbell-@RaphaelSane-3-600x400.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["General<\/a>","Experience<\/a>","Destination<\/a>"],"unlinked":["General<\/span>","Experience<\/span>","Destination<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 months ago","modified":"Updated 5 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on November 11, 2025","modified":"Updated on November 11, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on November 11, 2025 10:39 am","modified":"Updated on November 11, 2025 10:39 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4684"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4703,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684\/revisions\/4703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4684"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=4684"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}