Their Island

Their IslandPaulet Island, Antarctica There are so many things that surprise you about Antarctica, but the one nobody quite prepares you for is the penguins. Not one or two. Not a manageable number. Just penguins, absolutely everywhere, going about their lives with complete indifference to the fact that you have traveled to the bottom of the world to see them. This iceberg was considered medium sized. That detail has never stopped being astonishing.

Leopards are solitary animals

From above

We watched until the last light went behind the last ridge

one hand loosely holding a reed she was chewing with the unhurried satisfaction of someone who has nowhere to be and no interest in pretending otherwise

I simply looked up at the right moment and did not look away

But in the stillness of this moment

compressed and lifted and carved into something no architect would have the patience to imagine

That is what the books say

dissolving into the dark

unhurried and entirely hidden — or so she thought

that felt almost beside the point

First-timers see one and reach for their cameras before they have even thought about it