LAUSR

November and February, the exhilarating day could start at 5 am with a public announcement for whale and orca pod sighting to a midnight return after long hikes on unsteady, rugged and deeply snowed terrain on the continent itself. I find sleep in the constant glare or half-light elusive, exacerbated by the excited satisfaction that glows in the mindscape that marvels at this untampered continent at the southern end of the world. It’s then that I ponder the harm from ship and now air tourism to Antarctica, rather than the continent’s harsh environmental stresses inflicting injury and illness to visitors. A. E. Housman’s ‘Tell Me Not Here, It Needs Not Saying’ reminds us to leave only our footsteps and nothing else.