The 50th anniversary of the first biological and geological expedition to Marion and the Prince Edward Islands in 1965/66 will be celebrated with the launch of Prof. Brian Huntley's personal narrative of his 15 months on Marion Island.
Prof. Huntley, who was only 20 years old at the time, is an internationally respected conservationist with more than fifty years' experience of field research management across Southern Africa.
His book, Exploring a Sub-Antarctic Wilderness, is the first book to be published by the Antarctic Legacy of South Africa (ALSA) project, based at Stellenbosch University (SU), as part of what is hoped will in time become a valuable series of publications about the history of South Africa's legacy "down south".
According to the publishers, the book is a personal narrative of "the challenges, frustrations and unmatched excitement of working on a remote island wilderness before the era of accurate maps, pathways, field huts, digital cameras, the internet and many other modern conveniences".
The publication launch will take place on 24 May 2016 at the Department of Botany and Zoology at SU. For more information, contact Ms Ria Olivier at riaolivier@sun.ac.za
Background
Since South Africa annexed the Prince Edward Islands in 1948, South African researchers have been undertaking regular expeditions to the Antarctic Continent, the Prince Edward Islands and Gough Island. The Antarctic Legacy of South Africa (ALSA) project is funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) as part of the South African National Antarctic Programme. The project aims to preserve the rich human history of the expeditions conducted over the past 70 years.
