Kerguelen Islands
List of attractions
 | La Grande Cascade de la rivière du Château | Waterfalls |
Kerguelen Islands - interactive overview map
Wikipedia article about Kerguelen Islands
Featured:
La Grande Cascade de la rivière du Château
The largest island of Kerguelen Islands - Grande Terre - is very rich with tall, magnificent waterfalls.
La Grande Cascade de la rivière du Château might be not the largest on the island but it is the best known thanks to its relative vicinity to the only inhabited place in this island.
Main attractions
The islands are a part of French Southern and Antarctic Lands - overseas territory of France.
Golf de Morbihan, Kerguelen.
Bruno Navez, Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Kerguelen Islands basically consist of the main island - Grande Terre and large number of smaller islands around it.
Grande Terre is the largest sub-antarctic island. This is harsh land: windy, rainy, chilly and for most part - desolate. Nevertheless it has its own special beauty - this wast island is adorned with countless magnificent waterfalls, cliffs, lakes. Here are occasional thermal springs (with some small ponds pleasant for swimming!), large bird rookeries and in some places - pleasant meadows. May be nowhere else one can find that much crystal clear water and lots of fresh air.
Landmarks
Pointe de l'Arche, Kerguelen.
Engraving by Pierre Béquet, with HMS Terror in front, Ross expedition in 1840 - 1843.
- Baie de l’à Pic Cliffs - souther coast of Grande Terre. Up to 493 m tall, vertical seaside cliffs.
- Cap Ratmanoff penguin rookery - eastern tip of Grande Terre. Large colony of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus), with some 80 000 birds.
- Hot springs at Lake Tristan - central part of Grande Terre. Several hot springs with water temperature up to 70° C. Colourful growth of algae.
- La Grande Cascade de la rivière du Château - eastern part of Grande Terre. Impressive waterfall on Château stream, circa 150 m tall, with three main cascades.
- Le Doigt de Sainte Anne - at Baie Larose. 235 m tall rock monolith.
- Mont de Fumerolles - Rallier du Baty peninsula. Geothermal field with boiling springs.
- Pointe de l'Arche (Arched Rock) - northern coast. A collapsed natural arch, a former landmark of Kerguelen, which was 40 m high (upper rim). The arch collapsed sometimes between 1908 and 1913, now two enormous stacks remain.
25 December 2011 Gatis Pāvils