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Company type | Private |
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Industry | |
Founded | 15 December 2005 |
Founder |
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Headquarters | London, England, United Kingdom [1] |
Number of employees | 80 (2021) [2] |
Website | www |
White Desert Ltd. is a British tour operator conducting expeditions to Antarctica. As of 2021, it is the only company to offer a commercial private jet service to the continent. [2] [3] Its Whichaway Camp is described by multiple publications as Antarctica's first and only hotel. [4] [5] [6]
British couple and polar explorers Robyn and Patrick Woodhead founded White Desert in London, England, in December 2005, [7] setting out to "make [Antarctica] accessible to everyone, not just explorers." [8] Built in 2012 on the Schirmacher Oasis, [7] [9] Whichaway Camp consists of several guest "pods" that respectively contain bedrooms, bathrooms, dining rooms, and a library, heated by solar power. [10] [11] [12] The camp underwent extensive renovations in 2016. [8] [13] [5] It is intended to be removed entirely from the site at the end of its natural lifespan. [10]
A maximum of 12 guests per group are flown from Cape Town, South Africa, to Whichaway Camp, the primary base camp located in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, [14] via various private aircraft. [15] [4] [16] Flights operate into and out of Wolfs Fang Runway, Queen Maud Land. [6] In 2017, British explorer Hamish Harding worked with White Desert to introduce the first regular business jet service to the Antarctic. [17] On 2 November 2021, a HiFly Airbus A340-300 (9H-SOL) landed on Wolfs Fang Runway on a flight from Cape Town, becoming the largest aircraft to ever land there and the first Airbus A340 to land in Antarctica. [18] [19]
Apart from amenities, the company offers trips to nearby structures, a guided wildlife tour, and a trip to the Geographic South Pole. [20] [21] The company operates only from November to January due to Antarctica's harsh climate during the rest of the year. [7] Several publications have noted the company's luxury status and exclusivity; as of 2017, prices ranged from roughly US$30,000 to almost US$200,000 per customer. [4] [12] [22] Writing for Vogue , Nick Remsen called the service "wildly expensive". [23] The founders have justified the high prices, citing extraordinarily high logistical expenses associated with transportation and accommodation of guests on Antarctica. [13] [21]
White Desert is a member of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. [2]
White Desert has received the World Travel Award for Leading Polar Expedition Operator five times, first in 2012 and consecutively from 2014 to 2017. [24] [25] Elite Traveler included the company in its list of the top 50 adventures of 2017. [7] In 2023, White Desert were nominated for the Conde Nast 2023 Hot List. [26]
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