Special Report
The animals of Antarctica should be familiar to
everyone. Penguins, seals, whales, albatrosses...
In December 2017, I went to Antarctica as a volun-
teer for the Antarctic Summit of China Adventure
Tourism Forum 2017. During this 13-day trip, I
made many amazing discoveries. In Antarctica,
the distance between lives seems to be particularly
narrow, not only between people but also between
people and animals. Sometimes, this close distance
can move people’s hearts.
A Journey Across the Penguin Expressway
During the expedition, we explored the waters
of the Antarctic by ship. We ventured on the soft
waves of the waters until we set foot onto a penguin
habitat, arriving like “unexpected visitors”.
Our landing sites were often covered by the
so-called “Penguin Expressway”, an area that
penguins traverse to walk from their habitats to the
snow slopes along the seashore. The penguins often
trek across this area from time to time, leaving a
string of visible footprints on the snow.
I vividly remember during a landing where our path
cut directly across the penguins’ way. Just as we
were about to cross the “expressway”, several pen-
guins walked timidly towards us from afar. When
they saw us, they hesitated and slowed their pace.
At that moment, an elderly female penguin at the
front of the group immediately stopped, and we
stood quietly on the path, waiting for them to cross
the land. The seabirds turned their heads sideways
and looked at us strangers cautiously. One by one,
they stood before us, not sure whether it was safe
to move.
We were all excited to see the penguins. But for
them to safely pass through the expressway
uninterrupted, we all suppressed the excitement of
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