It’s almost like a scene from Happy Feet…
Penguins hurrying up and down what’s known as a penguin highway; curious yet seemingly bothered by the GoPro “parked” in the middle of their road.
I stumbled across this cute video on Facebook and quickly noticed that Juan van den Heever, a face we see quite often here at Outdoorphoto, shot the video. I got to sit down with him to get the whole story.
Antarctica's various Penguin species.
Magellanic Penguins
Chinstrap Penguins
Gentoo Penguins
Macaroni Penguins
Adélie Penguins
He was on a trip with his father, Wim van den Heever and Tusk Photo Safaris. They spent a month on a 16m boat with some of the roughest seas, temperatures as low as -15ºC and wind gusts of up to 140km/h. It’s the price they pay to reach the Antarctic Peninsula and explore desolate scenes like that of the South Sethland Islands. It was there that Juan got the idea that inspired this video.
“Keep in mind that these cute little animals live in some of the harshest environments!” The penguins walk on “penguin highways” as it’s much easier than creating a new path through the thick, cold snow. Juan reasoned that, since the penguins had to walk there, he could capture some cool footage and so he decided to place his GoPro in the middle of the highway. What he saw surpised him: “They seized the opportunity to tell mankind what they think of our technology” knocking over (even kicking) the small camera over time and again. One penguin even mistook it for a pebble, but quickly tossed it away upon noticing that it wasn’t.
I asked Juan why he thinks the video has drawn so much attention and his answer was spot on! “Because penguins are damn cute! And this video shows a part of their lives that people aren’t very familiar with, and that is that they’re highly inquisitive, curious creatures.”
Isn’t nature something else. I opened this video first thing this morning on my office computer and I have not stopped smiling since (despite the fact that its Friday). Having see penguins on Phillip Island in Australia and in South Africa it must so very special to see them in their natural environment in Antarctica. I applaud the videographer for his perseverance – I may not have been so patient.