– This is an excerpt from the book Mysteries of the Arctic and Antarctic by Frederick Dodson-
Can you really travel to Antarctica?
Imagine there is a large Continent the size of North America. 14.2 million square km or 5.5 million square miles, to be exact. Now imagine that no private person, expedition, researcher, traveler, adventurer is allowed to go there. Prohibited. Forbidden. Off-limits.
Any attempt is met with military force. You’ll be shot at. The only way to reach it is through pre-planned tours to a very limited selection of places. At no times is a tourist permitted to venture outside the tight itinerary. At the same time, we are told that there is nothing of interest or value there.
Would this strike you as odd? Because it’s the truth about Antarctica.
You won’t learn this from official sources. If you venture to Quora.com, the website that contains answers to almost everything and ask “Can I travel to Antarctica?” the consensus is “Yes, it’s no problem. Anyone can travel to Antarctica at any time”. At the time of this writing, pages upon pages of answers along these lines. Wikipedia and Google agree with this consensus. It’s no problem at all! Nobody will be shot at. Don’t be paranoid!
So I went to a local travel agency and inquired. I was pleasantly surprised that they had one travel package. It was part of a tour. I asked if I could just book a flight and then wander off on my own. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” the travel agent said. Interesting! I just spent the whole morning reading online that it’s “no problem at all”. That’s the difference between online-reality and real-reality. It doesn’t matter how much you read online that a thing is real or unreal. What matters is experience.
“It won’t be possible through you, or in general?” I asked. But she didn’t know the answer. Perhaps travel to Antarctica is a little more complicated! Why doesn’t a travel agent know how I can travel to the Antarctica? Is it not their job to know how I can get to places? “You probably don’t want to do that, unless you’re experienced with ice and snow” she finally said. Well, that’s at least something. But when you book a trip to northern Siberia, Alaska or Northern Scandinavia, no travel agent will tell you “You probably don’t want to do that”. They’ll simply arrange for your flight tickets.
“If I were experienced – how and when can I travel? I’d really like to just travel to Antarctica”. The lady shuffled around nervously, like she’d never been asked and was just realizing that she had no idea. She knew of no way, without a tour. No passenger flights were scheduled. Apparently, there are daily cargo flights going from Australia, Argentina, Chile, South Africa and New Zealand to Antarctica. So reported by people who work at the respective airports. So reported by people who see planes southbound daily. The people of Tasmania or those of Invercargill, the southernmost tip of New Zealand, see airplanes flying South every day. Many of these appear to be military cargo planes. As there is “nothing” South of Tasmania or New Zealand, where are these planes headed to? I’m just asking for 8 Billion friends. The only thing south of these places is Antarctica. Antarctica is said to be mostly empty, with a few sparsely manned research stations tucked into the snow. But judging by the amount of reported planes flying south, there is much more going on. We’ll look at this more closely later.
According to an article of the mainstream newspaper newshub.nz, travel to Antarctica is tightly controlled:
There is a Norwegian guy who, like me, wished to travel there, but not as part of a guided tour. His name is Jarle Andhoy, a known adventurer and explorer. In response to one attempt, Andhoy was shot at by Chilean ships! On other attempts, he was intercepted by naval vessels from other countries. He has also been arrested, fined, denied entry to various waters and treated like a criminal for wanting nothing other than to explore the Antarctic and Artic independently. Several of his crew members have lost their lives. He was denied permission to sail to the Antarctica many times and imprisoned for defying his Governments orders not to sail there.
But we are told “there is nothing to see there” and “anyone can go there any time”. 5.5. Million square miles, and nothing to see. If there is really absolutely nothing to see, why are independent explorers denied entry? Why is violent force used to prevent entry to a country of which it is claimed that “no visas are required to enter”?
This is the first response that appears on Google-Search of whether it is illegal to go to the Antarctica. It’s a response on Quora.com:
This, and hundreds of other answers and articles, make it appear as if nothing is stopping you from going there. And of course there’s often the warning that, if you do go, it may be “met with tragedy, as with so many others who tried”. How about that? You can go anytime, but it may be met with tragedy!
The answer above represents so many. The author of the entry repeats the myth that “you can go there anytime you like” and “you can book a flight there”.
Jarle Andhoy has the authorities worried:
Chile reports he had been arrested, and New Zealand says he hadn’t been arrested. Apparently, they couldn’t agree on a common narrative. One of the official stories has to be false. Why the need to lie?
Perhaps to maintain the illusion that “anyone can travel to Antarctica”. It’s not true. Antarctica cannot be freely accessed. And the 8 Billion people populating this world were not even asked in the matter. Do you remember receiving a questionnaire that asked your opinion on Antarctic matters? No? I didn’t think so. Have any of you consented to Antarctica being prohibited territory?
If Antarctica is not owned or claimed by any country, how can it be “illegal” to go there?
Popular websites on Polar Expeditions routinely lie about this. Consider the following from a polar cruise operator, randomly pulled up on the Internet:
Since no country owns Antarctica, no visa is required to travel there. If you are a citizen of a country that is a signatory of the Antarctic Treaty, you do need to get permission to travel to Antarctica. This is nearly always done through tour operators. If you are going on your own, you will most likely be asked to register your intended visit, list your travel plans and possible environmental impact, and agree to follow the regulations of the Treaty. If you come from a country that is not a signatory, you are not required to get a permit, but the ports that you leave from may insist that you have some sort of permission before you go. Why do you need to get permission in the first place? Well, that is because visiting Antarctica is a privilege and a responsibility at the same time. The Antarctic Treaty includes a protocol on environmental protection, which designates the continent as a natural reserve. There is a set of rules any visitor has to follow.
Source: https://poseidonexpeditions.com/about/articles/can-you-go-to-antarctica-without-permission/
The lie is “you are not required to get a permit”, which is contradicted in the same sentence: “But the ports that you leave from may insist that you have some sort of permission before you go.”
In hours of search, I found no evidence that anyone who tried entering the Southland without permission, succeeded. There appear to be naval vessels from several countries patrolling Antarctica, for the purpose of surveying the Ocean and preventing illegal fishing. Could preventing illegal fishing be a guise through which to keep people out?
The few who have access are also tightly restricted:
Parties to the Antarctic Treaty have agreed to restrict human access to 16 areas of special scientific or environmental value in Antarctica.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/20/us/16-areas-restricted-under-antarctic-treaty.html
We have gone from “anyone can travel to Antarctica at any time” to “travel to Antarctica is highly restricted and requires Government permission, which is not granted unless you are part of a tour”.
And what is that tour like? You reach the outermost tip of Antarctica, take a few photos of Penguins and return home.
But if you type in “who owns Antarctica” on Google, you get this answer:
This doesn’t make sense. If Antarctica doesn’t belong to anyone, then there is nobody who can restrict me from going there. If a piece of land belongs to nobody, anyone can stand, walk and sit there.
That’s why Google also says this:
Moreover:
If Antarctica belongs to no one, then who is doing the banning? You don’t have to study law to understand that, if there is no proprietor, then there is no person who has jurisdiction there.
If I mustn’t take anything man-made to Antarctica, that’s the same as saying I can’t be there at all. If I cannot take my camping or cooking gear, how can I survive? Imagine the absurdity. “It’s no problem at all – anyone can travel there. Just don’t take any clothing, food, tent, snow boots, hat, scarf – anything really. Anything you take – it’s banned”.
Let’s also consider this:
The Marshals Service became the official law enforcement entity for the South Pole through an agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Attorney for Hawaii. In 1989, the NSF approached the marshal for the District of Hawaii to assist in setting up a legal presence in Antarctica.
Source: https://www.usmarshals.gov/history/antarctica/
So let me get this straight: The Continent belongs to nobody and there is nothing there, but the U.S. Marshal Service is the “official” Law Enforcement? How bizarre.
The Marshal Service was established to work for courts. Their responsibilities include accompanying fugitives and prisoners and managing the assets of criminals. Why would there be marshals to enforce law in a wasteland of ice and snow? Antarctica is not a prison, is it?
Google and Wikipedia claim Antarctica is a military free continent, and so made since 1959.
Source: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/antarctica-made-a-military-free-continent
Considering all sources saying there’s no military in Antarctica, it’s strange to find an equal amount of sources telling me that there is:
So here we go from “there’s no military there” to “ah, sure, there is but only for infrastructure services”.
One travel website says “You are allowed to travel to the Antarctica, but you are not allowed to bring motorized vehicles, planes, boats or dogs. That’s for environmental protection”.
In other words, feel free to swim to the Antarctica. But once you are there, you can’t venture very far because you can’t even bring dogs to pull a sled, much less a snowmobile. My point? The military is allowed to bring these things. If they are so concerned about environmental protection, then there wouldn’t be those strange daily cargo flights to Antarctica.
If military is only there for “infrastructure services”, not for defense and combat, according to the Antarctic Treaty, then how did this happen:
US secretly launched THREE nuclear rockets from Antarctica ‘to test EMP on Russia’
THE US government ran a series of nuclear tests over the South Atlantic Ocean to test an electromagnetic pulse in space, a documentary revealed.
Operation Argus was a series of high-atmosphere nuclear weapons tests conducted between August and September 1958 over the South Atlantic ocean. The whole project, which was highly classified, took just 11 days and was carried out by the Defence Nuclear Agency during the Cold War period. It was proposed by scientist Nicholas Christofilos as a means to verify whether the high-altitude nuclear detonations would create a radiation belt in the extreme upper regions of the Earth’s atmosphere.
However, many believe the real intent was much more sinister.
Aaron and Melissa Dykes put forward an alternative theory during their YouTube documentary “The Real Secrets Hidden in Antarctica”.
They argue the US government was actually testing whether the electromagnetic pulse created by a nuclear explosion could be used as a weapon in the event of World War Three with Russia.
Ms Dykes revealed: “In 1963 there were claims made that a nuclear bomb had been detonated on Antarctica.
“Although the US initially denied reports, trying to pass it off as a natural phenomenon, they later admitted it had actually happened.
“They may have set this off in the upper atmosphere of the South Pole in order to create an artificial EMP.
“If they did it would have been allowed under the Antarctica treaty if it was deemed to be for scientific purposes.”
Just yesterday, more details on a secret Pentagon project below the ice was revealed.
Declassified files showed the well publicised Camp Century of the 1960s was actually a cover-up for a top-secret programme.
Project Iceworm was the codename for the United States Army’s mission to build a network of mobile nuclear missile launch sites in Greenland.
The ultimate objective was to place medium-range missiles under the ice – close enough to strike targets within the Soviet Union.
However, just three years after it was built, ice core samples taken by geologists demonstrated that the glacier was moving much faster than anticipated and would destroy the tunnels and planned launch stations in about two years.
The facility was evacuated in 1965 and the nuclear generator removed.
A more recent article:
Chinese reportedly alarmed over Antarctic ‘battle’, but experts say ‘new US base’ doesn’t exist
Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-01/chinese-territorial-battle-antarctica-dome-a/11061664
Would the Chinese be alarmed over something that doesn’t exist? I doubt it.
On a website about Pakistani military defense (of all places), there is a Video about a Fishing Boat, riding the seas north of Antarctica, being intercepted by a Warship of the Australian Navy. The crew of the Fishing Boat filmed the whole event. At the time of this writing, the Video could be found here:
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/warship-destroyer-intercepts-fishing-boat.669200/
The Warship Destroyer HMAS Hobart intercepted a fishing boat that claimed to be in unrestricted area, south of Tasmania.
I cite this story as one of many examples of ships patrolling the region.
From a brief search of the Internet, I have learned that you can travel to the Antarctic and you can’t. It is owned by nobody, but it is owned by somebody. There is no military, but there is. The military isn’t there for defense, but it is. It doesn’t take a detective to get suspicious by now. These things cannot be true simultaneously.
– This was an excerpt from the book Mysteries of the Arctic and Antarctic by Frederick Dodson-