YPS Meet | June 9 | State Youth Centre
A trip to the tip of Antartica to meet with Penguins costed US$ 20,000 in 2013. It also requires a very high level of stamina and determination to reach the place let alone take photographs. The fact that Dr. Ajit Huilgol did this while in 50s shows his love for travel and photography.The session started with an introduction of Dr. Ajit by Shri H Satish, President of YPS. He highlighted the multiple talents and interests that Dr. Ajit have. Apart from being the leading Kidney Transplant Surgeon in Karnataka with 2000+ transplants to his credit, he is an ardent Wildlife Photographer, a cricket commentator, an amateur hypnotist, an actor and also a singer. We are sure that we are missing out some more from the list. You can find more about Dr. Ajit in the Event Page.
Dr. Ajit started by stating that he had two dream destinations in his mind, one being Antartica and the other Galapagos. He had an opportunity to fulfill the first wish in November 2013 when he joined a team 20 people from around the world to visit Antartica in a Photo Safari organized by Joe Van Os. Traveling to Antartica on steamer with no ice breaker was certainly adventurous explained Dr. Ajith. The rising and falling of the ship, the cold and the boat rides all added lots of adventure to the trip.
The trip started from South America and covered Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Antartica peninsula. It was very compelling to see how he could shoot different species of Penguins almost standing next to them. Apart from Penguins, he also covered many birds like Albatross and animals like Elephant Seal. He also showed some amazing photographs of landscapes that only Antartica can present.
He then spoke about history of expedition to Antartica by Robert Falcon Scott, one of the greatest explorers to Antartica and how he narrowly missed being the first person to reach the South Pole, conceding that title to Roald Amundsen.
He also spoke about the Whaling history of South Georgia, how whaling started and how it ended.
The audience were no doubt hypnotized with display of stunning pictures, a great narration of travelogue and wealth of information on the locations from Dr. Ajit Huilgol.
Those who missed the talk show certainly missed a lot of excitement.
If you are excited about Antartica here is a PDF book from Joe Van Os on South Georgia.
South-Georgia-eBook