A Visitor's Guide to South Georgia
By Sally Poncet & Kim Crosbie; paper, spiral bound,180 pp.

Some people may think of South Georgia as a kind of Antarctica in miniature, an island far away to the northeast, and almost as far from the Falkland Islands, that some cruise ships visit. That does not begin to do it justice. In fact, it is the crème de la crème of Southern Ocean cruising. Call it Antarctica Plus...or perhaps one of the most beautiful and most exciting places on earth, with scenery to die for.

Excuse the superlatives, but they are hard to avoid, as anyone who has had the good fortune to go there will certainly tell you. And this splendid guide will answer all of your questions. With some additional contributions by other experts, the authors provide detailed but concise information on a range of subjects such as geology, human history, wildlife, vegetation, tourism, fisheries, even postage stamps.

The second section of the book contains descriptions of 24 of the most popular visitor sites. These tell you what there is to see, and of course what wildlife is normally there, plus other useful site-specific information, including a basic map of the site.

The guide is lavishly illustrated throughout with lovely photographs, mainly by Kim Crosbie. Due to the size of the pages (210 x 150mm, or about 8 x 6 inches) some of the photos are inevitably very small, but this is a minor comment on what is a wonderfully compact and valuable guidebook.

Sally Poncet has lived with her family for nearly 30 years in South Georgia, the Falklands and Antarctica. She has special interests in the seabirds and habitat conservation. Kim Crosbie hails from Edinburgh and has led many tourist cruises to South Georgia. She holds a PhD from the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK.

Sally Poncet's and Kim Crosbie's "A Visitor's Guide to South Georgia" is another 2005 WILDGuides publication. Full of maps, history and beautiful photographs, this guide highlights sites form Elsehul and Prion Island to Dryglaski Fjord and King Haakon Bay, all with lists of features and helpful pointers. There is also a checklist of the fauna and flora described as well as a bird breeding calendar. Also in the back is a pretty good bibliography and a list of useful addresses and websites. This spiral-bound book is a handy size and can easily sit flat, freeing one's hands for the camera or binoculars. All of this adds up to an excellent "hands-on" guide to bring along when you visit these remarkable islands.