Echo : White Desert’s New Antarctic Camp 

Antarctica is a mythical and awe-inspiring destination. The coldest, driest, windiest, most remote place on Earth – it’s the closest you’ll feel to being on another planet. One of the best to explore this unique destination is through White Desert.

White Desert’s uniquely located camps are designed to be easily dismantled and removed, leaving no trace on the pristine environment. You can choose to stay at either Whichaway, an oasis of luxury overlooking freshwater lakes, or Wolf’s Fang, set in some of the most dramatic mountain ranges on Earth or at their latest addition Echo.

Your journey begins at Cape Town, from where you will be whisked away on a private plane to Antarctica and landing on White desert’s private blue ice runway, Wolf’s Fang. This is an extremely rare opportunity to land your personal aircraft on the first and only runway specifically designed for private jets in Antarctica.

This exclusive new camp features just six space-inspired sky pods with floor to ceiling windows and panoramic views of the surrounding snow-covered mountains an icy plains. Inspired by the seminal age of Space exploration, Echo sits in quiet solitude encircled by pitted rock formations. The Echo base is located approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the coast and at 1130 meters (3700 ft) above sea level.On arrival at camp Echo, you’ll be taken straight to a private lounge to enjoy a martini shaken with 10,000-year-old ice.

Echo is as close as you can get to feeling like you’re off the planet without leaving Earth. The space-age design of the ‘Sky Pods’ makes them look like they’ve been beamed down from Mars. Futuristic and luxurious, the six bedrooms are created from composite fibreglass with floor to ceiling windows allowing guests to soak in the moon-like landscape beyond.

Original photos taken from the International Space Station (ISS) by former Commander, White Desert guest and retired astronaut, colonel Terry Virts will be featured in each pod. Says Virts of the Echo landscape, “The mountains are the most beautiful I have seen across Earth, Venus and Mars.”

During your stay you will have an action packed schedule that will give you a chance to explore the area. From skiing, biking, ice-climbing, 4X4 truck driving, mountaineering, as well as, visiting Atka Bay, where you’ll see the world’s largest penguin species, the Emperor penguin colony, up close.

Perfect for exclusive use groups and catering for up to 12 people, Echo allows you to combine an ultra-luxury experience with a once in lifetime adventure on the 7th Continent. As with all White Desert’s camps, Echo is designed to be dismantled, leaving no trace on the Antarctic landscape.

As White desert are the company in the world to fly to this isolated region of the world, single tickets start at $65,000 per person, you can also book the entire camp for $780,000.