French Southern and Antarctic Lands
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| Capital | Port-aux-Français |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Population | 196 (2012) |
| Time zone | UTC+04:00, UTC+05:00, UTC+10:00 |
| Driving side | right |
| edit on Wikidata | |
French Southern and Antarctic Lands (French: Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, or TAAF;) are a group of islands of the Southern Ocean, about equidistant between Africa, Antarctica, and Australia along with a narrow strip of Antarctica, known as Adélie Land.
Regions
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- Kerguelen (Archipel des Kerguelen), a group of volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean, southeast of Africa, approximately equidistant between Africa, Antarctica and Australia;
- St. Paul and Amsterdam islands (Îles Saint Paul et Amsterdam), a group to the north of Kerguelen;
- Crozet Islands (Îles Crozet), a group in the southern Indian Ocean, south of Madagascar;
- Adélie Land (Terre Adélie), the French claim on the Antarctica continent;
- the Scattered Islands of the Indian Ocean (Îles Éparses), a dispersed group of islands around the coast of Madagascar.
Understand
The Southern Lands consist of two near-polar archipelagos, Iles Crozet and Iles Kerguelen, and two volcanic islands, Ile Amsterdam and Ile Saint-Paul. They have no permanent inhabitants and are visited only by researchers studying the native fauna. The "Antarctic Lands" portion consists of Adélie Land, a thin slice of the Antarctic continent discovered and claimed by the French in 1840, and set aside by the Antarctic Treaty.
In 2019, the archipelagoes of Crozet, Kerguelen, St. Paul and Amsterdam islands, were collectively listed as a natural UNESCO World Heritage site.
Get in
By plane
There are no airports in these islands.
By boat
There are no harbors in these islands. The Marion Dufresne, an oceanographic ship, travels four times a year from Reunion to these isles. Joining a voyage as a tourist will cost you at least €8,300 in a shared cabin. Itineraries vary and are subject to change, as is availability of places. Expect to book your trip a year ahead.
Buy
Economic activity is limited to servicing meteorological and geophysical research stations and French and other fishing fleets. The fish catches landed on Iles Kerguelen by foreign ships are exported to France and Reunion.
Sleep
There is no public accommodation in these islands.
Stay safe
Ile Amsterdam and Ile Saint-Paul are extinct volcanoes.
Stay healthy
All of these islands have harsh environments, especially in the austral winter. A small hospital exists in Port-aux-Francaises, Kerguelen.
