News & Events

Where would you go on your trip of a lifetime?

Start thinking, you could win a dream trip curated by A&K in “The Tailor Made Journey Giveaway”

For fifty years, Abercrombie & Kent’s travel experts have worked with thousands of travellers and their travel professionals to custom design their dream getaway. On May 15, we’re launching The Tailor Made Journey Giveaway which celebrates this legacy by giving away two journeys of a lifetime – an African Safari or an Enchanting Adventure in Asia or Europe – custom-designed to the winner’s specifications ... with expert advice from A&K founder Geoffrey Kent.

Enter the Tailor Made Journey Giveaway and submit your entry no later than July 31, 2013. Refer a friend and receive an additional entry for each friend who enters (up to 10).

Still not sure if private Tailor Made travel is right for you? Take the A&K Travel Quiz to help you define your personal travel style.

The Torgersen Island Penguin Camera

Protecting the places we visit has always been a paramount concern for Abercrombie & Kent. Each year, with support from A&K Philanthropy, we organize the Climate Change Challenge in Antarctica journey, led by Dr. James McClintock, noted Antarctic researcher and author of Lost Antarctica. The highlight is the chance to visit the U.S. Palmer Research Station in order to deliver scientific equipment needed for climate change research.

This year, with generous support from OREO cookies, Abercrombie & Kent delivered a Penguin Cam which is now broadcasting images every 60 seconds from Torgersen Island (64°46'S, 64°04'W), off the coast of Anvers Island. This is unprecedented – there has never been a video cam with this "real time" capacity available to researchers.

Torgersen Island is home to a colony of Adélie penguins numbering approximately 2,500. This camera operates during the Adélie breeding season, primarily from October to February. An Adélie breeding pair will often take turns caring for their chicks, while the other goes out into the Ross Sea to feed on krill. Other penguins can sometimes be seen on Torgersen Island, including Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins.

View the Adélie penguins in their natural habitat on Torgersen Island, Antarctica.

Learn more about the next Climate Change Challenge in Antarctica cruise (Dec 11-22, 2013).

Please note that the camera is solar-powered and may sometimes experience brief outages due to inclement weather. School classrooms and other educational demonstrations may also take control of the camera, moving it for better views of the colony.

Other News

Think Penguins Are the Only Black & White Icon in Antarctica? Think Again!

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Abercrombie & Kent delivered 5,000 OREO cookies to Antarctica to celebrate the cookie's 100^th birthday. In recognition of conquering its seventh continent, OREO has donated the first solar-powered Penguin Cam to researchers at Palmer Station with the help of Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy. Professor James McClintock, author of Lost Antarctica and endowed professor of polar and marine biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, accepted the delivery from OREO Man on behalf of all the scientists working in Antarctica.

The Penguin Cam will be installed on Torgerson Island by mid-January 2013 and broadcast images of Adelie penguins, an indicator species affected by the changing climate in Antarctica. The penguins are vanishing as it warms, due to snow burying their eggs and the loss of annual sea ice.

The Penguin Cam will be an important educational outreach tool, providing students and the public with an opportunity to follow the penguins throughout their life cycle and observe their characteristic behaviors. The Long Term Ecological Research program intends to make the webcam feed available via the internet to students and teachers and post regular updates about what stage of the penguin lifecycle the camera is showing at any given time. If all goes according to plan, it will be possible for teachers to arrange via Palmer Station to control the camera (direction and zoom) from their classroom via computer.

In addition to providing views of breeding penguins, the webcam will also build a record of visual weather conditions and climate indicators such as snow cover. These observations can be used in conjunction with traditional weather providers like WeatherUnderground.com for classroom exercises aimed at understanding seasonal weather in Antarctica in a time of climate change.

Click here for more details.

Jorie Butler Kent, A&K Philanthropy Recognized for Innovation and Commitment

Congratulations to Jorie Butler Kent, founder and president, Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy, who was recently honored with the prestigious World Tourism Award in recognition for her development of Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy, and its commitment to sustainable tourism by sponsoring grassroots projects dedicated to preserving natural habitats, protecting wildlife and promoting the welfare of indigenous communities throughout the world.

The World Tourism Award was presented at World Travel Market in London on November 5th by co-sponsors American Express, Corinthia Hotels, International Herald Tribune and Reed Travel Exhibitions. Inaugurated in 1997 and celebrating its 15th Anniversary the award was established to recognize "the extraordinary initiatives by individuals, companies, organizations, destinations and attractions for outstanding accomplishments in the travel industry."

Tribute to Geoffrey Kent by Bill Marriott, World Travel & Tourism Council

Geoffrey Kent was recently honored by the World Travel & Tourism Council for his service as Chairman over the past five years. His leadership took the organization beyond a focus on travel and tourism's economic impact to the vital contribution it makes to social and cultural sustainability – a triple bottom line. The World Travel & Tourism Council is a global business leaders forum comprising the chairmen and chief executives of 100 of the world's foremost travel and tourism organizations.

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Media Contact

Jean Fawcett
800 554 7094 ext. 427
jfawcett@abercrombiekent.com

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