Antarctica is the continent of the superlatives. A place human mind can’t even picture before experiencing it, as nowhere on Earth nature is as violent, extra-terrestrial and outstandingly magnificent as it is there. People who have lived in its womb long enough to feel its true personality have usually only one wish they keep always in mind: never go back in there, or ... go back as soon as possible.

But remoteness and hostile weather does not make Antarctica safe from everything. Like it has been doing everywhere else on the planet, Homo sapiens is now shaping what was for a long time isolated enough to stay away from its reach. Global warming, over fishing, wild tourism and pollution are gradually putting the beast down.

I overwintered 14 months in Antarctica between 1999 and 2001, as part of the 51st mission at the Dumont D'Urville station. I worked as a field biologist for the French 'Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique', studying and collecting data on birds and sea mammals.