British charity hunts for team to run Antarctica post office

A British charity is searching for people to spend five months in Antarctica, to run the world's most remote post office.

The team will maintain the Port Lockroy base and be responsible for counting penguins, though will be without running water.

The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust says it usually gets hundreds of applications for these jobs.

It will be the first time the site will open to the public since the pandemic.

The trust, which is based in Cambridge, usually advertises annually for seasonal postmasters at the site. They are responsible for preserving historic buildings and artefacts in Antarctica.

Successful applicants will be based on Goudier Island in the Antarctic Peninsula, with each other and a colony of Gentoo penguins for company.

Port Lockroy was the first permanent British base to be established on the Antarctic Peninsula, initially used from 1944 to 1962. However since 2006, it has been used as a post office and museum.

Candidates are required to have good level of physical fitness, environmental awareness and a knowledge of minimum impact living.

They will be tasked with running the gift shop and post office, as well as conducting a penguin count as part of efforts to protect the Gentoo penguin colony. The team will also look after the artefacts and museum inside Bransfield House.

The site has not had any visitors for over two years, due to restrictions in place because of Covid-19 though it usually welcomes around 18,000 people between November to March - the Antarctic summer.

This means that the chosen candidates will be the first to live at the site since the 2019 intake.

Lauren Elliott, one of the postmasters who went to Port Lockroy for the job in 2019, told the BBC that it is "the most magical place in the world".

"It was really exciting, we got to count all the penguins when they hatched. You have to do a lot of cleaning and there's lots of penguin poo, which we call guano, but there's never time to be bored - it's a really interesting place."

Describing her experience of returning to a UK in lockdown, Lauren said: "It was a different ending to a season than they've ever had before".

"We thought we'd be coming back from this tiny island with stories to tell, but we came back and couldn't see anyone to tell them to."

"I'm not going this year, but to anyone who's considering it, pack up your bags and go.

"Our team still talks today and you'll make friends for life. We were all so different, but all hard-working, flexible and had the ability to live with a small group of people. And most importantly, you need to be able to have fun and appreciate exactly where you are."

UKAHT Antarctic operations manager Lauren Luscombe said: "Given the nature of the day-to-day tasks involved to keep Port Lockroy running smoothly, we look for applicants that can bring a range of skills to the team such as retail experience, heritage, conservation and building maintenance, and leadership or management.

"But beyond that, it is important for applicants to show us who they are - we need to get to know them, through their application and throughout the selection process. The successful candidates will be living in close quarters for five months so it is also essential that we curate the right balance of skill sets and personalities."

People wishing to apply for the role can do so on the UKAHT website, with the final deadline being 23:59 BST on Monday 25 April.

Those successful will do a week's training in Cambridge in October 2022, before leaving for Antarctica later in the year, where they will live and work until March 2023.