National Geographic

72 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • FEBRUARY 2018##### On the rocky shores of Steeple Jason, adistant island in the Falklands archipela-go, I am awed by the magnificence beforeme. More than 440,000 black-browedalbatrosses, the world’s largest colony,nest on steep cliffs. Along the beach below, southernrockhopper penguins call loudly. The always relentlessstriated caracaras—known as Johnny rooks—scout forpenguin chicks or carrion to eat.The frigid waters host South American fur seals, or-cas, Commerson’s dolphins, Peale’s dolphins, and seiwhales. Underwater I swim through a majestic kelpforest that sways gently. Gentoo penguins dart aboveme, southern sea lions in hot pursuit. Lobster krill lineup on the seafloor, pincers raised, as if for battle.The imagery is fitting. I am, after all, in the Falk-lands. War is a common theme. About 250 miles offthe coast of Argentina, the British territory consistsof more than 700 islands and islets, sparsely settledby about 3,200 people. Best known for the long histo-ry of disputes over the land, involving France, Spain,Argentina, and the United Kingdom, the archipelagowears the scars of war openly. The last conflict, whenArgentina invaded the islands it claims as the Malvi-nas in 1982, ended after a brief but intense engagementwith the United Kingdom. Roughly 20,000 land mineshave not been accounted for, burned-out helicoptersmar the landscape, and the Royal Air Force still has anactive airfield on East Falkland.But for all the conflict—and despite extensive sheepfarming—the islands appear surprisingly utopian. Fromthe nutrient-rich ocean waters to the rain- sprinkledmountains, I’ve rarely encountered such an intact eco-system in almost three decades as a photographer.Steeple Jason and neighboring Grand Jason, two is-lands untouched by war, might be the greatest Falklandssuccess stories. Sheep and cattle grazed relentlesslyon the otherwise uninhabited islands for nearly a cen-tury before a British bird lover acquired them in 1970.He turned the islands into a private sanctuary, and thevegetation began to recover. In the 1990s, New Yorkhedge fund pioneer Michael Steinhardt bought the is-lands, and in 2001 he and his wife, Judy, donated themto the Wildlife Conservation Society, which owns andStory and Photographs by Paul NicklenQ Society GrantYour National GeographicSociety membership helpedpay for photography forthis feature.