Kerguelen or the desolation islands (Southern seas travelog: 13/16)

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT = "#ABCBBE"> <BR> Sight from the heights of "PJDA ".<BR> One includes/understands better why Kerguelen are also called the islands of desolation: a severe landscape without trees (far too much wind).<BR> Navigation can be dangerous there : indeed, in 1942, German posed many mines in certain bays, trying to prohibit their use as supply bases for Australian battleships !! and there are still some left..<BR> Being given the total absence of industry, the water of Kerguelen is regarded as purest in the world.<BR> We are in the kingdom of the "swamps": it is always unpleasant to find yourself taken in these muddy zones, which are sometimes not easy to detect.<BR> Mount Ross is the highest point of the archipelago (1850 m). It was the last French peak to be climbed by mountaineers in the Seventies.<BR> </BODY>