French Austral Lands and Seas

Scattered across the far southern Indian Ocean, the Crozet, Kerguelen, Saint-Paul and Amsterdam islands form a green oasis in the vast Southern Ocean — the French Austral Lands and Seas. Spanning more than 166 million hectares, this remote realm sustains one of the densest concentrations of birds and marine mammals anywhere, including the largest colonies of king penguins and yellow-nosed albatrosses on Earth. UNESCO inscribed it as a natural World Heritage Site in 2019.