The only programme in the world that flies Grade 11 African students into Deep Field Antarctica
Five Grade 11 students from across Africa travel with world renowned explorer Riaan Manser to deep field Antarctica, Ultima Base, alongside the education team, for an experience that changes lives.
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Riaan Manser
Explorer & founder, Students in Antarctica
Our mission
African leadership, forged on the ice.
There is an ocean between saying and doing.
Students in Antarctica gives Grade 11 Africans the leadership experience to make decisions in boardrooms, not only to shout from the outside for action to be taken. Five students travel with Riaan to deep field Antarctica, where the real work of leadership is learned by doing.
Read the full mission
Five students. One explorer. The ice that changes everything.
The journey
Cape Town to Ultima Base
The five winners fly from Cape Town to Ultima Base, deep field Antarctica. Before the flight, they gather in Cape Town at Antarctica House. Every place on the expedition is fully funded.
- 01
Cape Town
Antarctica House
Before the flight south, the five winners are brought to Cape Town and gather at Antarctica House for final briefings, kit up and team preparation. If we are lucky, we meet the Mayor of Cape Town.
- 02
The flight
Fly to the ice
A polar aircraft carries the team from Cape Town to a blue-ice runway at Ultima Base, deep field Antarctica.
- 03
Ultima Base
Live the extreme
Five to eight days, weather depending, in the most isolated environment on Earth.
- 04
Deep field
Learn hands on
Fisheries, environmental law, conservation and fieldwork, taught where it actually happens.
- 05
Return home
Return inspired
Work through the education program and return home inspired to take action.
Meet the team
The education team, 2026
The educators who travel with the students to Ultima Base, bringing expertise from marine science, environmental law, and education into the deep field.
Michael Markovina
Marine Conservation Biologist & Fisheries Scientist
Michael brings decades of field research in marine conservation and fisheries science to the expedition, guiding students through the living systems that connect African oceans to the Antarctic.
Justin Truter
Head of Environmental Law Practice Area, Werksmans Attorneys
Justin leads environmental law practice at Werksmans Attorneys and shows students how policy and legal frameworks shape the protection of wild places, from African coastlines to the polar south.
Maryke Musson
Executive Manager Education & Communication, SAAMBER
Maryke leads education and communication at SAAMBER, translating the expedition into learning that students carry home and into the boardrooms where leadership decisions are made.
Students in Antarctica provides a unique and inspired learning experience, drawn from diverse experiences and realities, from environmental law to conservation science, so that every student returns with leadership qualities that serve them in time to come.
From the ice
It is an investment in youth, their ideas supported with our experience and the nerve to run at the future instead of waiting for it to arrive.
Our valued partners
Investing in youth leadership and education
Their invaluable shared vision supports African leadership and education, making the expedition possible.
Film
Watch the expedition
The full promo for the 2024 expedition: selection, departure from Cape Town, and days on the ice with Riaan Manser and the education team.
Gallery
Antarctica, as our students saw it
In their words
“Standing on the ice with Riaan, I understood for the first time that the choices we make in Johannesburg reach all the way to the bottom of the world.”
Naledi Mokoena
Expedition member, 2024
The next expedition