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A composite of 216 images shows the trail of stars over colonies of Gentoo and King penguins on Friday, February 19, 2016, in Bluff Cove, Falkland Islands. Hattie and Kevin Kilmartin own 35,000 acres of land along 20 miles of due-south-facing coastline that encompasses Bluff Cove, where they offer guided day tours to cruise ship visitors to the Falkland Islands.
When Kevin bought the land in 1980, he ran a traditional Falklands sheep farm selling wool on the international market. In 2002, he and his wife diversified into tourism. He says, “Tourism is the thing that has revolutionized the farm economy. When we were buying the farm as a sheep farm, it never occurred to anybody at all that they [penguins] were going to play any part whatsoever in the finances of the farm. They were nice to have, nice to visit occasionally. That's all we thought. We certainly didn't think there was a business there. Were the cruise ship not to come anymore, there wouldn't be a business. It's all totally based on cruise ships”. Kilmartin said that in 2002 “Holland America (a cruise ship business) got ahold of us. They were bringing down their first ship to the Falklands...They said “We need a penguin tour. What can you guys do”? We said we don't do penguin tours. After a bit of persuading, we gave them a penguin tour and we enjoyed it, they enjoyed it , and we've been doing it ever since”. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
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