Falklands , South Georgia & Antarctic Islands

Montevideo to Ushuaia

Our Expedition Team

Our Expedition Team members are not only expert lecturers, they are also your hosts on board and ashore. They will give professional lectures on topics like biology, history, geology and the eras of human exploration

They also take you on landings and hikes and inform you on how to make the most out of your stay without disturbing the fragile wildlife and nature. All our Expedition Team members are certified by IAATO and have extensive knowledge on how to operate envir- onmental friendly tourism in polar areas

Our Expedition Team is carefully picked for their local knowledge, specific expertise in fields of relevance and most important of all, their enthusiasm, curiosity and love for the areas .we choose to spend time in on any one of our exped- itions. They are modern explorers, willing to share stories, interpret what you see and guide you to the most interesting sites and experiences

Meet Our Expedition Team

Anja Erdmann - Expedition Leader

Anja is from Germany and holds a degree in Tourism Management. She started working in Greenland in 2000, and has been addicted to the polar areas ever since. Anja has worked for Hurtigruten since 2001, and says she has found her dream job. The reason for that is the combination of being privileged to see the most remote areas of the planet, enjoying life on board and travelling all the time

Karin Strand - Expedition Leader

Born in Norway, Karin grew up among the Norwegian fjords in Jølster, before moving to Bergen in 1991, where she studied law for 5 years. Karin joined the Hurtigruten fleet on the Norwegian coast in 1998, and has worked on various ships as Expedition Leader. Since 2001 Karin worked as Chief Purser and she joined the voyages of MS Nordnorge in Chile & Antarctica in the first season, in 2002-03

Corinna Skrindo - Assistant Expedition Leader

As a native Norwegian, Corinna grew up among the Norwegian mountains almost as far away from the sea as you can get in Norway. Taking an early interest in languages and travel she started working in the travel business and has been doing so ever since. Corinna started working for Hurtigruten in 1996, along the coast of Norway as a tour guide. In 2005 she came to Antarctica for the first time and she has been interested in the polar regions as well as the tales of bravery of the early explorers ever since.Corinna works as a freelancer and gets to pick and choose her destinations worldwide. Her main interests are history, geology, geography, and culture as well as art and languages

Rudolf Thomann - PhD in natural sciences Hamburg University

Rudolf was born in Chile, but went to Germany to study biology. He moved back to Chile and specialised in the extreme environment of the Andean Altiplano, where his interest in the cold and icy ecosystem started to develop. He became involved in the Explora projects in Torres del Paine and San Pedro de Atacama in the early 90´s. Conservation has also been a passion and for many years, he worked in the environmental department of an engineering consulting company, giving ecology lessons at private universities. For the last 8 years he has worked with Hurtigruten

Steffen Biersack - Lecturer

German geologist, born and raised in Berlin, where he obtained both a Master degree in Administration Management and - later on – in geology. Before joining Hurtigruten, he has gained considerable experience as a field trip guide in many European countries, Northern America and Southern Africa. In his opinion, geology and the complex “System Earth” is a most intriguing and important subject. So his particular aim is to convey this fascination of geology to a wider public. For this reason he is also founder of the German Association for the Active Promotion of Geology (GeoLogica)

Friederike Bronny - Lecturer / Geography and Biology

Lecturer / Geography and Biology Friederike Bronny, a German geographer and biologist, studied at Bochum University. She specialised in the ecology of the polar regions. Friederike has been working in Greenland for more than 30 years, and over 20 years in Antarctica. She has been a lecturer on cruise ships since 1985, and from 2004 has been working exclusively for Hurtigruten. She fell in love with the Arctic tundra and the south Chilean forests of Tierra del Fuego. The leopard seals and albatross are her best friends in Antarctica and are the reason she keeps coming back every year

Manuel Marin - Lecturer / Ornithology

A Chilean born ornithologist, he received his PhD from Louisiana State University in zoology/ornithology. He was formerly Director of Research of the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in California, now currently living in central Chile. Besides being a researcher on neotropical birds, Manuel also leads bird-watching trips through Chile. Manuel publishes regularly in many ornithological journals. For the last 25 years he has been travelling extensively through many countries on ornithological research and explorations

Ina Schau Johansen - Assistant Expedition Leader

Ina has been working as a Expedition Leader with Hurtigruten since 2000. During this time she has been leading special cruises with the M/S Lofoten through the Norwegian Fjords and Lofoten Islands area. In 2005, Ina began sailing in Antarctica and Chile. Before she started work with Hurtigruten, she worked as a lecturer on different cruise ships in Norway and as a staff member at Kandersteg International Scout Centre in Switzerland. She has a university degree in social work and she has also studied marketing management. In her spare time, Ina is often seen sailing her 36-foot sailboat along the coast of Norway.

Tessa Van Drie - Polar guide

Tessa is from the Netherlands. She finished her 1-year course as Arctic Nature Guide, hosted at Spitsbergen, in June 2011. She has her master degree in Physical Geography and in teaching Geography. After working for four years she decided to travel and do voluntary work for two years in Central- and South-America. She enjoyed traveling so much that she got a job as a tour leader for a Dutch company, and for three years she guided Dutch groups through several countries in Central- and South-America. Since last year she is living in Norway and is really enjoying the outdoor life like cross country skiing, kayak paddling and hiking in the mountains. Tessa has been a part of Hurtigruten’s expedition team for the last 4 years.

Tomas Zadrozny - Biologist and Polar Guide

Tomas was born in Warsaw in Poland. In 1993 he obtained Master of Science degreen in Animal Science and engineering degree at the Agricultural Unviersity of Warswaw. In the same year he started working in the Department of Antarctic Biology of the Polish Academy of Science. Tomas wintered twice in Antarctica working as a biologist at Polish Antarctic Station Henryk Arctowski located at King George Island/South Shetlands. Main points of his interest were Antarctic fish population and their diet. Being infected by so called "polar virus", in 1999 he started working on board of passenger expedition vessels, caring guests to Antarctica and to the Arctic. Combine all his time in those two places he spend more than five years of his live in Polar regions, working as biologist, zodiac driver, expedition leader and biology lecturer. One of his highlights has been the discovery of a new island and channel in Antarctica in February 2003. Tomas has worked with Hurtigruten for the last 3 years

The rest of the team

Other members of our expedition team are Katja Kern, Henryk Wolski, Janus Chemnitz Kleist, Arne Kertelhein, John Chardine, Tudor Morgan and Olav Orheim. Who is part of the expedition team varies from sailing to sailing. Not all members will be on board the MS Fram simultaneously