The allure of Antarctica continues to skyrocket, and longtime polar outfitter White Desert—a winner in Travel + Leisure‘s 2025 Global Vision Awards—is using the continent’s popularity for good. Its new White Desert Foundation, which launched in late 2024, is harnessing the company’s two decades of Antarctic expertise to expand research and climate action both close to camp and around the world.

“Antarctica really shows us how interconnected the world is,” says Rebecca Warne, director for the White Desert Foundation. “Climate change didn’t start in Antarctica, it’s not going to be solved in Antarctica, but it is the basis of many global events.”

The luxury travel company, based in South Africa, first launched in 2005 to offer travelers a cozy resting place between extreme White Continent experiences. Founder and CEO Patrick Woodhead conceptualized the glamping basecamp while waiting out a four-day storm on a traverse of Antarctica. Even back then, the majority of White Continent travelers arrived by cruise ship, witnessing only the ice’s fringes. He knew intrepid travelers craved access to the remote interior, too.

White Desert’s first few tents grew into three separate camps, but the goal has never been about increasing tourist numbers. Each camp welcomes no more than 12 guests. “Taking very small numbers of tourists there and doing it in a highly sustainable way was important to us,” says Woodhead. “That permeated every element of our infrastructure and how we operate.”

Visitors—which total just a few hundred each November to February season—are treated to the continent’s dramatic scenery, from frozen waves to massive emperor penguin colonies, plus as hygge-infused luxury (think heated polar pods, saunas, and private chefs, as well as a new Wellness Dome at the Whichaway Camp, which opened in 2024).

White Desert became carbon neutral in 2007, and continues to lighten its footprint by removing all waste, incorporating renewable energy, and using sustainable aviation fuels for the flights between Antarctica and Cape Town, where the trips originate.

The new White Desert Foundation builds upon this ecotourism legacy, while working within the company’s unique geographical limitations. “We can’t do what many tourism companies do [to] conserve and maintain the area in which they operate,” says Warne, noting most organizations try to protect the region. “With Antarctica, we are mandated to leave it alone.” Instead, the new foundation will tackle climate change across three pillars.

First up: scientific research. More than 50 countries support research projects on Antarctica, yet many climate scientists that aren’t backed by national programs lack the hefty funds to get here. That’s where White Desert Foundation steps in. Their grants provide transportation and logistical support for critical Antarctic research, like studying the thousands of meteorites found here.

Global environmental issues have catalyzed Antarctica’s climate problems. That’s why the White Desert Foundation’s second pillar of work goes beyond the continent. It backs projects in South Africa’s Western Cape that restore coastal and ocean habitats, including seagrasses. These marine ecosystems efficiently capture and store carbon, and play an important role in safeguarding Earth’s future.

Turning curious travelers into conservationists is the goal of many Antarctic operators—and with a host of visiting scientists, the White Desert Foundation is particularly poised to make this a reality. “By connecting scientists and guests, we may spark a real change in both mindset and actions,” says Warne. “These scientists can connect how important Antarctica is, and what it tells us about our past and our collective future.”