For most of the year, South Africa’s SANAE IV research station is one of the most isolated places on Earth: cut off from the rest of the world for up to 10 months at a time and battered by some of the planet’s harshest weather. Life at the base is tough—at times, it can be terrifying.
Earlier this month the plot of a real-life horror story played out on a cliff edge, 105 miles inland from the ice shelf. In a desperate SOS message sent from the station, crew members alleged that one of the nine-member team had assaulted and sexually harassed colleagues, made death threats, and left them fearing for their lives.
But help is far away. The base lies some 2,500 miles south of Cape Town, and a treacherous emergency medical evacuation to the nearest neighbors—a German base 186 miles away—was ruled out. With no ships or planes operating in the Antarctic winter, and the SA Agulhas II not due to make the 10-15-day voyage from South Africa until December, escape is impossible.
For Lodrick Hlungwane, who spent three consecutive years living at SANAE IV, the recent crisis was disturbing—but not surprising.
“I’ve seen people who’ve completely lost it,” Hlungwane, 36, told Newsweek. “It’s a very challenging place. If you isolate yourself, you’re bound to lose it.”
It can be very scary—especially if one of the team is struggling to adapt to the intense living conditions and behaving erratically. “It’s not for everyone,” he said.
‘Not the Same Person Who Went to Antarctica’
Hlungwane, an electrical engineer from South Africa’s Limpopo province, described the psychological toll of life at the base: “There was a guy who—he had not totally lost it—but you could see he was not the same as when he went to Antarctica.
“He couldn’t integrate with people, he was always locking himself in his cabin when we came back on the ship. He just didn’t want to be with anyone. He didn’t talk to anyone, he was always ready to fight—all those things.”
Living conditions at SANAE IV are extreme. In winter, the sun doesn’t rise for months at a time. In the summer, it doesn’t set. Temperatures plunge below minus 40 degrees F—without factoring in wind chill. And hurricane-force gusts can roar across the base at speeds of up to 125 mph.
“For someone from Limpopo, where it hardly drops below 55 F, it was a shock,” Hlungwane said. “But after two months, your body starts to adjust.”
Endless Darkness, Fractured Minds
The polar night is more than just darkness. It starves the body of vitamin D and fractures circadian rhythms—which can lead to insomnia, mood swings and depression.
Hlungwane said he experienced short-term memory loss. “You go from your room to the kitchen and then before you’ve even got to the kitchen, you have forgotten what you were going for.
“So there are small memory losses, you are moody because of the lack of that vitamin.”
He told his family to stay in regular contact with him during his three years on the base, but never to “stress” him.
“I didn’t want to be stressed in an isolated place, because a lot of things can happen if someone is isolated and stressing… People can do crazy stuff.”
When the sun never sets or rises for months-long periods at a time, you can forget about your circadian rhythm.
Hlungwane said the use of sleeping pills was common and some people really struggled to cope with a totally disrupted sleep pattern.
“You don’t know when to sleep,” he said. “It becomes very difficult to sleep normally.”
Sex, Stress, and Close Quarters
Sexual tension was also an issue on the base.
The second team of Hlungwane’s three-year stint was made up of eight men and one woman. He said it was “like locking eight bulls together with one cow.”
“That one female, she becomes the target of everyone,” he said. “There’s bound to be a bit of fights or bit of dislikes among the people because one time she’s spending time with this one, one time she’s spending time with this one(…)With those who were single and available, it did cause small tension.”
Screening and Mental Health
The recent alleged attacks have raised concerns about the psychological screening of crew members before they depart for their missions on the base, which last a minimum of 10 months at a time.
The accused man has taken a psychological evaluation since the alleged assaults and has “shown remorse,” South Africa’s Environment Minister Dion George said.
However, when Hlungwane went to the Sanae base in 2019, he said there were no mental-health checks. “For me there were no tests—’you got a job, go to Antarctica!’” he said. He added that there was general support from officials and efforts annually to improve conditions. There is also a doctor permanently stationed on the base who can provide one on one mental-health consultations.
Newsweek has contacted the South Africa National Antarctic Programme for comment.
‘Close to Being In Paradise’
Despite the isolation, the cold, and the psychological toll, Hlungwane speaks of SANAE IV with deep affection—and pride.
Initially contracted for 15 months, he ended up staying for three years without returning home, having clearly proved himself to be a valued team member. He describes his time on the base as one of the most meaningful experiences of his life.
“Being in Antarctica is like nowhere else in the world—there’s a lot of things you don’t need to worry about there. There, it’s peaceful, you’re in the middle of nowhere. It was close to being in paradise,” he said.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Someone explaining the experience to you is not enough—you need to be there to understand the feeling of being in Antarctica. It’s just a very special place. I don’t know of any experience that can surpass my experience in Antarctica. I will forever cherish my time there. If I could go back, definitely, I wouldn’t even think twice.”
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