The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
‘There’s still anxiety about Argentina’s intentions’
The 1982 war looms large in every aspect of Falklands life. Those who lived through it were traumatised by it, and the fact that Argentina has never relinquished its claim to the islands means that the conflict remains unresolved. And yet, in spite of the contempt in which they are held throughout the islands, General Galtieri and his junta accomplished something that the Kelpers had been trying to do for years: get Britain to notice them!
For a British visitor of a certain age, there is something spine-tingling about the battle sites, the place names – Mount Harriet, Tumbledown, Goose Green. The rusting chunks of materiel – burntout helicopters, old Argentine field kitchens, downed fighter planes – scattered around the landscape make the war seem eerily recent. And it can be very sobering to hear from an islander about how they suffered and what they witnessed during the occupation.
Many aspects of the pre-war Falklands that Hilary and George (see left) encountered exist today. Smoko still punctuates the day: a break for coffee and cake. Volunteer Point is still a spectacular place to see king penguins – though you can do it as a day trip from Stanley. The extraordinary tree-less moorlands, the quartzite rock runs that amazed a young Charles Darwin, the diddle-dee shrubs, the hardy sheep, and the intense southern hemisphere sunshine – these are all the same.
Visitors still come to the islands to explore a landscape unchanged since prehistory and see rich birdlife and marine mammals. And the native islanders themselves, with their unplaceable accents, resourcefulness and powerful attachment to their home, haven’t changed much either.
But there have been huge material improvements since the war. The truth is that until 1982, Britain was a poor custodian of the islands. The older islanders remember the neglect and the equivocation of the Foreign Office before the war – just as they remember and honour the sacrifice made by British soldiers. One of the results of this is that the islanders have a paradoxical attitude towards Britain – a mixture of warmth and distrust.
Before 1982, most of the native Kelpers lived a life that 19th-century crofters would recognise. They cut peat for heating and cooking. Their diets were monotonous. Few had any prospects beyond a lifetime working for an absentee landlord. Many were effectively tied to the big sheep stations where they worked. They were expected to defer to the boss in the Big House and shop in the company store. Morale in the islands was low and its population was falling.
Today, things look very different. Thanks to their ownership of the fishing rights, the Falklands are now extremely prosperous. A small fleet of twin-propellor Britten-Norman Islanders connect the far-flung settlements by air. Roads have cut the distances to a few hours instead of days.
A few days staying in a self-catering accommodation on a sheep farm is still a chance to encounter space and quiet that are almost otherworldly. The Spanishinflected vocabulary inherited from the gauchos is still in use: arroshure, palinkey, pasear. But the old paternalism has died out. Farming is only one of the professions that young islanders can pursue. The landholdings – some almost as big as English counties – are still pretty self-sufficient, but the internet, and better transport links, make them feel more connected.
The shepherds are still tough, selfreliant people, but they have quad bikes instead of horses and are smart and well-travelled. Many young shepherds get to explore the world as contract shearers, trimming animals in Wales, Italy, the US and Australia.
Port Stanley, with its cathedral and scattering of Victorian houses, is recognisably the place that features in archive images of the war, but it has expanded hugely and become a much more cosmopolitan place. There aren’t many restaurants, but what’s there is reliably good. Local toothfish is delicious and the steaks are excellent. The local microbrewery – the southernmost in the world – produces great beer and there is even an artisanal distillery, which makes a fantastic local gin. The cruise ships that dock at Port Stanley disgorge thousands of visitors at a time, but only briefly. If you can find it, the local knitwear, made from soft Falklands wool, is definitely a keepsake worth having.
Port Stanley is still home to Falkland Islanders who can trace their ancestry back seven or eight generations to the first British settlement, but the place has also been energised by newer arrivals: UK contractors who liked it so much they stayed; Zimbabweans who came to clear the mine fields; Filipinos, and many from Latin American countries other than Argentina.
Ah yes, the A-word. There’s residual anxiety about Argentina’s intentions. Buenos Aires still pumps out unfriendly propaganda. But the military base at Mount Pleasant is a reassuring talisman of British commitment to the Falkland Islands’s future.