A DARING eclipse chaser will be making her way to Antarctica later this month pursing the ultimate astronomical show.

Southend resident Mandie Adams has spent the last three decades adventuring across the globe in pursuit of solar eclipses.

The 56-year-old is setting off on her latest trip on November 18, a daring voyage to Antarctica to see the forthcoming total solar eclipse on December 4.

Mandie, one of the few women in a very male-dominated space, has seen eleven solar eclipses taking her to an array of marvellous destinations such as Zimbabwe, Chile, China, Easter Island, Norway and Indonesia – a passion sparked by her first eclipse in Lizard Point, Cornwall, in 1999.

Echo:

Mandie with a baby panda in China on a trip to see an eclipse in 2009.

"It’s not just the eclipse, while that is a special moment, it’s the whole experience of the trips I have around them, as I tend to do a bit of backpacking around them,” explained Mandie.

“And it's not just a few seconds of the eclipse, it’s the totality of what happens around that moment, the sky changes and nature responds. One time when I was in Zimbabwe, and I was a bit drunk to be fair, I was talking to a monkey, he came up to us on his own during the eclipse and I spoke to him.”

Echo:

A 2019 eclipse in La Serena, Chile.

Mandie says her passion has introduced her to a whole new world of friends, whose relationships were forged on the volcanic slopes of Easter Island.

“Many of us met on Easter Island, which is a very spiritual place. We went to an eclipse festival there and we were living in the most awful conditions for a week,” she said.

“It was raining all the time and there were worms in the water. We bonded, we were really up against it, and now we see each other at eclipses across the world.”

Echo:

East Coast Australian eclipse in 2012.

Mandie, who has written a book about her travels ‘Chasing the Eclipse and Other Adventures’, says she is one of the few women who travels the world chasing eclipses.

“There are not many serious female eclipse chasers,” she continued. “There are few women like me who go on their own and follow them across the globe.

“Somebody one said to me ‘it’s a lot of bearded men with telescopes’, but I feel that is a little unfair on the scene. However, it is mainly men, but they are friendly enough with me.”