Travel journal of my trip to Svalbard in May '22 to appreciate and photograph arctic wildlife and pristine landscapes.
In May the sun is up 24 hours (midnight sun), mountain slopes are still covered with snow and ground is beginning to clear.
I flew from Norway and spent few days before the safari in Longbyaren, the main town in Svalbard. I took a nine days "Polar Bear Safari" small group expedition organized by Natural World Safaris on board the 37m ice-strengthened Kinfish, a former polar research vessel. Sailed around the western coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island of Svalbard Archipelago. Before flying back, I spent another day in Longyearbyen.
In this video you will see many arctic landscapes and glaciers including famous Magdalenefjord and July 14th Glacier, from Bellsund in the south to the start of the Arctic Ocean, over the 80ºN parallel.
Arctic wildlife we encountered: lucky to see some polar bears even from far, reindeer, walrus, various seals, fulmars, guillemots, eiders, snow buntings, barnacle geese, red-footed geese, kittiwakes, ptarmigans, glaucous gulls, puffins, sanderlings, sandpiper.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Opening titles
00:18 Day 1-3: Longyearbyen 78˚ 15N 15˚ 30E
02:44 Day 3: Board KINFISH to sail the west coast
03:45 Day 4: Dicksonfjord
05:04 Day 5: Bellsund - Van Keulenfjord
07:57 Day 6: Kongsfjord
10:48 Day 7 morning: Magdalenefjord
12:40 Day 7 afternoon: Smeerenburgfjord - Sellströmbreen
14:23 Day 8: cross into Arctic Ocean over 80˚Ν
15:25 Raudfjord
16:46 Day 9: Krossfjorden
18:52 Day 10: Prins Karls Foreland
20:34 Borebukta under scorching sun
21:13 Day 11: Return to port
24:22 Closing credits