Polar Bears in Svalbard: Into the Wild Arctic

I must say there was a large amount of confusion as we left the heatwave of London in shorts and T-shirts, quickly changing into full long johns even before we’d arrived at the most northerly town in the world, Longyearbyen.

Svalbard or Spitsbergen? Few people have heard of it, and if they have, most ask, why travel there? Well, I can answer that. If you’re into total remote wilderness, adventure and wildlife, then it ticks all those boxes. It also helps that it doesn’t take long to get there from London – a quick change in Oslo and you’re there by dinnertime.

Longyearbyen is great, even if just for a long weekend. It’s a gastronomic hub, with some very swanky fine-dining restaurants to try. I’m not a museum-goer myself, but the museum there is very well done, interactive and informal, so for someone like me, it was very enjoyable.

The town is tiny and surrounded by wildlife, so you don’t have to venture far from your hotel before you’ve seen some different fauna. There’s also lots of hiking to be done, but you must take a guide with you. There are signs all over town displaying polar bears, and they must be taken seriously. It’s the norm to see the majority of Longyearbyen’s inhabitants walking around with a rifle on their backs.

The ‘Svalbardians’, as I like to call them, are incredibly hearty, and they put many of us to shame with their gusto and thirst for adventure. You’ll speak to most locals, and they’ll tell you they’ve either skied to the North or South Pole, or they’ve abseiled down some treacherous glacier for fun. Nothing seems to faze them, which can be quite intimidating.

I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive, as I’d met up with a friend who has lived in Longyearbyen for the last three years. She said that she’d only ever seen one polar bear in her whole time living there, and I’d heard a story from a guide that a woman had been to Svalbard 34 times and had never seen the ‘King of the Arctic’.

Eventually, on her 35th visit, she did…

So, I had to be realistic and remind myself, as well as the clients, that this is nature and things aren’t guaranteed. But if we all manifest, maybe we’ll strike lucky?

Something that fuelled my hope of seeing the apex predator was that this Escorted Tour I was leading was extremely special. We were joined by our Guest Lecturer, Alastair Fothergill OBE, the Producer and Director behind Sir David Attenborough’s BBC series The Hunt, Blue Planet and Frozen Planet, to name a few.

We also had our own chosen team with us, all as knowledgeable as each other, who have lived and breathed the Arctic. Some had worked with Alastair on the logistics behind his films, so I knew we were in for a treat and that our chances of seeing wildlife were looking good.

It helped, too, that we had chartered our own vessel, the MV Quest, so we could dictate most of the route. And, to our luck, and maybe down to all that manifestation, it surpassed all our expectations.

We left Longyearbyen, and on our first day of sailing, we had our first polar bear sighting. It was ‘super cool’, as all the Norwegians and Swedes say up here.

Our group were out on the Zodiacs at the time, looking at a calving glacier and common eiders. The captain and deck team were doing their daily pull-up competition when one of the crew radioed out to our Zodiacs to say there was some suspicious activity.

Off we went and, to our amazement, there was a polar bear playing with an old fishing buoy in the water – tossing it up in the air and dropping it back in. Unfazed by us, fortunately, we watched it play like a puppy.

We thought that was it, and we’d been so lucky to even see one bear, even if quite far away. But we were just getting started… and there were plenty more delights.

We moved further north into the pack ice, knocking our way through a desert of pancake-shaped ice. I think we were all thinking it: how on earth could anything survive up here?

And yet they do.

Polar bears. Polar bears survive!

The exciting thing about the pack ice is that you really feel as though you’re on safari. The ice is so changeable, as is the weather, and when the fog comes down, it’s incredibly hard to spot anything. Things can honestly just creep up on you… it’s quite eerie.

And just like that, a mother and her two cubs appeared.

We were so lucky. We saw a mother and her two cubs, a polar bear stalking its prey and five polar bears in all directions from the boat in the space of a couple of hours.

There was even a time after supper when someone said, ‘I think there’s a polar bear swimming over there.’

Of course, no one believed him at first, as we were in the middle of the ocean. Of course there wasn’t a bear.

To everyone’s astonishment, though, he was right. There, in the middle of the ocean, with the land a couple of miles away, at least, was a polar bear. It was hard to believe the bear could’ve even got there, but it’s apparently not that rare. They can swim for miles. I think someone said the longest recorded swim for a bear was around 670 km in one go!

Just before we saw this swimming bear, I had commented that I would love to have been able to go paddleboarding, as the water was like glass. Well, thank God there wasn’t one on board, as otherwise I think I may’ve been that polar bear’s dinner. There’s no way you could out-paddle a polar bear!

I must say, time gets a little confusing here. With the 24-hour light, you can only rely on your body clock to tell you when you’re tired and should go to bed. Time goes by so quickly; it can get to 2am in no time at all. And why not enjoy the midnight sun? It’s simply incredible to see.

Another exceptionally cool sighting was a bowhead whale. These gigantic beasts, found only in Arctic waters, have the biggest mouths of all whales. It’s even been recorded that they can penetrate through a metre of ice in the winter, and they’re incredibly rare to see.

I didn’t realise quite how lucky we were until one of our guides started getting tearful, as she hadn’t seen a bowhead whale for nearly 15 years.

This trip totally took me by surprise. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I’d had such a fantastic trip down in Antarctica, again with Alastair, and I didn’t think anything could really beat that.

And then there’s the question: the Antarctic or the Arctic?

I’d say they’re incomparable and, if you can, try and do both. They’re incredibly different. As I explained before, the Arctic, I find, is more elusive. Finding wildlife is hard and unexpected, whereas in the Antarctic, wildlife is abundant.

I also love penguins, but I also love puffins too!

The changing light is captivating in Antarctica, as it creates iridescent-like colours across the tabular icebergs. But then, if you came to the Arctic in winter, the changing light would be just as incredible.

Do them both!

After dropping off the very satisfied group at the airport, I stayed on for a few extra days to visit Isfjord Radio Station Hotel, located on the western point of Svalbard, the last stop before the Arctic Ocean.

In summer, it’s an hour-and-a-half boat ride from Longyearbyen. In winter, if you’re brave enough, it’s an eight-hour snowmobile or a two-day dog-sled ride, with camping.

This place was needed.

After the incessant chatter and excitement of the Escorted Tour, the peace and quiet meant I could totally unwind, read my book and reset. I sat there, G&T in hand, looking out into the blustery rain and wind, feeling completely at ease before delving into a total culinary feast.

The weather was a complete contrast to the previous 14 days, but it was the perfect place to chill in the wild landscape.

On day two, I reluctantly agreed to a 16 km hike to see a walrus colony, despite looking at the storm outside. Sadly, I couldn’t back out, as I had to keep up the English stoicism.

The night before, we had just won the quarter-finals against the Norwegians, and I was with a couple of Swedish nurses living in Longyearbyen who had served in the army in Afghanistan. We also had a tough Norwegian guide with us, so I couldn’t complain.

Although I was totally soaked through to my underwear, and every step felt so heavy because my boots were full of puddles of water, I persisted. I was so grateful to return to our cosy lodge and be greeted by a hearty reindeer stew.

To experience Isfjord at its best, I think you would have to come in winter. It would be magical, as it’s an adventure even getting there, crossing over glaciers.

Overall, I think Svalbard has so much to offer in every season, but returning in winter would be something of a fairytale.

From polar bears roaming the pack ice to the midnight sun over the Arctic wilderness, Svalbard offers an adventure unlike anywhere else. Our Polar specialists can create a tailor-made journey or help you find the right Arctic expedition.