Wildlife Photography - High Arctic Photo Tour

The high Arctic beckons

I am off on my high Arctic Wildlife Photo Tour. My journey starts in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Fly north and cross the Arctic Circle with a stopover at Tromso for passport check. Then fly on to Longyearbyen, deep inside the high Arctic. At latitude 78.50 degrees North, it is the most northern 'city' in the world served by regular jet service.

I am on Top Of The World (almost)

The Arctic is the northernmost part of our planet. The area lies above the Arctic Circle (66 degrees, 33 minutes North),  an imaginary line that rings the top of the globe. The Circle is about 1,400 nautical miles south of the North Pole but the High Arctic refers to islands and land mass much higher than 66 degrees, like the archipelago of Svalbard, Ellesmere Island in Canada, Franz Josef land in Russia and the most northern part of Greenland.

The Arctic is melting much faster than expected, and could even be ice-free in summer by the late 2030s, a report from the Arctic Council's Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program suggests. Previous studies had forecast an ice-free North Pole in summer by mid-century.

Polar Bear traversing the ice floes in Svalbard

Board the expedition ship in Longyearbyen, sail north and explore the west coast of Spitsgergen, the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. Hope to see and photograph Whales, Polar Bears, Walruses and Seals, Arctic Foxes plus a variety of sea birds including the rare Ivory Gull.

Blue Whale (largest animal on Planet Earth, ever) in the high Arctic

Atlantic Walrus frolicking in the high Arctic waters

Cross the Greenland Sea from Spitsbergen to the east coast of Greenland and travel south along the
ice's edge with an eye peeled on the horizon for wildlife and massive icebergs and glaciers. Explore the remote landscape on foot and zodiac, including an Inuit village. Cross the Denmark Strait and end up in Iceland, the Land of Fire and Ice. Stay a few days for more exploration before heading home.

Ice Floes in the high Arctic

Iceberg resembling a piece of Blue Swiss Cheese

There will be no Internet access in the high Arctic, until I arrive in Iceland. In the meantime, you can follow my travels on Facebook and Twitter. See my equipment bag and works on MichaelDanielHo.com

Wildlife Photography - High Arctic Photo Tour

On top of the world (Almost)

Photographing wildlife inside the Arctic Circle

* * *  Back from my High Arctic Wildlife Photo Tour  * * *

I am off to the high Arctic on a wildlife photography shoot in Svalbard, an archipelago deep inside the Arctic Circle, in the Land of the Midnight Sun. Last month, I took the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II to the Upper Amazon and Peruvian Andes for a vigorous field test. Will be performing more real world tests and you can read my review on the camera here.

Atlantic Walrus family in the high Arctic

During the summer months in the high Arctic, there is 24 hour daylight and the weather and seas are unpredictable. It can range from a blustery, snowy day with 40+ knots winds and freezing temperature to sunny, T-shirt weather the next. 

Polar bear foot prints on ice floes

The wildlife in Svalbard is diverse. There is a population of about 3,000 Polar bears on the islands, together with indigenous herds of Reindeer. Arctic foxes, Atlantic Walruses, many species of whales, dolphins, seals and pelagic birds can be found among the ice floes, cliffs and numerous islands and coves.

Polar bear leaping on ice floes

The erratic pattern of ice floes and weather conditions will be a challenge for the ship's captain and my equipment but the Arctic scenery, replete with glaciers and ice cliffs are so spectacular, I will be too engrossed to worry about the rough seas and temperatures, as long as I am properly dressed. 

Virgin ice cliffs goes on for miles in the high Arctic

There are no Internet access on the expedition ship so I have to wait till my return to reconnect. In the meantime, you can see my equipment bag, read stories from my previous tours and see my works on MichaelDanielHo.com. 

Wildlife Photography - International Polar Bear Day, February 27

Every year, on February 27, the world celebrates International Polar Bear Day. With our planet's gradual warming in the last few decades or so due to climate change, the plight of Polar bears have become the proverbial Canary in the Coal Mine for our fragile planet.

The Polar bear is the largest living land carnivore, with adult males growing to over 8 feet in length and some weighing close to one ton. The heaviest recorded bear was about 2,300 lbs. There is also evidence the largest Kodiak Brown bears in Alaska can grow to about the same weight. The Polar bear is immediately recognizable from the distinctive white color of its thick fur. The only parts of the body not covered by fur are the foot pads and the tip of its nose, which are black, revealing the dark color of the skin underneath the pelt.

The neck of the Polar bear is longer than in other species of bears, and the elongated head has small ears. Polar bears have large strong limbs and huge front paws which are used as paddles for swimming. The toes are not webbed, but are excellent for walking on snow as they bear non-retractable claws which dig into the snow like ice-picks.

Females are about half the size of males, although a pregnant female with stored fat can exceed 1,000 pounds in weight. Polar bear cubs weigh about 2 lbs at birth. They look similar in appearance to adults, though they have much thinner fur. Polar bears are found throughout the circumpolar Arctic on ice-covered waters, from Canada, to Norway, parts of the US, the former USSR and Greenland. The furthest south the Polar bears occur all year round is James Bay in Canada, which is about the same latitude as London. During the winter, when the ice extends further south, Polar bears move as far south as Newfoundland and into the northern Bering Sea.

Although Polar bears have no natural predators, male bears sometimes kill young cubs for food or to try and mate with their mothers. In addition, there are also isolated poaching incidents and limited trophy hunting permitted by law. Another big threat to these endangered animals is the warming of the Arctic region and pack ice are forming later and later every year. Polar bears depend on the pack ice to hunt seals and the early ice melt is forcing them to spend more time and energy looking for food and finding fewer seals. They face an uncertain future as the sea ice melt faster and faster in the summer.

My readers know I am The Wildlife Ho-tographer. One of my favorite animals in wildlife photography is the Polar bear. You can see my equipment bag and works on MichaelDanielHo.com