Arctic Wildlife Tours is happy to announce that we will be able to offer another Polar Bear photography workshop in Churchill, Canada in 2023. We did a great trip in…
Svalbard Winter expedition story.
In 2014 I did the first arranged Svalbard winter expedition by using snowmobiles and camping out in the Svalbard Arctic nature. This is considered as a more extreme activity and I was excited about how it would work out. We cooperate with operators in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, that have many years of experience and all the needed equipment to do expeditions like this.
We started the Svalbard winter expedition by doing some photography close to Longyearbyen. On regular day trips we had good situations for photographing Arctic Foxes, Svalbard Reindeers, Svalbard Rock Ptarmigans and landscapes.
The plan was to decide where to go only few days before the expedition. Everything depends on weather and the sea ice conditions when you are looking for wildlife in Svalbard, especially in winter. If we wanted to se Polar Bears we needed the right conditions to succeed on that. This year was not to bad regarding the ice conditions and on the east coast of Spitsbergen, in "Mohnbukta" it was some ice in the fjord, but not much. Mostly close to the glazier. We made the decision to go there and camp out in a tent for 2-3 days.
After arranging the camp we could start photographing. Already from the first minute we came there I could spot 2-3 Polar Bears out on the ice. We did not want to disturb their behavior and planned what we could do carefully before we drove down on the sea ice. We wanted to photograph some of the Polar Bears that was wandering around in the area.
We spotted one bear far out in the ice. It looked like to follow the ice edge and coming closer and closer to where we was standing. We waited there at least half an hour before the animals was 200 meters from us. It just walked towards north in safe distance from us. At this time we already had seen 5 different Polar Bears on this Svalbard winter expedition. I was surprised about this.
During the following days we did see Polar Bears every day. Totally I counted 9 different individuals in the area. Some of them only walked by and disappeared, others stayed in the area. Especially we observed a female and a big male following the female several times.
The female was occupied by trying to keep the big male in good distance. A couple of times the female walked directly towards us and we had to move away because she was so focused on us. Maybe she did that to get some help getting rid of the big male following her so intense?
The last evening at midnight we was doing some landscape photography out on the ice we got our closest visit from a young Polar Bear that came in very fast from the ice. They are walking but these animals can walk pretty fast and sometimes I get a bit surprised by their walking speed.
We observed the bear suddenly in the ice maybe 150 meters from us. In the beginning it did not look like being interested and we thought it would pass us. But this your bear had a plan checking us out and everything happened fast when we understood this. We was close to the snowmobiles and we drove away as the young bear came directly against us.
Obviously this animal was really curious and when we moved away it sniffed in our tracks and after a while it just rolled over and spent several minutes in the snow just relaxing and doing some funny things. This Polar Bear behavior gave us several good situations during this Svalbard winter expedition.
After three nights in the camp we decided to spend the last night in a cabin in Van Mijen fjord. It was several hours driving there. After some pretty extreme and cold days in tent this was something to look forward to as we was driving in low visibility.
I was so tired when we drove along "Kjellstrtømdalen", a huge valley, that I almost fell asleep on the snowmobile. We arrived the cabin and could relax with a good meal and not "dry tech". Our operator, Stefano Poli, did a fantastic job preparing everything. Later in evening we decided to do some photography again and drove over to the glazier "Paulabreen". This is a beautiful place and some nice light gave us some good opportunities photographing there.
With this image of the "Paulabreen" I will end this story from a Svalbard winter expedition. I am sure its one of the most amazing adventures people can experience 🙂
Upcoming Svalbard tours
Snow Leopard photography expedition 2024
Arctic Wildlife Tours announces a new expedition. This time to Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary into the Tibetan mountains. We will search for these big cats living in these mountains.
Svalbard winter expedition 2023 by snowmobile
Join Arctic Wildlife Tours for this winter expedition out in the wilderness of Svalbard. The magic light and landscapes are stunning at this time of the year.
Svalbard July 17 – 26 expedition 2023 MS Origo
Svalbard photo tours and small vessel cruises in mid summer to photograph and experience the wildlife in typically warmer weather with lengthy daylight hours, providing great opportunities to see Svalbard's…
Svalbard expedition July-August 2023 MS Origo
Arctic polar bear cruises in late summer to enjoy the wildlife in typically warmer weather with lengthy daylight hours but also sunsets and sunrises, providing more opportunities to see Svalbard's…
Svalbard expedition August 5 – 15 2023 MS Origo
Svalbard wildlife photography tours in the early autumn to enjoy the wildlife in typically warmer weather with lengthy daylight hours but also sunsets and sunrises.
Svalbard August Expedition 2023 MS Origo
Arctic polar bear cruises in the early autumn to enjoy the wildlife in typically warmer weather with lengthy daylight hours but also sunsets and sunrises, providing more opportunities to see…
Svalbard Masterclass on board 2023
Join our photography masterclass onboard hosted by Nat Geo photographer Stefano Unterthiner and Arctic Wildlife Tours
Svalbard September 04 – 14 2023 Expedition MS Origo
In September we expect to spend days into the drift ice far north and east of Svalbard. We expect to find polar bears and other wildlife close to the ship.
Svalbard September 14 – 24 2023 Expedition MS Origo
We do the second "Autumn light expedition" in mid September and we expect to spend days into the drift ice far north and east of Svalbard.
Svalbard April expedition 2023 onboard MS Freya
Svalbard travel photography on Svalbard, every day is different, and every year is different. Arctic Wildlife Tours guides leads this August expedition to Svalbard, a remote area we know well…
Early spring Svalbard expedition May 15 – 22 2023
Arctic Wildlife Tours, May expedition on Svalbard in 2023. This will be an early spring expedition with lot of snow and ice still. The landscapes will still be covered by…
Svalbard June 02 – 11 expedition 2023 MS Origo
Arctic polar bear cruises in early summer to enjoy the wildlife in typically warmer weather with lengthy daylight hours, providing more opportunities to see Svalbard's unique landscapes and wildlife.
Svalbard June 05 – 15 2023 expedition onboard MS Malmö
June is an opportunity for good ice conditions in milder weather. 24 hour daylight makes for many hours of possible wildlife sightings. Fjords are opening up and we can get…
Svalbard June 20 – 29 expedition 2023 MS Origo
Arctic polar bear cruises in the early summer to enjoy the wildlife in typically warmer weather with lengthy daylight hours, providing more opportunities to see Svalbard's unique landscapes and wildlife.
Svalbard June-July expedition 2023 MS Origo
Arctic polar bear cruises in the early autumn to enjoy the wildlife in typically warmer weather with lengthy daylight hours but also sunsets and sunrises, providing more opportunities to see…
Svalbard July expedition 2023 onboard MS Freya
Svalbard travel photography on Svalbard, every day is different, and every year is different. Arctic Wildlife Tours guides leads this August expedition to Svalbard, a remote area we know well…
From Svalbard to North East Greenland cruise
Join us for this Arctic adventure from Svalbard to North East Greenland onboard the Polar Pioner. Experience the best from two great destinations with wildlife and landscapes.
Svalbard Winter expedition 2024 onboard MS Origo
Svalbard travel photography on Svalbard, every day is different, and every year is different. Arctic Wildlife Tours guides leads this winter expedition on Svalbard, a remote area we know well…
Early season May 1 – 9 expedition 2024 MS Virgo
Arctic Wildlife Tours do this early May expedition on Svalbard in 2022. We will be using the expedition ship MS Virgo for this wildlife expedition, which is a recently refurbished…
Peak Wildlife season Svalbard June 10 – 19 2024
Svalbard photo tour onboard a small ship in early summer to enjoy the wildlife in typically lot of drift ice and lengthy daylight hours, providing more opportunities to see Svalbard's…
Peak Wildlife season Svalbard June 28 – July 07 2024
Svalbard photo tour onboard a small ship in early summer to enjoy the wildlife in typically lot of drift ice and lengthy daylight hours, providing more opportunities to see Svalbard's…
Main Season Svalbard July 17 – 27 2024
Svalbard photo tours and small vessel cruises in mid summer to photograph and experience the wildlife in typically warmer weather with lengthy daylight hours, providing great opportunities to see Svalbard's…
Iberian Lynx photography tour
In December 2023 we will do a photography tour to Spain for the Iberian Lynx. After a long time without any tours we are up to do something. Join us…
South Georgia photography expedition 2023
Join Arctic Wildlife Tours guides Svein and Jens onboard the M/V Sea Spirit and visit South Georgia. As it is the first trip for Arctic Wildlife Tours visiting these parts…
Iceland photography tour autumn 2023
Arctic Wildlife Tours will do their first tour in Iceland in September 2021. We have planned this tour to give travellers and photographers the best possibilities to experience and photograph…