Svalbard. Bearly made it with the bear necessities. 31st July to August 15th 2022.

[iphonewifeNikonhusband]

3 hours ago, Galana said:

Thanks @iphonewifeNikonhusband Don't be intimidated. Everything counts. I find uploading videos to You tube and then posting link on here works for me.

thank you!

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Towlersonsafari said:

the polar bear seemingly looming above you is spectacular1

He was auditioning for the next Fox's Glacier Mint commercial I think.

[Towlersonsafari]

Clearly a better bear

[Galana]

4 hours ago, Towlersonsafari said:

Clearly a better bear

Indeed.

[Zubbie15]

Thanks for this delightful report @Galana, you definitely did well. Maybe you should contact Nikon to see if they would be interested in your camera warming technique? 

[Towlersonsafari]

now that does need to be on your wall- the photo not the advert slogan! @Galana

in fact if it was my photo it would be on my Christmas  cards for the next million Christmases 

[Galana]

Thanks for following all of this and hope you all enjoyed it even half as much as I enjoyed the trip.

 

Mette had kindly sent me the route we took which I was pleased to say more or less matched the place names I had guesstimated in my text.

Here it is .....

[Atravelynn]

On 8/26/2022 at 4:50 AM, Galana said:

I think they had settled down to talk of many things
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings.

 

The perfect response for the situation!

 

[Kitsafari]

OOooh, Aaaaahhhh and Awwww over those two cubs with mum, and how they lined up as a single row. 

OOOOooooh ahhh over those lovely snowy ice gulls, and wooooahhhhh over those humpback and fin whales, and my gosh, the number of bears you saw was amazing. 

 

It makes me think if you don't need all those ice as background (we saw enough in June), that August may be a better timing for less unpleasant surprises and for better viewings?

 

Thanks for sharing @Galana. another very enjoyable read. 

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Kitsafari said:

August may be a better timing for less unpleasant surprises and for better viewings?

I would suggest that August works well for spotting bears as they show up better against the bare earth. They don't like the warm days and will sleep among rocks but white bear does stand out more. There is still sea ice and floes but further north and east away from the Gulf Stream.

[TonyQ]

Thank you for a great report. Very useful final thoughts!

[pedro maia]

I enjoyed a lot reading the TR, it seems that you were blessed with great sightings especially of polar bears, it´s not a trip that I have planned but I love polar bears, so you never know.

 

And of course, a proper TR must have bed linen pictures and yours certainly fulfills the requirement.

[Galana]

7 hours ago, pedro maia said:

a proper TR must have bed linen pictures and yours certainly fulfills the requirement.

I took them with you in mind as I remembered it is your specialised subject.

 

I had not planned this trip either but the splendid reports earlier this year finally convinced me I should go. I hope mine will assist you in making that decision. I never dreamed it could be that good.

[michael-ibk]

Wow Fred, when you mentioned you might go to Svalbard I had not realized you would run off immediately. A decision that really paid off. Wowzers again, your Polar Bear sightings were incredible, and like you say the Whales are almost topping that. Not to mention Walrus, Arctic Fox and some really great birds. August seems like a great time to be there. Not the ice magic we saw in some of the spring reports but the birdlife alone would be worth that tradeoff for me.

 

Thanks for an awesome report!

[Galana]

5 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Thanks for an awesome report!

Glad that you liked it. I have no doubt that I was lucky with my timing but simply could not resist the urge to scratch the itch immediately rather than wait until another year. I recommend you get booking as there are spaces for next year with AWT and you would have almost a whole year to plan and look forward to it. 

[Alexander33]

What a wonderful report. And here’s the crazy thing: We were on the Malmo for the tour immediately following yours (13-23 August). And we stayed at Svalbard Hotell Polfareren, as well. We probably passed one another in town and didn’t even know it!
 

It was great to see some familiar faces here (both human and bear, alike). No belugas or swimming bears for us, though.  Maybe next time. Svalbard and the Malmo have a special place in my heart. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. 

[Galana]

14 hours ago, Alexander33 said:

We probably passed one another in town and didn’t even know it!

Well I am blowed. I met your Skipper and our guide Mette in town on 13th. Also your 'new' male guide John going somewhere in a hurry so it is likely we did pass unless you were impatiently waiting back at Polfareren for your taxi.

 

Now you have 'come out' I will not be alone in eagerly awaiting your report.

[janzin]

17 hours ago, Alexander33 said:

What a wonderful report. And here’s the crazy thing: We were on the Malmo for the tour immediately following yours (13-23 August). And we stayed at Svalbard Hotell Polfareren, as well. We probably passed one another in town and didn’t even know it!
 

It was great to see some familiar faces here (both human and bear, alike). No belugas or swimming bears for us, though.  Maybe next time. Svalbard and the Malmo have a special place in my heart. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. 

So this means yet another Svalbard report is on the way! I think we might have to change the name of this site from SafariTalk to SvalbardTalk!   

[Galana]

5 hours ago, janzin said:

I think we might have to change the name of this site from SafariTalk to SvalbardTalk!   

Well this supports something that I have been meaning to raise with @Game Wardenfor sometime. It seems a bit clunky just to have three categories, Africa, India and 'rest of the world' so that even Sri Lanka gets thrown in with Tierra del Fuego when, politics apart, it is almost part of India as would be Pakistan etc.,

So Matt, can we have more splits in Worldwide please? I appreciate that space may restrict but if not perhaps 'Europe', 'Americas', would be a start with a couple of others such as 'Asia'?

[Alexander33]

11 hours ago, Galana said:Now you have 'come out' I will not be alone in eagerly awaiting your report.

 

7 hours ago, janzin said:

So this means yet another Svalbard report is on the way! I think we might have to change the name of this site from SafariTalk to SvalbardTalk!   

Well, not so fast!   I think I probably blathered on exhaustively enough in my 2019 report (same ship, same tour operator, same time of year generally) that I likely don’t have that much to add, especially in the light of all the other fantastic Svalbard reports we’ve had this year. I’ll try to get around to posting some photos once I’ve had an opportunity to go through them all. 
 

The one thing I will say is that, given quite a bit of discussion we’ve had here about what is the best timeframe to visit during the season (which is late March through late September — though June, July, and August seem to be the busiest), I’d have to agree with those who say there isn’t one. Conditions in Svalbard can change rapidly in just a few weeks, and even the same time period in one particular year can yield a very different trip at the exact same time in another year. (Our two trips were both in August, and ended up being quite different, with some pluses and some minuses for each). Also, each timeframe (early season, mid-season, late season) offers generally positive attributes exclusive to that timeframe as well as some potential drawbacks. 
 

So, maybe it’s best to identify the things most important to you and then find a tour that seems best suited to match as many of those as possible.  I suspect that a trip to Svalbard at any time is likely to prove itself an unforgettable experience. 

[Galana]

9 hours ago, Alexander33 said:

 I think I probably blathered on exhaustively enough in my 2019 report (same ship, same tour operator, same time of year generally) that I likely don’t have that much to add,

Au contraire. You have just given several reasons why your report would be so valuable. You are almost uniquely in a position to directly compare your latest trip with the one you took in 2019 AND with mine the week before your second. How was the crew-route-operator-season three years later? You even had the same Guide, Chef, and Captain  as I did so lots to talk about.

And, having read your 2019 report, two years late, I found your 'blather' most interesting and valuable indeed.

So, do please spend a little time, no pressure , and share your trip with us all. Pretty please.

[Galana]

An update.

My sudden trip to Svalbard this July was no doubt ordained.

I was going through some pictures from last year's trip to Solway Firth in Scotland and came across something I had not noticed.

A Barnacle Goose feeding at Caerlaverock Reserve where I was staying. It is wearing a ring. A lot of Barnacles are ringed at Caerlaverock hence it is known that most if not all of the Barnacles overwintering there are from Svalbard.

Having noted the ring I notified it to the Ringing Group. Eco-LG Ltd and back came the prompt reply that 'my ' bird " "was newly ringed as an adult female on the 27 July 2021 at Nordenskiold and there were no further sightings!"

Nordenskiold NP is just south of Longyearbyen so perhaps she was sent to lure me north?

If she was, it certainly worked.

 

[shazdwn]

Great report, I was surprised to see this pop up after reading your "its too cold you'll never get me there" comments previously but glad you braved the weather for what looked like an awesome trip

 

[BRACQUENE]

Great trip report Fred @Galana: I would definitely be going but it would be less obvious for my wife Anne who has African roots and can't stand the cold 

[Galana]

4 hours ago, shazdwn said:

"its too cold you'll never get me there"

I weakened later in that 'discussion' and am so glad I did. OK I did not get all the bears in snowy scenes but I did stay warm and as in the report I did not 'dress up' like Hollywood portrays arctic explorers. I wore a sweater and just added a windproof when in the Zodiac. Never bothered with gloves at all.

1 hour ago, BRACQUENE said:

my wife Anne who has African roots and can't stand the cold 

I too will never lose my love of Africa but this was one trip I am so glad to have made. Not just the bears but the whole trip. I may not be able to resist the urge to go back.

It cannot have been too cold as some crew and guests went swimming from the Malmo off the Zodiac ladder..