Wildlife photography tour in Spitsbergen, Svalbard (13 days)
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Your IFMGA-certified guide Bruno will take you on a gorgeous, beautiful and charming wildlife photography tour in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway, where you will be able to capture the sheer beauty of a wild array of animals in their natural habitat, whilst also taking in the thrilling scenery.
Group
13 Days
Jun
Highlights
* Photograph animals such as polar bears, dolphins, walruses and reindeer!
* Visit Monacofjellet - the highest point of Svalbard!
* Walk through towering mountains, glaciers and fjords!
* Walk on fjord ice!
* Explore the town of Spitsbergen!
Description
Together we will go on a truly epic 13-day photography tour of Svalbard in Norway, where the variety and diversity of animals we see will blow your mind, as we capture them in their natural environment, which also just happens to be a beautiful and veritable nature wonderland.
Spitsbergen is the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago, and the island is littered with majestic and mesmerizing mountains, glaciers and fjords. The wildlife on show is truly breath taking, as it includes such beguiling and delightful animals as polar bears, arctic foxes, Svalbard reindeer, walruses, whales and seals.
The trip begins with us meeting in Oslo, with an overnight stay in an airport hotel, before flying up to Spitsbergen where we embark on our boat and go straight to an area full of seagull and fox colonies.
From there it is off to Prince Charles Island, where we end up at the foot of the towering Monacofjellet, the highest point of the island.
The following few days are spent discovering and photographing an immense array of animals, from red-tailed dolphins near Blomstrand Island, a walrus colony in the Bay of Madeleine and reindeer in the Bay of the Cross.
In between taking photos of the wildlife there is also ample opportunity to snap the picture-perfect scenery we will be encountering such as glaciers, mountains and fjords, all capped in snow and looking like something from a postcard.
The last couple of days are spent heading back to Spitsbergen, where if weather is permissible we will be able to walk on fjord ice, before allowing time to explore Spitsbergen itself.
We then say our goodbyes, safe in the knowledge that all the cute memories we created are on our cameras, ready to show everyone!
Photographing this idyllic part of the North of Norway is a unique experience – book now to give it a go!
I also offer a trip to view the Northern Lights in Norway, here!
Itinerary
Day 1: Meet
Flight from Paris or Geneva. Overnight at the hotel near the airport (dinner not included).
Day 2: Trygghamna Fjord
Flight to Spitsbergen, arriving in the middle of the day, then boarding around 16 hours.
Disembarkation in Alkhornet “horn-shaped cliff” where there nests a seagull colony of several thousand pairs and fox colonies very active at this time: possibility of seeing the young foxes just out of the den.
Day 3: Prince Charles Forland
Landing on the island of Prince Charles in the valley of Scotiadalen, the ride will allow us to discover a magnificent panorama of the west coast of Spitsbergen in the name of sharp mountains, we will be at the foot of the Monacofjellet: the highest point of the island. Here the landscape is a bit like the Torres del Paines in Patagonia, an observation of a walrus colony.
Day 4: King's Bay Blomstrand Island
Discovery Blomstrand Island, the starting point is an old marble mine and on the way we will follow a lake where it is not uncommon to see nesting terns and red-tailed dolphins.
Landing on the Ossiansarfjellet site to search for foxes and reindeer under a colony of gulls and guillemots.
Day 5: Day of navigation
We sail up the coast of Prince Albert 1, we can enjoy the scenery and the scroll of glaciers to the Bay of the Madeleine.
Day 6: Bay of the Madeleine
Landing to observe a colony of Little Auks who gather in scree to nest and visit a walrus colony in a small bay surrounded by mountains and glaciers.
Day 7: Smeerenburg Fjord "the city of fat"
Discovering the peaks facing the Smeerenburg glacier, we will make an approach to walrus and if the chance is with us, we can approach them a few meters.
Day 8: Fugle Fjord
We will cross the North West heading to go further north and navigate between pack ice, if ice conditions allow. Navigation towards the bay of the cross.
Day 9: Bay of the Cross
Walk on the Reppingen in front of the July 14 glacier and Lilliehook Fjord. Cruise in front of the Lilliehook glacier front with its 7 km wide front.
Disembarkation to an old Nazi weather station where it is not uncommon to see reindeer.
Day 10: Navigation
We will sail between Spitsbergen which is the main island of Svalbard and Prince Charles Island. This navigation allows us to go down to the south and the entrance to the Isfjord.
Day 11: Ymerbukta
Crossing the Isfjord for Ymerbukta Bay: first approach of the wild coast of Svalbard, we will sail along the glacier front and we will go on foot in search of the ptarmigan that are very present in the area. On the way back, if ice permitting, we will walk on the fjord ice to discover this ephemeral environment.
Day 12: Longyearbyen
Disembarkation of the sailboat in the afternoon. Longyearbyen tour and free time for shopping. Meals in a typical restaurant of Spitsbergen. Return flight according to the schedule of the airline.
Day 13: Finish
Finish
Details
More info
The photo is a time-consuming art, supervised by David Allemand, photographer of wild nature who favors details in the great outdoors, graphics, atmospheres, animals in their environment. David Allemand will share his art by training you in the shooting and treatment of images throughout the stay.
The program given here is only indicative, it can be modified because of the weather conditions of the moment and the participants. Everything will be done to ensure that we carry out this expedition but security will always prevail over the final success.
Meeting point
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