Hornsund, Southwest Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway
Hornsund is one of the most scenic and exciting fjords in all of Svalbard, and perhaps in the entire world. Dramatic snowcapped peaks rise directly out of the ocean, piercing through clouds and dividing massive glaciers which have found their way to the sea. But there is one special place in the fjord where we can go ashore and view the magical panoramic landscape. There is an old trapper’s cabin there: a small cabin that polar bear hunters used as a home and refuge back in the days when bears were still hunted in Svalbard. Just behind the cabin is a cliff jutting out of the ground, which is so big and so high that your neck has to stretch to see the top. It is breathtaking and awe-inspiring at the same time.
On top of this cliff live a few Atlantic puffins, several northern fulmars (a seabird in the petrel family), hundreds of black-legged kittiwakes and thousands of Brunnich’s guillemots (or thick-billed murres). The only sound to be heard for miles and miles around is the noise of the seabirds flying in and out from their nesting sites, calling to their mates as they land on tiny ledges and get reacquainted with one another after returning from the sea where they have just fed.
Below the cliff live Arctic foxes who rob the bird’s nests of eggs and chicks, as well as flocks of barnacle geese who feed off the sparse vegetation, and even an occasional snow bunting, the only passerine or “songbird” in Svalbard.
Back out in the fjord we encountered the remnants of some of the sea ice, which inundated the bays during the last winter, and it was here that we saw the first sign of a hunting polar bear!
Now we are on the track of this polar bear, the Endeavour neatly slicing through the decaying, water-pooled sea ice toward the horizon of yet more pack ice, all eyes out on deck in a search for the white bear of the North. So for now, I must go back out on deck. I hear the engines beginning to back off and the ship is beginning to slow down. I hope we have found it!
Hornsund is one of the most scenic and exciting fjords in all of Svalbard, and perhaps in the entire world. Dramatic snowcapped peaks rise directly out of the ocean, piercing through clouds and dividing massive glaciers which have found their way to the sea. But there is one special place in the fjord where we can go ashore and view the magical panoramic landscape. There is an old trapper’s cabin there: a small cabin that polar bear hunters used as a home and refuge back in the days when bears were still hunted in Svalbard. Just behind the cabin is a cliff jutting out of the ground, which is so big and so high that your neck has to stretch to see the top. It is breathtaking and awe-inspiring at the same time.
On top of this cliff live a few Atlantic puffins, several northern fulmars (a seabird in the petrel family), hundreds of black-legged kittiwakes and thousands of Brunnich’s guillemots (or thick-billed murres). The only sound to be heard for miles and miles around is the noise of the seabirds flying in and out from their nesting sites, calling to their mates as they land on tiny ledges and get reacquainted with one another after returning from the sea where they have just fed.
Below the cliff live Arctic foxes who rob the bird’s nests of eggs and chicks, as well as flocks of barnacle geese who feed off the sparse vegetation, and even an occasional snow bunting, the only passerine or “songbird” in Svalbard.
Back out in the fjord we encountered the remnants of some of the sea ice, which inundated the bays during the last winter, and it was here that we saw the first sign of a hunting polar bear!
Now we are on the track of this polar bear, the Endeavour neatly slicing through the decaying, water-pooled sea ice toward the horizon of yet more pack ice, all eyes out on deck in a search for the white bear of the North. So for now, I must go back out on deck. I hear the engines beginning to back off and the ship is beginning to slow down. I hope we have found it!
