On Safari . . . In The North Atlantic?
Who says safaris are only for Africa? At the other end of the spectrum — and pole — on an Arctic safari, you can catch glimpses of seals, walruses, and, if you’re fortunate, polar bears. By Barnaby Davies No person spoke. At 80 degrees North, the 25-yr-outdated hull creaked in the ice. Camera shutters whirred although expedition staff and passengers stared spellbound. A gargantuan male polar bear stood, flat-footed, only a couple of feet beneath us on the Norwegian pack ice. Had I leaned just a little even more above the ship’s rail, we could have shaken hands. Or rather, I could have lost my video camera and the arm holding it. It was mid-August. I was aboard the Professor Molchanov on a ten-day trek all around Spitsbergen, Norway. The ex-analysis vessel, crewed by Russians, was my new dwelling away from property. Constructed for the Hydrometeorology Institute in Murmansk, Russia, it measures a shade in excess of 233 feet extended. Ice-strengthened, she was created for Arctic nor...