April 9, 2008

Euro-phile: Wanna meet a Norwegian polar bear?

Do you have a penchant for furry, fluffy man-eaters?
Then luxury travel firm Abercrombie and Kent is offering seriously intrepid travelers a unique opportunity.
With their experieinced guide Mats Forsberg (who has guided BBC production teams into the region's polar bear habitat), you can venture into Norway's Arctic wilderness and follow the trail of the polar bear. The plan being to actually find one.
This vacation is not for the faint of heart—weather conditions are hardly balmy (think 17 degrees and high winds on a clement day) and you'll camp for at least one night. But it's way more interesting than a week in Orlando.
Here's how one adventurer described the experience: "We ski to a ridge with views of both the den and the ocean pack ice, and we wait, absorbed by the sparkling silence. Soon the mother polar bear emerges, nosing the air and scanning the surrounding empty pack ice. She then belly-slides headfirst down the snowy slope. Two cubs follow, tumbling and rolling into a furry heap at their mother's feet. She ushers them toward an iceberg, moving them gently along with her massive paws. It's time for a hunting lesson."
You'll ski, snowmobile and camp your way through Spitsbergen, the last protected natural polar bear habitat. With a bear population of 4,500, chances of sighting one are supposedly excellent. (As are the chances of freezing your boobies off.) Once in bear country, you're entirely dependent on yourself, your equipment, and your guide's knowledge and experience. If you make it home alive and uneaten, you'll have enough dinner party stories to last a lifetime.
The company is booking departures for March 2009, with prices at around $14,490 per person. Click here for more info.

April 9, 2008 in PICK OF THE DAY | Permalink