On the Earth's Margins

From the freezing fjords in icy winters to the ethereal view of midnight sun in summers—an expedition here is like trespassing into the Earth's great wilderness

- By ARCHANA SINGH

Tasiilaq, the biggest town of East Greenland; (below) Fresh Ice claving at Kárale Glacier

Few places on Earth remain as remote, untouched, and defiantly wild as East Greenland. Imagine icebergs as tall as 100-metre skyscrapers, glaciers still considered youthful at 50,000 years, and landscapes sculpted over 2.5 billion years. This is not a land of contrasts—it’s a realm suspended in geological time.

Getting here feels wonderfully improbable. A small fixed-wing plane from Reykjavik lands on Kulusuk’s gravel runway beside a village of just 250 people. From there, a 3-km walk leads to the harbour, where an expedition vessel take you deeper into the Arctic wilderness.