Freeze Frame

Over the long days of the northern summer, the arctic is teeming with wildlife. a once-in-a-lifetime cruise gave Jo Jarvis a front-row seat.

- Jo Jarvis

Our inflatable Zodiac motorboat is speeding over freezing waters off the coast of Svalbard, a largely uninhabited Norwegian territory, when the call comes on the radio: “Bears east on the hill”. The driver turns sharply and the boat races towards two white specks on a grassy slope. This is what most of us have come for, so our first sighting of polar bears – a mother and her cub – is thrilling. Stunned, we watch them return our gaze. There’s a long silence until the mother bear growls and ambles away with her off spring in tow.

Seeing the world’s largest land carnivore in its element is the main reason many travel to this remote zone at a latitude of 80 degrees north. Most of us never expect to see polar bears in the wild. Now, with their numbers dwindling due to climate change, a sighting like this is even more significant.

We are holidaying with leading luxury-travel company Abercrombie & Kent, aboard a small cruise ship called Le Boreal. Our 15-day journey begins with a flight from Oslo to Svalbard, where we embark. From there, our route takes us west to Greenland and south to Iceland.

For many, this is the trip of a lifetime. For me, it certainly is. The fare is expensive – upwards of $1000 per day – and I’m fortunate to have a generous relative funding my passage. More than that, however, the remote and inaccessible nature of such an itinerary makes it an experience you’re likely to have only once.