Bird Cliffs of Spitsbergen

A boat trip to Fuglefjellet

Also see: Longyearbyen tourist information

ABOVE: Our "Isfjord Safari" boatman and guide explains what we're about to see at the Fuglefjell bird cliffs.

Seeing nature in the raw is a big reason for visiting Spitsbergen and the other islands of the Svalbard archipelago. Using the main town of Longyearbyen as your base, you can enjoy Arctic wilderness excursions via skis, dogsled, snowmobile, and--in summer--by boat or cruise ship.

Spitsbergen Travel, the largest travel agency and expedition outfitter in Svalbard, offers a whole slew of trips from Longyearbyen--among them, a three-hour "Isfjord Safari" by open boat to Fuglefjellet, the cliffs where thousands of sea birds nest and breed during July and August.

The trip is offered five days a week and can also be booked privately by groups. The price in 2006 was NOK 495 (NOK 398 for children), which translated into €63 when I last checked. That's a very reasonable price for a small-group adventure trip within 600 miles (966 km) of the North Pole.

In late June, 2006, I joined a group that was booked on the Isfjord Safari. The captioned pictures on the following pages show what we did and saw during the boat tour.

Next page: "Isfjord Safari" photo diary

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