Africa Wild

Those cloud formations are amazing Dewi!

BANG! I awoke with a start and listened again for the sound that had roused me from my dreams. A loud scraping noise and the shuddering of the hull got me out of bed instantly. I recognised that familiar sound and feel of the ship and knew instantly that we were in the ice! I showered hurriedly, grabbed my cameras and binoculars and went up onto the deck. Overnight we had sailed North to the edge of the pack and were now forging ahead through the loose floes. The vistas were spectacular and I had that weird sensation of Deja-vu as I looked around at the variously shaped ice.







Fulmars and Kittiwakes were following the ship, wheeling and dancing in the skies as we made our way deeper into the ice. The views were surreal, with blue skies and thin cloud being masked out intermittently by rolling fog, only to open out into glorious sunshine again as the curtain of fog peeled away. It was during one of these moments of clearing skies that the magic began. A magic that would remain with us all of this day as the Arctic conjured up wonder after wonder for us to delight to. You don't often get days like this out in the wild and the shivers are running up and down my spine as I write this just thinking about what we experienced this day.





A fogbow graced the skies with a subtle arch of colour, too wide to take it all in in a single photo, so I took three with my little mik-en-druk and stitched them together later to make a panoramic of this stunning phenomenon.







Suddenly, out of the dark skies to the rear of the ship it materialised. Like an angel it floated towards us on snowy wings that shimmered in the light. The Holy Grail of birders in these high latitudes. A pure white bird that follows Polar Bears in order to survive in this harsh environment. A harbinger of luck in my mind as I knew then that the chances of seeing some Bears would be increased with this bird around.

Thanks Sprocks. Was busy with the last posting, so missed your comment above.

Dewi wrote:Thanks for the comments and support here Jillinflorida, PRWIN, Nan, Lisbeth, Flutterby & Mel.



PRWIN, the Bears get stuck on the islands when the sea-ice retreats. Those that move onto the ice early enough spend the Summer fattening up on seals. The ones that get marooned have to make do with meager pickings and will wait the Summer out in a form of torpor. They spend a lot of time sleeping to conserve energy. Due to climate change, the ice breaks up earlier every year, so more Bears are getting marooned. They can go up to a year without feeding if they have enough body fat built up, but the younger ones don't make it, either starving to death or being killed and eaten by other Bears. One of the main causes is that the Gulf Stream has shifted slightly to the North. The temperature of the sea has risen a degree or more here, so the ice breaks up much earlier than it used to. The pack used to contain tewo or three year old ice, but most of that has gone now, and there is a lot of one year old ice present that melts and breaks up quickly. Only two years age we would have been in amongst the sea-ice in the area I've been posting about since we saw the first Bear

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is it that bad that the ice has moved so much

Great shots of the ice pack and prev photo's

superb ice's designs
and the immaculate bird, except for the legs, what a shot and what a bird
is it already Northern light (Aurore boréale)

wow Dewi a regal... a feast... a

Beautiful colour schemes with the birds giving life to the scenery. The White bird is the closest to the imagine of an "angel" that I have ever seen, magic!!
What is the name of the "angel"?

Your narration is just brilliant! Makes me feel like I had been there myself
and I got goose bumps now!

What kind of bird is that Pretty in White?

Dewi, you sure know how to keep us glued to a screen!!!

Get on with it and let us know what that "angel" is called!

All I can say is WoW. The last shot of the white bird is fantastic. The 'arch' - the ice flows....sigh. I think I could even brave the cold for a trip such as this!

One of the things I've always wanted to see (and haven't given up the dream yet) is the Northern Lights.

When you said you were woken by the ship noise along the hull - I immediately thought of the Titanic. Guess it wasn't as bad as all that as you're here to tell your adventure.

Your writing is very interesting and the stretching out of the story is driving me MAD! Come on, hurry up we want to hear more!!

Enthralling, Dewi..that's the last word I have left!

Sorry to catch up now!

The brownies don't do it for me, I'm afraid... ...but reindeer stew and potatoes...

And how come the Americans still get to keep their bird names!?

My favourite is the walrus...reminds me of someone...thet one with the bloodshot eyes...but can't put my finger on it!