After one cancelled flight we arrived a day late in Kaktovik. Kaktovik is an Iñupiat village on Barter Island on the north slope of Alaska, and has a population of around 250. It has become known as "the polar bear capital of the United States" because each autumn several tens of bears arrive on the island. There are three reasons for this; the sea freezes early here because of the amount of fresh water arriving from the Jago River; the ice near Barter Island is a favoured spot for Ringed Seals, the Polar Bears preferred prey and finally the village can harvest three Bowhead Whales a year and after butchering the carcasses the remains are dragged to a bone pile outside the village. It is this source of ready food that attracts the bears in considerable numbers.

We travelled with WildPhotos Safaris, but unfortunately Daryl Balfour was not able to guide us. However we were expertly looked after by Greg Ferguson, and then guided by Jack Kayotuk and Steven Kazlowski. We went out twice a day on Jack's small boat to view the bears from the sea, and we saw over twenty bears including three mothers with triplets, several sows with twins, big males, and several juveniles. The snow had not arrived so the bears were all to some extent dirty, ranging from off-white and blotchy through orange to almost Brown Bear-coloured!! We had a couple of grey days but then some wonderful sunshine at times.

All the bears we saw appeared to be well fed and in good condition, and many were very playful - adults and cubs alike. It was remarkable seeing small cubs-of-the-year approaching much larger bears to play, and we saw no aggression at all in spite of a considerable density of bears, particulary near the bone pile.

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