Jenny Varley

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Wrangel Island and the Russian Far East

We travelled on the Spirit of Enderby to Wrangel Island, departing from the port of Anadyr in the Russian Far East. The journey to Anadyr was long and there are no direct road links from Moscow; indeed Anadyr is nine time zones east of Moscow and very remote. The crew and expedition staff of the Spirit of Enderby were first rate and complemented perfectly by Mark Carwardine, Joe Cornish, Katie Murray, Rachel Ashton and Chris Breen. The entire area of Chukotka, including Wrangel Island, is extremely remote and fascinating, and Wrangel Island is a major site of denning Polar Bears, one of the main species we hoped to see on this trip. We did see many bears with some exceptional encounters, and also large numbers of Walrus, Humpback, Grey and Minke Whales, Beluga, Musk Ox and more Arctic Ground Squirrels than we could count.

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What magnificent creatures
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What magnificent creatures

ChukotkaWrangel IslandMusk OxDevil's CreekOvibos moschatus

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  • As we returned to Wrangel Island another bear was spotted through the fog, this one fast asleep on a huge floe of multiyear ice
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  • The patterns in the ice were stunning, and the fog made the whole encounter quite magical
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  • A group of us spent over an hour slowly approaching this solitary Musk Ox at Devil's Creek on Wrangel Island
  • What magnificent creatures
  • Another bear in the fog!
  • Taking its Walrus flipper away
  • Wrangel Island was carpeted with beautiful wildflowers
  • Our final bear and a sad sight.  This was the only bear we saw in poor condition and we assumed it was an elderly bear
  • At Unknown Bay in Chukotka was saw a very pale Brown Bear in the braided river.  They are very skittish as they are extensively hunted
  • Humpback Whales in Penkigney Bay.  We cruised amongst thirty or so feeding Humpbacks.....
  • ....and some of us had very close encounters
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