Day 18 14 August Longyearbyen (Svalbard)

We have been out of wi-fi range which is why we have not posted.

Svalbard basically means svalr ('cold') and barð ('edge', 'ridge', 'turf', 'beard').  The name Spitsbergen was used by Dutch explorer Wilhelm Barentz, who in 1596 described the "pointed mountains". This is on the same latitude as Northen Greenland, so it is in the High Arctic.  Svalbard has permafrost and tundra. 

It's the first time we can use our cold weather gear.

The German weather station on Svalbard during World War II saw the last Germans to surrender. On 4 September 1945, they were picked up by a Norwegian seal hunting vessel and surrendered to its captain.

 Today we are off to see the huskies. Is that a sausage behind his back?

You have no idea how noisy they are before they take off. They get so excited, and they love what they do.

The musher Nikko is from the Netherlands. Perhaps he never saw a hill before. He has to stop every 5-10 minutes to give the dogs a breather and a drink of water. About 40% of the people living here came from somewhere else.

FUN FACT: At Christmas time the only reindeer that have horns are females. Not males, as they have shed them after mating season.

Nesting birds can't remember if they were a Left Tern or a Right Tern. They did swoop in numbers - small birds, but very territorial.

Elizabeth is touching a pure Greenlander dog in his special spot. The dogs were mixed Alaskan and other Huskies.

Svalbard has a population of 2,600 and the main industries on Svalbard are coal mining, tourism and research. Approximately 60% of the Svalbard archipelago is covered by glaciers and many birds use it as a breeding ground, and it is home to polar bears, reindeer (different sub-species to those on the mainland, smaller and stockier) and Arctic fox.  We are in the Land of the Midnight Sun, which from 20 April until 23 August, the sun never sets.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (concrete bunker on the left) preserves seeds from many of the world's crop varieties. Due to global warming of the permafrost it has started to sink so it may have to be replaced.

Transport is prohibited on bare ground, but snowmobiles are used extensively during winter.

 There are also whales, dolphins walruses and polar bears. Polar bears are protected and people moving outside the settlements are required to have scare devices to ward off attacks. They are also advised to carry a firearm for use as a last resort. Svalbard has around 300 resident polar bears but shares with other locations 2,650 polar bears. The Svalbard reindeer is a distinct subspecies; although it was previously almost extinct, but it can be legally hunted (as can Arctic fox).  

After lunch we had an included excursion to Camp Barentz which was a recreation of the Dutch explorer's hut. You cannot go past this point without an armed guide. You can see a glacier in the background.

Inside the hut... enough to give a vegetarian nightmares.

There are different types of sleds. This one doesn't have a brake, or steering. You just throw a big bit of rope out the front.

Now you know what the dog Tuborg is looking at. He is probably a Greenlander mixed breed. These are bigger dogs so he would have trouble squeezing into his box. We assume the boxes are off the ground because of winter snow.

The Japanese armed guard is in the centre giving his safety briefing about polar bears.

"Form a human shield around me while I get help."