 as she passed, wrapped up in a neon pink puffer jacket and revving the engine of her quad bike to speed up the hill. Watching her go from outside his red house halfway up Mikip Aqqulaa street was the local carpenter Marti, who I paused to speak to. He told me there was only one thing on his mind — dinner. 'I hope it's polar bear curry tonight, that's my favourite.' In this remote Inuit town of just 345 people, where the only supermarket is restocked just twice a year and the nearest town is 500 miles away, locals are permitted to hunt 35 polar bears a year, Marti explained, for food and warm clothing to help them through the dark and difficult winter months. 'Sometimes we get snowed in and have to climb out the windows,' he said. A house in the town of Ittoqqortoormiit MB PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES A land of sea and ice, where predators roam, icebergs are bigger than buildings and indigenous culture remains strong, Greenland has long lured the intrepid. It's a place that has intrigued me ever since I gazed down at its meringue-like peaks and giant glaciers from the window of a jet flying from London to Los Angeles 25 years ago. I had vowed to one day see it for myself from ground level. So, in search of epic landscapes and those that call them home, I'd come to eastern Greenland to embark on an expedition voyage around Kangertittivaq, the world's largest fjord system, in which the longest extends 205 miles inland, with Ittoqqortoormiit one of its most fascinating stops. The system was named Scoresby Sound in English after William Scoresby, the 19th-century British whaler and explorer who enjoyed great commercial success in these waters. The cruise would loop vaguely around them, sometimes changing course and backtracking. Having visited other parts of the Arctic){kind=link}
It was Monday afternoon in the settlement of Ittoqqortoormiit in eastern Greenland and I was watching life unfold. The town’s matriarch was on her way home, flashing me a big friendly smile (albeit toothless) as she passed, wrapped up in a neon pink puffer jacket and revving the engine of her quad bike to speed up the hill. Watching her go from outside his red house halfway up Mikip Aqqulaa street was the local carpenter Marti, who I paused to speak to. He told me there was only one thing on his mind – dinner. “I hope it’s polar bear curry tonight, that’s my favourite.”
In this remote Inuit town of just 345 people, where the only supermarket is restocked just twice a year and the nearest town is 500 miles away, locals are permitted to hunt 35 polar bears a year, Marti explained, for food and warm clothing to help them through the dark and difficult winter months. “Sometimes we get snowed in and have to climb out the windows,” he said.
A land of sea and ice, where predators roam, icebergs are bigger than buildings and indigenous culture remains strong, Greenland has long lured the intrepid. It’s a place that has intrigued me ever since I gazed down at its meringue-like peaks and giant glaciers from the window of a jet flying from London to Los Angeles 25 years ago. I had vowed to one day see it for myself from ground level.
So, in search of epic landscapes and those that call them home, I’d come to eastern Greenland to embark on an expedition voyage around Kangertittivaq, the world’s largest fjord system, in which the longest extends 205 miles inland, with Ittoqqortoormiit one of its most fascinating stops. The system was named Scoresby Sound in English after William Scoresby, the 19th-century British whaler and explorer who enjoyed great commercial success in these waters. The cruise would loop vaguely around them, sometimes changing course and backtracking.
Having visited other parts of the Arctic, I wondered how Greenland would compare and whether this cruise, costing nearly £17,000, would offer value for money. We got off to a good start. Our privately chartered flight touched down at Nerlerit Inaat airport after a two-hour flight from Reykjavik and a dramatic descent over snow-dusted peaks, glassy inlets and dark brown beaches that hinted at what awaited our group of nine. They had travelled from all corners of the globe: Nevada, Mumbai, Haywards Heath.