Photo Safaris By Region AFRICA - Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve, Kenya - Namibia—Land of the Himba - Cape Town—Photo Tour for Women ANTARCTICA - Ultimate Antarctica ASIA - Angkor Wat & Bagan - China's Winter Tigers & Giant Pandas - Japan's Winter Wildlife - India—The Palace on Wheels - Snow Monkeys & Giant Pandas - Essential China—Iconic Landmarks & Landscapes - Great Rivers & Mountains of China & Tibet - Mongolia—The Golden Eagle Festival EUROPE - Britain's Winter Birdlife - Eclectic Holland - Wildlife of Hungary & Transylvania - Transylvania—Romania of Myth & Legend - Venice - Tuscany - Turkey—Continental Crossroads - Provence - Spitsbergen—The Pack Ice Voyage - Ultimate Puffins - Albania, Macedonia & Montenegro NORTH AMERICA - Ultimate Wolves - Ultimate Yellowstone - Horses & Icons of the Wild West in Winter - Nature & Digital Photo Seminars with John Shaw - Monument Valley & Slot Canyons - Great Smoky Mountains - Grand Canyon at Havasu Falls - Predatory Animals of North America - Action & Adventure Sports - Humpback Whales of Alaska's Inside Passage - Glacier National Park Field Workshop - Denali National Park in Autumn - Brown Bears of Katmai National Park in Autumn - South Dakota Wildlife—Bison Roundup & Mount Rushmore - World's Best Raptor Shoot - Nova Scotia—Photo Tour for Women PACIFICA - Papua New Guinea SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA - Patagonia' Mountain Landscapes - Baja California—Whales, Wildlife & Wilderness - Easter Island & Machu Picchu - Mexico's Colonial Heartland Photo Safaris By Date JANUARY - Ultimate Antarctica - Ultimate Wolves - Ultimate Yellowstone - Angkor Wat & Bagan - Britain's Winter Birdlife FEBRUARY - China's Winter Tigers & Giant Pandas - Horses & Icons of the Wild West in Winter - Nature & Digital Photo Seminars with John Shaw - Japan's Winter Wildlife MARCH - Baja California—Whales, Wildlife & Wilderness - Monument Valley & Slot Canyons - India—The Palace on Wheels APRIL - Nature & Digital Photo Seminar with John Shaw - Patagonia' Mountain Landscapes - Eclectic Holland - Great Smoky Mountains - Wildlife of Hungary & Transylvania MAY - Grand Canyon at Havasu Falls - Transylvania—Romania of Myth & Legend - Venice - Tuscany - Turkey—Continental Crossroads - Snow Monkeys & Giant Pandas JUNE - Predatory Animals of North America in Spring - Action & Adventure Sports - Essential China—Iconic Landmarks & Landscapes - Provence JULY - Spitsbergen—The Pack Ice Voyage - Ultimate Puffins AUGUST - Humpback Whales of Alaska's Inside Passage - Glacier National Park Field Workshop - Denali National Park in Autumn SEPTEMBER - Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve, Kenya - Brown Bears of Katmai National Park in Autumn - Great Rivers & Mountains of China & Tibet - Albania, Macedonia & Montenegro - Namibia—Land of the Himba - Mongolia—The Golden Eagle Festival - Predatory Animals of North America in Autumn - South Dakota Wildlife—Bison Roundup & Mount Rushmore OCTOBER - Papua New Guinea - World's Best Raptor Shoot - Nova Scotia—Photo Tour for Women - Nature & Digital Photo Seminars with John Shaw - Easter Island & Machu Picchu - Mexico's Colonial Heartland NOVEMBER - Wet & Wild—Andean Condors and Iquazú Falls DECEMBER - No tours scheduled for December 2008 JANUARY 2009 - Cape Town—Photo Tour for Women

		Saturday, June 30, 2001 Oslo Arrival After the long transatlantic flight, it was a most welcome surprise to find our hotel only a short five-minute walk from the airport. It was extremely convenient to simply wheel the airport luggage cart across the street, through the hotel lobby and straight into your room! We all met in the lobby shortly after 7 PM, renewing old acquaintances and making some new ones, too. Once in the banquet hall, Wayne announced to all that he had taken over Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris! (Well, not really!) He said that Joe had missed his connecting flight from London and would arrive later in the evening. After a round of staff introductions, jokes and an explanation of tomorrows plans, we settled into dinner and conversation. © Buff Corsi © Jay Carr Sunday, July 1 To Longyearbyen and Ships Departure The group awoke early for breakfast at our airport hotel. After checking out, the group wheeled their respective luggage to the departure counter on baggage carts we hoarded in our rooms at the hotel the night before. We checked in 91 pieces of luggage weighing approximately 6,000 pounds. We boarded our jet and flew northward to Troms on a flight that lasted about an hour and a half. After deplaning in Troms for a customs inspection, we reboarded for an hour and a quarter flight to Longyearbyen. While the luggage and carry-on gear was placed in our cabins by the Photo Safaris staff and Russian crew, the cruise participants walked through downtown Longyearbyen, did some shopping and then boarded Professor Molchanov for our 6 PM departure. Kittiwakes, murres and fulmars flew past the ship. For most of us, the little auks (dovekies) were the first wed ever seen of this high Arctic species. We sailed north into the 24 hours of daylight wed experience for the next 11 days. Monday, July 2 Krossfjorden / 14th of July Glacier / Ny lesund This morning the excitement was high as we made our first Zodiac landing of the voyage. Our destination was the 14th of July Glacier in Krossfjorden. To the left of the glacier, a towering bank of high cliffs provided nesting sites for kittiwakes and northern fulmars. © Denise Dupras Scattered everywhere were mounds of brightly-colored purple saxifrage. The color of the blossoms varied from the usual deep purple to light pink. Other wildflowers were also in bloom:the delicate yellow blossom of draba and the larger yellow blooms of cinquefoil. The lushness of the vegetation was a direct result of the seabird cliffs towering above the beach. The nutrients from guano and food scraps enriched the slopes beneath the cliffs, creating an important wildlife habitat. From below we could see half a dozen families of shy pink-footed geese cropping greenery. At one point, some of the group watched an agile Arctic fox scour the lower ledges, searching for eggs. When the fox found a turquoise-colored murre egg, it trotted across the slopes for several hundred yards before caching the egg under a flap of tundra vegetation. Those in the group who focused on the glacier were treated to numerous calving episodes as different sizes of blue-white ice broke from the lip of the glacier and crashed into the sea. © Walter Huber © Jerry Corsi Over the lunch hour our ship moved to Kongfjorden and the international research station at Ny lesund at 7858 N. We went ashore under clear skies and most of the group set out on a quest for Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus, the small Svalbard reindeer, three of which we spotted with binoculars from the wharf. With stealth and prowess our group of 25 sneaked up on the reindeer and bagged it on film. An adult bull with velvet antlers proved to be the best model of all, providing multiple shots of its head, profile and rump. Birds were the other photo highlights of the afternoon: swooping Arctic terns, ivory gulls, a gaggle of female common eider ducks muttering along the shoreline, a courting pair of long-tailed (oldsquaw) ducks and a cooperative pair of barnacle geese resting atop a large mound of glacial till on the edge of the beach. Between 5 and 6 PM we had our first shopping frenzy of the voyage when the local shop was opened for business. This was our only chance to post mail with the added incentive that it is reputed to be the northernmost post office in the world. By the film count for the day, the voyage was off to a great start! Tuesday, July 3 Raudfjorden / Fuglesangen By this morning we have learned the routine of living on the ship. Meals, movement between decks, going to the foredeck for photography all are familiar. © Vaughn Hart After breakfast we cruised Raudfjorden, a beautiful fjord with glaciers tumbling into the sea. Our group assembled on the bow deck where, for the first time, the amazing tripod forest appeared. We quickly adapted to camera packs placed on flat surfaces, out of the way but still accessible. This cruise, for many participants, was their first glacier/snow shoot and we had many discussions about metering. Meter the white and open up one and a half stops became a shipboard mantra. Many rolls of film went through the cameras! During lunch we steamed to Fuglesangen Island, to a large dovekie colony (a large little auk colony, jumbo shrimp so to speak). Our local guide Rinie told us it was a mere 25 meters from the landing site to the birds, then perhaps 10 meters up the hill over some small rocks. OK, no problem. Boots on, packs loaded, we boarded the Zodiacs. On shore we discovered that Arctic meters must not be the same as regular meters, but far longer. And if those were small rocks ... well, then what are considered boulders? © Anthony Hathaway Finally into position, we waited a few minutes and the dovekies reappeared. One would flutter down to land, then another, then by the tens, often at point blank range. It was an exceptionally fun photo shoot. We got great shots of a species never seen previously by most of our group. We were amazed when a cloud of dovekies took flight at the approach of a marauding glaucous gull. Some of us watched the gulls grab the dovekies in mid-flight and then fly away presumably taking them to their big chicks. The dovekies then wheeled and turned in great circles, coming low over our position in the rocks before settling back down. Such small, stubby-winged birds how is it possible they can fly? We changed shooting locations and discovered just how treacherous the footing could be. Several of us slid down the hill and Wayne, among several, took a head-over-heels tumble. Luckily no one was badly hurt. The wind continued to rise and we all learned just how chilly photography could be in the Arctic summer, even on a sunny day. The days final shots taken, a hike back to the landing site, then a short ride back to our warm ship and dinner. All in all, it was a great day! Wednesday, July 4 Fourth of July Picnic, Bear on a Kill © Matt Cox There are still some magical places; they are realized when light and circumstances coalesce in perfect combination. Such was the case on July 4, 2001. Ironically, the day began in dense fog, which continued throughout the morning until our position changed, cruising around the Seven Islands (8040 N). The fog gave way to sunshine and most fortuitous sightings. First we spotted a bearded seal that fled on our approach. A second bearded seal, however, allowed a prolonged photographic encounter. We had a multitude of great shots, along with clear water reflections. We departed this position in search of bears and soon we encountered a large polar bear lying on its kill. This big bear with a bulging stomach had eaten the majority of the good parts of the seal, so it abandoned the carcass as we approached. A small sub-adult male that had coveted this carcass from a distance eagerly swam from a nearby ice floe to the remnant kill left by the bigger male. For more than two and a half hours we watched and photographed this bear dining on the seal first selecting the remaining fat and then eating the seal meat right alongside our vessel. Its very unusual in the Arctic to sight a bear on a kill especially one that stays so close-by allowing prolonged viewing and photographing. © Walter Huber Smelling our Fourth of July (and David Fergusons birthday) barbecue being cooked on the aft deck, we finally put down our cameras and slowly gathered for our own dinner. It was a wonderful feast for us, while watching the bear alongside the ship enjoying its meal (as well as ivory and glaucous gulls occasionally grabbing their snippets of the kill). The dinner gradually gave way to evening festivities. The polar bear, sated, rolled in the ice to clean itself, and finally ambled off into the sunset. (Which actually came more than six weeks later.) The Russian crew joined us for outdoor dancing and merriment into the late evening hours. After midnight, the sun was still high in the blue sky, with blue ocean in our foreground and white ice floes to the distant horizon. Thursday, July 5 In the Ice We tucked into the ice north of Nordaustlandet Island and south of the Seven Islands for the night. With engines off, we all had a good nights sleep, enveloped in the velvety silence of the high Arctic. © Denise Dupras The morning brought sunshine. After a quick breakfast we were all on deck on watch as we meandered through the ice pans. Before 9 AM the call went out that we had a bear on the ice just ahead of the ship. The adrenaline began to rise as we saw him roll over and bathe himself on the granular ice. But one look at us and he hit the water on the run. As we watched him lumber off across the ice we began to realize how fortunate we were yesterday. We turned our attentions to a bearded seal that was more cooperative than the skittish bear, allowing us to burn a few more rolls of film. Continuing northeast we reached Karl VII Island, and our farthest point north at 8145 North latitude. © Eth Carr With no sign of walrus or bears, Molchanov turned back to the west in the direction of Hinlopen Strait. As we approached the Seven Islands in the late afternoon, the cry went out again: Polar Bear! As he began bounding towards the ship, we realized this was going to be no ordinary bear encounter. He would stop for a short time to catalog the unfamiliar smells emanating from the boat and provide a short pose for us. On he came until he was a few yards from the ship then back and forth, stem to stern, sniffing and posing. The motor drives began to smoke!! Then he put his mighty forepaws against the hull (not to worry, we did stay upright). We were changing lenses and film as fast as possible. Ron Winch was hanging out of a porthole just above those massive paws so close he was apparently trying to focus on the bears eyeball! The bear kept trying to find a way to crack the husk of the decanter of all those inviting smells. Try as he might, he couldnt manage it, so he finally tried a direct taste test. But the steel hull apparently proved unsatisfactory. Moving a short distance from the ship, he gave us his best profiles, posing on the edge of the ice with perfect reflections, rolling over and sliding on his back, climbing on picturesque ice hummocks and still we didnt give him entrance to the ship! So, he continued on across the expanse of ice and, with a leap or two across the ice pans, he was gone. What an incredible experience and remarkable day! Friday, July 6 The Ice Edge We spent last night in the ice, drifting in peace and quiet. Conditions were dead calm and it was easy to get a great nights rest. © Steve Barger We awoke to fog and overcast that gradually cleared into broken sky with occasional patches of sunshine. Our ship meandered through the ice for the best part of the morning, weaving through the ice pans in search of bears and walrus on the ice. We were rewarded in the afternoon with another bear with a seal kill! Excitement rippled through our eager photographers as we created a battery of huge Canons off the starboard side bow. (Actually, most were Nikons.) Unfortunately this bear proved to be a shy one. It proceeded to enter the water, dragging its decapitated seal with it. From a distance we followed. We stayed more than a mile away in order for it to gain confidence as to our presence. In the meantime we photographed a bearded seal at very close range. The bear never did settle down and we decided it was in the bears best interest not to attempt to pursue it. © Michael Gore During dinner we proceeded to Lagya Island, where we went ashore with Zodiacs in the late evening. We had to wait for about half an hour before landing, as four polar bears were within sight of our landing site. Once they had moved further away, we left the ship. Once ashore we were delighted to photograph dozens of walrus lounging on the beach. Also present were nesting red phalaropes, Arctic terns and common eiders. Several male phalaropes were found incubating eggs at various places along the beach. In a novel twist of nature, female phalaropes are the brighter colored of the two genders. Their breeding biology is such that they may mate with several males over the course of the summer to insure breeding success by having several clutches of eggs. Mating with different males helps to ensure a varied gene pool for their offspring. After a couple of hours of photography we headed back to Molchanov as the temperature had dropped and the breeze had increased. Saturday, July 7 Murres and Bears Galore By 7:10 AM the ship was drifting offshore from Alkefjellet, a large thick-billed murre colony on the northeastern shore of the Lomfjord Peninsula. From the deck we could see thousands of murres flying across the face of the cliffs like swarming insects. The first Zodiac cruise left the ship at 7:45 AM. For an hour and a half we rocked in the gentle swell of Hinlopen Strait and made close-ups and patterns of the nesting birds. The pinnacle-shaped spires at the north end of the cliffs added a graphic element to the dramatic landscape. A point of interest was the white-furred carcass of an Arctic fox entombed in a snowdrift where it had fallen to its death attempting to negotiate the precipitous ledges the previous winter. © Tom Cunniffe Offshore from the cliffs, thousands of murres floated on the sea. When we cut the engines on the Zodiacs and drifted, dozens of inquisitive murres swam toward us, providing close-up views. Often the rafts of murres would suddenly dive in unison, alarmed by some unseen danger. For most of the day we steamed along Hinlopen Strait flanked by the rugged shoreline of Nordaustlandet in the east and the jagged profile of Spitsbergen in the west. By dinner time the captain had wedged the ship into the thick shorefast ice of Bjrn Sund (Bear Sound) off the northwest tip of Wilhelm © Charles Capen Island. After dinner everyone gathered on the bridge or on deck where we could see at least seven polar bears:two adult females each with a solitary cub and a third adult female with two yearling cubs. The bears wandered about the ice, sometimes stopping for 30 minutes or more to still-hunt for ringed seals, but none were successful while we watched. About 11 PM, after most of us had retired to our cabins, we got a call from the bridge that the female and two cubs were approaching the ship. The bears altered their course and never came closer than about 500 yards, but provided a great show nonetheless. Near the ice edge, the bear family scavenged a few remaining scraps from a dead murre that had been killed earlier by a glaucous gull. After tantalizing us with their approach, the family drifted away across the ice. Any day with seven polar bears has to be a good one. Sunday, July 8 Augustabukta It was a cold, dreary and damp morning, and the gray fog was hanging thickly over the shore. We had sailed overnight and anchored off Augustabukta, looking for walrus. And walrus there were! We dropped Zodiacs, motored ashore through the hanging fog, and were greeted by walrus heads popping up out of the sea. Soon almost everyone was on land, and our line of photographers became an object of extreme curiosity for the walrus. © Eth Carr To our left about three dozen of them slept in a huge pile, walrus upon walrus, snoring and scratching and leisurely rolling over. But many others of their number were awake and in the sea. Soon these walrus were swimming to the beach line in order to stare at us. One particularly fine fellow came in very close, head high out of the water. Motor drives smoked, film flew through cameras, and fill flashes popped. This happened over and over as a walrus would duck down into the water, then reappear a few meters further down the beach. © Suzanne Barger A slight drizzle was falling all this time, keeping us wiping off lenses and glasses. The dampness was penetrating, but we stayed ashore for several hours long enough for walrus-viewing cruises for those who had remained on board ship. By late morning we were all back on board, cold and damp. Camera gear and jackets were spread out to dry, while stories of Did you see that one near the Zodiacs that I photographed? circulated through the group. A good time for all involved. By midafternoon the fog had turned to drizzle, and then into serious rain. Our planned barbecue dinner on deck was changed to an indoor barbecue buffet. Joe hosted an open-bar cocktail party as consolation; the party was lively and loud. Even with the fog and rain, the walrus day proved to be just fine. For our birders, a short note on this day: a molting flock of pink-footed geese greeted us on shore, followed by a sighting of an adult Sabines gull. Monday, July 9 Kong Karls Island In the morning fog we cruised from Kong Karls Island, the site of Svalbards largest quantity of polar bear dens, in search of polar bears. Following the ice floe edge, we broke into clear skies where the sun shone brightly into the fragmentary ice. A few ringed seals were noticed along with the flights of kittiwakes and the occasional great skua. A female polar bear was spotted and followed. She swam from ice floe to ice floe and, finally coming from the water, ambled along the floe edge and then headed away from the ship. We were concerned that we did not stress her, so we headed in search of other bears. At 11:55 PM we noted a mother and two cubs in the distance, but the thick ice prohibited our progress. Tomorrow would bring other sightings. Tuesday, July 10 Alkefjellet and Monaco Glacier © Matt Cox We left the mother and cubs on the ice at Wilhemaya around midnight and steamed north into Hinlopen Strait. It felt as though we had just dropped off to sleep when the call came at 3 AM, Walrus on ice floe! A few of us were on the deck and took shots before he slipped into the water. Back to bed and only an hour later we passed a polar bear swimming from one island to another. Around 5:30 AM we were slowing our approach to the thick-billed murre colony at Alkefjellet. This time we used the ship instead of the Zodiacs as a base for shooting. Some of us took time to shoot the Adlie penguins (read thick-billed murres) on ice just off the bow while others attempted to capture them in flight. Alexander maneuvered the ship close to the cliff face as we shot patterns and colors. The sunlight broke through intermittently into our landscapes and the water was so calm that you could watch murres use their wings in underwater flight. We pulled away about breakfast time and headed north out of Hinlopen Strait. Once out of the strait, we turned west toward our next stop, Monaco Glacier home of birds, bears and glaciers. As we entered the fjord and turned toward a group of low islands, we spotted a bear. Before leaving the area we had seen two females with single cubs. © Matt Cox As we neared the glacier, we felt its cold breath. The blue ice was beyond description. The captain moved slowly along the face of the glacier stunning photographic opportunities. Then we moved on to the mass of kittiwakes, glaucous gulls and fulmars. And then we spotted ivory gulls mere meters from the ship, picking food off the ice full frame! The sight of thousands of kittiwakes rising off the water en masse was as indescribable as it was difficult to decide how to shoot. Whoosh! And by late afternoon we were off to sea, heading southward for our final photo-landing site of the trip, tomorrow. Wednesday, July 11 Alkhornet Late morning found us just offshore of Alkhornet. Here, dramatic coastal cliffs create a wonderful backdrop for the some of the best reindeer photography in the archipelago. © Suzanne Barger © Jay Carr After our group Zodiaced ashore, we split up into the reindeer stalkers and the wildflower hunters. It didnt take too long until members of both groups converged outside the nesting territory of a pair of parasitic jaegers (Arctic skuas). The patient male held court, calmly standing near our appreciative photographers while the female sat on eggs safe and out of range of practical shooting distance. The reindeer stalkers were rewarded for a brief time with more than a dozen animals some males with big antlers, a few juveniles and a female with a young calf. While we were shooting, rain squalls traveled across the landscape dumping enough moisture to send many of the photographers packing to keep their equipment dry. Some hardy souls equipped with Gore-Tex and plastic bags persisted through the rain, garnering some unique images as the reindeer approached at close range. With wildflowers, scenery, reindeers and jaegers in the can, we returned to Molchanov for dinner. We headed east through a scenic fjord lined with freshly snowcapped mountains to Longyearbyen. Thursday, July 12 Disembark at Longyearbyen, Fly to Oslo The group walked into town to do some last-minute shopping and to purchase a number of government books about the natural history of the archipelago. We returned to the ship for a light snack as our luggage was delivered to the airport. Many of us were amused to watch Joe beg the airline counter attendants (successfully) to allow all of our camera equipment onto the plane as carry-on baggage. From Longyearbyen, we backtracked our flights to Oslo via Troms where we said our fond good-byes to quite a few of our group heading to Finnmark in northern Norway. The remainder of us finalized our farewells in the airport hotel lobby at Oslo. Friday, July 13 To New Destinations A wonderful trip concludes and new ones commence for many of us. BIRD LIST (UK usage in parentheses) red-throated loon (red-throated diver) northern fulmar (fulmar) pink-footed goose barnacle goose common eider long-tailed duck formerly oldsquaw in North America ringed plover purple sandpiper red phalarope (grey phalarope) pomarine jaeger (pomarine skua) parasitic jaeger (Arctic skua) long-tailed jaeger (long-tailed skua) great skua Sabines gull glaucous gull black-legged kittiwake (kittiwake) ivory gull Arctic tern common murre (common guillemot) thick-billed murre (Brunnichs guillemot) black guillemot dovekie (little auk) Atlantic puffin (puffin) snow bunting MAMMAL LIST polar bear minke whale walrus bearded seal ringed seal reindeer (Svalbard race) Arctic fox WRITTEN BY WAYNE LYNCH DENNIS MENSE STEVE GARREN JOHN SHAW JOE VAN OS PHOTOS All photos were taken by clients who participated in this tour.

	Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc. P.O. Box 655, Vashon Island, Washington USA 98070 Phone: (206) 463-5383   Fax: (206) 463-5484    Email: info@photosafaris.com Copyright © 2008, Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc.