My wildlife photos aren’t the stuff of professional photographers. But to me they are just perfect. I didn’t spend the trip with a camera before my eyes. Rather, my photos are simply there to trigger a memory of the scene before me at the time. Or of the event which was unfolding.

To that end I thought that I would record the story behind the photos and videos I took of the polar bears and the walruses.

First the polar bears…this is the dramatic one.

It was about 10.30 at night, and I had already got ready for bed. I had decided to wash my hair, and was comfortably relaxing on my bed.

There was a bang on our door, and the shout “polar bears! To the zodiacs in 10 minutes!”

Action stations!

Gearing up from pjs to full survival suit isn’t carried out in a minute.  But the prospect of seeing polar bears for the first time made us all lightning fast.

Before long we were in the zodiacs and motoring towards the shoreline.

The guides take it in turns to remain on watch 24/7, always scouring for wildlife. And tonight they had spotted two polar bears ambling along the water’s edge.

We maintained the required distance from the shore, and this is what we saw.

There was a male and a female polar bear. The female was young and not particularly big, possibly not well fed. About 100 metres behind her was a mature male polar bear, appearing to be well filled out and healthy.

As they ambled along the coastline they sometimes went out of view as they skirted a rocky outcrop, but always heading in the same general direction, and always managing to keep roughly the same distance between each other.

The female would occasionally look over her shoulder.

The male would occasionally stop and sniff the air or the ground.

The guides explained that there were two possible reasons for this behaviour.

The male was following the female to either mate…. or eat!

After a little while, we decided to leave. Despite the survival suits we were gradually getting colder and colder, aided by the fact that we were keeping very still (and assisted in my case by my wet hair!!). We never did know the outcome. (And that was possibly a good thing?)

The walrus story is equally as dramatic, but not so much in terms of what was playing out before us. More in terms of what had taken place in the past.

There was a large colony of walrus on the shore at EdgeØya and we were going to have a look. The ship is always moored at a considerable distance from any wildlife (or potential wildlife), leaving us to use the zodiacs to make the final approach.

In this case we were dropped off on the shore of a place known as the walrus graveyard. It is a flat expanse which is literally covered with old walrus bones.

You see, this has been a favourite hauling out area for walrus making it a target for hunters and trappers since the 17^th century..  What remains is a chilling reminder of the decimation of the walrus population which took place here.

A hunter’s hut remains, although hunting walrus was banned in 1952, when it was estimated that possibly only 100 animals were left in Svalbard. Walrus remain a protected species today.

From the beach, we walked quietly around the walrus colony, maintaining a considerable distance down wind. You see, if the walruses get a hint that we are there, there could be a stampede.  This would be catastrophic because the enormous mature male walruses have the prime position furthest from the waterline. If the colony is spooked the males will rush to the water crushing any walruses in their way with their huge bulk. The pandemonium which ensues could decimate a colony.

Needless to say, we were very very careful. We didn’t even whisper, until we were well past and had reached a ridge on the other side.

From this vantage point we had a great view of the whole area, as well as the view of the mountains behind us.

The final wildlife story is more of a snippet.

Of another Polar bear moment.

I was in my cabin (resting as I tried to get rid of a cold). There was a loud bang on the door. When I looked there was no one there.  There is only one other reason for this (as experience told), and so I immediately looked out of the cabin porthole.

There, right in front of me (albeit at a distance, but still clearly visible with the naked eye) was a polar bear asleep on an ice floe.

Hence the opening photo of this post.

So, these are my standout wildlife moments. Now you know what I will be thinking whenever I look back on these images.