Maybe it’s the cold bite of the wind on your cheeks as you trek across the Arctic tundra in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, discovering pristine landscapes of craggy mountains and glaciers surrounded by the glistening Arctic Ocean, making you feel alive. Possibly it’s the sound (and unmistakable smell) of 6,500 breeding pairs of Gentoo penguins on Curverville Island, part of the Antarctic peninsula. Or is it seeing a wandering albatross — the bird with the largest wingspan on the planet — follow alongside your ship as you cross the notorious Drake Passage? It might also be the opportunity to see some of the largest and most powerful wildlife on the planet that calls the polar regions home, such as the great blue whale or the queen of the north, the polar bear.
Whatever your draw to the frozen ends of the earth, with climate change at the forefront of our minds, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the ice on our planet is melting at an alarming rate. For many, this has instilled a sense of urgency to visit at least one of the two most remote and beautiful places on the planet: the Arctic and the Antarctic. Though we see both regions combined in so many documentaries, and yes, they both have a lot of extreme, icy landscapes to explore, they are wildly different — polar opposites, in fact.
Read the full story on World Footprints here.
