Safari circle tour in East Greenland
Safari Circle Tour
East of Greenland
Tour Duration : 8 days/7 nights
Enjoy amazing days in remote nature and discovering the various wildlife such as muskox, polar bears, whales, puffins in their natural habitats. Inuit hunters will bring you on dogsledges and snowmobiles to the best Safari spots of Greenland that combine Scoresbury Sund and Liverpool land.
Highlights
Kap Tobin
Ittoqqortoormiit village
Greenlandic dogs
Dogsledge tour
Possibly a chance to spot polar bears and other arctic wildlife
Amazing Arctic nature
Departure Time
February & March
ITINERARY
DAY 1
FLIGHTS FROM ICELAND TO GREENLAND
Check in at Reykjavik domestic airport for your flight to Nerlerit Inaat (Constable Point) which is operated via Akureyri where you change to a smaller King Air or Twin-Otter aircraft that takes only 8 passengers and the payload.
After landing at Nerlerit Inaat airport near the base of Hurry Fjord we continue to Kap Tobin by helicopter. This short, 15-minute flight offers great views of the fjord surrounded by the mountains and glaciers of Liverpool Land and the Jameson land plateau.
DAY 2 to 3
ACTIVITIES & VISITS
The tiny village of Uunartoq, at the mouth of Scoresby Sund at 70° north, is an ideal location to get away from it all – literarily. With only one other village in the area, Ittoqqortoormiit with fewer than 500 inhabitants, the mountainous expanse of North East Greenland, can be mind-boggling. Life here is very basic. Its simplicity and harshness is a revelation to most people.
As if to compensate for the exterior conditions, the Greenlanders are friendly and happy people that will greet even brief visitors with a smile. As there is no hotel in Uunartoq, we offer you to stay in our home away from home with meals and packed lunches. If you prefer, we can also arrange your private hunter’s cabin nearby with self-catering, except for supper in the main house.
DAY 4 to 7
ACTIVITIES & VISITS
We stay in the guesthouse in Ittoqqortoormiit for two nights which gives us a chance to get acquainted with the village and gives us a glimpse into the life of an Inuit community.
By surviving on the ice floes, all the crew made their way to safety many months later in South Greenland.
During your stay various activities are planned:
1) Then we start on the 4-day dogsledge tour: the 3 nights during the tour we stay in tents or in small huts. The coastline and wildlife north of Ittoqqortoormiit is a paradise for those interested in observing nature. In the springtime it is a fantastic experience to visit some of the biggest bird cliffs in the world.
Temperatures may be around -15 – -20°C.
2) We travel over the mountain passes of Liverpool Land, across the sea ice north along the east coast to some of the capes and off-shore islands then west through Liverpool Land and south along Hurry Fjord, before returning to the village again.
3) Experienced Greenland expeditioners say that Liverpool Land is one of the most beautiful parts of Greenland. Solid 1500m high mountains without any vegetation, glaciers, fjords, islands, hot springs and icebergs. These shores are a sailor’s nightmare and many vessels have been wrecked in the pack-ice along the coastline. The most famous one is perhaps the German vessel Hansa which was wrecked in the ice in 1869 near Rathbone Island.
4) As we travel along the coast there will be lots of opportunities to study birds and wildlife, both on land and sea. On the ice we will often see the breathing holes of seals and dark spots near them: seals enjoying the sun. Many seals are hunted each year and they are very alert to the slightest movement.
4) After four days of travelling we come back to Ittoqqortoormiit. It is like a fairy tale village with colourful painted wooden houses, a lovely church and the KNI general store, where you can purchase almost everything you need. At the post office you can get a certificate of crossing the Arctic Circle stamped with the local stamp of Ittoqqortoormiit. We stop for another two nights and enjoy the sights, visit the local Museum and relax observing the locals at their daily life..
DAY 8
FLIGHTS RETURN FROM GREENLAND TO ICELAND
Time to return to Iceland: by helicopter to Nerlerit Inaat and to Reykjavik, again via Akureyri. Arrival in Reykjavik estimated in the evening.