Five minutes with Dan Brown, Ponant expedition guide

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT AS A GUIDE?

Seeing an emotional reaction from a passenger — when you know that somebody’s experiencing something they wouldn’t otherwise because of you, or you’ve taken them to a place where they see or do something that’s once-ina-lifetime, that’s incredible.

WHAT SHOULD VISITORS KNOW BEFORE VISITING THE ARCTIC?

We need to approach all tourism sensibly. The Arctic and Antarctica are more fragile, and that’s why there are stringent guidelines for visiting these polar regions. There’s so much that could be done to make the industry more sustainable. We must be respectful — wherever we are on the planet — of wildlife, people and the environment.

WHAT DESTINATION TOPS YOUR TRAVEL WISH LIST?

Around the mountains of Papua New Guinea. It’s wild, really remote and has some of the craziest creatures on the planet. I’d like to walk through the forest and know I have a chance of seeing cassowaries or long-nosed echidnas. There are animals there that are new to science — that really excites me.

WHAT WAS YOUR HIGHLIGHT OF THIS TRIP?

It wasn’t the polar bear encounters, nor was it the walruseses or the ivory gulls. It was the Arctic tadpole shrimps [in the abandoned mining settlement of Ny-London]. They’re living fossils and have existed for 365 million years. They appeared on the planet 130 million years before dinosaurs. You could go back 365 million years and you’d find exactly the same thing. I was super excited — it was the first time I’d ever seen them.

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP SVALBARD IN THREE WORDS?

Breathtaking, vivid and elemental.