SIX GREAT POLAR ADVENTURES
A century may have gone by since the golden era of polar exploration made stars and sacrifices of Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton et al, and of the realms they charted – but the planet’s extremities still have the capacity to enthral adventurous travellers. Happily, the passing of time has rendered both the Arctic and the Antarctic a little more accessible…
Arctic TOP OF THE ROCK
There is a certain straightline purity to the idea of visiting the North Pole. With no land mass to be conquered, journeying to 90°N is a “simple” process of boarding a ship sturdy enough to forge through the pack ice, then setting off under the nightless skies of the Arctic summer. Discover the World (01737 214250; discover-the-world. com) offers exactly this in its “Voyage to the North Pole”, a 13-night tour that sees the ice-breaker 50 Years of Victory sail out of the Russian port of Murmansk and reaching the top of the planet five days later. Two departures are scheduled for 2022 (June 15 and June 26), from £26,289 a head, including everything but the flights to Helsinki that start and end the tour.
BEAR NECESSITY
You can, of course, find land in the Arctic. And if the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard sits lower on the globe than the North Pole, its latitude (between 74°N and 81°N) still renders it a wild place, which 3,000 polar bears call home. Explore (01252 240637; explore.co.uk) goes in search of them with “Realm of the Polar Bear in Depth”, an 11-day trip that ventures by Zodiac into the likes of Krossfjord and Konigsfjord. Four expeditions are slated i for next summer, from
£3,920 a head (flights extra).
EASTERN ALTERNATIVE
Western perspective on the Arctic tends to look to Canada and Greenland, as well as Scandinavia, but Russia claims a sizeable slice of the planet’s rooftop, with 15,000 miles of coast on the Arctic Ocean and Barents Sea. Here are far-flung fragments in a giant void –
Novaya Zemlya, the scene of Soviet nuclear tests in the Cold War; Franz Josef Land, where 85 per cent of the terrain is under glaciers. Exodus (020 3993 5224; exodus.co.uk) visits both archipelagos in a 16-day “Jewels of the Russian Arctic” odyssey. There will be one tour next year (July 22). From £8,700 a head, (flights extra).
Antarctic PHOTO FIT
A journey to Antarctica can be an endeavour years in the planning. Alternatively, if you are happy to seize the day, it can be a thing of semiindecent haste. Abercrombie & Kent (0333 060 2141; abercrombiekent.co.uk) has a 17-night photographyfocused “Antarctica & South Georgia Island” trip that departs next month – heading south, via Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, on Jan 4. From £16,985 a head (flights i extra). Tuition is offered by National Geographic lensman Michael Melford.
SHELF LIFE
Most cruises to the frozen continent take the trusted route south from Argentina, before grazing the Antarctic Peninsula. The “Ross Sea – Footsteps of Scott & Shackleton” trip from World Expeditions (0800 074 4135; worldexpeditions.com) will pick another path. It will aim for a body of water on the other side of the land mass: a remote end zone and playground of the goldenage explorers that runs “aground” on the Ross Ice Shelf. The cruise will also approach not from South America, but New Zealand. With ongoing Covid closures, the tour’s next dates (Jan 7-Feb 3, 2023) seem prudent. From £20,300 a head (flights extra).
SOUTH SPECIFIC
If you are going to travel to the end of the world, you may as well see all you can while there. Aurora Expeditions’ (0333 272 6339; aurora expeditions.co.uk) 23-day “Antarctica Complete” voyage visits South Georgia, the Falklands and the South Shetland Islands, as well as the continent. From £14,600 a head (flights extra); next cruise March 14.
Chris Leadbeater