WRANGEL ISLAND, Russia

GOOD FOR: An astonishing abundance of walruses and polar bears

Visiting Russia’s Unesco-listed Wrangel Island requires precision planning. There’s only a narrow window each year during which ships can reach this outpost, located 500km north of the Arctic Circle in the ice-prone Chukchi Sea. And, since the island’s native Chukchi people were relocated some 50 years ago, few people bother to make the effort these days, except for a handful of researchers and hardy cruisers. Yet the rewards are worth it.

The sea ice can only be safely passed in late summer. At this time, with luck, Zodiacs can ferry you ashore to land on this wildlife wonderland. Some 500 polar bears roam the biodiverse steppe, not to mention reindeer and musk-oxen, squadrons of dive-bombing seabirds and cheeky Arctic foxes.

Wrangel was the last redoubt of the woolly mammoth, which survived here until around 2000 BC. These days, though, the local tuskers are Pacific walrus. The island boasts the world’s largest population of these creatures, with up to 100,000 gathered at any given time, barracking on the shores. For raw, untamed wilderness, this really is the edge of the world.

GETTING THERE: The ice-strengthened Spirit of enderby sails to Wrangel Island, typically departing from Anadyr, Russia, in August; trips last from 15 days.