If you have always wanted to watch a polar bear in the wild, we’ve gathered a list of places in Siberia, Russia, where you can fulfill your dream. Prepare warm clothes, a good camera, as well as some patience - and let’s go meet one of the most dangerous but still incredibly cute predators.
What you need to know about polar bears
A living symbol of Arctica is a gorgeous polar bear (ursus maritimus), the largest predator species on Earth. It is able to reach a speed of 40 km/h on land, but spends most of its time in water. Polar bears have sensitive hearing and sense of smell, as they can smell their favorite prey - ringed seal - from about 800 meters away.
A polar bear can tolerate temperatures below -45 degrees Celsius or lower as its fur and a thick layer of subcutaneous fat of about 10 centimeters don’t let it freeze. Adult males can even get overheated when they run too fast. Such cold tolerance is due to its particular fur structure - it is not white but transparent, and each hair is hollow inside. This transparency perfectly passes ultraviolet light and gives the fur strong thermal insulation. And last but not least, this fur color serves as a disguise among ice and snow.
Its habitat almost fully coincides with the area of polar ice. However, in summer when ice melts in some regions the polar bear moves to land for a few months. During this time the animal lives off stored fat reserves.
Where to watch a polar bear in Russia
Russia was one of the first countries to start developing a plan on saving the polar bear population. Today, you can watch the species from the Barents to the Chukchi Seas and the Bering Strait, including the archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, New Siberian Islands, Bear Islands, Wrangel Island, and more.
Among 19 local polar bear populations known today, you can find three of them in Russia. The Kara-Barents Sea population lives in the Barents and Kara Seas. The Laptev population inhabits the Laptev Sea and the western coast of the East-Siberian Sea. The Chukchi-Alaska population lives close to the Chukchi Sea, the eastern part of the East-Siberian Sea and the northern part of the Bering Sea. The largest polar bears are found near the Bering Sea.
Below, we’ll share the best places to watch a polar bear in Russia.
Wrangel Island
This is the northernmost nature reserve in Russia, and it is a closed reserve, meaning that you can only explore its territory with a special tour or prior approval. Anyway, Wrangel Island is far from the mainland, so there are hardly any passerbys.
On the island, you can see a real bear kindergarten with hundreds of female polar bears gathering here in winter to give birth and raise cubs. When the spring comes, they embark on a journey around the Artic with growing offspring. The area is also inhabited by walruses, gray whales, musk oxen, reindeer, and other Arctic animals.
Almost ⅔ of the island territory is mountainous, and you can also see breathtaking arctic tundra.
The season starts early August and finishes in mid September. The easiest way to get to the reserve is by booking a tour, which usually lasts for two weeks and can be rather expensive. One of the largest providers in Siberia is RussiaDiscovery, the price for a trip to Wrangel Island starts from 10,000 UDS. Most trips start from the city of Anadyr, Chukotka, where you will need to get on your own.
Spitsbergen (Svalbard)
Spitzbergen can be the best place to watch polar bears. Even though it officially belongs to Norway, Russia still has the right to develop deposits in this archipelago, and accounts for almost 20% of the population. They say that for one local resident in Svalbard there are three polar bears.
Lately the bears tend to stay away from people - in the Northern and Eastern part of the island. These are wild coasts, which can be visited only with a guided cruise. Such tours include the best places to watch a polar bear, and some organizers even offer to give money back if the group hasn’t been lucky. Usually, bears approach cruise ships and even try to climb it to the delight of tourists.
Another highlight of the island is reindeer grazing in the tundra. The rich flora deserves special attention, with a colorful carpet of red, green, yellow mosses, wild arctic flowers and lichens. This is possible thanks to the warm Gulf Stream running along the west coast of the island.
Experiencing unique arctic settlements is another reason to visit Spitsbergen. Among three settlements on the island Longyearbyen is the capital and a start point for cruises around Spitsbergen. The atmosphere there is reminiscent of the gold rush with the only difference that people here are looking to embark on their journey to the North Pole.
Great Arctic Nature Reserve
Another place to see polar bears in Russia is the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve, located on the Taimyr Peninsula in the Krasnoyarsk region, Siberia. The reserve covers over 41,000 square kilometers, which makes it the largest reserve in Russia and Eurasia, as well as one of the biggest in the world.
The reserve aims to allow animals and plants to thrive without human disturbance. Here, you can see over 120 bird species, including the snowy owl and tundra swan, as well as animals such as polar bear, reindeer, Arctic fox, ermine, walrus, and many more.
Most of the reserve territory is occupied by arctic tundra, while the northernmost territories are arctic deserts. Icebergs are also worth mentioning, most of which are under water. Snow there falls late August or early September and melts only in June or even July. Visitors can also experience polar days and nights in the reserve.
There are two settlements that are worth visiting:
The biostation of Willian Barents on Dikson welcomes tourists to watch birds.
The village of Dudinka is the northernmost village on the Earth and is an attraction itself.
How to get there
The reserve features a few tourist routes, including fishing tours, rafting, ornithological and zoological safaris, different sightseeing tours, and an adventure tour through the Taimyr labyrinth. On average, such tours are one week long and include sleeping in tents.
To get there, you will need to go to Norilsk first: by plane or by car from various cities in Russia. Then, you will get to the village of Dudinka by bus or by taxi. And then you can get to the Great Arctic Reserve, also by ground transportation.
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