Polar bear in the town

A visit of a polar bear in Longyearbyen is not an every day event, but not unheard of either. First clear indicators of a polar bear visit are the people, who are running around with their cameras, laughing and smiling exaltedly – like small children in the Christmas Eve – erecting tripods for spotting scopes and cameras or behaving hysterically in other ways. 

This week it happened. Some sea ice from the South had drifted into the fjord. Seeing the ice coming night before, I was not that surprised to see people running around following behavioural characteristics described above. Clearly, there was a polar bear around. Polar bear watching took place for the whole Friday. People giggling, whispering and running for the whole day just a few steps from my office. Sometimes it is just more interesting to observe the behaviour of the people, when they see an animal, than the behaviour of the animal itself…

That necessary polar bear photo. “It’s there, it’s there! Can’t you see that yellow dot?!”. As tourist quality as ever possible… 

People watching the yellow dot somewhere on sea ice.