After the success of our 'India-Tigers' holiday, this 'Leopards' tour is unmissable

*    Leopard - one of the best places in the world to see them
*    Terrific endemic birds galore and rainforest biodiversity
*    The spectacular 'Gathering' of 300 wild Asian Elephants
*    Sloth Bear, Crocodile, Wild Buffalo, Flying Fox, deer & monkeys
*    Wetland waders, storks, parakeets, peacocks and more
*    Great hotels, and relaxation, plus a last night at the beach
*    Excellent local guide plus terrific wildlife photo opportunities

Polar Bear (seen every time!) and more in the Arctic wilderness - join me on my 5th unforgettable cruise, this time aiming for the 2008 total eclipse!

*    Get just 800 miles from the North Pole in ease and comfort
*    Aboard the ice-hardened, small-group, "Aleksey Maryshev"
*    A plan to cruise all around Svalbard - to areas little-visited
*    Expect surprisingly mild and generally settled weather
*    Little Auks, Grey Phalaropes, alpine plants and whales
*    To Walrus-filled ice fields where Polar Bears stalk seals
*    All when sun doesn't set - apart from the occasional eclipse!

It's an amazing place and on my last visit in 2006 Arctic Svalbard, just 800 miles from the North Pole, was alarmingly ice-free and we witnessed scenes that were not only dramatically replicated in the BBC Planet Earth series ... but were also reminders of the grave plight awaiting Polar Bears as global heating begins to bite. Wonderful and poignant, I can do no more than recall Day 7 of our July voyage:

Storøya Island is an incredible sight to emerge to on deck in the morning. It looks . . . well in fact it looks like a scene from a science film. In the eerie, watery, early sunshine, the sea glistens smooth like grey rain, rusty-orange seaweed enlivens the grey gravel beach, and the low black rocks are dotted with deep patches of
un-melted snow-ice. Sounds unremarkable, but in the background, rising over it all, a vast, perfect dome of white glacial ice looms into the sky as if the moon had beached itself on the rocks. The clincher, as if that wasn’t enough, is that, by careful scanning of the snow patches, we spy no less than 10 Polar Bears, including females with cubs!

Excitement building, it’s hard to wait for our Zodiac cruise but, with some of our favourite staff leaders taking us out – Morton (the Dane) and Heidi (Canadian)
– we set off. It’s to be a no-landing trip, meaning no going ashore – one of the downsides of encountering so many bears on this leg of the voyage, as it’s just not safe to do so - and, though we can see a female Polar Bear and cub walking along the ridge of stones, our first focus is the small groups of Walrus that are hauled out on the rocks. The animals are all females and there are four small pups too - a first for nearly all present as they gather in the east of Svalbard only and we’ve never been here before. The crew and guides have never been here before either for the simple reason that this place should, by rights, be locked in ice. Is this what global warming really means? We ease up very close to them, before moving farther along the beach offshore, since ahead we can see yet more hauled-out Walrus
– maybe 60 or more – and asleep just a few metres from them is a one, very large, male Polar Bear. Even though he’s stretched out on the snow, apparently restful and yawning we can tell that he’s huge.

A compelling, if leisurely ten minute spell of our own is spent marvelling at the scene before he unexpectedly rises up, stretches and ambles out of sight over a ridge. This panics some of the smaller, less experienced female Walrus’s into the water, though the bigger, older animals know that with their bulk, tough hides,
and formidable ivory tusks, a bear is very unlikely to attempt to tackle them.
As a result though we soon have snorting, growling Walrus, in the sanctuary of the sea all around, close up, blowing water, giving eye-to-eye views and a imparting a charged atmosphere to the proceedings. As the bear leaves, they gradually shuffle back up onto the foreshore.

There are more bears in view the farther we explore – including some that would have been hidden from us when on the ship – and we revise our estimate upwards to more than thirteen in view. That’s 32 Polar Bears so far this trip, and some neat birds are here too to accentuate the ‘Arctic-ness’ of our situation. Two Pomarine Skuas with spoon-shaped tail feathers fly over and there are a few Grey Phalaropes spinning on the water. Summer-plumaged Turnstones blend with the orange weed. A pair of Red-throated Divers call and land out of sight, a Sanderling pops up, and the singing of an unseen Purple Sandpiper appears on the wind.
An Ivory Gull joins the Glaucous Gulls and Arctic Terns.

Our Arctic idyll though suddenly develops in a very dramatic way as the large, male bear appears quite suddenly and ambles purposefully, but unhurriedly, back onto the beach. The pace of a bear is eye-catching in its nonchalance: steady; relaxed; determined; purposeful . . . he’s all the time in the world. In minutes he’s literally face-to-face with the Walrus, sending most charging frenziedly back into the sea. He eyes-up those that remain. Nervous tusks are waved at him accompanied by agitated growls, but through the noise he appears unmoved and expressionless, staring at them with dark, unblinking, coal-black eyes. Weighing up the possibilities? Walrus are just too formidable a challenge, and he should be stalking seals on the sea-ice. No ice = no seals = no food. After some time he wanders away and along the shore . . . and we follow close-by. It’s almost unseemly to do so, following a bear trapped on land failing to find food, but he’s irresistible - a magnificent creature, looking to be in his prime, with luxuriant ivory-coloured fur, powerful limbs, black footpads, and is of a tremendous size. He strolls along, in an easy gait, seems thoughtfully to chew on some seaweed, and often stops to stare at the prospective meals bobbing just metres away in the Zodiacs. With alarmed Walrus in the sparkling still water all around us – the sea is so clear that they can be seen underwater – and the ‘King of the Arctic’ just 10 metres away bathed in soft sun, it’s fair to say that this is a moment to be treasured forever.

Back at the ship, our usual excited chatter seems more muted. Perhaps we’re a little over-come by the quality of the encounter. Perhaps it’s too dramatic to properly articulate. Perhaps actually, for some of us, it’s the realisation that the ever-increasing prospect of an ice-free Arctic will ensure that scenes like this will played out over and over again until, well until there are no more bears? Overwhelmed, as we all were, I noticed Morton smiling bleakly. “It’s no joke is it?” he stated quietly as we turned in our life-jackets.