The Kingdom of The Ice Bear
Tuesday 22nd February.

This evening members of Norwich & District Photographic Society were all entertained by an inspirational story of arctic adventure illustrated by some outstanding photographs. The presentation by Bob Johnson was a description of his four week trip inside the Arctic Circle in the Svalbard area in the former seal hunter ship called Havsel and captained by Bjorn Kvernmo to the Kingdom of the Ice Bear!

Bob began by telling how he started photography, fell in love with Africa (he has been there 14 times now!), talked of his farmers photos in Essex but quickly moved on to this evening's presentation in the far north of Norway. The boat he was on had previously been used for seal hunting, capable of hunting and killing 1,500 seals on a trip, but today Captain Bjorn is now passionate about wildlife.

At the start of the trip there was a lack of bears and they sailed along the edge of the ice where Bob had some amazing views from the crow's nest. Suddenly they spotted a dead whale and 21 bears. The view was amazing, 21 polar bears all together in one spot was a record even for the captain, but the horrible, rancid smell . . . Later a mother bear and two cubs were spotted, and the photographers watched them for a couple of days, just long enough for the bears to get used to the ship and come closer and closer allowing some breath taking photography.

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