Terra Incognita Ecotours offers ten days cruising the waters of Svalbard, Arctic Norway, in search of polar bear, walrus, reindeer, arctic fox and whales.

The base for the trip is the restored M.S. Stockholm, a vessel for 12 guests that can navigate where bigger ships cannot go.

The itinerary changes each day in response to the weather conditions, with the main aim to find and photograph Polar bears.

Guests will cruise in sea ice for several days to reach the Polar bears are found hunting seals and swimming from ice floe to ice floe.

In Northwest Spitsbergen, the scientific village of Ny-Ålesund is situated in Kongsfjorden, and it was from here that Amundsen and Nobile started their expeditions to the North Pole.

Two other attempts to reach the North Pole started on the island of Danskøya with Swedish explorer Andrée making an attempt with a hydrogen balloon and American journalist Wellman with an airship.

During the journey guests will explore a number of fjords including Liefdefjorden, meaning "The fjord of love", whichis lined with snow-covered mountain peaks.

In Krossfjorden guests will pass the sculptured front of the 14th of July Glacier and have the raucous greeting of the large number of kittiwakes and Brünnich's guillemots nesting on the nearby cliffs.

If the ice allows the ship will enter Hinlopen Strait, where there is Alkefjellet, an basaltic cliff, which is the home to an 200,000 Brünnich's guillemots.

In Eastern Svalbard, the island of Nordaustlandet is covered by hundreds of waterfalls, with Barentsøya and Edgeøya offering vast tundra and Hereone a place to encounter walruses, Arctic fox and Svalbard reindeer.

In Southwest Spitsbergen, the fjords of Hornsund offer spectacular glaciers and a landscape of towering mountain peaks, often reaching above the clouds.

Hornsund is a favourite haunt for some of Svalbard's polar bears and bearded seals are often seen resting on the fjord ice.

Useful links

​ www.ecotours.com/ecotour/svalbard-polar-bear