It had been quite an eventful dog sled excursion out to the ice cave in the glacier in the far north island in Norway. We had been lucky enough to see the sky light up the valley with the northern lights, giving a break to the blackness of the polar night.
My youngest daughter and I were in the lead sled, thankfully driven by the guide.
Suddenly we slowed to a stop. The guide was muttering 'Oh no, oh no, oh no!'
His spotlight swung towards the dogs.
There before us, in the circle of light, pawing at the dogs, was a polar bear.
You could tell she was young but still the size of a cow.
The guide rushed forwards, putting his backpack with the rifle in it at my feet, and ran up to the bear, screaming and waving his arms.
The dogs were at this point jumping and lunging at the bear, who was swatting at them with his paw and snarling.
The guide rushed back and grabbed the brake rope.
The bear moved to the dogs directly in front of us, less than a metre away from my daughter and I, now trapped in the sled as my husband's sled had crashed into us and his dogs were entangled with us on either side of the sled.
The guide ran back to the bear and screamed, less than an arm's length from the bear, then swung the rope and hit it on the nose.
The bear moved away.
Somehow my husband's sled moved off and our guide raced back and we hurried that last 300 metres to safety.
We ran into the change shed and waited.
The two young children started crying 'from the cold'.
Everyone else kept laughing, a strange nervous reaction.
Eventually we were led up to debrief over brandy.
The governor's helicopter arrived to chase off the bear, a common occurrence in Svalbard.
Everyone rushed outside, including my young daughter. I stayed inside cuddling a husky pup as I'd really seen enough for one day.
The thought of seeing the bear, even at such a safe distance
scared me.
Here is the strange thing. How it happened in my mind as it was happening.
After the fact someone asked if we had stopped because of the bear or if we were stopped and the bear came over. I didn't know. I had to ask the others. In my head, we were stopped and suddenly the bear was there but I couldn't work out why we had stopped. (I realise now the guide had seen the bear and stopped so the other sleds could get past safely, except when the sled behind us crashed into us, no one else could get past).
When I first saw it, I thought 'That's a big dog patting the other dogs, I wonder where it came from?' and I wasn't scared at all. Then after quite a while, I realised it was a polar bear. Apparently my husband on his sled behind us said to my eldest 'Look, a polar bear!'. My brain heard those words and retranslated the image in my head. (In the debrief, this was explained that your mind flicks through what it knows and gives you the most likely thing, and for me, that would be a big white dog, not a polar bear, even though there is no dog that size).
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| The Blue light in the Polar Night. When it isn't just black. |
I had read enough to know the protocol - when you see a polar bear, you load the gun, then fire a flare in the air to scare it, then fire the gun in the air to scare it and only if absolutely necessary, shoot the bear. So when the guide put the backpack with the gun in it at my feet, I looked at it and thought "What are you doing? Aren't you meant to load that?....Am I meant to load that? ' more curious and confused than panicked. (I am not brave, it's just what your brain does).
I also thought to myself quite calmly "People don't die like this in real life". It was a feeling of disbelief that I was going to die like this. Incredulity more than fear.
When the guide rushed back to get the rope, I quietly asked "What should we do?" and he said "Stay inside" and I thought, irritated "There is no inside! We're effectively sitting on the ground". I had asked what we should do in case I was meant to be loading the gun or running away. (You don't run away because it kicks in the bear's hunting instinct).
When the bear moved closer to the dogs next to us, I remember wondering what I was meant to do when it got to us.
My daughter then whispered "I'm scared" and I replied quietly but in a sing song tone "It's okay, we're just going to sit very quietly and be very still." At this point the dogs behind me crashed into us and I realised we couldn't actually move away anyway and I thought "I'm going to have to stand up and throw (my daughter) away (in the other direction) and jump into the bear". Even then it was sort of sad annoyance rather than terror. I was extremely irritated when I thought "It's really going to hurt." somehow shutting out the idea I'd be dead soon, once the bear attacked.
When we all raced back and parked the sleds, I told my daughter to run with the others to the building and I yelled for my middle child who was the last to turn up with the second guide. I probably shrieked hysterically actually. I almost burst into tears thinking he'd been attacked. That was the moment that sheer terror kicked in. However, his sled sped in to a stop in front of me and I was flooded with relief.
In true Mum form, I made sure I scrambled behind him to the change room. Not bravery, just reflex. At that point I was really scared. Strangely when I was safer than I'd previously been.
Someone asked me how long the whole incident took. It seemed like a really long time while it happened but in reality, the most it could have been was a couple of minutes.
One very strange thing, as we drove there on the morning of the sled excursion, the van was playing Metallica and I thought to myself "I really hope if we die that this isn't the last song I ever hear". I then laughed at myself for being such a nut. Perhaps a premonition? Who knows?
I think the very beautiful brave dogs and the actions of the incredibly calm and
courageous guide Marcel saved our lives. My husband asked him if he’d done that before
and he said he’d never seen a bear close up before, only off in the distance. The other guide had only ever seen
tracks.
We were left with the most amazing memories and now in hindsight, I really wish I had a photo of it to share!! I tell people we were attacked by a polar bear, because in my head, that's what happened however the proper term is that we had a polar bear encounter.
I can also honestly say, I never need to be that close to a polar bear ever again!
It was reported on the news in Norway and as we left the next morning, we missed being interviewed, much to my daughter's disappointment when she found out the other little girl 'became famous'.
Linking with
#SaturdayCritters
I find it interesting they said no aggression as it was snarling at the dogs, or at least I definitely saw it baring it's teeth.
https://www.spitsbergen-svalbard.com/2020/01/16/close-encounter-with-polar-bear-in-bolterdalen.html
Other reports:
http://icepeople.net/2020/01/16/fending-off-a-polar-bear-with-a-rope-dogsled-guide-says-bear-approached-tour-group-too-quick-to-use-weapon-scared-it-off-by-hitting-it-with-brake-rope-on-sled-without-incident/
Page 23 of The State of the Polar Bear Report 2020 https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2021/02/Crockford-Polar-Bears-2020-.pdf?fbclid=IwAR38K1rQDJDkKzdLmLmw_BhIK4sYMCnzp57pkcIff1JS4gFqVIMjpAHytWE
