Ingrid Kuster, Maneuvering across the ice (ANIMAL & NATURE 2023)

We were fortunate to experience this close encounter with a young male polar bear recently whilst on an expedition in the Arctic. This polar bear was initially sighted some distance from our stationary ship, but over a period of 10 to 15 minutes the polar bear made his way to us, swimming between the ice and walking over it. The polar bear came within 100 metres of our ship, but he seemed oblivious to our presence. He walked past the ship and then eventually disappeared into the distance. What an incredible experience this was to see a polar bear in such close proximity.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.