Travellers Blog: West Greenland and Disko Bay
Our bucket-list visit to Greenland was five years in the making, due to the pandemic and the bankruptcy of the original company we booked with. However, we finally made the journey in June 2024. After spending a few days visiting friends in Denmark, we spent one night in Ilulissat and then boarded the 12-passenger ship for a nine-night cruise around the fjords of west Greenland with PolarQuest. We were brilliantly looked after by Captain Maween and guides Dorothee, Karin, and Mia, as well as the excellent catering and engineering crew.
Greenland is enormous, almost twice as large as South Africa but, with a population of only about 57,000, it is the least densely populated country on the planet. More than 80% of the land area is covered with a massive ice sheet which reaches a thickness of 3km in some places. To put the scale of the ice sheet into perspective, it is estimated that it contains enough fresh water to raise global sea levels by 7 meters. Given the vastness of the country, it’s only possible to see a small part of it on a trip like this, and our visit focused on the fjords and small settlements around Ilulissat inside the Arctic Circle on the west coast.
Highlights of the trip:
Disko Bay is a classic Greenland destination, but nothing really prepares you for the scale of it. The Ilulissat Icefjord, the most productive in the Northern Hemisphere, releases 35 cubic kilometers of ice into the bay annually, resulting in an incredible array of icebergs, surrounded by massive flocks of sea birds and frolicking whales.
In Qeqertasuaq, we met Danny and Naja with their wonderful Greenland sled dogs, as well as visiting their home for a kaffemik (a traditional open house for coffee and cake). The Greenland dog is considered one of the oldest and 'purest' dog breeds and is related to the wolf. It's likely an important factor in the Thule people's successful migration to this area, and it’s thought that these dogs have been loyal companions for at least 1,000 years. They are incredibly well-adapted, sleeping outside no matter the weather and able to live entirely on a diet of protein and fat. Dog sledding is still the main form of transport over the winter, although sadly, dog numbers are in decline as the sea ice season gets shorter. Only Greenland dogs are permitted inside the Arctic Circle in order to protect their genetic lineage.
Hiking in Greenland is spectacular, and we had a number of opportunities to do short (3-4 km) hikes in remote places, mostly with no marked trails in areas our guides were exploring for the first time. Guide Karin, an expert in Arctic plants, added an extra dimension to the experience, and we even managed some bird-watching.
Glaciers! There is nothing quite like the sights and sounds of a glacier up close – relatively speaking, as you don’t want to get swamped by a wave from a calving iceberg. It’s a special experience to enjoy this from the ship’s deck.
Text and photos: Anne Livingstone and David Park
Related trips
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Disko Bay to Uummannaq – icebergs, whales & Inuit culture 2025
M/S Balto 12 passengers10 days 9 nights on ship USD 12 290LanguagesDepartures: June / July 2025
Destinations
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Experience Greenland’s untamed wilderness with the elegant 12-passenger ship M/S Balto, designed to explore the most remote fjord systems, visit isolated Inuit settlements and take you to secret anchorages. Greenland’s spectacular coastline offers some of the most remarkable nature experiences. The Arctic landscape is dominated by ice-filled fjords, majestic peaks and vast tundra.