Polar - As Never Before
In these days of wide and relatively easy international travel, the Polar Regions are one of the few remaining wildernesses that can still be truthfully labelled untouched, unique and truly extraordinary! Partnering with two expert polar operators The Travel Lab presents an opportunity to experience Antarctica and The Arctic like never before. Taking you way beyond the confines of a cruise ship, The Travel Lab's Polar journeys really are the holy grail of polar exploration offering airborne travel to the North Pole - a journey as significant today as for those early explorers so many years ago - and an expedition into the largely unexplored mountains of Antarctica. For the animal lover we also offer unparalleled opportunities to come face to face with emperor penguins in an area of Antarctica where previously only scientists have travelled and in the Arctic, to spy polar bear and snorkel with pods of the famous white whales, belugas. Or, consider exploring the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Canada's Nunavut Territory or Swedish Lapland by dog-sled learning about Inuit culture and life as you go. Mushing your own team of huskies is an experience like no other.
The Arctic - Polar Bears and Belugas Up Close
© Dennis Fast
Head deep into the Arctic for a sensational wildlife viewing extravaganza! From your base at an exclusive naturalist lodge on the Seal River Estuary you'll track polar bears, caribou, wolverines, foxes and even belugas. This region is remote and spectacular and access is only by floatplane or helicopter.
In summer, the waters of the Seal River Estuary are teeming with Beluga whales. It's also a favourite summer haunt for polar bears and you'll have many opportunities to see them swimming or basking in the sun near the water's edge. Other wildlife we can look forward to spotting from our base include caribou, snowy owls, gyrfalcons, ptarmigans, seals, foxes, pine martins, Arctic hares and even wolverines and wolves.
In order to maximize our opportunity for quality polar bear sightings and photography, the program includes a flight-seeing excursion by floatplane or helicopter. And, for the more active and possibly more game, we provide an opportunity to snorkel with pods of Beluga whales. This trip really is a wildlife-lovers' dream.
The Arctic - Ultimate Adventure Flight to the North Pole
© Dennis Fast
Be one of the very few to say you have literally stood on top of the world on this ultimate Arctic adventure. Go snowmobiling across icy plateaus, visit traditional Inuit villages, see Arctic wolves, foxes and hares in the wild stand at the northern most point of the world - the North Pole.
Few places on Earth have stirred the hearts and minds of explorers more than the geographic North Pole. Following many failed expeditions, by sled, balloon, airship and ship, the Pole was finally witnessed in 1926, but it was 1948 before anyone actually stood there.
On this extraordinary expedition, we will follow in the footsteps of these early explorers. Our days will be spent observing Arctic wolves, foxes and hares, snowmobiling across icy plateaus strewn with brilliant blue bergs, trying our hand at building igloos and visiting traditional Inuit villages.
The highlight of course, will be as we retrace the routes of the historic explorers, Peary & Cook, landing our private plane on the polar ice cap as close to 90 degrees north as sea ice conditions permit. Standing at the North Pole, you'll become one of so very few people in history to have literally stood on top of the world.
The Arctic - Greenland Sailing Expedition
What better way to get up close and personal with the extremes of Greenland than by sailing along and around her coast? With more than 2600 kilometres (1615 miles) of coastline inhabited by only a few thousand people, this is the Arctic in all its glory - breathtaking beauty, striking scenery, incredible sea and land mammal sightings and awesome frozen wilderness just waiting to be explored.
On this amazing voyage, our moving base is aboard a custom-designed 18 metre (60 foot) yacht built for the Clipper Round the World race. She is sturdy and spacious and perfect for gaining access to fjords and glaciers for land explorations where it is possible to walk 'inland' over glaciers into astounding, alpine forests. Kayaks provide opportunities to explore in and around the sea ice and icebergs. Likely animal sightings will include polar bear, seals, dolphins and whales such as minke, fin, humpback and orcas.
In our sloop, we experience that amazing and indescribable feeling of total insignificance against the vastness of this frozen natural environment.
Accompanied by knowledgeable and experiences yachtsmen and adventurers, this trip is sure to delight those interested in a true icy wilderness experience. Anchoring in sheltered, ice-free harbours each night, sailing and exploring inland by day, this up close experience of Greenland is a rarity in these days of mass market travel - raw, breathtaking and exceptional!
Antarctica - Land of the Emperor Penguin
Travel to a region once the sole domain of scientists and grand emperor penguins. From your low-impact luxury eco camp perched atop a 60m (200ft) icefall you'll spend your days gazing out over pristine Antarctica and visiting remote penguin colonies at Neumayer. This once in a lifetime trip really is as good as it gets.
Your Antarctic adventure begins with a spectacular 5 ½ hour flight from Cape Town. Glide over sky-scraper sized icebergs, iridescent blue glacial shelfs and endless stretches of white wonderland. On arrival you become one of the very few people to actually set foot in Antarctica and you'll have plenty of time to take in the breathtaking surrounds from your luxury eco camp.
Your days in Antarctica will be filled with walks along pristine coastlines surrounded by monstrous ice cliffs, ice-climbing previously unclimbed mountains, short flights in our DC3 airplane, skidoo riding or kite-surfing. The highlight however, is setting up camp and spending 3 days (depending on the weather) engulfed by the sheer bedlam and excitement of the emperor penguin colony. The penguins are completely unafraid of humans and this really is an experience like no other.
2008 is the first time anyone but scientists have visited the colony, and with our expert guides by your side, you will experience one of the greatest and yet, most rarely seen wildlife events on the planet!
Antarctica - Remote Mountain Expedition
Explore Antarctica by foot and by plane as you follow in the footsteps of the great explorers, Scott and Amundsen. Soar over the largely unexplored Orvin Ranges, by a turbo prop DC3 airplane, abseil into open crevasses, explore ice caves and get close to Adelie Penguins.
This trip uncovers secrets of Antarctica that will absolutely amaze you.
Depart Cape Town in the lap of luxury aboard our private jet. Watch night turn to day as we cross over the Antarctic Circle and into the land of the midnight sun. After landing on a specially prepared ice runway you'll settle in at our luxury eco camp - the first of its kind in Antarctica. Gaze out your tent window at incredible views over a massive ice cliff and down to the immense blue ice waves on the horizon.
Spend your days abseiling into open crevasses, exploring ice caves and watching the little Adelie Penguins that nest on an island near our camp.
The highlight however, is our expedition into the mountains. Living in the tents of early explorers, and with one of our guides telling the lesser-known stories of Amundsen and Scott's great race to the South Pole in 1911, we are given the chance to experience what an adventure to the Antarctic once meant. We also undertake a magnificent aerial tour over the Orvin Range in turbo prop DC3 airplanes and have the opportunity to ski in virgin snow, try some technical ice and rock climbing and we will learn the basics of crevasse rescue.
Swedish Lapland Dog Sled Adventure
© Staffan Widstrand
Experience Europe's biggest nature reserve in Vindelfjällens and the beautiful mountain areas of northern Sweden on this nature-based active adventure mushing across the great expanse of Arctic wilderness that is Lapland.
Driving your own dog team of 5-8 Alaskan huskies, with instruction and guiding coming from an experienced local musher, gives true insight into this traditional form of transport and an incredible sense of freedom and satisfaction. Bonding with the ever-eagre dogs who are bred to run will remain in your memory forever.
January is the coldest but the most beautiful month. The silence and the light over the mountains are indescribable and just have to be experienced to be believed. The mountains and vastness with the sun light going down around 4pm each day, crystal white snow reflecting the moon, stars, and northern light, all make for an unreal, surreal and almost spiritual experience. The tracks and the mountains appear untouched and we will likely have the wilderness to ourselves.
Each day on this dog-sledding epic is filled with extraordinarily beautiful and remote wilderness that makes it hard to believe we are in Europe. We travel over mountain plateaus, mush across frozen lakes and planes, and through magical forests, trees dripping with icicles, all the while being invigorated by the cleanest air you might possibly ever breathe and soothed by the silence that is part and parcel of a remote adventure in Lapland. The shushing of the dog-sled is the only constant as we glide across the miles.
Canadian Arctic Dog Sled Adventure
© Courtesy AO
Travelling by dog team in the region north of the Arctic Circle on the east coast of central Baffin Island in Canada's Eastern Arctic, is surely a once in a lifetime event.
Providing a superlative cultural experience and the opportunity to learn of the Inuit lifestyle and means of true Arctic travel as it has existed for centuries, this trip is for nature lovers, wildlife photography enthusiasts and adventure seekers alike.
Driving a dog team guided by local Inuit mushers, gives an unparalleled opportunity to explore the magnificent ice and snow-locked landscape, including the region's towering cliffs and gigantic icebergs frozen in the ice-pack. It's a chance to witness Arctic wildlife first-hand, including polar bear, seal, ptarmigan, and in late spring, the flurry of Arctic avian that fly north along the floe edge to nest. You may also try fishing through the sea ice Inuit-style for grouper, or for the famous Arctic Char in the inland lakes.
During this dog-sledding adventure, each day will be characterized by a variety of activities geared at giving the best possible over-view of life and travel in the harsh and freezing environment of the Arctic. Travelling cross-country over snow and ice we'll visit Samford fiord and a natural crucifix, which rises shear from the sea to over 1 kilometre (3,500 feet) and the floe edge where the open sea and/or pack ice begin, and where the Inuit camp and hunt in the spring. The floe edge is where the marine wildlife congregates and where indigenous and migrating birds can also often be viewed by a keen eye.
Finnish Igloo Village Accommodation
In winter, from December until April, in the north of Finland is the wonderland that is the Igloo Village of Kakslauttanen. Imagine yourself sleeping in an igloo made of snow enveloped in complete silence or, for a truly surreal experience, bunk down in one of our glass igloos allowing 24-hour viewing of the amazing Northern Lights, a wild snow storm or simply the million stars that pierce the ink sky in this remote wilderness.
