Photo: A film Crew in Hornstrandir (The Arctic Fox Centre)

The Arctic Fox Center – has mostly been working in Hornstrandir Nature Reserve, the only “safe place” for arctic foxes in Iceland. Last summer we continued the research project regarding tourist effect on arctic foxes in Hornvik. The study area includes the three valleyes of the cliff Hornbjarg as well as the coastline, usually 6 territories with 13-16 den sites. This cliff probably hosts the highest arctic fox density in Iceland and perhaps widerþ The area was visited for one week in June, two weeks in July and five days in August. We also provided consultancy and guidance for filming crews and photographers who were looking for arctic foxes. More of the summer´s field work on our website.

NAVE (Westfjord's Natural History Institute) – has been working on all kind of projects this summer, mostly on waders in Önundarfjordur, which has become quite popular as a bird watching area. Nave participated in the large bird-watcing conference Bird Fair last summer, with Westtours and the Tourist Information Center of Westfjords. NAVE also takes care of the Natural History Museum, where the only Polar bear of Westfjords is located, as well as Ósvör, the museum of old traditional fishermen herititage.

Westtours are now planning new tours for next summer: A 5 nights hiking in Hornstrandir including 2 days in Hornvík, where we will specialy look for the artic fox and all the birds in and around Cliff Hornbjarg. The hike will end at Hesteyri. This tour is specialy set up for real nature lovers.
Also new is more kayaking tours around Isafjordur and hiking in the mountains.

Last summer was pretty busy for Borea Adventures. In the spring the company did many backcountry skiing trips before doing few hiking and wildlife trips in Hornstrandir Nature Reserve on the sailing yacht Aurora. The area is a true gem when it comes to wildlife exploration with millions of birds, curious seals and whales and of course the arctic fox. All their guests returned home very happy with good memories of their time in Iceland.  July seems to be their slowest month for some reason. Generally it´s the high tourism season in Iceland. Their mixture of sailing, sea kayaking and general exploring in East Greenland has been a great success. They spent all August there last year. Next year is already booking up quite fast for Borea Adventures and August in East Greenland is fully booked. July is slow where they have few multi adventure and wildlife trips on schedule. They hope that will change in the coming months.

Photo: A sailing boat outside Hornstrandir (The Arctic Fox Centre)