IT is a place few people would want to make their home. The only human feet which have passed through are those of Inuit hunters, explorers and scientists, all more than happy to leave when their tasks are completed.
The nearest settlement, Resolute, home to around 400 Inuits, lies more than 40 miles away.
Even the birds do not stay long. Calling in for two months of the summer to feed on what little wildlife has flourished in the short-lived sun, they too soon beat a hasty retreat. By the time the last one leaves, the snow, which covers the ground for 10 months of the year, returns. It brings temperatures down to as low as -45 deg C.
Once again winter, with its six months of complete darkness from September to February, takes a stranglehold.
Welcome to Swansea Point and Cape Swansea in Arctic Canada.
The two locations sit 100 miles apart, straddling Barrow Strait, a waterway which remains frozen solid for most of the year. It is here that polar bears come to dip their giant paws into the breathing holes made by seals.
During the summer the area boasts some of the biggest colonies of sea birds in the world. Arriving in April and May, they only have a short time to lay their eggs and raise their young before the snows start falling again in August.
June and July are the only months when the ground discards its thick white blanket of snow to reveal vast gravel areas with raised beaches. The area attracts millions of small insects and even bees during its short summer. Temperatures can reach a pleasant 24 deg C, and short sleeves can be worn, but the slightest breeze coming off the sea ice can make it very chilly.
The only animals that can withstand such conditions all year round are seals, walruses and polar bears, which can often be seen round Swansea Point.
Arctic hare and fox, and musk oxen, which resemble shaggy prehistoric cattle, can also be spotted throughout the seasons.
Cape Swansea is close to Cunningham Inlet, famed for its white beluga whales which come in great numbers if the ice breaks up.
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
The nearest settlement, Resolute, home to around 400 Inuits, lies more than 40 miles away.
Even the birds do not stay long. Calling in for two months of the summer to feed on what little wildlife has flourished in the short-lived sun, they too soon beat a hasty retreat. By the time the last one leaves, the snow, which covers the ground for 10 months of the year, returns. It brings temperatures down to as low as -45 deg C.
Once again winter, with its six months of complete darkness from September to February, takes a stranglehold.
Welcome to Swansea Point and Cape Swansea in Arctic Canada.
The two locations sit 100 miles apart, straddling Barrow Strait, a waterway which remains frozen solid for most of the year. It is here that polar bears come to dip their giant paws into the breathing holes made by seals.
During the summer the area boasts some of the biggest colonies of sea birds in the world. Arriving in April and May, they only have a short time to lay their eggs and raise their young before the snows start falling again in August.
June and July are the only months when the ground discards its thick white blanket of snow to reveal vast gravel areas with raised beaches. The area attracts millions of small insects and even bees during its short summer. Temperatures can reach a pleasant 24 deg C, and short sleeves can be worn, but the slightest breeze coming off the sea ice can make it very chilly.
The only animals that can withstand such conditions all year round are seals, walruses and polar bears, which can often be seen round Swansea Point.
Arctic hare and fox, and musk oxen, which resemble shaggy prehistoric cattle, can also be spotted throughout the seasons.
Cape Swansea is close to Cunningham Inlet, famed for its white beluga whales which come in great numbers if the ice breaks up.
This article originally appeared in Planet Swansea which was published by the South Wales Evening Post.
Swansea Point.
A seal.
