With PONANT this timeless journey will become a reality for guests on Le Commandant Charcot in 2025, as PONANT teams ventured on a full immersion scouting trip to Greenlandʼs ice sheet with hunters from the Inuit community. Unforgettable encounters with local people and sharing how they live await.
March 2024, Kullorsuaq, northwest Greenland. A thousand kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Feels like
temperature: -30°C. Snow covers the colourful houses of this small traditional Inuit village surrounded by sea ice.
In the dim light of a polar day, the dogs wait patiently as men from the community finish loading the sleds. José Sarica, Expedition Experience Director, and Mathieu Tsingrilaras, Staff Captain on the PONANT fleet, have joined Nicolas Dubreuil, French polar expert and founder of the polar consulting company SEDNA for an unprecedented scouting expedition in Greenland.
The goal is to co-create new polar activities in immersion with those known as “the last guardians of the pole” at the beginning of the Arctic spring. A human adventure that is all about sharing, exchange and listening.
Immersive Experiences in an Ancestral Culture
Engaging with the local population to implement the activities they wish to offer to the guests was at the heart of this scouting trip.
This has only been possible due to the mutual trust built up over the years between PONANT teams and the inhabitants of Kullorsuaq, thanks to Nicolas Dubreuil, who lives part of the year in this area and brought the first PONANT ships there over 10 years ago; his bonds of friendship with the Inuit community are the gateway to the polar world.
Kullorsuaq inhabitants are motivated by a desire to share what their daily lives are really like, far from the tourist clichés. They want to show guests how it is to live in these vast white open spaces.
“If there is one word to remember from this voyage, it’s ‘Imaqa’.
It’s the notion that Inuits express with a gesture that seems to
mean ‘maybe’ or ‘just let things happen, let nature be your
guide’”.
The secret of the masters of these places: humility – always acting in harmony with the surrounding nature, never in spite of it.
More than a Voyage this is a Human Adventure
This new itinerary exclusive to PONANT is for travelers eager to engage in human interaction with local
communities. Immersed in a magnificent environment, where anyone can quickly lose their bearings, the full meaning of solidarity comes into its own.
The environment demands humility, just as the Inuit’s ancestral culture commands respect. For this is a rite of passage, an initiation, in the company of the last hunters of the North Pole.
PONANT Polar Expertise
PONANT ships have been sailing to Arctic polar regions for decades. Le Commandant Charcot, the world’s only luxury icebreaker, allows the company to push the limits of ice navigation in all seasons.
This exceptional new PONANT exploration alternates sailing through ice amidst stunning scenery, immersive experiences in the polar environment and meeting local people during a four-day port of call in Kullorsuaq.
On the programme: taking part in villagers’ activities, dog-sled rides, traditional Inuit kayak outings, snowshoe hikes, spending a night with local people, a polar trek staying overnight in expedition tents on the ice, snorkeling through the ice wearing a wetsuit, scientific camp, Arctic wildlife watching, a polar trek on the ice with the hunters, or the ultimate adventure, a night in an Inuit tent with the last guardians of the North Pole to discover Nunanutaat, unexplored areas several hours away by dog sled.
Source: Spotlight Coms
Images: PONANT – Julien Fabro
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