6th to 11th July, 2020. Group size 6 plus 2 guides.
Price on application. Tour starts and ends in Isafjordur. Price includes boat transfer to Hornvik. All food and accommodation at basecamp. Photography tuition and guiding. Camp Manager/Boat Driver.
Each day we will split the group to work in separate areas. Not only will this limit disturbance to the wildlife and reduce pressure on a fragile environment but will also allow us to accommodate people wanting to opt out of longer, more challenging hikes.
This is an adventure tour to the remote Hornstrandir Nature Reserve in the far north west of the country, stronghold of Iceland’s only native land mammal the Arctic fox. Persecuted elsewhere in Iceland, here in the nature reserve they are fully protected and quite confiding, often walking through the campsite. From our tented basecamp we will explore the area on foot and by Zodiac to photograph families of foxes and other wildlife. During the summer the foxes feed primarily on seabirds along the huge cliffs and beaches around Hornvik bay. Although I’ve been running winter tours to photograph arctic foxes for several years, I’ve always wanted to run a trip to this amazing area in summer. However the need to camp and long hikes to reach the most photographically productive fox territories put me off. Now the Icelandic operator we work with on the winter tours has developed a really nice, expedition-spec, tented base camp and provided an inflatable boat for getting around the area. In 2019 with a few invited photographer friends we trialled this tour to see how it would work out and it was even better than expected. We photographed several fox families with cubs of various ages as well as adults foraging along beaches and cliff paths. Longer hikes to visit the spectacular cliffs and landscape of Hornbjarg are optional but unbelievably beautiful, particularly in midnight sun.
It’s fair to say that this tour isn’t for everyone. You would need a basic level of fitness to get in and out of the small boat, sometimes on rocky shorelines and move around on slippery beaches and uneven trails. You’ll need a flexible outlook and a sense of humour for when things go wrong and be willing to pitch in with camp chores. Photo opportunities should be plentiful but we will always put the welfare of the wildlife first so sometimes your guide will pass on the chance to get closer, spend more time near a den or follow a fox.
For more information please get in touch by email: Here Also check out my arctic fox gallery: Here All the summer images were taken at exactly the area we are going to on this tour.
For people interested in the winter tour, click here: Arctic Fox Winter Tour
