The north side of the Nuuk peninsula, out past the airport, used to be a wild place of rocky hills and valleys sloping down to the fjord, a place where people went to hike, camp, picnic, and to test their weapons at the start of the hunting season. Yes, the latter two activity shared the …
The other day I saw a video of someone extolling the virtues of Greenland’s living standards and free health and education systems over other ‘developed’ nations and I felt a stir of dissent. It is likely that most people probably think the living standard in Greenland is significantly lower than it actually is. Measured using …
We were getting sick of having our boat in the main marina in Nuuk. The draconian rules were designed to take advantage of every opportunity to squeeze more extortionate fees out of boat owners. Any change of ownership, common here where friends often co-own boats, required payment of a new full registration fee of about …
There’s a lot of weirdness in Greenland. Some of it is funny. Some of it is sad. Some of it is just weird. Here are some air transport-related snippets. The Camp Raven airstrip on the Greenland icecap, close to the site of the Dye-2 base, is a training airstrip for C-130 aircraft landings and acts …
*‘Skadestuen’ The hospital emergency department, Nuuk One of the first panicked thoughts that flashed through my mind after breaking my leg hiking in Greenland was, Oh God! What day is it today?! And a wave of relief washed over me as I realised it was a Monday. I was recalling a friend’s experience with her …
“How high are we above sea level?” asked a middle-aged woman, as the zodiac carrying her and a half dozen other high-end tourists skirted along the icy shoreline toward their landing point by the outlet of another monolithic glacier. My husband, the tour guide, frowned and his mouth opened and closed, but no words fell …
Former Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, was known for his quick wit. I once read a, possibly anecdotal, account of Whitlam being heckled by a member of the public, who shouted in an Australian drawl, “Whadda ya gonna do about ‘ousing?” Sharp as a tack, Whitlam replied, “Well, I’d add an ‘h’ for a start.” …
About ninety percent of the tiny population of fifty-six thousand Greenlanders lives in west Greenland. East Greenland, by comparison, has fewer than three thousand residents scattered over only five settlements and two towns. Noone lives in the northeast or the far north, a coastline of almost 2,500 km of pure wilderness. If you could fly …
Qaanaaq, a town of almost 700 people, is the second most northerly settlement in Greenland at just over 77 degrees north. People who leave rarely return. It’s not because Qaanaaq isn’t beautiful and a wonderful place to be. It simply costs too much. A return flight from Qaanaaq to Nuuk will set you back about …