Wilderness evening

Wilderness Evening is a dinner tour with an informal lecture at Camp Barentz, a small group of cabins in Adventdalen, outside Longyearbyen. One of the cabins is a copy of the one in which Willem Barentz, the discoverer of Svalbard, overwintered on Novaya Zemlya in 1596. The lecture subject is polar bears.

A bus collects guests at the hotel and drives 10 to 15 minutes into the valley. A host meets the group at the camp and carries polar bear protection, because the cabin lies outside town. Guests sit by a large campfire indoors and are served drinks, a homemade reindeer bidos, coffee and dessert. After the meal the host presents information and photos about polar bears while everyone sits around the open fire, and may tell some personal stories. Afterwards there is time to photograph the surrounding terrain. Svalbard reindeer are often seen in the area, and sometimes grouse and foxes. The bus then takes the group back to Longyearbyen.

The tour lasts three hours. Hurtigruten Svalbard's page gives the difficulty as 2 on a scale of 5, described as suitable for most people, with an age limit of 0 years. The period is given as March to October.