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Wander the World: Greenland · Wander the World with Pippa Hudson

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: You're with Cape Talk this Scaparton on lunch right, it
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: is time to wander the world. And where might we
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: be going today? We are visiting the world's largest island,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: about eighty percent of its surface is covered by a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: massive ice sheet, and US President Donald Trump keeps threatening
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to an exit. If that last bit doesn't give it away,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: then let me tell you Today we are taking a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: virtual trip to Greenland together with travel writer and Cape
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Talk listener Brian Berkman, who had the privilege of visiting
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Greenland in June this year. He spent a fortnight on
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: board La Common Dance Charcot, which is the world's only
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: luxury icebreaker, a very uniquely adapted vehicle that can travel
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: in the Arctic and Antarctic regions through the thick ice
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: that must be navigated in those waters, and obviously give
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the lucky souls on board access to parts of the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: planet that very few of us get to explore in person.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: We're so grateful to have Brian with us via zoom
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: this afternoon to share the experience with us. Brian, welcome
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: to the show.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, and thank you.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: So much for being prepared to chat to us about
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: this because it's a part of the world that so
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: few people who had the opportunity to visit. Brian, it
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: sounds like a real bucketless trip of notes, But let's
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: start with some of the sort of nitty gritty questions.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: How do you South Africans physically get to Greenland? I
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: mean you went there by ship, But where did you
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: connect with the ship? If one wants to plan a
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  Speaker 1: trip of this kind, where do you start?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: So we started in Raykavic, capital of Iceland, right, and
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: we connected via Amsterdam. So Captain Amsterdam, Amsterdam, ray Kavick,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: and there we got on the ship at gray Kavik.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Fourteen days later we returned and repeated the journey.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, and not just any kind of ship. As I've
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: referenced in the introduction, there a very uniquely adapted ship,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: but one would sounds like it's adapted for luxury as well. Brian,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: give us a sense of how you were traveling.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Well, it's you're correct in saying it's a bucket list experience.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: The destination certainly is, but so is the ship itself.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: So La Commodore Charcot, which is owned by Ponard Explorations,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: a French company, She is designed with a PC two
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  Speaker 2: hule to be able to cut through the ice, and
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: interestingly she does that with a rounded front hole. It
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: isn't a pointy holid you'd imagine. So the weight of
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  Speaker 2: the ship breaks the ice, and the captain describes it
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: as the way you'd break a slab of chocolates into
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: little blocks, which it really is. An It is an
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  Speaker 2: extraordinary experience to witness this, and in particular to witness
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  Speaker 2: the silence of the Arctic. That's something that I had
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  Speaker 2: no idea would be such an important experience of the
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: strip is that when you are there and the ship
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: isn't breaking the eyes, which of course makes the sound,
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  Speaker 2: you hear almost nothing. And of course there are birds
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: and natural life, but it's the sense of being so
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  Speaker 2: extremely remote. And during the fourteen days we didn't encounter
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  Speaker 2: another ship. We stopped at one village to commit where
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  Speaker 2: there were three hundred and fifty odd people living there,
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  Speaker 2: and we visited with them, but other than that, it was.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Oh, dear, looks like we've just lost the zoom connection
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  Speaker 1: for a second. There. It's so interested to hear his
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: comment about the silence in the Arctic, because I had
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: exactly the same impression when I landed in Antarctica a
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: couple of years ago, and as I got off the plane,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: once the engines of the plane shut down and you
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: sort of braced yourself to hear the sounds, there was nothing.
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  Speaker 1: It was the silence, the vastness really struck you. In
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the silence, as it were, there was that sense of
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: looking around in every direction and only seeing ice in
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  Speaker 1: every direction and the color white in every direction as
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  Speaker 1: far as you could see. But the quiet was what
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: struck me as well at that moment. So very interesting
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: to hear that similar impression on the opposite side of
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the globe. We are in conversation with Brian Berkman, who
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: is a travel writer and is talking to us about
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  Speaker 1: an excursion in June of this year which saw him
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: visiting Greenland by ship on board l Common Dante Charco.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: And for those who want to look up the ship
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  Speaker 1: and its owner's Pontante Explorations p na NT is what
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: you're googling. I believe everything cruising are the partners in
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: South Africa, Right, Brian, You're back on zoom and I've
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: got you on phone in the background. I was sinking,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: but let's carry on on zoom. So you've got their
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: flying Amsterdam TORECUABK, you've boarded the ship, you've now sailed
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  Speaker 1: towards Greenland, and as you said, most of your activity
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  Speaker 1: was away from human population. This is, in fact, I
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  Speaker 1: think I'm not mistaken in saying the least densely populated
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  Speaker 1: a settled place on Earth, and not surprising that you
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  Speaker 1: interact with a lot of other people. But what did
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  Speaker 1: you see in terms of wildlife and places where you stopped.
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  Speaker 2: Well, let me say, Papa, that the captain of our
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: ship during the introductory talk said he would wake us
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: at any hour if there was something worthwhile seeing. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and of course one doesn't really think that's going to happen,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: but it did. And at about one thirty in the
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: morning the first morning of our CRUs we were woken
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: up and asked to come down to deck five, which
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: is the promenade deck, to see a polar bear. And
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: it was beyond my expectation of what that would be
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  Speaker 2: like and our first the bear would be. So it
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: actually walked towards the ship, so when we first saught
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  Speaker 2: it was about one hundred meters away, but it was
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  Speaker 2: fascinating in it was aware of what of us being there,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: and the only sound we could hear were people's cameras kicking.
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  Speaker 2: It was just the most incredible experience. And of course
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  Speaker 2: in Greenland in summertime, it's sunlight for twenty four hours
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: a day, so even at one thirty in the morning,
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  Speaker 2: it was bright light outside. So that was our first experience.
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  Speaker 2: And then we saw and heard many many kitty eggs,
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  Speaker 2: which are they look like seagulls, but the orphan of
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  Speaker 2: the bird expert on the ship said they're not seagulls.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Kittiwakes are specific Arctic birds which get their name from
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  Speaker 2: the sound they make. They make it like kitty way,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: kitty way, kitchi eks out. And we saw little orcs,
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  Speaker 2: which are the most numerous bird in Arctic, and pink
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  Speaker 2: footed geese. That was really a wonderful environmental experience.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Speaking of environmental experiences, Brian, this is a part of
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  Speaker 1: the world which when one thinks of the impact of
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: global warring and you know, glacier creep, et cetera, you
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  Speaker 1: think of Greenland the most misnomer of a name in
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  Speaker 1: history because it's covered largely pie ice. But did you
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: see any signs of receding ice or any impact of
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: climate change, or was that pointed out to you by
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: any of the experts on board.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so this was our first experience there, but it
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  Speaker 2: wasn't the first experience for many people on the ship,
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  Speaker 2: and many of the crew who have done this trip
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: year in year. Art commented on the visible there's no
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: question as far as they're concerned, the ice is receding,
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  Speaker 2: it's getting warmer sooner, and it's not a case of well, yes,
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  Speaker 2: from the scientist's point of view, the climate change is happening,
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  Speaker 2: and it's happening rapidly up in the in Greenland. Yes,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: oh dear indeed, because if I think I don't quote
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  Speaker 2: me on this particular fact, but there is so much
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: water stored in the ice sheet that if that were
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: to melt, global sea levels would increase by twenty feet
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: or something. So it's an extraordinary thing that we need
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: to be aware of and if you can, if you
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  Speaker 2: have an opportunity to go, now is the time to go.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody asking why is it called Greenland, Brian, do you
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  Speaker 1: I mean I made a quick about it because it
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  Speaker 1: is such a misnomer, but there is an actual reason
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  Speaker 1: behind that misnomous.
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  Speaker 2: Is there is? There is? So Eric the Red, who
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: was a Viking who committed some crime in Iceland where
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: he lived, was banished from Iceland, and so he made
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  Speaker 2: up this pr tail about this beautiful green land that
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: people would discover where if they came with him. Of
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: course that was the bigger lie, because Iceland is incredible
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  Speaker 2: green and Greenland.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't how funny it was the first, the first pr
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  Speaker 1: stund Yeah, in recorded history, perhaps, Brian. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: if you were there specifically at this time of year
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: in pursuit of the twenty four hour day, or if
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: there is a chance of seeing the northern lights at
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: this time of year. I think that's probably yes. Is
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: it possible in June?
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  Speaker 2: No, you see one or the others. So okay, it
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: needs to be dark for you to see the northern lights,
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: and we had the twenty four hour day. In fact,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: when we arrived back in Red cra Vic, it was
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: the summer solstice.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so absolutely not going to happen at this time
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: of year. But I'm right in saying you can see
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: them in the opposite yes, yeah.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, yes, and and the area is famous for that.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: You also don't really have a real sense of how
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  Speaker 2: large an area Greenland is. So the other North Pole
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: is at ninety degrees, and we went as far as
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: eighty seven degrees, which was still still about twelve or
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  Speaker 2: fourteen hundred kilometers away from the North Park. So it's
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: very very far north and it takes and one of
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: the reasons why such a trip is so costly is
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  Speaker 2: it takes a long time to get to where you go,
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  Speaker 2: so you know, people will balk at the price. I
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: was an invited media guests. I'm so grateful for that,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: but most of the people on board had paid the ticket,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: and when I asked why, they said, well, it's a
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  Speaker 2: once in a lifetime opportunity and it was important for
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: them to be able to go to where the explorers
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: of old went. I don't know if you've seen. There's
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: a documentary I think it's still on Netflix called Two
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Against the Ice, and it's the story about Nicholson and Iverson,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: who were two Danish Saying explorers and the purpose of
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: their beadfort was to find the previous lost exploration cruise,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: which was called the Denmark Expedition. And you talked about
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  Speaker 2: Ronald Trump earlier. This isn't new. The Americans have been
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: after Greenland since those early days in the nineteen hundred,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: so they claimed that Cap Perry was part of the
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  Speaker 2: American land. But the Danes proved that it isn't, that
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  Speaker 2: Greenland isn't Ireland, and that they have claimed to it.
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  Speaker 2: So it was Ericson and Iverson and they ended up
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  Speaker 2: spending two grueling winters in the area that we were
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: exploring near Shannon Island on Shannon Island waiting to be rescued.
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  Speaker 2: So if you get a chance to see that, it's
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: well worthing to watch.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Thanks for the tip on that, and Keith, that does
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: answer your question about the status of Greenland. It's not
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: an independent country. It's an autonomous territory falling under the
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Kingdom of Grandmark of Denmark. So thanks for that question. Brian.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Let's just circle back to what you said about most
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  Speaker 1: people on board had paid full price. Now, look, it
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: was a luxury experience. I understand it was Michelin staff,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: food and incredibly luxurious accommodations. But what is the price
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: for somebody who is paying full ticket? What should one
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: set aside for this buck?
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: It's about a million round for a couple. So yeah,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: it's five hundred thousand person sharing give or tech. The
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: prices are euros and punds. It depends what an exchange
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: r it is. But once you're there, everything is supplied.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: It's a fully inclusive experience, including champagne and carrier and
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: all of those wonderful luxties, but as wonderful as those are,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: and they are wonderful, and to eat at an a
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: lane to cast restaurant on your ship the only ship
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: that see you with one of these restaurants. Amazing, But
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: it's a very very dangerous, dangerous environment to be in,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: and you have to consider the costs involved in being
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: able to bring back if something goes wrong. The ship
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: can survive for three months. It has enough liquefied petroleum
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: gas on board to operate for three months without visiting
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: a shore, and each cabin is equipped with two life
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: preservation suits, which effectively are mini rots, so if something happens,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: you are most likely to survive, and that's where the
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: money is. The money also goes to their science program,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: so upon a spent. Last year they spent two point
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: two million euros on science investments and there are two
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: laboratories on board and met and interacted with the team's
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: one French team and one team from Chile, and we
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: had completely open door access to them. In fact, the
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: opponent science officer told me that when he isn't on
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: the he's lecturing at a university in France and people
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: cannot just walk into his office to talk to him,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: to ask him something, Whereas that is what you get
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: on this experience. You get access to people who are
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: the world experts in their field, and you're real scientists,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: not it's not greenwashing. So I think it's important to
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: upset that that is also what goes into the elevated price, right.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: So a million round per couple, and on top of
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: that your flights to get to Recufec to meet the ship,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: because that million round is the of the two this
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: journey on the ship itself, So to spare that in mind,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: obviously that is something that is going to be beyond
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: the reach of your average traveler, but just such an
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: incredible experience to have lived through vicariously with you, Brian,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: before we let you go. I mean, you've spoken about
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: the impressions of the silence, the incredible sighting of a
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: polar bear, what other sort of moments will stand out
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: for you as the highlights of this adventure.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Well, one of their activities is what they call a
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: polar plunge, and that is where people sign up to
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: dive jump into water at minus one point six degrees centigrate.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: And I'd actually signed up for this because I'd considered
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: that the other activity would be too difficult for me
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: to cope with physically, and then I checked part at
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: the last minute. The ship started together a very stern
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: warning of the various risks, but many many people did it,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: and everyone survived and said they had enjoyed the experience.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: So that is something I'm sorry I didn't do. But
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: I did walk on skis for the first time in
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: my life. I went on a dog sled ten went
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: pulled on over the ice on dog slads with ten
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: high skys first time. And to arrive back at the
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: ship after walking on the tundra and have a Champagne
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: and cavias directly on the ice, I mean that blew
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: my mind.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: What an incredible experience. Brian, thank you so much for
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: painting such a vivid picture for us with your voice,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: and also thank you. Brian has shared some wonderful images
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: with us, which we can ask our digital team to
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: include with the podcast of this conversation. If you'd like
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: to see his photograph of polar Bear, for example, you'll
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: be able to do so. Brian. I mean, once in
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: a lifetime doesn't even begin to touch the surface of
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: how lucky you are to have had this experience. Thank
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: you so much for sharing it with us today.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Thank you for But if people want to know about
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: the cruise, everything cruising is the South African company. Can
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: I give the number? Do you have double one?
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, it's a double one four six three, double one
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: seven zero, So that's everything cruising. They are agency in
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: South Africa and they will make all arrangements and next
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: year's cruises already almost fully booked to best to look
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: at the year beyond that, which will give me some
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: time to start savings. So thank you for the opportunity,
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: love me.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: To you with us, and thanks for reaching out about
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: this extraordinary experience. Brian Berkman chatting to us about his
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: trip to Greenland in June on board La Command Chaco.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: And if you have had an absolutely extraordinary and unusual
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: travel experience that you would like to share with us
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: on wonder the world. Please feel free to drop me
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: an email to Pippa h at cape talk dot co
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: dot a