We have been travelling in the Arctic for more than 25 years. Food has always played a key element to the success in our adventures. We’ve always prided ourselves on offering the most amazing food in some of the most remote places. Someone well fed with amazing food is a happy guest.

Preparing the food supply for the summer is a long process and we have to be very meticulous. We source fresh, wholesome and natural food from the most local producers possible. We strive to build strong relationships with our suppliers.

The meat served at Arctic Watch is always organic. It is a golden rule at Arctic Watch. The result is always fantastic on the table.

Prairie heritage is our supplier of beef. From the Spirit View Ranch in northern Alberta, the angus beef is organic, free of antibiotics or additives.

Have a look at the attached video. They were recently award the 2012 Alberta Beef Producers Environmental Stewardship Award.
Congratulations!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYe0dQGZm2g

Drastic changes are taking place in the Arctic. A recent article from the CBC confirms what we are already seeing taking place at Arctic Watch. Global warming is causing massive changes in the Arctic.

According to Christian Zdanowicz, a glaciologist at Natural Resources Canada, the sea ice that covers the arctic for the fall, winter and early spring, is melting at an unprecedented rate. The upward trending temperatures of the earth’s surface and the atmosphere is causing water to warm.

Over the past ten years at Arctic Watch, we’ve seen the ice that covers Cunningham Inlet melt earlier every year. The Northwest Passage (in front of Arctic Watch), had an average of 8 feet of ice during the winter (recorded during the 1980′s). The strait now stays ice free during the winter.

An enthusiastic guest goes for a polar bear dip in the Arctic Ocean!

This rapid warming is causing changes in the animal migration patterns:

- The beluga whales are arriving earlier to Arctic Watch, and leaving later.
- We are seeing more polar bears during the summer than ever before (perhaps they are migrating north?).
- More birds are arriving every summer. Birds that are supposed to nest nearly 1000km south are now nesting on Somerset Island!

The tundra is also changing; warmer weather is causing the permafrost to recede. Ancient whale bones, (tested at over 8000 years old) locked into the permafrost, underground, are now surfacing onto the tundra, ice free. We’re also noticing higher erosion levels on the shorelines.

The arctic is a magical place – untouched, untamed and unspoiled. Warming changes threaten the balance of the eco-system in the arctic. Increased human traffic, species facing the possibility of extinction and pollution levels rising are all likely possibilites.

We’re passionate about the Arctic. Arctic Watch is one of the few unspoiled and truly wild places left on the planet. That’s why we’re educating guests on the changes taking place. We’ve launched a youth education program, bringing youth to the arctic, giving them the chance to experience the arctic. The only way to preserve today’s natural wonders is by educating tomorrow’s leaders.

Not only are we opening Arctic Watch for our youth program, we want to help preserve the safari experience at Arctic Watch. Untouched tundra, unexplored canyons, polar bears, arctic foxes, muskoxen, snowy owls, countless migratory birds and nearly 2000 beluga whales – it’s only at Arctic Watch. Arctic Watch is opening its doors to a research program that will study the nearly 2000 beluga whales who congregate annually at our doorstep. Top beluga whale researchers, from Mystic Aquarium, will spend time at Arctic Watch studying the beluga whales to better understand them and the changes taking place. Combined with the youth program, we hope to not only bring awareness to our small corner of the arctic, but to the entire untouched arctic that makes Canada such a wild, unspoiled and beautiful place.