Major Warns Tourists to Norway Against Polar Bears

On March 20, a total solar eclipse will take place. Due to the weather conditions in this time of the year, Norway’s Svalbard is one of the best destinations in the world to observe this spectacular event. 

According to Svalbard2015, on the North Pole the Sun will become totally eclipsed as it comes into view after 6 months of polar night. This happens only every 400 000 – 500 000 years. In the Norwegian mainland more than 90 % of the Sun will be eclipsed.

But being in Svalbard for this special event is not risk-free. Christin Kristoffersen, mayor of Longyearbyen says visitors planning to witness solar event must watch out for 3,000 polar bears on the island. Polar bears are known as the earth’s largest land carnivore, and they they can attack without warning.

British teenager Horatio Chapple, a pupil at Eton College, was killed by a polar bear on Svalbard during a schools trek in 2011.

In 2011, a starving polar bear in Svalbard attacked a group of British school children, during a school trek. 

Seventeen-year-old Horatio Chapple, a pupil of Eton College, was killed as a result of the attack. Four others were hurt, two seriously, and all were flown to Tromsø on mainland Norway for treatment. 

The bear was shot dead by one of the expedition’s leaders.