Traveling Rockhopper

Apparently, Kangerlussuaq has more than 300 days of clear sky a year.
Well, I’m not sure how much truth is in this sentence. 😉

Kangerlussuaq is a small town with about 500 people living there.
Kangerlussuaq is a name of the town and nearby fjord; it means “big fjord”.
Kangerlussuaq is a good starting point for visiting a few beautiful sites in Greenland.

Because of its location, in Greenland you can experience long, dark nights in winter (plus enjoy northern lights) and long, sunny days in summer (when the sun stays above the horizon).

The northern lights are a wonderful phenomenon. Its idea is relatively simple, but it’s still very fascinating and effective.

Long, dark nights in Greenland (with “some help from the Sun” 😉 ) give a great opportunity to observe northern lights.

p.s. I was already writing about northern lights, that I’ve seen in Norway; so you’ll find seem practical issues in my previous posts:
http://travelingrockhopper.com/photographing-northern-lights_norway_21/
and
http://travelingrockhopper.com/northern-lights_norway_16/ .

When is the best time to visit Greenland?
-Well, the answer is not so obvious. Summer gives lots of possibilities for tourists. However, visiting Greenland in winter is a unique experience; and in winter you have almost 100% chances to see northern lights!

I was in Greenland in winter, and I loved it. I have to admit, I still would love to visit Greenland in summer, hopefully one day.

5 species of seals can be find in Greenland, i.e., the ringed seal, the harp seal, the hooded seal, and two less common – the bearded seal and the common seal.

Seals are quite safe in Greenland, they just should stay away from polar bear and arctic fox. 😉

There are about 60 species of birds living all year in Greenland.
Many more species visit Greenland only during warmer months.

I’ve seen a few cute tiny birds in Greenland, in winter.

In waters all over Greenland (in summer), it’s possible to spot a few species of whales.

The musk ox (musk-ox or muskox) is the largest land mammal living in Greenland.
From far, musk ox looks like a brown stone (at least some people say it); from close – it’s kind of bison (from my point of view).

On today’s picture, you cannot see any musk ox; or maybe one is hiding in a “house of the lords”. 😉
However, it’s quite easy to spot musk ox or reindeer in Greenland; I’ve seen many of them just didn’t manage to take a good close up photo of musk ox.

Reindeer is one of the most popular animal (mammal) in Greenland.
It’s the only species of deer in Greenland.

Greenland is basically the land of ice and snow, but still you can find there interesting animals, and probably more animals than one can expect (e.g., whales, seals, walruses, musk oxen, reindeer, polar bears, etc.).

Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) is the official language in Greenland; it’s also spoken in Alaska and Canada.
Greenlandic is considered as a very difficult language for foreigners to learn, but don’t worry basically all Greenlanders speak also Danish (if it helps 😉 ) and very often know basics of English.

My first impression, after visiting Iceland, was “it’s so green here, the country should be called “Greenland”; but there is already Greenland; why Greenland is not called Iceland and Iceland is not Greenland”. 😀
Of course, there is also “ice” on Iceland, but not as much as on Greenland.

About 75% of Greenland is covered by the permanent ice sheet!

Greenland is located in a very unique area.
It stretches from ~59°N up to ~83°N (so close to the North Pole!).
The majority of the island, is above the Arctic Circle.

Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark; and Danish Krone is its official currency. In some shops, other major currencies (e.g., Euro, US or Canadian Dollar) can be also accepted; but not everywhere in Greenland.

Yesterday, I wrote that almost everything has to imported to Greenland; so no wonder that prices are very high. I guess, in Europe, Norway and Switzerland are considered as the most expensive countries.
Greenland is even more expensive…

I’ve seen a sentence on “Visit Greenland”, that “Greenland is self-sufficient with regard to fish, certain meat products and ice cubes. Everything else has to be imported.”
“Ice cubes” made me laugh. But indeed, Greenland is a huge, kind of remote, island covered with ice; and that’s the beauty of Greenland, as well as its limitations.

Greenland belongs to Denmark, but it’s located quite far away from Denmark.
Iceland, is its closest neighbor; then Canada and Norway (Svalbard) are also located relatively nearby.

Greenland is an autonomous country and under special conditions it belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark.

Greenland is the largest island; to be precise, one should say that Greenland is the largest non-continental island. Australia is also an island, but based on the accepted definitions, Australia is a continent.