As I noted in Part Three of this saga, as I did not partake in the Ellesmere expedition, I cannot write a full trip report of the team’s experience in the field. However, I noted I would update with a final post once I could catch up with the group and hear more about their experiences on Ellesmere. The group did return to Grise Fjord as planned late in the evening of March 15 and flew back to Resolute Bay, where they overnighted. They arrived in Ottawa a couple of days ago, the first chance I had to catch up with them for a quick text debrief.

Reports were temperatures during the expedition were reasonably warm, initially around -20º Celsius, before becoming much colder around the -35º Celsius mark. Likewise, the journey began with little wind, gradually increasing throughout the expedition with what was noted as a ‘significant wind chill’ later in the trip. Temperatures did drop below -50º Celsius. The team managed to get as far north as camp two. Canadian North’s inexcusable delays and subsequent mismanagement of plane weight limits and luggage allowances dashed the hope of getting further north. Although Camp two is a reasonable distance from Grise Fjord, it is still at least a day’s travel away from our planned objective and two full days away from Eureka Sound (a known wolf hot spot). There had been recent wolf sittings around camp three, and reliable intel meant that was the group’s best chance to find and photograph the Arctic wolf.

With the expedition cut short and not time to make camp three without turning around the following day, it was fortuitous that the Inuit guides found a Musk Ox carcass (a recent wolf kill) near camp two. The carcass was surrounded by fresh wolf prints, making it the ideal place to build a base to wait for the wolves and search the surrounding area.

The wolves remained elusive during the team’s field time despite the setting and Musk Ox carcass. I suspect the wolves came in at night during the dark hours to feed on the remains.

Although the team had some excellent wildlife photographic encounters with the Arctic fox, Ptarmigan and Musk Ox, they did not have any direct encounters with the white Arctic wolf. The local guides located many fresh prints, and many hours were spent searching the area, but the wolves remained true to their name – ghosts of the Arctic.

I am excited to announce that the new Big Five book, released on April 4th, 2023, will feature some of my photography in the Polar Bear chapter. For those unaware, the New Big Five is a global photography project for endangered wildlife.

THE NEW BIG 5 (Earth Aware Editions; April 4, 2023) brings together more than 165 of the world’s most outstanding wildlife photographers, conservationists, and advocates in a mission not only to celebrate the beauty of the animal world but to raise awareness of the crucial issues facing the world’s wildlife, including habitat loss, the illegal wildlife trade, pollution, and climate change. 

The New Big 5 is a global call to action sounded by some of the foremost conservationists on Earth. The book contains 226 majestic portraits and creative photos of creatures in their natural habitats from 146 globally renowned photographers, including Joshua Holko, Ami Vitale, Marsel van Oosten, Paul Nicklen, Steve McCurry, Karine Aigner, Brian Skerry, Frans Lanting, Marina Cano, Beverly Joubert, Gurcharan Roopra, Thomas Mangelsen, Lucas Bustamante, Suzi Eszterhas, Paul Hilton, Cristina Mittermeier, Gael R. Vande weghe, Daisy Gilardini, Steve Winter, Qiang Zhang, Art Wolfe, Shannon Wild, Will Burrard-Lucas, David Lloyd, Sergey Gorshkov, Jonathan and Angela Scott, Thomas Vijayan, Tony Wu, and many more. 

As well as chapters focusing on each of the New Big 5, the book contains an extensive section on other Endangered species from land, sea and sky, all listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable, including rhinos, cheetahs, giraffes, monkeys, pangolins, snow leopards, bears, frogs, insects, birds, turtles, sharks and whales. 

The book also features essays from leading conservationists, including Jane Goodall, Paula Kahumbu (CEO/Founder, Wildlife Direct), Tara Stoinski (CEO, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund), Krista Wright (Executive Director, Polar Bears International), Anish Andheria (CEO, Wildlife Conservation Trust), Moreangels Mbizah (Executive Director, Wildlife Conservation Action), Dominique Gonçalves (Manager, Elephant Ecology Project at Gorongosa National Park), and Wes Sechrest (CEO, Re:wild).

The New Big Five can be ordered online HERE.

My 2025 expedition to eastern Greenland to photograph Polar Bears and Ice Landscapes is now sold out – thank you. This expedition will see us based in camps out on the sea ice with local Inuit guides who will assist us in finding Polar Bears and other Arctic wildlife. Due to the increased interest in workshops and expeditions to the East Coast of Greenland, I am offering this trip in March of 2024 next year – only three places remain. Full details are now on my website at www.jholko.com/workshops.

To begin, here is an update from the team in the field via their in-reach Satellite: The group has been camped by a musk ox carcass (a recent wolf pack kill) for the last few days and has had photographic encounters with Musk Ox, Arctic Fox and Ptarmigan. There have been a lot of fresh wolf prints in the area, but the wolves have remained elusive as of my last received update. I expect the wolves have likely been coming to feed on the carcass during the dark hours. Tonight the team will return to the small village of Grise Fjord and conclude the expedition.

Again, I am so pleased that the team made it to Ellesmere and out into the field for the Arctic winter experience. Despite this fact, I still feel gutted at not being there. When you spend more than a year preparing an expedition and gearing yourself up mentally for the experience, it’s devastating to be denied the experience due to an airline’s selfishness and uncaring attitude.

At this late stage in the game, I have no reason to stay in Canada and continue incurring more expenses at a hotel in Ottawa. Therefore, I decided to advance my timetable, which meant changing my onward flights from Ottawa to Toronto, Warsaw, Poland, Oslo and Longyearbyen. All of which came at a not-insignificant expense. Not to harp on the financial impact of this Canadian North mess, but the snowball effect has been ongoing and highly significant (at least to me). I am dreading the inevitable fight all this is going to be with the travel insurance company.

As a result of Canadian North’s appalling logistics and laughable customer service, this will be my last expedition to Ellesmere Island in the high Canadian Arctic, utilising Canadian North’s commercial flights. The unreliable nature of the flights from Ottawa to Ellesmere Island makes planning impossible. With tight ongoing travel schedules, dealing with the many delays and cancellations that Canadian North (and the weather) inflict on its customers has become impossible. I do not have the time to add the additional week or more required at either end of an expedition to allow for these sorts of delays, and neither do the majority of photographers who travel. Thus the dream of photographing the white Arctic wolf will remain just that for me; a dream.

I am entertaining the ‘possibility’ of trying again at some stage in the future, but only with a full private charter flight from Resolute Bay direct to Eureka (bypassing Grise Fjord). This approach would facilitate flying to Eureka instead of four days each way from Grise Fjord on a snowmobile, a far more comfortable proposition. Not only that, but as a private charter, it guarantees all luggage on the same flight and a lot more time in the field for photography. The only downside is this charter flight plan comes at a very high financial cost (more than CAD 60,000 from Resolute to Eureka return). Nevertheless, I may look at this option in the future. Until then, Ellesmere Island and the white Arctic wolf will remain a desideratum.

From a more fiscal perspective, and as I wrote in Part One and Part Two of this abysmally expensive and disappointing experience, this is the perfect example of why travel insurance is an absolute must for any overseas travel. I don’t sell or facilitate insurance, but I always recommend participants take out sufficient travel insurance to cover curtailment and cancellations. Without it, you can be significantly out of pocket when things go awry.

Perhaps the worst part of this mess, from my perspective, is that I never even got the camera out of the bag. I did hook up with my friend Marc in Ottawa for a couple of hours photographing Snowy Owls, which went some way to salvaging something from the entire experience. Since I did not partake in the Ellesmere expedition, I cannot write a full trip report of the team’s experience in the field, but I will have one final update once I get a chance to catch up with the group and hear more about their experiences on Ellesmere.

Read Part Four – Final Update

I have just published Episode #67 of my Wild Nature Photography Podcast. In this episode, I discuss my process for going from thousands of RAW captures in the field to the final few for processing and post-production.