Saturday, September 4, 2010
WALRUS IN SKJÁLFANDI

It was very unreal. We could not believe our eyes. The view was like edited in Photoshop.

The sun had sunken down under the surface of the sea. The dusk made it difficult to discern details, but there was no doubt. The enormous, clumsy body and the two long, characteristic, white-shining tusks (teeth) revealed what kind of sea monster we watched crawling up on land; a walrus.

It started off like a staff road trip. We made our way through Flateyjardalur and landed in Knarrareyri, 32 rivers later. There we grilled and chilled on the beach until the sun set. When leaving the place we drove along a stony beach, and suddenly Stefán exclaimed; "What is that?! A stranded whale? - Get out, get out!". Stefán, Maria, Peter, Danni and I jumped out of the car and realised, more or less at the same time, what we had in front of us.

It was just a few metres away, waving its head from side to side every now and then, snorting like seals do. It had a big wound and was probably exhausted - who knows how long it had swum to reach Flateyjardalur...? Why go to Greenland when you can see walruses "just around the corner". It was really cool!

It got dark fast and we returned home to Húsavík, decided to leave the animal alone for the night, resting in peace under the northern lights.

Next morning Stefán went back out, this time by boat, together with veterinarians, specialists, hunters and photographers; all this to make the best estimation possible of the animal's health - whether to put it down or not. Our walrus was still in the same place when they reached the beach, but when getting closer it decided to move itself, went back into the water and swam away.

No one knows where it is now. Maybe we see a walrus during the whale watching tour at 13:15? Every trip is a new adventure and you can never say before what creatures you will encounter in the area – and that we know from experience!

(LIA)

This is the walrus that we found on the other side of the bay:

WALfromtheside