4 August 2024

Iceland 2024 Trip report

Brief notes on our recent trip to Iceland. Key updates Vs earlier reports: Heydalur now does not have an artic fox which visits; Laki Tours out of Olafsvik is probably the most reliable whale watching – and there’s a habituated arctic fox nearby.

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benbalmford
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4 Comments

  • 4 August 2024
    Lars Michael Nielsen

    I had an arctic fox at almost the same place as you in july this year as well. There’s a breeding pair around the Malarrifsviti, migt be the same animals that are around Lóndrangar. They had six pups this year.
    Last year we had a great trip with Laki with lots of species, Orca, Sperm, Minke, Long-finned Pilot whales, White-beaked Dolphins and a Porpoise. This year we only saw Minke and White-Beaked Dolphins due to strong winds. And yes i’d say they are the best Whale-watching Company as well and they are collecting data for scientific studies on Orcas on their trips as well. Great birds you saw, ill consider horseback riding next time up there….

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    • 4 August 2024
      benbalmford

      Cheers Lars. In danger of veering into bird chat, we got ridiculously lucky on that horse ride… not sure how replicable it is, although Merlin/ebird suggests that Ptarmigan are pretty frequent in that area (obviously widespread and relatively easy to find in the winter by chance, but harder in the summer).

  • 5 August 2024
    Tau Conrad

    Thank you for sharing this. I’m planning a trip to Iceland next summer and Heydalur is currently on our itinerary. Not sure it is still worthwhile the detour if the arctic fox is no longer there. It takes 2 days to include the Westfjord…

  • 5 August 2024
    benbalmford

    Hi Tau. I’m not sure what wildlife/other things you’re interested in, but my suggestion would probably be to NOT include the Westfjords in your itinerary. In hindsight, more time in Snaelfesness would have been ace for some more sightings. Do reach out if you want more precise information on our itinerary/what we would do differently. Best email is ben.balmford@gmail.com

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