During my graduate school days there was one website that I swore by and it was Campusfood.com. At least once a week I ordered takeout from my favorite restaurants around campus through the Campusfood.com website. Little did I know at the time, Graham Dickson, founder and CEO of Arctic Kingdom Expeditions, had helped establish Campusfood.com among other websites in a past professional life of his. Graham holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering and Economics and has worked at Lockhead Martin, Morgan Stanley, Microforum, Moore, and Clayton & Co before deciding to focus solely on his passion, which was diving with the arctic animals.

Graham led his first expedition to Nunavut, Canada to dive with walrus in 1999 and has since led multiple expeditions looking for Bowhead whales, Narwhals, Belugas, Polar Bears and the Greenland Shark. All of Graham’s arctic expeditions are considered intimate, high-end, safari-style wildlife and Inuit cultural trips in only the best locations of the Arctic.

I had asked Graham what he loved most about his unique career (I figured the answer to this question was going to be fantastic considering he gladly gave up corporate life for Arctic life!) Here was Graham’s response:

Giving others the  “Arctic  Bug” is one of my all time favourite things to do. There is no instruction manual on how to do this…I find that you just need to get up to the Arctic and it will win you over by making strong connections. Myths that the Arctic is cold will be shattered – people are surprised when we are in t-shirts watching whales yet standing on 8 feet of ice.  Myths that the Arctic is barren and lifeless will be shattered – bees humming, flowers blooming, hundreds of birds, ring seals, bearded seals sunning themselves on ice, and hundreds of whales – and of course polar bears. There is life all around – you just need to experience it up close and personal and peel beneath the surface.

You either love the arctic or have never been there, but watching people ‘fall’ for the arctic is truly gratifying and great to see happen. I enjoy bringing people to see the arctic the way it should be seen – directly on the land, to be part of a journey not just as an observer, and with our senior guides who have lived here for eons. Doing this enables a connection to form between the Arctic, it’s animals, and it’s people with our trip members. There are rarely any two trips that are the same. On each trip to the Arctic, we will see or do something completely unexpected. They are little events that one will never read about in our brochures, but will always remember.

Connections between our trip members and the Arctic happen in different ways – but it’s the connections with the animals that are best described. One memorable moment that stands out in particular is the day a bowhead whale surfaced and one of our trip members stroked it on its head.  We were on a floe edge trip to Lancaster Sound, similar to our current “Narwhal and Polar Bear Floe Edge Adventure” trip.  It was a windless, sunny day, and the floe edge was warm – I was just in a t-shirt and basking in the sun. We were watching pods of Narwhal surface, listening to the ‘whoosh’ of their breathy intake.  It was perfect. When all of a sudden a very large bowhead whale surfaced only meters away from where we were sitting.  The whales are naturally inquisitive and this bowhead was no different. He wanted to see what we were doing.

It was simply amazing to see the connection between man and such a gentle giant.  Imagine, a whale, the size of school bus, resting within inches of where we are standing. The floe edge extends miles to either side of us, but here it was – having selected to surface and rest directly in front of us.  Every 10 seconds or so a deep exhale followed by a quick inhale were the only sounds we heard from the bowhead.  Through the clear waters we looked eye to eye with him. I had a video camera in one hand and a camera in the other when after a few minutes of watching each other one of our trip members knelt down and stroked him on the head.   I asked him “Paul, you just touched one of the largest mammals in the world – a bowhead whale – how did it feel?” –   I was expecting a profound response, but he simply answered.”Rubbery”.   I suppose we all have a different sense of connecting!

For more information on how you can experience the Arctic with Graham Dickson, please email Leah@TafariTravel.com.