Visiting Greenland, the world's largest island, is an opportunity to enter a unique world of natural beauty.
This is a world of giant icebergs, towering mountains, lush green countryside and calving glaciers. Greenland's icecap alone covers almost 1.8 million square kilometres, 14 times the size of England. At its thickest point it is three kilometres deep and, over millions of years, its enormous weight has compressed the bedrock by about 800 metres.
According to the sagas it was actually the Norwegian Viking, Erik the Red, who called the country Greenland. After living there for three years he returned to Iceland wanting to convince his fellow countrymen of the fine opportunities for starting a new life in 'the green land'.
Although still part of Denmark, Greenland has been self-governing since 1979 and has a population of only 56,000 who live on the narrow coastal fringe. These are predominantly Inuit or Eskimo and feel closely connected to the Inuit in Canada, Alaska and Siberia.
Animal life is rich and varied with thousands of reindeer, musk oxen, foxes, arctic hares and, or course, the mighty polar bear. This is where the white-tailed eagle is master of the sky and where marine giants like the blue fin sperm whales rule the waters offshore.
Southern Greenland
Having the mildest climate Southern Greenland is the fertile part of Greenland. Here you will find calving white glaciers with vertical walls of ice, blue-white icebergs floating in the fjords, to rich green fields and valleys and onwards to steep black mountain slopes.
A particular phenomenon unique to South Greenland is the ice floe. In contrast to the iceberg, ice floes consist of saltwater frozen into large sheets of ice up to three metres thick and which are constantly in motion. South Greenland is characterised by short distances which means that on a short visit it is possible to experience towns and settlements, glaciers, history and, not least, Greenlandic culture. It is also possible to see the ruins of churches and farms from the 500 years of settlement in Scandinavian times.
For something really special you can visit the hot springs and bathe in water at 36 degrees centigrade, while at the same time enjoying the sight of the ice floes decoratively scattered over the sea.
Summer temperatures of 16 to 18 degrees centigrade are not uncommon.
