Photos

Barrow is the northernmost settlement on the North American continent. Here in summer the sun never sets. In winter pack ice creeps closer from the horizon until it hits the beach and the sea freezes for 4 months of the year.

Barrow is a town of a few thousand, 80% are native Inuit Eskimos. There are no road connections, you have to fly in over the endless tundra plains. Most people here carry weapons in the open, polar bears are common in winter. The town has an excellent culture centre, where demonstrations of Eskimo dance, games and whaling techniques are shown. This picture shows a whales jaw bone, and the tiny boats once used to hunt them in.