From 2017, Hurtigruten’s expedition ships will sail to Viking settlements and the national parks of Newfoundland, explore the World’s largest fjord complex in Greenland, undertake Hurtigruten’s first ever inland voyage along the Amazon and travel along the Panama canal.
Explore Arctic Canada with a celebrated anthropologist
Four new voyages will incorporate Newfoundland & Labrador with highlights including the provincial capital of St John’s, Baffin Bay & Torngat Mountains National Park, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Red Bay and Battle Harbour.
Among the many exceptional landings, passengers will visit L’Anse aux Meadows. The small fishing village on the UNESCO World Heritage List is the place where Norwegians Anne Stine and Helge Ingstad and their daughter Benedicte discovered a Viking settlement in 1960. Today, Benedicte (72) is a researcher and professor of medical anthropology and will join selected Hurtigruten voyages to give lectures about her family’s discoveries.
Cruise to the Amazon rainforest
Hurtigruten’s first ever inland sailing will travel along the Amazon during a 16 night ‘Expedition to the Amazon Rainforest’. The Amazon voyage starts in Manaus deep inside the Brazilian rainforest. Sailing down the immense river, guests can experience and learn more about the unique nature and wildlife from the expedition vessel itself and canoes and by hikes onshore.
Amazonia is a high-biodiversity wilderness area and on top of a very rich flora, explorer guests may encounter animals such as jaguars, tapirs, howler monkeys, parrots, piranhas and caimans.
Other highlights of Hurtigruten’s new voyages include a journey along the Panama Canal and the chance to explore Kangertittivaq in Greenland (also known as Scoresby Sund), the longest fjord in the world, extending 350 kilometers into the vast island.
Hurtigruten’s explorer cruises combine active adventures with learning. On board and ashore, popular science lectures will be given from experts in history, zoology, botany and environmental science. The Norwegian company has added a total of 23 new expedition voyages to its programme for 2017/18 and now offers more than 200 ports of call in 18 countries worldwide.
“We want to offer our guests unique and meaningful experiences regardless of the water temperature. Hurtigruten let people follow the tracks of the Vikings, Amundsen and Nansen, and Thor Heyerdahl” says Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam. “People no longer want to spend their vacations being passive spectators. Therefore Hurtigruten offers active and educational voyages. The many unique excursions and lectures give guests genuinely close encounters with the nature and culture of the destinations”.
For more information contact your local Travel Agent, email Discover the World on hurtigruten@discovertheworld.com.au or call 1800 OCEANS (1800 623 267).
SOURCE: Hurtigruten