Travel journal – the North

This week my friend Hanine and I went to the trip through northern portion of Canada: Yukon, Northern-West Territories and Nunavut. At first I thought that our trip will be boring, since we are going north, it seemed like there only snow and rocks there. But we had so much fun!

We saw all the different types of landforms: mountains, plains, wetlands. There are not a lot of trees, because it is too cold for them to grow. The main industries of Nunavut include arts, crafts, mining, fishing, hunting and trapping. Yukon is reach in minerals; we saw a mining coal in a distance. People are mining for diamonds in Northwest Territories, but we did not see it ourselves.

We went dogsledding. We learned that for this special type of husky - ‘qimmiq’ — the Inuktitut name for the Canadian Inuit dog. This bread is North America's oldest and rarest remaining indigenous dog. This type of dog has been living in Nunavut for 4,000 years and was bred by the ancient Thule people, the direct ancestors of the Inuit. For many centuries ‘qimmiit’ were used as the preferred method of transportation in the north. These dogs pulled sleds and provided companionship. They helped to hunt seals and reindeers, sniffing out seal in the winter and caribou tracks in the summer. They also were protecting, loudly warning people about nearby polar bears, then chasing them and fighting. With their thick warm fur, these brave dogs are not bothered by severe cold or snowstorms. The lead dog is trained to always find the way home, even in the middle of snowstorm!

Also we saw beluga, narwhal, seals and polar bears. We learned that belugas are known as "sea canaries", they are one of the most vocal of all whales. The word beluga comes from the Russian word "beloe" meaning white. But cubs of these white whales are gray. It can take up to eight years before they turn completely white. Narwhals, unicorn belugas, can live to be 50 years old in wild and weight more than a ton! They have two teeth; one of them grows through their upper lip, becoming a horn.

Later in the summer time we were really happy when our friends offered us to go to the north again! This time we went hiking to see tundra’s flowers blooming. The Arctic has some of the most beautiful flowers, hidden in plain sight of the tundra. They may be small, but beautiful and contrasting to the plain tundra. We liked Arctic Cotton Grass the most (it is sooo soft), these small fluffy balls are very important for Inuit culture. The cotton grass gets collected, dried, and rolled to mix with seal fat in winter to warm an igloo with its flame.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/654860/Yukon/299812/The-gold-rush-and-territorial-status

http://www.nunavuttourism.com/component/content/article?id=78

http://www.nunavuttourism.com/nunavut-tourism-blog/entry/the-beautiful-flowers-of-the-arctic

Дата добавления: 2015-10-24