Last days of the expedition – Jørgen, local teacher, brings back the whole team in two quick rides to Itto. It's time to take care of the last buisiness with the Inuits, and to pack all the gear which will be shipping back by Northsailing after we left. We enjoy these last moments in Itto, as they allow us to better understand the day-to-day life of this remote community. Farewell Greenland !

After a three hours ride at dawn, we reached Itto's "wharf". The street lights are glowing in the evening deep blue sky. This wharf seems to be the place where the town teenagers meet in the evening.There generous help is welcome by the team ! With us, they'll carry our gear all the way up to the meteo station. After two months in the wild, this camp site between a container and some electric cables, looks quite weird.

Last base camp in Ittoqqortoormiit

Distractions and opportunities are both rare for Ittoqqortoormiit youth. Most of them will leave their home town, to look for a brighter future somewhere else. In the past years, the number of inhabitants of the village never cease to decrease. Touristics activities starts to grow in Scoresby Sund, but it is mostly handled by foreign compagnies, and provides very few jobs for the locals.If the scenery is beautiful people who love kayaking, ski touring, climbing or hiking, the fact remains that most visitors arrive at Constable Point airport and seldom pass through the village .

The guides are often foreigners, because it is not always easy to communicate with the locals, and few are those who own a snowmobile for winter stays. The only exception is Nanu TravelThe local tourist center where we rented kayaks and which is also offering several trips guided by local mushers.

Ingkasi's place in Ittoqqortoormiit

While Aurélie is drawing the village, Olive and Raph spend all their day in the containeer we rented, to pack our gear. At Nanu Travel, we can admire three narwhals teeths, hunted this summer. Beautifully twisted, these white spires are beautiful artifacts. The biggest one is exactly two meters long.

Recently, scientists have discovered that this enlarged tooth is actually made of nerve endings, which connected the brain directly to the extremely sensitive surface of the tooth. These sensors provide informations about the water temperature, the pressure and the salinity, to the narwhal in real time . It could be a tool to help narwhals not only to hunt, but also to interpret the freezing of sea ice - a vital skill for mammal in need of regular breathing at the surface.

More reading on these topics:
Recent scientific studies on narwhal teeth : It’s Sensitive. Really. – New York Times, 2005. French translation independently by a blogger.

This excellent article in English describes an isolated Inuit community of Alaska with similar problems than Ittoqqortoormiit (except for the issue of whale hunt) The Last Whale Hunt for a Vanishing Alaskan Village