Undiscovered Iceland

Forged by a series of volcanic eruptions along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge around 20 million years ago, Iceland may only be a few hours away from the United Kingdom by air but, with landscapes awash with moss-covered lava, steaming vents, hot springs, ice-caps and active volcanoes, it is a world away from the Europe with which we are familiar. However, although Iceland’s geology bubbles and steams all year round, its wildlife only erupts into life in the spring, as breeding birds arrive from the south and a colourful flora bursts forth with the lengthening days and warming sun. The majority of this life is concentrated around Iceland’s intricate coastline; the centre of the island is largely comprised of barren lava-fields, stony deserts and rugged volcanoes. Four ice-caps dot the interior, but the largest by far is Vatnajökull (Europe’s largest glacier), which dominates the south-eastern corner of the island, its glacial fingers stretching southward towards the coast. This will be one of the many highlights of this tour which explores both the wildlife and scenic treasures of Iceland’s rugged southern and eastern edges.

We begin our holiday with a direct flight to Keflavik, Iceland’s international gateway. From there, we will head to our first hotel on the edge of a lake near the capital, which will provide an opportunity to see our first breeding birds. Great Northern Divers are perhaps the most spectacular birds that are seen and heard through the evening. We will then head east, to Vatnajökull National Park, enjoying some of Iceland’s spectacular landmarks en route, amongst them the mighty Skogafoss waterfall and the vast coastal outwash plain of Skeidararsandur, the scene of a violent volcanic eruption in 1996. In the early evening we will arrive at our base for the next three nights, which is located just south of the mighty Vatnajökull ice cap and conveniently placed for our exploration of this area.

We have two full days to explore this extraordinary national park and to enjoy its stunning landscape of glaciers and snowcovered mountains. On one of these days we will visit the Jokulsarlon iceberg lagoon, in which float the huge icebergs sired by the glacier above. To fully appreciate the beauty and scale of these icebergs, we will take a cruise amongst them, no doubt accompanied by noisy mobs of Arctic Terns! On our second day, we will leave our minibus and cross the marshlands and wet sand by tractor and trailer to reach the small island nature reserve of Ingolfshofdi. A gentle walk here should reward us with a variety of nesting seabirds, including Puffin, Great Skua and, with a bit of luck, Brünnich’s Guillemot. We will also spend more time exploring Vatnajökull National Park, in particular its wooded regions — so rare in Iceland — and the impressive Svartifoss waterfall.

Driving further east, we reach the pretty little fishing community of Djupivogur where we will look for Slavonian Grebe and Red-throated Diver and spend the night. Next, our journey takes us past the many steep-sided fjords which characterise the coastline of eastern Iceland. We will find ourselves driving through long, deep valleys, where we will look for the island’s only semi-wild herd of Reindeer. Then, we will turn westward, crossing desolate deserts of stone and sand, to the internationally acclaimed wetland of Lake Mývatn.

Mývatn is Iceland’s top birding location, home to a wealth of breeding waterfowl and waders. Harlequin Duck, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Long-tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Whooper Swan and Red-necked Phalarope are amongst them! We will also look out for the magnificent Gyrfalcon and, in the surrounding birch woods, Ptarmigan. The geothermal activity around the lake first presents itself to us at Namafjall, where we will stop to view the bubbling mudpools and steaming fumeroles. During our 3-night stay at Lake Mývatn we will also visit Husavík, on the north coast, from where we will embark on a morning’s whale-watching cruise in search of Minke and Humpback Whales.

With so much to see and so many places to explore, we will be reluctant to leave, but, after our stay on the shores of Lake Mývatn, we must now drive to the northern town of Akureyri for the short flight to Reykjavík then our homeward flight from Keflavik.