Cape Norvegia

FRANZ JOSEF LAND CENTRAL PART SITE GUIDELINE

81°12’20’’N 55°28’24’’E Cape Norvegia The cape was discovered by Frederick Jackson in 1895 and afterwards named him Cape Norvegia in memory of the wintering here of the famous Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen and his companion Hjalmar Johansen.

Photo by Vladimir Melnik LONG WINTERING IN A DUGOUT COVERED WITH A WALRUS SKIN On 28 September 1895, after the attempt to reach the North Pole, Nansen and Johansen came to the island which they later named after Frederick Jackson. Using stones, moss, walrus and polar bear skins they built a semi-recessed shelter, where they spent (mostly horizontally) a long winter, eating fat and meat of walruses and polar bears. Only on 19 May 1896 the travellers continued their way southward. Today on the wintering site there are only disorganized stones (former dugout walls), a pit in the ground, and a drift log used as a ridge beam for a roof made of walrus skins.

GEOLOGY AND TERRAIN Marine terraces complex, on one of which the dugout is located, lies at the foot of a rocky slope of a basalt tablerock covered with an ice cap more than 300 m height. FLORA Ground cover on the cape, protected from northern winds, is relatively well developed: in wet depressions and on slight slopes you can meet Arctic poppies and saxifrages, buttercups and polar willows. Just above the wintering site there is a wonderful carpet of red mosses. FAUNA In less than 1 km west from the wintering site there is a picturesque steep cape with a black-legged kittiwake colony. HISTORICAL AND Remains of Nansen’s and Johansen’s wintering site found in the early 1990s. CULTURAL HERITAGE A memorial sign erected in 1996 by a Russian-Norwegian expedition with the participation of Nansen’s granddaughter Marit Greve.

MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Based on the site guidelines FRANZ JOSEF LAND CAPE NORVEGIA SITE GUIDELINE

LEGEND

1 Memorial sign

2 Nansen’s and Johansen’s wintering site

Bird cliff

Little auk breeding area

Spots with rich vegetation 1 Recommended route Recommended boat landing area

2 Vulnerable for trampling spots prohibited for visits during May– September

Flight prohibited airspace in March–September

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Walking is allowed only along the permitted routes.

The number of people on the route is limited by 40.

Please Do not approach the wintering site closer than 1 m.

Do not step on the vegetated areas, on spots and clumps of lichens, try to walk on the barren ground only.

follow the rules follow The landscape near the dugout is preserved as seen by Nansen. Do not leave the marks of your visit; keep the historic look of the place.

A long time ago the cape’s coast attracted Nansen’s attention by the abundance of marine animals. Nowadays even Tips in summer you can easily encounter a polar bear by the seashore.

Photo by Vladimir Melnik Photo by Maria Gavrilo Photo by Vladimir Melnik Only a basement and a drift log remain from the Cape Norvegia is one of a few places where you Memorial sign erected for the 100th anniversary Nansen’s and Johansen’s dugout. can see the spider saxifrage. of the Nansen’s wintering.

MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION