Thalia Patalong

I recently returned to the UK after seven months backpacking Asia and three years living in Australia. I got the travel bug at a young age and have been travelling as much as I can ever since - I’ve always got my next trip in the back of my mind and could explore forever! Part of the excitement of travel is the anticipation and I’m so excited to help our clients plan their dream trips and experience the extraordinary in the wonderful Polar Regions.

What is your favourite travel destination and animal?

Bagan in Myanmar. Scooting through temples in the dark to catch the sunrise lighting up thousands of red brick ruins, with hot air balloons rising in the distance is an experience I’ll never forget, completely unique to Myanmar. My favourite animal is a giraffe – they’re just so goofy looking!

What is your most memorable wildlife encounter?

Swimming with 4-metre manta rays in crystal clear water at Ningaloo Reef, WA. Working up the courage to get in the water took a while... but once I was in, I was mesmerised! They were so graceful I could have watched them all day.

If you could do just one NWS safari, which one would it be and why?

I don’t think there’s any NWS trips I wouldn’t want to go on! But if I had to choose it would have to be the ‘Polar Bears & Northern Lights’ in Arctic Canada. Seeing polar bears in the wild and flying over the landscape by helicopter would be absolutely incredible.

What do you love most about Polar?

The expanse of untouched icy wilderness and serenity up in Svalbard is something that cannot be described, it must be experienced. It's just pure magic. For maximum wilderness and wildlife opportunities the absolute best way to explore is by small ship!

Possibly my most memorable experience was sitting on the bridge, binoculars and morning coffee in hand, scouting the fast ice for wildlife. Suddenly one of our guides shouted 'BEAR!' and we all spun around to see a fluffy white female in the distance.

Next to me, I noticed one of the crew looking through his binoculars in the opposite direction. Asking what he was looking at he just pointed and replied 'the bear...' Raising my binoculars again I realised he was right - there wasn't just one, but TWO bears, walking straight towards each other! It felt like something straight out of of David Attenborough as we held our breath and waited for the meeting...

To our surprise and delight the two bears (a male and a female) spent the next hour playing together and running back and forth across the ice, before going their separate ways and continuing their morning hunt.

The male disappeared back onto land, while the female walked straight past the ship before picking up a scent and picking up an old seal carcass. It felt like a privilege beyond words to have had a private audience with such a real and natural encounter with these beautiful bears in the wild.