Igloolik
An Inuit Island Community Known As A Centre Of Inuit Culture And Film, The Home Of The Isuma Production Company And The Igloolik Research Centre, With Archaeological Sites Of The Dorset And Thule Cultures Nearby And Walrus Hunts Offshore. A Remote Community That Welcomes Few Visitors, Reached By Air And Best Seen With A Local Guide · Igloolik, Nunavut
Igloolik, Iglulik in Inuktitut, is an island hamlet of about 1,500 people in northern Foxe Basin, off the Melville Peninsula, and is regarded as one of the most important centres of Inuit culture in the Canadian Arctic. It is the home of Isuma, the Inuit production company behind the film Atanarjuat, and of the Igloolik Research Centre, and it sits near Dorset and Thule archaeological sites that show thousands of years of Inuit and earlier Arctic life. Walrus hunts happen offshore, and the sea ice, birds and tundra are close. It is a remote community that welcomes few visitors, reached by scheduled flights, and it is not a sightseeing town: a walk takes you around it in an hour, and the real experiences are with local guides and the Hunters and Trappers Organization. It suits researchers, filmmakers, expedition travellers and people already working in the north. It is worth the trip in spring or summer with a booked guide. Flights from Iqaluit commonly cost CAD 1,200-2,800 return.
Igloolik, a hamlet of about 1,500 people on a small island off the Melville Peninsula in northern Foxe Basin, reached by scheduled flight; coordinates approximate, Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada
Igloolik has no tourist season hours as such; the hamlet runs on local time, with the co-op, hamlet office, research centre and community hall keeping their own hours, often weekdays only, and with reduced service on holidays, so confirm each by phone. Guided trips follow ice and weather: sea-ice and floe trips run roughly April to June, boat trips on open water roughly July to September, and between these windows travel on the sea ice can be unsafe and trips are closed. Archaeological sites and shoreline walks are free but are covered by snow much of the year. Midsummer brings near-constant light and midwinter a long polar night.