Travel to Arctic Alaska, to Kotzebue and Kiana north of the arctic circle. Eskimo towns in Alaska

Kotzebue and around
Near the Bering Strait and just north of the Arctic Circle, these small communities still live on traditions, in a place far away from the civilization.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Kotzebue is a small town of about 2000 inhabitants, located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, about 65 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. The town has good structures, there are several hotels, one hospital, schools of any grade, one airport and a dock. The climate is arctic with long, cold winters featured by an average temperature of -15°C and cool (sometimes warm) summer days. The midnight sun shines for about 40 days yearly, while for the same days between December and January the sun never comes up. Usually the Ocean is frozen for part of the winter.

Kiana is a small village of about 400 inhabitants, located aout 60 kilometers east of Kotzebue and just over the Arctic Circle. The population is composed by Eskimo and the primary means of life is hunting, manufacturing of handicrafts and services for the community itself. In Kiana there is an elementary school, a clinic with 4 beds for basic assistance, an airport with a gravel airstrip and a dock on the river. There aren't roads to the nearby communities and the transportation is made by air, water (river) or snowmobile on wintertime. About 50 kilometers east of Kiana there are the sand dunes, that extends for over 25 square miles and up to 100 meters tall. During the uninterrupted daylight on sumertime, they may capture so much heat, to bring the air temperature up to an amazing +40 degrees Celsius, although we are still several chilometers north of the Arctic circle.

(Please click on a picture to show an enlarged version)


	The Blanket Toss and the typical dances. The main instrument consists in a drum made with caribou's skin and bones, and produces a nice and clean sound.

Inside the Kotzebue museum.

Midnight in Kotzebue.


Midnight sun. This picture has been taken exactly at 12am on June 18th. The sun is still very high and bright.	Same day, but at 3am, when the sun is approximately at the lowest elevation.


Bones and animal's parts are often used as decorations. On the right: an ancient house.


	The tundra is incredibly soft, uniform, and composed by mosses, lichens, and miniature shurbs.

The following day I continue to Kiana. This is the town seen from the gravel airstrip.



	Kiana is located on the Noatak river and surrounded by incontaminated nature.



I try the Four track, a widely used vehicle here.


	The gravel airstrip at Kiana's airport and the small aircraft serving the town.

Kiana from the air after take off.


	Soon, the airplane flies over the great sand dunes. It is like a small Sahara and, although they are above the Arctic Circle, the temperature may exceed +30 degrees celsius on summertime.


Flying over the Arctic circle.


	I'm back in Kotzebue and the airplane is about to land on runway 26.

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*ALASKA PICTURES*
	Juneau Juneau, the Alaska's capital, is the ideal base from where short or longer tours to Alaska Southeast can be organized. GO.
	Excursions from Gustavus Gustavus, in Alaska Southeast, is a small community in the middle of a rainforest, part of Tongass National Forest, from where many tours and excursions are available. GO.
	Glacier Bay cruise in Alaska south-east Glacier Bay is a deep fjord with many smaller branches, where several glaciers flow from different ice fields, straight into the Pacific Ocean. GO.
	Barrow day tour Barrow, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, is the Alaska and USA last frontier, the northernmost village of the country, several hundreds miles north of the Arctic Circle. GO.
	Kotzebue and Kiana day tours <YOU ARE HERE> Near the Bering Strait and just north of the Arctic Circle, these small communities still live on traditions, in a place far away from the civilization.
	Nome, the ending point of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race Nome, just south of the Arctic Circle, on the Bering sea, is known for the gold rush during the last century and to be the end point of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. GO.
	Katmai National Park and the brown bears Katmai National Park has a huge concentration of brown bears (grizzly) and is a paradise because of the beautiful landscape, made of volcanoes, lakes, rivers and endless forests. GO.
	Anchorage and Portage day tour Anchorage is the Alaska's biggest city and, from here, many tours leave to the natural wonders all around, like glaciers, forests and fjords where whales and orcas can be found. GO.

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