Page 13 - 2003 SVALBARD, NORWAY

The next attempt to prevent car/moose meetings centered on

“moose bridges.” The road builders designed earthen viaduct
structures to permit the moose to cross atop the moving traffic.

However, so far this method has not been an outstanding success
because, again, the moose don’t particularly like their bridges and

simply choose to walk across the road at another location. The
Norwegians are nothing if not patient, so they have not
abandoned this trial yet and are confident they are seeing signs

that the moose are “learning” the right crossovers. Imagine the
people of this very small country (4.5 million souls) being willing

to devote significant treasure to protect their moose as well as
their peoples! Each bridge costs somewhere between $500,000

and $800,000 to construct.

The Island of Spitsbergen

Everything went quite smoothly at the airport and we were soon
aboard our Braathens flight to Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen, the
largest of the islands of the Svalbard. Spitsbergen means jagged

peaks and these glaciated mountains we flew over certainly merit
that description. We have learned that Svalbard means “cold

edge” and that the region was mentioned in the Icelandic sagas of