These majestic mammals made themselves quite comfortable in the strangest of locations, taking sanctuary where humans once toiled - an abandoned weather station.
Polar bears are photographed at an abandoned weather station on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukotka region of the Arctic in 2021. This photo won first place in a National Geographic competition. (Dmitry Kokh)
It was a chance encounter. Out exploring in literally the far reaches of the world, a weeks-long excursion quickly turned into one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments.
And to the great fortune of one person in the 18-member traveling group, esteemed wildlife photographer Dmitry Kokh, the experience was forever preserved — in image after incredible image of a large group of majestic-looking polar bears.
Kokh's extraordinary photos depicted his subjects in a whole new light — not just the white marine mammals as we know them in their natural habitat, living out life on the Arctic ice floes and in the frigid waters. This time, the polar bears had taken up residence in a rather unusual place: a decrepit, abandoned weather station on the small remote island of Kolyuchin in the Arctic tundra of northeastern Siberia, several hundred miles west of the Alaskan coast.
One of the many polar bears photographed at an abandoned weather station on Kolyuchin Island in the Arctic in 2021. (Dmitry Kokh)
Under a shroud of rainy, damp and rather cold — 41 F (5 C) in August and September 2021 — conditions, Kokh felt like he had found the perfect setting: “Fog, a place long deserted by people, polar bears,” noted Kokh, who had always wanted to photograph the awe-inspiring animals.
“When you see a polar bear anywhere, you feel like you’ve met the master of this land,” Kokh told AccuWeather in an interview.
In the stunning array of photographs, the polar bears, all 20 or so of them, can be seen sauntering about outside and lazing around the abandoned weather station. They even appear to be nuzzling up to one another while others inside peer through windows from the decaying structures. One is even seen standing on a stoop. The females kept close to the few cubs that accompanied the adult bears to the island, Kokh said.
“I love to tell stories with photos,” Kokh said. “This touched my heart so much. I told my friend, ‘I made the best picture of my life.’”
Polar bears are photographed at an abandoned weather station on Kolyuchin Island in the Arctic in 2021.
Capturing the indelible shots of the bears on the island was a sheer stroke of luck, according to Kokh. He was on a “long-awaited trip” to the Chukotka region and Wrangel Island, a nature reserve under UNESCO protection, to photograph polar bears when the weather prompted a change in plans.
“One day, bad weather was expected, and the captain approached the small island, Kolyuchin, to take shelter from the storm,” he said.
Someone on the sailing vessel pulled out binoculars and, lo and behold, spotted the white tops of polar bears in the distance.
Knowing it was too dangerous to set foot on the island that particular day, Kokh instead powered a drone equipped with low-noise propellers to capture video and photos of the bears as unobtrusively as possible.
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Capturing the shots took tremendous patience, with Kokh spending hours getting the photos, so the bears could get used to the buzzing of the drone.
“I tried to approach them (with the drone) for quite a long time,” he said. “I didn’t want to disturb them.”
Polar bears are known to be very curious animals. At one point, two bears appeared at first to be following the drone as it floated around, before eventually losing interest and practically ignoring all the unusual buzzing.
As a result, the stunning photographs provided what Kokh called a “surreal” setting -- nature’s beautiful wildlife, the white polar bears, against the dreary, almost haunting backdrop of wind, rain and neglected buildings on the rocky shores.
“It was a huge contrast,” he said. “On the one hand, there is this abandoned, broken-down building destroyed by humans and on the other hand, this wildlife. ...I thought, they look very much like humans."
The weather station itself was actually comprised of one large building and several smaller, separate structures. Outside, data equipment was still standing. At one time a functioning meteorological station during the Soviet era, the weather center was abandoned in 1992 and had fallen into disrepair, exposed to the harsh Arctic elements. Over the years, it turned into a decrepit sight, with pieces of wood, rusted barrels and debris strewn about the property.
“Back in the day, fuel was delivered to the station in them, but it was very expensive to take the barrels back, so they were simply discarded,” Kokh said.
Scientist Geoff York, senior director of conservation for Polar Bears International, who himself traveled to the Chukotka region about four years ago, said the bears were likely drawn to the island by dead walruses on land or whale carcasses along the coast. York said polar bears use such abandoned buildings for temporary shelter before moving on.
"Other than fond memories of trips along Arctic Russia," York said, the photos of the bears reminded him of the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem Ozymandias, "that Nature usually has the last word."
Polar bears are considered “threatened species” in Russia and "endangered" in other parts of the world, according to York.
"I've gotten the sense they're watching us just as we're watching them," York said.
Kokh isn't surprised the bears eventually found their way to the small island. "Polar bears are hunters; they're explorers," he mused.
And Kokh is not done exploring himself, as he continues to check off items on the “bucket list” he keeps on his iPhone. This spring, Kokh, who’s also a scuba diver instructor, has two wildlife trips planned, including an excursion to Lake Baikal in Siberia, the deepest lake and largest freshwater lake in the world. Then, in July, he’s off to photograph walruses under water in the Russian Arctic, which will be a first for any photographer.
And he plans to continue sharing his work with the world, in the hopes of conveying the message: “We should care about this life.”
To view a full collection of the polar bear photographs and more of Dmitry Kokh’s work, visit his website here.
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