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Travel photographer Steve Davey visits the Svalbard Archipelago in the far north of Norway and discovers a magical frozen landscape, a reindeer or two, and one of the world's strangest hotels...

I have to confess that I’m not concentrating as much as I should be when Mikael, my guide, shows me how to use the snowmobile. Sure, I’m somewhat anxious about climbing on board a vehicle that has the capability of powering me around, and presumably off the edge of a cliff, at an excess of 80 mph, but my mind is more focused on the prospect of an encounter with a polar bear.

The spectre of the polar bear hangs all over the Svalbard archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean to the north of Norway. They first thing you see on arrival at the airport in the tiny town of Longyearbyen is a stuffed bear standing sentinel over the baggage reclaim belt, and on the airport bus to town you’ll pass that much-photographed road sign, warning of bears on the road.

The polar bear is supposedly protected in Svalbard and apparently you can only shoot one in self-defence, and then prepare yourself for an inquest longer than the Kennedy Commission. If the enquiry concludes that you didn't take adequate precautions to avoid a conflict, or worse, shot the bear in the back as it was running away then you will be in serious trouble. Walking around Longyearbyen I see so many skins and stuffed bears that I have to conclude that either lots of people are breaking the rules, or there must be an awful lot of attacks.

Mikeal carries a rifle with him, and a series of firecrackers and flares. These are supposed to be used to frighten off any bear that we might encounter, hopefully without the need to shoot at it. Because of the ever present danger of the bears, I need to be with an armed guide at all times when outside of Longyearbyen.

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