Welcome to the Ursus International website

Ursus International has merged with Blue Planet Expeditions to offer a new expedition itinerary in Svalbard.  We will be offering two departure dates in 2012, in June, when the waters around Spitsbergen and its neighbouring islands first become navigable.  The combination of pack-ice and open water allow for some of the best wildlife viewing in the world, set against a pristine wilderness backdrop of incredible beauty.  Information about these trips can be found in the Adventure Travel section of this website, or by clicking here; Svalbard.  Information is also available on the Blue Planet Expeditions website, at www.blueplanetexpeditions.co.uk.  We are now also taking bookings for our beluga whale and Spirit bear itineraries, for 2012.  If you are interested in these trips, please visit our Adventure Travel pages.  For further information on any of our trips, or if you would like to speak to the Expedition Leader, please contact us at info@ursusinternational.org.

About Ursus International

Ursus International is a consultancy and adventure travel company dedicated to fostering conservation thinking, and promoting understanding of the natural world through education and sustainable experience of wilderness and wildlife.

Ursus offers high quality, small group, expert-led adventure trips to beautiful wild places with specific wildlife interest, offering an authentic experience of the destinations, in-depth provision of information and superb opportunities for photography.

Ursus International also provides tourism and expedition guiding services, lectures and programming at all levels, wildlife management consultation services, and training in brown, black and polar bear encounter and conflict management for expedition guides, wildlife management staff, industry, film crews, home owners groups and individuals.

We also supply high quality bear deterrent equipment.  While recognizing that conflict with bears can result in a need for lethal force, Ursus’ work is predicated on the fact that the vast majority of the time, it does not need to, and is oriented towards non-lethal management wherever possible.

Bears and the big view of conservation

With a principal focus on bears, Ursus International seeks to further the conservation of the world's eight species of bears and their habitat by creating a sympathetic and informed attitude towards them, based on understanding of the critical situations facing their populations.

Ursus operates on the principal that bear conservation is synonymous with whole-ecosystem conservation.  Ensuring that the range and food requirements of bears are met ensures that their populations remain viable and, therefore, that the populations of other species requiring less food and space, 'beneath' the bear in those ecosystems, are also healthy.  Ursus’ primary conservation tool is education, equipping individuals, communities and industry with information and skills that reduce conflict between bears and people, and promote coexistence.  Ursus’ guiding principal is that because bears are found in so many parts of the world, and because they require so much space, administering their conservation needs and assuring their ecological viability equates to maintaining the viability of the whole ecosystem.  This conservation perspective transcends local, national and political boundaries, and simply considers how to maintain the health and viability of whole, interconnected ecosystems.