Walrus Islands State Game Refuge: I Want to Go!

Photo by National Geographic

The Walrus Islands State Game Refuge is located in Bristol Bay, Alaska.  It consists of a set of islands upon which many, many walrus haul out every summer. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game maintains a camp on the islands. It is possible to go there on your own, with a permit, but the best way to travel there seems to be with an outfitter. This paragraph is pulled from the ADFG’s site about the islands…

Best known among the WISGS islands is Round Island, where each summer large numbers of male walruses haul out on exposed, rocky beaches. Round Island is one of four major terrestrial haulouts in Alaska; the others are Capes Peirce (Togiak NWR), Newenham (Togiak NWR), and Seniavin (near Port Moller). Male walrus return to these haulouts every spring as the ice pack recedes northward, remaining in Bristol Bay to feed they haul out at these beach sites for several days between each feeding foray. The number of walrus using the island fluctuates significantly from year to year. However, up to 14,000 walrus have been counted on Round Island in a single day.

Here’s the link to the full page: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=walrusislands.main

I would really like to travel to this place. I’ve recently been looking at Planet Earth Adventures’ site. They run expeditions to the Walrus Islands, several configurations, which include a 3-day camp. It’s $1,800 but I’m putting money aside, ’cause I’d really like to go on one of these. Here’s a link to the page about these expeditions.

This is the setting in the Kindle e-book “How I Learned to Love the Walrus” by Beth Orsoff, which I posted about here.

3 thoughts on “Walrus Islands State Game Refuge: I Want to Go!”

  2. the explore.org walrus cam will be going live soon. i highly recommend you check that out this summer. the sound is great and they have some great walrus viewing on there. will keep you inspired until you can get out to Round Island (the main island in the sanctuary). the rangers, two stay on the island during the summer to protect the walrus and assist visitors, they are preparing to head out there soon. they were just out there working on the camera’s last week and will return in a week or two to stay the summer. it’s very remote and an adventure to get to, but so worth it. Walrus Advocates of Round Island Sanctuary-WARIS

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