Polar bears are photographed at an abandoned weather station

‘Master’ of the land: Drone captures striking images of polar bears turning weather station into Arctic playground–

These majestic mammals made themselves quite comfortable in the strangest of locations, taking sanctuary where humans once toiled – an abandoned weather station.

The following written content by Marianne Mizera

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.

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.’”

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. Read more from AccuWeather.