Text: Anders Stenbakken
Destination East Greenland
Isortoq Map Ammassalik's Settlementshere Meaning: The foggy sea Population: 99
Established in 1942.Isortoq owe it's name to the water. In former days when the hunters where navigating their kayak in the area, they couldn't see the end of the paddle in the clouded water. The floating ice from the ice cap in isertoq fiord that foams the sand up under the sea has made it foggy. Therefore they name it Isortoq.
Isortoq is Ammassalik’s smallest and southernmost settlement, located 80 kilometres from Tasiilaq on a flat harsh island, with access directly to Denmark’s Strait. No high mountains are protecting this small group of houses against the elements of nature. Clearly reflected in the houses weather beaten appearance. Just 5 kilometres west of the tiny Isortoq Island the Ice Cap is rising steep and cold.
Isortoq is truly a wild place where you’ll feel dwarfed by nature regardless of the time of year you visit. Arriving - in what may be considered the end of the world - will properly make you wonder why people settled here in the first place. Seen from an Inuit hunter’s point of view the answer is all around you: Exceptional good hunting area.
The many islands, fjords and inlets combined with an enormous amount of ice floats and huge Icebergs breaking of the Ice Cap are making the Isortoq island a paradise for wildlife - if it wasn’t for the hunters. Isortoq is also the settlement where you’ll find some of Ammassalik’s toughest hunters and best dog sled drivers. Hunting and fishing is the main income for the families in Isortoq. (See a few pictures from Isortoq)
Laying so close to the Ice Cap Isortoq is often the starting or ending point for many of the expeditions crossing the Ice Cap.
