Blue Whales
wildlife
See and Swim with Blue Whales on Safari
Swimming the depths of the ocean with support from only a snorkel mask and fins, you dive beneath the surface to come face to face with the biggest animal ever known to live on planet earth. Coming up for air only when you have to, you enjoy swimming alongside graceful blue whales in constant awe of their sheer size.
The summers in the Polar Regions are the best time to view them in icy climes. Svalbard’s summer lasts from June to August, and it happens to be the best time to navigate via ship in search of bears too. In Antarctica the summer months last from October to March, with February and March being the best time to see whales. Sri Lanka is one of the best places to see blue whales in the world, with the best sightings in December, January and April; February and March are quite good too.
WHY BOOK YOUR BLUE WHALE SAFARI WITH NWS?
To ensure a truly exclusive experience, the location we use is kept secret, working closely with marine specialists on non-intrusive ‘in-water’ encounters with full permits.
Working closely with conservationists, we can offer the change to join habituation safaris and more. Our exclusive network on the ground links us to all the best lodges in the region and we are often able to add that little NWS twist to your trip, transforming it into something really special.
Blue Whale Facts
Blue whales are the largest animal ever known to exist on Earth, reaching up to 30 metres in length. With a heart the size of a car and a tongue that can weigh as much as an elephant, you can only imagine how awe-inspiring an encounter with a blue whale can really be. They have a long lifespan and are one of the noisiest creatures, with a low-frequency whistle that reaches up to 188 decibels and stretches for hundreds of miles. It is thought that the highly structured, repetitive sounds can travel for many miles and that the ‘songs’ are used to locate large krill masses and to communicate with each other – it is thought they can hear each other up to 1,000 miles away in good conditions.Blue whales are baleen, meaning they have a comb-like material on their top jaw for feeding. Gulping in huge amounts of water, their throat and belly expanding due to pleated throat grooves, they then push it all out through the fingernail-like material, trapping thousands of krill before swallowing them.They look deep blue under the water, yet have more of a grey-blue colour up close. They spend their summers feeding in polar waters, moving towards the equator in the winters. It is thought that between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales still explore the waters of the Earth.
