While the prospect of running into a crocodile, dingo, snake or spider is enough to send a shiver down the spine of many grey nomads, we should at least be grateful that the notoriously aggressive polar bear doesn’t call Australia home.
For one unfortunate star gazer who headed to the remote Norwegian islands of Svalbard to view last week’s northern hemisphere solar eclipse, the ultimate camper’s nightmare became a horrifying reality.
Czech tourist Jakub Moravec was sleeping in his tent when a polar bear dragged him outside, clawed at his back and mauled him.
“It was going for my head. I used my hands to protect my head,” told the media from a hospital bed.
The commotion alerted other members of Mr Moravec’s group who reportedly fired their guns to frighten the bear away. It was later shot dead by rescue crews,
The bear apparently went through a fence the tourists had erected.
Mr Moravec is expected to be out of the hospital soon.
Svalbard was one of the best places to view the near-total eclipse and attracted thousands of tourists ahead of the event.
However, officials had warned visitors about the polar bears, which roam about freely. There are an estimated 3,000 polar bears on Svalbard and an average of three are shot in self defence annually.
