Visit the Pribilof Islands, Alaska

Lying in the midst of the Bering Sea, the islands of St. Paul and St. George are together known as the Pribilof Islands.

These desolate, foggy and windswept islands are overrun with wildlife and each summer a million fur seals, the largest gathering of sea mammals in the world, swim ashore to breed on the dark sand beaches.

Huge seabird colonies

The islands’ dizzying ocean cliffs are also home to one of the largest seabird colonies in the northern hemisphere, with well over two million birds ranging from common murres and crested auklets to tufted puffins and cormorants. The cliffs are easy to reach and during the summer breeding months more than 230 species of birds have been sighted.

Two tiny communities here comprise the world’s largest indigenous Aleut villages which, along with a rich Russian heritage, make these islands fascinating to explore.