Ronald Vissar

Working at the department of Marine Biology, University of Groningen, has brought Ronald from the Antarctic to the Arctic and many places in between. He has spent countless hours in Zodiacs and ships in polar regions to collect water samples for biological research. His work infected him with the polar bug, and since then he has spent his holidays hiking on Spitsbergen and conducting voluntary goose research fieldwork there as well.

Raised in the flat northern part of The Netherlands, Ronald has a profound love for wide barren landscapes. When he met his girlfriend Annette, they started trekking through remote areas, such as the Namib Dessert and Tierra del Fuego. As keen as he is to travel as light as possible, photo equipment and binoculars are never left at home.

He still enjoys living in Northern Netherland, but in his free time he needs more space. He achieves this during weekends walking on the seafloor of the Wadden Sea during low tide with Annette or guiding small groups.

In 2008, he worked for the first time as an expedition guide, travelling to an Antarctic research base on a cruise vessel. He began guiding in Svalbard in 2010 and has worked on more than 40 polar cruises since as expedition leader and guide. Most of them being specialized photo/wildlife trips. He really enjoys these trips and realized that his joy comes from sharing the passion he has for the polar regions with other people. Not only nature (biology and geology) attracts him, but also the history. The stories of the whalers, the entrepreneurs, the famous polar exploration expeditions – all makes it come alive, especially when told in conjunction with being in these beautiful landscapes.