Lifestyle
JOURNEYS
During my time in the Torngats , my Inuit friends taught me how to pick the tiny berries that grew on the mountainsides , how to use a set of vocal chords I didn ’ t know I had to throat sing and how to make a drum and do a traditional drum dance . I began to see the world around me in a whole new way – an Inuit way .
At night as I fell asleep in my tent , I could hear my throat singing teacher ’ s voice from the tent next door , crooning her baby to sleep , the Inuktitut lullabies mingling with the wild sounds of the night . I felt as safe and warm in the cold night air , as if I ’ d been in my own mother ’ s arms .
To capture my Torngat experience , I learned Inuit words : ‘ Nanuk ’ is the hungry-eyed polar bear on the shore who watched our boat sail slowly past one afternoon and ‘ natsiks ’ were the jar seals playing in the water off the bow , carefully watching that Nanuk . ‘ Pammiuligaks ’ were the Minke whales whose mammoth black backs and fi ns surfaced in the still morning waters , ‘ Atlak ’, the black bear who munched berries by my tent and ‘ Atsanik ’, the wildly brilliant iridescence of the Northern Lights that pulled us from our beds night after night .
But the most important Inuktitut word I learned is ‘ Ilannåk ’, a term that describes the people who offered their char on that rocky shore , who cooked our meals , shared their wilderness knowledge , fl ew us to remote mountain tops where few humans had ever set foot , and kept us safe where we could never navigate on our own . It ’ s the word for the people who taught us songs , drum dances , and the stories of their ancestors – the people who welcomed us into their world . ‘ Ilannåk ’ means friend .
LIZ FLEMING
IN ADDITION TO EDITING WO , LIZ FLEMING IS ALSO THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF CRUISE & TRAVEL LIFESTYLES MAGAZINE
AND A REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR TO AIR TRANSAT ' S ATMOSPHERE ANDP THE TORONTO STAR . SHE ’ S THE AUTHOR OF TWO AMAZON EBOOKS
“ SINCE YOU ’ RE HERE , WE MIGHT AS WELL SHAG ” AND “ 207 TRAVEL TIPS BECAUSE 101 JUST WOULDN ’ T HAVE BEEN ENOUGH .
TORNGAT MOUNTAINS
Area : Over 30,000 km 2 Top Peak : Mount Caubvick , 1652m Climate : Arctic Tundra
Wildlife : Caribou , Polar Bears , Peregrine Falcon , Golden Eagles
Geology : Mountains , Glaciers , Fjords Local Language : Inuktitut
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