INDEX / NEXT Beautiful downtown Kaktovik. The residents of this village are Inupiat Eskimos. They derive their livelihood from the sea and the land. They hunt seals and moose and caribou. They continue a traditional whale hunt. During our stay we came across a beached whale carcass. The community took what it needed from the body. Polar bears removed the rest, leaving only bones. Kaktovik experiences extreme light conditions. While we were there the sun never set. In early May the sun comes up and doesn't set again until early August. In the winter, the sun sets in mid-November, not to show its face again until late January.