When certainly one of our vacationers wished to see polar bears, our Churchill Polar Bear Expedition was the right journey that mixed polar bear viewing with pleasant actions together with a go to to Inuit constructions, artwork murals, and an exquisite canine sledding tour. Learn extra to see a few of her implausible pictures.
Churchill is an remoted small city within the Canadian subarctic on the Churchill River and Hudson’s Bay, accessible solely by airplane or practice. After the flight to Churchill, we loved a driving tour of the realm. Most of the buildings within the space have murals on them in numerous creative types and material, even one paying homage to Dalí.
The seaside is a superb place to view the aurora (climate allowing). An inukshuk, an Inuit technique of communication, stands on the windy shore of Hudson’s Bay.
Bear security is a lifestyle there, so there are few detrimental human-bear interactions. There’s a bear siren at 10:00 pm each evening to remind individuals to get inside and to stroll in a bunch if exterior, a 24-hour polar bear sighting hotline for the city, and bear guards at Cape Merry. There’s additionally a “polar bear jail” the place nuisance bears are introduced for a brief keep earlier than being tranquilized and airlifted to a safer space.
One afternoon, we had a canine sledding journey. It was thrilling to sled by the forest and was a lot smoother than I anticipated. These canines like to run!
We had two full days on the tundra within the Churchill Wildlife Administration Space, a former navy base and artillery vary with a community of trails the Tundra Buggy traveled on throughout our seek for polar bears and different wildlife. The surroundings was bleak however placing. Our buggy driver Neil had a pointy eye for recognizing wildlife and at all times received us in an amazing spot for commentary and pictures. We noticed ptarmigan, silver fox, and arctic fox. Right here was an arctic fox looking a vole beneath the snow.
Our first day on the tundra was windy with mild snow. The bears aren’t as lively when the climate is like this however we noticed a number of bears and have been lucky to have an unobstructed view of a mom bear and her cub waking up from a nap. The mom bear was carrying a radio collar. I ponder if she was the bear that was simply named Betty White.
On our second day on the tundra, the climate was higher, and we did see bears! They’re enormous and majestic and phrases can’t describe seeing them within the wild. The bears are very curious and a few them even carefully approached the Tundra Buggies. We have been additionally accompanied by a researcher from Polar Bears Worldwide (PBI) who answered our many questions.
We watched a pair of younger male bears sparring. It appears to be like like a severe struggle as they chew and push and swing at one another with their huge paws, at occasions reminding me of giant furry wrestlers. The bears have been silent throughout their sparring matches, which implies they’re taking part in, practising for the time they should struggle for territory and mates. Then they’d take a break earlier than sparring once more.
Our buggy driver received phrase that some bears received an sudden meal, which doesn’t occur usually; an unfortunate seal was stranded at low tide. We arrived in time to observe three bears and a daring raven feeding on the carcass, a sight I gained’t quickly overlook.
