Polar Bear Safari!!!!
What a surreal day! It was a magical day. So many polar bears!
I'm not sure where to start. Well, Air North is an awesome airline to fly with. I've never been on a flight where the flight attendants were actually approachable and excited to be on the plane. Maybe it helped that while we were out touring they also got to go on a Polar Bear tour.
All day, the entire group we interacted with (the tour company people and all the drivers) for the trip was enthusiastic and more thankful that we chose to come along and make it possible, than us tourists were excited to be coming along. I was impressed. They were all waiting to help us check in and answer any questions. And shook our hands and thanked us for coming when we got off the plane in Edmonton. Maybe it's a Canadian thing but they were so, so, so excited! It also felt like the entire town of Churchill was excited for us to come and visit! Check out Classic Canadian Tours if you're interested. It's a bit pricey but worth every single penny!
We did have a sold out tour. We had a plane packed with 120 people. Along with the tourists they provided Bill from Classic Canadian Tours as well as two naturalists who have done extensive studying on the polar bears at some point in their careers. Brian has a radio show on CBC right now and Les is in charge of the Gorilla habitat in Calgary. They knew their stuff and seemed almost more excited than us about going. It's amazing that they've been doing this for almost 9 years and still aren't tired of it.
We left at 6 am. But it meant a much earlier day than that. Not that it felt that early for me. But we actually got hot meals on both flights, along with an unexpectedly delicious and hot lunch on the tundra buggy! Amusingly, Churchill Airport is smaller than you would think. It actually has no security. None of this 100mL in a 1 L bag shit. Just walk out on the tarmac and get on the plane. No tickets, no ID check. None of that. But they have 2 gates and a few bathrooms. And they have one incredibly long runway because they are an emergency landing location for space craft.
The weather was almost ideal. It's been a mixed bag all week. Everytime I would look it was drastically different. The weather predictions went from sunny, to cloudy, to snowy, to sunny; and temperatures ranging from -7 to -15. It was about -16 with the windchill. But we were inside most of the time and they had a wood stove which kept the buggy pretty comfortable. And we dressed for the weather. Sunday is a different story, -26 with windchill. And the internet tells me that they are in the midst of a blizzard. Amazing the difference that a day makes. We had exceptionally good timing. But it was just sunny enough to see everything but without getting snow blind all day!
Tundra buggies!!! There are only two companies, the Tundra Buggy Company with 12 permits and another one with 6 permits. They don't want too many buggies disrupting the bears. It's approximately the size of a school bus. A little longer and a little wider. And a lot taller so the bears can't climb on. Which is good because the bears do approach the buggies quite often. There was only one bear that was afraid of us and ran away. All the others looked at us trying to figure out how to get to us bits of food.
We did have a bathroom on board and a wood stove that kept the buggy surprisingly warm. And people were good about keeping the windows closed. There is also an outdoor platform attached to the back. It was really windy out there! And it had a grate on the floor which occasionally the bears will try to get through. Crazy! But even with 40 people aboard it didn't really feel that crowded.
Simon, our driver, even let the 2 birthday people drive for a little bit!
It's pretty desolate out there. We were right along the edge of the Hudson Bay, and actually even driving on frozen parts of the bay in areas. Crazy. But with the winds and nothing stopping them the ground doesn't accumulate much snow, and the glaciers of the past have flattened everything impressively. You can see the difference the farther away from Churchill you get. There are a few spruce a bit more south but after about 30 minutes out on the tundra it's pretty much just scrub.
There are also a lot of random ice breaks. Which the buggy goes through a little rough. And they always change locations. There was one on the way back that took a bit of effort for us go get through!
There are some random structures on the tundra. This is a watch tower. It's in a bit of rough shape but bear proof. Every once and awhile someone will actually stay out here. They also have a few "lodges" on the tundra. Which are really just specialized tundra buggies turned into a hotel and parked in the middle of the tundra. Away from anything and everything except polar bears, which will come up to the lodge. Which isn't really too bad of a thing I suppose. The staff does live out there straight for the 6 week polar bear migration.
POLAR BEARS!!!!! We saw well over 22 bears. Which is impressive considering that the trip 2 weeks earlier from Edmonton only saw 4. This one was a few car lenghts away from the buggy. They look like they are moving deceptively slow but are so big they make progress quickly.
Another bear with another buggy in the background. When they walk around they look like they are licking the air. Which they are in a way. They have special receptors that allow them to taste the air. And did you know that they can smell a seal in the water 3 feet through the ice? They can. In the winter they seem to be cat like, they just stake out some breathing holes for the seals and wait until the dinner pops up.
We saw so many bears that towards the end it was pretty much, ooh, look another bear. But no rushing to the windows as frantically. And an added bonus, they move pretty slow and steady as they are in their "walking hibernation" so lots of good pictures. They are just waiting for the ice to freeze so that they can go eat up. They really only eat in the winter and get all their fat reserves to live off of for the rest of the year. And this is why the global warning is screwing them up. A few less weeks to get food means a long summer and fall, and makes in incredibly hard for them to last the final bit before freeze up.
The desolation and flatness. That is Hudson's Bay in the background. The water near the shore was really calm but the water along the horizon had white caps. We did see a bear out there looking for stuff to eat and checking out the ice. We actually had lunch while watching him. He would fall through the ice quite a bit.
Our driver Simon. Oddly enough he's British. He's been in Churchill for 9 years and still loves his job and the town. And at some point he acquired a bear skull and offered it up for pictures. I was the only one doing it willingly! And I'm not entirely sure what the lady in the background is doing. It wasn't really that dangerous!
We also saw an arctic Fox. He was hard to spot and terrified of the buggy. He kept running while looking behind him. And then we watched him go to the bathroom. The glamourous side of wildlife viewing.
More arctic Fox action.
We almost saw a few bears sparring. By the time we made it there the two bears had gone their separate ways. And this one that stayed was rolling around and stretching like a crazy bear. It was funny to watch through the binoculars. Our group was divided into 3 buggies and one of the other buggies that was behind us did actually get to see two bears sparring. It was amazing that if you were to come past 10 minutes later the bears have probably moved on and you've missed them.
Even more polar bear action. We only saw male bears. But according to our guides they are all really healthy looking, and oddly enough none are tagged. They have most of the population tagged so they are all curious and confused about where all these new bears are coming from. There are 19 separate polar bear populations in the world. Canada has 11 of them. The Russian ones get much larger. But it is really unusual to have all these new bears coming in because the bears tend to keep coming back to the same places for food.
They've learned this the hard way in Churchill. They have some issues with garbage disposal. They did try to burn it but with the bears keen sense of smell the incinerator made it much easier for the bears to smell the garbage. They also had to reinforce the garbage storage building as the bears kept attacking and pushing the walls to get to the food. And they've had to stop feeding them in the bear jail. Firstly, because they wouldn't be eating during the time of year in the wild anyways. And secondly, because the captured bears kept coming back to the bear jail expecting more food. Even though they drop them off 30 km north!
Such majestic creatures. They look so soft and cuddly, but they are dangerous!
Look, my Dad did come along!. This is proof. He's all ready for his bear watching with the warm clothes and binoculars!
Hiding in the willows. He tried to sleep but I'm thinking all the human smells proved to be too much for him. And eventually he got up and walked up in front of the buggy and we hoped he might come check us out or walk around but he just stayed in front.
I liked this guy. We watched him sleeping for awhile. And then we had to head back as it was almost the end of the tour and we still had a good 45 minutes to an hour to get back to the starting point. So he was walking along the bus and then decided that the road was a good walking spot. And he walked really slowly down the middle of the road. He kept stopping and staring at the buggy while we all delightfully took pictures. Eventually he moved off to the side and we went on.
If you look at where the bottom of the windows are, they are about 11 feet above the ground. If the bears stand on their back feet they can stick their noses in! But the only window that actually opens like that is the drivers and he doesn't open it when there are bears in the areas. It's mostly just for him to stick his head out since he has no side mirrors or to talk to other drivers.
Last bear of the day. By this time we were really good at spotting them and saw him hiding in the willows having a nap, until we drove by! But the bears are so used to the buggies coming through they are more curious about the smells than they are afraid.
The crazy spruce trees. The winds with nothing stopping them are quite brutal. So what they end up with is these one sided trees. The joke is that you can stick them in the corner as a christmas tree, or tie two together to have a complete tree. They also get really big and thick on the bottom where the snow piles up and protects them and get really spindly up top. And they grow by dropping branches that grow roots and up comes a new tree so they tend to grow in these sporadic little patches.
The town of Churchill. It's kind of a terrible picture but we did get an hour or so to wander the main street. Our driver was kind enough to offer to drive us to the other end of the town to hit some of the stores. But the tour company really wanted to give us some time to come into town and help out the local commerce.
The bus drivers were really informative while driving us around town. The entire town of Churchill is subsidized and it's only about 800 a month for everything to rent a 3 bedroom house. Of course gas is $2 a litre and you can only leave by air or rail so there are catches. But they do have a lot of cars up there anyways. No polar bear sightings in town thankfully. And we did learn that the two people attacked by the bear last week are out of hospital so it wasn't as bad as it could be. Also, to help protect people in case of a spotting most residents leave their cars unlocked with the keys in to help aid with getting away from the bears. It mostly means that the teenagers too lazy to walk home borrow a lot of cars! They also have a 24/7 bear patrol. She was telling us that there will be someone at your door within a minute or so to deal with the bears. That's pretty impressive.
I have to say that as awesome as it is to tour the world, Canada has some pretty amazing experiences that you can't see anywhere else. And seeing Polar Bears just feels so Canadian!
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