There are 50,000 of them and 50 of us. We officially were in the minority now. The animals are in charge, we are the visitors, and suddenly have to play by their rules. There are few places on the planet where humans are the visitors, however this rarely traveled southern part of the globe is […]
Twelve thousand tourists visit Churchill Manitoba a year primarily to see polar bears. It’s a huge draw for a small town of 800 people. Since Churchill is remote and essentially cut off from any road system, there are only two ways to get there – via train or a flight. Either one you choose, will […]
“Was he a big one?” the waitress asked. “Ohhh yes, he was beautiful,” the older man said as he paused slightly as if to reminisce about the image in his head as he went on telling the story. Edgar, works at the Churchill waste management facility and had reported the bear to the Polar Bear […]
When I think about being exposed to different personalities, I always think about online dating. As I slowly rode the tundra buggy around in search of polar bears, I wondered what a bear’s dating profile would look like. “I get hangry when I don’t eat.” “I like to date outdoorsy bears.” “Must be a good […]
Imagine a fish out of water, that’s pretty much what a polar bear is when the sea ice disappears for the summer. It’s a huge, furry marine mammal on land, not where they belong. They aren’t eating, they are roaming around for 4 to 5 months until the ice forms and they can get back […]
One week before heading to the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast in BC Canada, I had this show up in my inbox: “The Chinook Salmon are showing good numbers but it is the Sockeye that the Grizzlies key in on. The Sockeye run is a little later than usual and at this point smaller than some predicted. […]
Ahab isn’t the only person who gets to look a whale eye to eye. Head to Magdalena Bay where you can have a close encounter with a Gray Whale – so close you can touch it. If there is such a thing as being too close to a whale while whale watching, this might have […]
He raises his nose in the air and sniffs at the air, trying to get our scent, but the wind isn’t cooperating with him. He knows we are there, but what we are is a mystery. Just as I’ve never seen a polar bear before, this polar bear has most likely never seen a human […]
Meghan’s face comes alive as we approach the bird cliffs. She’s calling out bird species for the rest of the people in the zodiac and rattling off the extremely subtle differences between them. She finds different species in various little crevices with her binoculars as if it’s a Where’s Waldo book. I just listen and […]
How would you like to have 182 people in your family? And what if all 182 of them were 4 years old? And had tails? At Snowy Owl Dog Sledding Banff the dogs are family. Yes, yes I know – everyone says that…but trust me when I say Snowy Owl is different than most touristic […]