by Steve Selden | Oct 27, 2013 | Tour News
Boxing polar bears!
Take a look at the above link to see some amazing footage from Natural Habitat guide Melissa Scott out on the tundra. With the fresh snow and temperatures in the mid 20’s F, wildlife up north is energized.
Guide Karen Walker’s group of MIT alumni began their Churchill trip with a walk out unusually far on Cape Merry, reaching the old battery via the cannons that utilized to protect Fort Prince of Wales across the Churchill River. A few artifacts rest on the rocky battery for visitors to see. Later on at a Parcs Canada presentation in the visitor Center a ranger brought out some newly excavated artifacts..a nice link to the past.
Battery at Cape Merry. Karen Walker photo.
The following day a quiet drive into the lodge for Karen and group all the way to Gordon Point eased everyone into the feel for the tundra. After a nice coffee break, a drive along the Coast Road, provided an arctic fox sighting…a first for the group. One traveler actually saw the fox catch a lemming. Quite an amazing sight.
Arctic fox inquisitive of travelers. Colby Brokvist photo.
Ptarmigan on the tundra. Karen Walker photo,
A sleeping male polar bear was then spotted about a 100 feet away, posed perfectly, looking right at the group aboard their rover The sun cast beautiful light on the very clean, white bear, highlighting his coarse hair with a warm glow. Eating lunch while all the while observing a bear in the Arctic is a rare opportunity for sure. After lunch it decided to roll over on its back and roll around playfully to the groups delight of the group. A nap followed to conserve energy.
Precambrian sheild of Cape Merry. Karen Walker photo.
Traveling a little further on the coast road revealed another bear walking along a pond slightly ahead of the rover. It continued walking toward the rover while another bear did the same further off in the distance. The first bear came within 10 feet of the vehicle and the bear that was more distant followed along the path of the first bear and also came close to the back observation deck before heading off. They were both healthy adult bears.
Later on, heading back to launch, the group came upon the two bears along the trail. One provided a road block of sorts slowly ambling along in front of the rover. Eventually, all three bears were at a distance in a row. Another bear was spotted, so four bears were in range in the area. Quite an enjoyable day in the CWMA.The day’s changeable weather provided an exciting backdrop for the action. From overcast to sideway blowing snow, to sunshine, to overcast, back to sun. A little wind as well provided even more color to the day.
by Steve Selden | Oct 24, 2013 | Tour News
- Snow, bears and lots of exciting action out on the frosty tundra in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. These photo’s from Natural Habitat guide Elise Lockton signal the beginning of the next phase of polar bear season. This action is amazing and the photo’s are some of the best in awhile! Enjoy.
by Steve Selden | Oct 23, 2013 | Tour News
News from the Tundra Lodge came early with a “house bear” as Natural Habitat guide Leah McGowan dubbed him. The lone polar bear set up shop immediately and slept the first week away with periodic displays of energy spurred on possibly from wafting gourmet scents from the kitchen car. He was promptly named ‘Frances’ after a guests daughters cuddly childhood polar bear, of the same name.
Arctic fox inquisitive of travelers. Colby Brokvist photo.
The bear is a mature male with several scars on his nose and another scar above his right eye. He is lean, though not skinny. He seems like an ‘old soul’ wise and patient…. looking up at you with knowing eyes.
By night three for the inaugural lodge group, four, maybe five bears in addition to Frances had wandered into the area. All seemed to be getting along just fine after a few “discussions” on personal space.
Photo: Colby Brokvist
The tundra still sporting browns and reds awaits the snow soon to come from the north.
Guide Colby Brokvist reporting from Winnipeg after a “wonderful” early season trip gave rave reviews of all facets of his groups’ adventure. A tri -fecta of foxes graced the travelers presence with red, Arctic and even a rare silver sighting. Out at the lodge there have been at least two a night on a steady basis.
Silver fox scouring tundra for lemmings. Colby Brokvist photo
Truly the highlight of this past week’s wildlife log was a pair of beluga whales just off the rocky coast of Cape Merry. Amazing to spot these babies this late in the season. Imagine being able to combine summer trips with polar bear season? You could get it all at once. Give global warming some time it might happen.
Gordon Point provided some fine entertainment one day with a ringed seal swimming teasingly at a risky distance from white furred bears. Where else on the planet can you find that kind of drama?
Bird-wise…a list of 23 deep included harlequin ducks and a gyrfalcon….both rare for early season trips. So far an off year for snowy owls..still time though. The air has transitioned to the next level of cold which shall digress another 10 notches before the Hudson Bay Quest arrives in March. Cold enough though for most shallow thermakarst ponds to have a healthy icy veil on their surface….not quite strong enough to support an 800 pound animal.
The “port report” …still oil free..has two ships in port and two anchored out at five -fathom hole in the Hudson Bay. Workers are banking overtime hours trying to beat mother nature before she freezes over the Hudson Straits in the far northeast corner of the bay, sealing off the escape route for outgoing vessels. A long winter awaits.
by Steve Selden | May 10, 2013 | Tour News
The greatest memories of adventure tours seem to be the ones that aren’t predictable or pre -determined by set activity schedules. They happen unexpectedly and usually involve some trepidation. With the Churchill Arctic Summer season approaching I’m reminiscing about a memorable day on the Hudson Bay coast.
Curious polar bear checking out travelers..
I had a feeling of angst that August morning years ago as we boarded the polar rover docked at the platform just outside the Great White Bear shop 20 kilometers outside Churchill, MB. After an extraordinary 38 hour train journey from Winnipeg to Churchill with a group of a dozen avid Arctic explorers, we were all anxious to get out, “on the land” as they say in the north. The rover journey to Halfway Point was one I had taken nearly a hundred times before..but this day something felt strange. The air was cool and misty fog floated from the bogs up and over the tundra toward the coast. My mind kept wandering.
Halfway Point..a view down to the beach and location of the beluga skeleton in the grass.
Our drive through the Churchill Wildlife Management Area (CWMA) was soothing as the rocking movement of the rover blended with the slight hint of salt air wafting up from the Hudson Bay to lull everyone into a calm state of mind. Although the group had spent minimal time on land the past couple of days, everyone seemed content to know that soon we would be on foot trudging over the precambrian shield rocks and incredible wildflowers and berries of various northern plants. A barbecue overlooking the Hudson Bay with a cool Summer breeze off the water to dissuade mosquitoes….life doesn’t get any better up north…unless a polar bear happens to walk by.
On board my co-guide and Ornithology expert Bonnie Chartier spotted various birds in the willows and across the landscape. Birders in the group enjoyed witnessing rare species interacting in the northern web of life. With the fog sometimes making identification difficult, the enjoyment came from just observing. The excitement was infectious to all.
We crept closer to the point overlooking the turbulent Hudson Bay. I explained that we would be hiking down through a rocky outcropping which opened onto a beach strewn with kelp. There was a skeleton from a beluga whale carcass at the far end of the beach nestled up in the sea grass. Another Natural Habitat group led by myself and long -time colleague Mike Bruscia had been lucky enough to discover it nearly a year before while exploring the beach. Now the hope was to find it again…though we would never make it that far.
Our rover driver, John Sinclair, who this story really is about, was a quiet unassuming local who did whatever he needed to provide for his family. A great guy and a friend of mine. As John maneuvered the machine into a spot up on the rise above the bay, everyone was anxious to disembark and feel the tundra under their feet. I still had a sense of hesitation but couldn’t pin point why….just a feeling.
John lowered the heavy aluminum-grated stairway and the group gathered around the rover’s enormous rear wheel for some safety rules. We headed down the gravelly road toward the beach. Usually the rover driver would stay behind on the hike to get the barbecue going for the guests return and I alone, wielding a 12 gauge shotgun filled with cracker shells and a couple of slugs would escort the group along the beach. But as I quickly realized, John was walking quietly and..well..unassuming next to me.
The mist was now a ground – fog as the group moved tentatively along and we were soon about a hundred yards from the rover. John told me, “he was going back to the rover”…well at least that’s what I thought he said. What he actually said in a tone somewhere between a whisper and a mumble was, ” I think we all should go back to the rover”. At the time I was talking with a traveler so the moment didn’t sink in as it did later. I remember looking up at John and seeing the calm in his eyes…though later on I realized it was a heightened calm that only someone who lives year – round amongst the polar bears has…someone who knows to never let his guard down when in the bear’s territory. A breeze separated the curtain of fog just enough for us to see a massive male bear about another hundred yards from us..slowly walking, as calm as John, right toward us all. We quickly signaled the rest of the group that was somewhat spread out and we all as one unit retreated intently though slowly back toward the machine waiting silently to rescue us. This was really the only time in the 12 years of guiding Summer trips I thought I might actually have to shoot a polar bear. If it wasn’t for John Sinclair’s innate sense of the land and bears I surely would have….hopefully with success.
Years later John Sinclair died in a snow mobile accident on the outskirts of Churchill in late winter. I will always remember him for his cool and relaxed personality as well as the day he possibly saved many lives. Whenever I think of him I first remember that afternoon at Halfway Point.
