Tundra trek: Searching for polar bears on a Canadian subarctic safari
Growing up, I remember scouring the pages of National Geographic magazine and Encyclopedia Britannica, looking for animal facts and being wowed by wildlife photography. I found polar bears to be particularly fascinating — a species of snow-white bear that are the largest land predators on Earth. I gawked at images of fluffy-white cubs, sleeping giants and sparring males, and while I thought they were a sight to see on those glossy pages, I never thought I’d get to see one up-close in person, let alone in my own country.
When my 12-year-old and I were invited to enjoy a family-focused polar bear excursion with Frontiers North Adventures, I was thrilled to not only get to see polar bears in the wild, but also to be able to share the experience with my son. Our journey began with an overnight stay in Winnipeg, where we visited Assiniboine Park Zoo, Winnipeg’s oldest urban park and home to “Journey to Churchill,” an award-winning arctic species exhibit that presents a life-like look into the town set amid the tundra.
There, we watched polar bears swim overhead through an underwater viewing tunnel, and then took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre (IPBCC), a hub for wildlife education, research and conservation. As we watched Star, a rescued polar bear, being fed heads of romaine lettuce (her favorite treat), we learned about the center’s efforts to conserve dwindling wildlife populations and protect the environment.
Our guide showed us new tracking technology that is being developed to ethically track the travel patterns of wild polar bears, including how this species has adapted to the ice melt and declining seal populations that have resulted from a changing climate. Equipped with a deeper understanding of the polar bear population in the region, our anticipation grew. The next day, we headed out into the wild to try and spot a wild bear for ourselves.
Churchill, Manitoba, is located a little more than 600 miles from Winnipeg, but it felt worlds away when we landed there. It’s a small town of just over 800 full-time residents and is accessible only by air or rail. It’s incredibly remote; there are no roads in or out of the town. There, people are outnumbered by polar bears. A town famous for the fantastic flora that makes the region a global phenomenon, Churchill is the polar bear capital of the world. It’s also home to the largest beluga whale population on Earth while being one of the best spots on the planet from which to view the northern lights. Plus, it’s a paradise for birders, and the boreal botany makes for a truly unique landscape.
Our first day’s activities took us to Wapusk Adventures where we went dogsledding through the forest. Led by owner and founder Dave “Big Dog” Daley, our tour went beyond this ride. In a log cabin, we sat and listened as Daley shared his family’s history of dogsledding, the sport’s meaning to his Metis heritage and his long-standing legacy as a record-breaking dogsledder. Daley also spoke about how he succeeds at running a long-distance racing kennel while training 47 superstar sled dogs.
After touring some of the town’s most famous sites, including an old plane wreck, stunning murals painted by local artists and a large inukshuk sculpture that stands at the edge of Hudson Bay, we boarded a Tundra Buggy® — a 10-foot-high, custom-built, all-terrain tundra vehicle — and headed out in search of the region’s most beautiful terrestrial beasts.
Scanning the horizon, we took in the beauty of the landscape around us. The turning of the tundra, shimmering gold larch trees and fields of orange and red hues presented the perfect backdrop for polar-bear spotting. And then we saw it: a large oatmeal-colored lump. Easily mistaken for a big boulder, a peep through binoculars revealed that it was in fact a snoozing bear — our first sighting (but certainly not our last). Parked at a safe distance, we sat in silence and watched wide eyed as the bear awoke, shifted into a standing position and started ambling toward the shoreline.
It took our breath away to see such a magnificent creature roaming freely in the wild, vast tundra. Each sighting that followed was equally amazing. We’d visited at the start of peak polar bear viewing season (mid-October), as this is the time of year when polar bears flock to the coastline in anticipation of the big ice freeze — and the start of seal-hunting season.
Throughout our trip, we spotted a diversity of wildlife, including ptarmigan birds, snow buntings and a fluffy white arctic fox, but it was the proximity to one curious polar bear that was the most pleasing of our experiences. Standing on a suspended outdoor platform, we watched quietly as a polar bear curiously approached our Tundra Buggy and sniffed along its edges. Pausing in place, the polar bear looked up at our small group, its nose in the air wiggling wildly to suss out the scene. Uninterested, it slowly turned and walked away. We exhaled in unison and then burst into excited chatter, recounting what had just occurred. I knew at that moment that this was a memory my son would remember forever, and an experience that I wouldn’t forget either.
Bianca Bujan is an award-winning travel writer with bylines in Lonely Planet, Food & Wine, Huffington Post, Afar, The Globe & Mail, Canadian Geographic, Chatelaine and others. She loves to connect with cultures through cuisine, and enjoys experiencing a new destination through the eyes of the people who call the place home. From Baden-Baden, Germany, to Amarillo, Texas, Bianca enjoys visiting lesser-known destinations and sharing unique experiences with her readers.
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Tundra trek: Searching for polar bears on a Canadian subarctic safari."