The Polar Bears of Churchill
In November 2008, we went to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada to see polar bears in the wild. It was a terrific experience -- you can find the full story in my blog, starting with this entry:
We started off with two days in Winnipeg -- it was cold, but that did not stop us from seeing the sights.
Here's what's left of the 1908 St Boniface Cathedral after the 1968 fire. The current smaller church, the fifth to be built on this site since 1818, fits inside the limestone ruins and can be glimpsed through the openings in the façade.
The Leo Mol Sculpture Garden at Assiniboine Park - lots of wonderful sculptures, but these whimsical bears were my favorite.
After we joined our group, we headed north to Churchill. The town greeted us with near-blizzard conditions. Nonetheless, we went exploring. This is an inukshuk that was built to honor the Inuit culture. The white structure in the background is the grain terminal at the Port of Churchill, which is open for short periods of time during the summer months.
We opted to stay at the Tundra Buggy Lodge ... rustic accommodations to say the least, but it was so worth it. Here's a glimpse of the TBL on our only really sunny day - note the visitor in the lower left corner.
And here's a shot of the interior of our bunkhouse - we each had a small cubby with thick, velcroed curtains for privacy.
We had fantastic bear viewing - not only at the TBL, but when we went on the tundra in search of the bears. Being curious by nature, the bears came right up to us -- the whole experience was better than I ever imagined it would be.
Here's one of the bears checking out the second bunkhouse at the TBL.
And here are a couple of bears from our days on the tundra.
After our time with the bears, we had another day in Churchill before our charter flight returned us to Winnipeg ... this time the weather was much more agreeable.
This is the VIA Rail Station in town - there is a Parks Canada Interpretive Center inside with some very interesting exhibits ... also a good place to seek shelter from the cold temps - it was as low as -31F while we were there.
If you'd like to see more photos from our trip, check out the Eismeisters of Churchill gallery. Forgive my journalistic style ... which means, lots of photos.
We started off with two days in Winnipeg -- it was cold, but that did not stop us from seeing the sights.
Here's what's left of the 1908 St Boniface Cathedral after the 1968 fire. The current smaller church, the fifth to be built on this site since 1818, fits inside the limestone ruins and can be glimpsed through the openings in the façade.
The Leo Mol Sculpture Garden at Assiniboine Park - lots of wonderful sculptures, but these whimsical bears were my favorite.
After we joined our group, we headed north to Churchill. The town greeted us with near-blizzard conditions. Nonetheless, we went exploring. This is an inukshuk that was built to honor the Inuit culture. The white structure in the background is the grain terminal at the Port of Churchill, which is open for short periods of time during the summer months.
We opted to stay at the Tundra Buggy Lodge ... rustic accommodations to say the least, but it was so worth it. Here's a glimpse of the TBL on our only really sunny day - note the visitor in the lower left corner.
And here's a shot of the interior of our bunkhouse - we each had a small cubby with thick, velcroed curtains for privacy.
We had fantastic bear viewing - not only at the TBL, but when we went on the tundra in search of the bears. Being curious by nature, the bears came right up to us -- the whole experience was better than I ever imagined it would be.
Here's one of the bears checking out the second bunkhouse at the TBL.
And here are a couple of bears from our days on the tundra.
After our time with the bears, we had another day in Churchill before our charter flight returned us to Winnipeg ... this time the weather was much more agreeable.
This is the VIA Rail Station in town - there is a Parks Canada Interpretive Center inside with some very interesting exhibits ... also a good place to seek shelter from the cold temps - it was as low as -31F while we were there.
If you'd like to see more photos from our trip, check out the Eismeisters of Churchill gallery. Forgive my journalistic style ... which means, lots of photos.
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Picadilly, NB, Canada
Very nice...good coverage. And nice post processing.
Educate yourself like you'll live forever and live like you'll die tomorrow.
Ed
Most of the wildlife photos were taken with a Canon 100-400L ... many at the low end of the zoom because the bears were often right up at the buggy.
Thanks so much for sharing.
---Bruce---
My Content Home Base:... McCallum Racing Enterprises
I grew up in Winnipeg and spent the first 30 years of my life there, then migrated to the west coastof canada, and now Australia:D
Great series of photos of the North's prime predator.
btw ...Inukshuks can be found all over the North of Canada, often in the middle of nowhere.
( I have one made of bricks in my Australian back yard)
In addition to the homesickness, hopefully I brought back some nice memories of your years in Winnipeg. We'd like to someday go back in spring or summer to see more of what the area has to offer. The Eskimo Museum in Churchill had an interesting article about the inukshuks where I did read that they can be found all over northern Canada. We did get down to the edge of Hudson Bay in Churchill to see an original inukshuk -- the pile of rocks is in the middle of the "polar bear alert" area, and with so many boulders around to give the bears cover, we didn't deem it prudent to explore it for long