Canada

Black & Grizzly Bear Viewing

With its rich forests and glacial rivers full of migrating salmon Canada is famed for its superb bear viewing and is one of the best countries in which to enjoy one of the world’s most exciting wildlife encounters.

British Columbia in particular is renowned for its large population of grizzly and black bears which are predominately found along the coastal areas. And there are a number of remote lodges that offer guests the opportunity to enjoy fabulous bear viewing in this stunning forest habitat. It is possible to see the bears whilst on walks, on boat trips and often just whilst relaxing in your lodge. The region is also home to a huge variety of other wildlife including whales, orcas, sea otters, dolphins, sea lions and a plethora of birds including the beautiful bald eagle.

Covering 32,000 sq km, The Great Bear Rainforest is the largest piece of intact temperate rainforest left on the planet and is a wild and remote region of islands, fjords and towering peaks, stretching south from Alaska along the BC coast, past Haida Gwaii to Vancouver Island. The Great Bear Rainforest is also home to a very special bear, that the First Nation people call moskgm’ol (white bear) or Kermode bear which is a Black bear that carries a recessive gene resulting in its rich white coat.

It is typically possible to enjoy bear viewing from late Spring when they have emerge from their dens and start to forage for food and then as the summer months approach they move onto the sedge grass and wild berries before moving on to the great autumn salmon feast which runs from mid-August to late October depending on the river system.

Polar Bear Viewing

Sitting right in the centre of Canada, Manitoba is one the country’s natural treasures with its prairie lands, aboriginal heritage and spectacular wildlife. The boreal forests, Arctic tundra, rivers and more than 10,000 lakes are ideal for white water rafting, fishing, and kayaking as well as a huge diversity of wildlife. The area is home to elk, moose, caribou, whitetail deer, Arctic fox and sitting on the edge of Hudson Bay is the town of Churchill, which is renowned as the polar bear capital of the world.

In late winter/spring you can see the female polar bears and their cubs emerge from their dens in Wapusk National Park. The summer months offer good polar bear viewing out on the tundra or along the rocky shoreline, although perhaps the ideal time of year to observe the polar bears is October and November when they move from their summer habitat on the tundra back to seal hunting territory on Hudson Bay.

Autumn and winter are also a great to time to visit the region to go dog sledding and see the Aurora Borealis (The Northern Lights) dance across the sky.

Whale Watching

Watching whales feed, frolic and breach in a pristine natural environment is a wildlife experience that is hard to beat and on both Canada’s Atlantic and Pacific coastlines, the months of May to September offer some of the finest whale watching in the world.

Off the coast of Newfoundland on the Atlantic seaboard, it is possible to see 22 species of whales, including the minke, sperm, pothead, blue, orca, and the world’s largest population of humpbacks which feed on capelin, krill and squid along the coast making it one of the most spectacular whale watching places in the world.

The waters around Vancouver Island on the Pacific coast are home to an abundance of marine wildlife with many pods of killer whales as well as humpback, grey and minke whales. Many whales spend the summer in Clayoquot Sound offering some incredible kayaking experiences. Sea lions, seals, porpoise and a number of marine birds are also residents.

For those wishing to see the enchanting beluga whales, then Hudson Bay and the Churchill River areas are the place to be in the summer months.

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