“Snap Shots”
Well, I might as well start 2024 off the way I should with my first entry into my blog.
I’ll start with what happened at the end of 2023.
I’d had a trip booked to photograph polar bears. The trip was booked well in advance (like 2 years ahead).
To get to where I needed to go involved a day and a half of flights (4 flights there and 4 back) all done in 9 days. To say the least it can be punishing on the body.
Day 1
Arriving tired into Churchill, Manitoba and my first encounter was a couple of bears already near the runway ……a good start I thought. After a quick tour of the town and a sighting of a red fox I ventured to the fort at Cape Merry, it was here that I had my first sighting of 2 permanently placed armed rangers. Just to be clear, the rangers were there for our safety……………to frighten away any polar bears. It was also here that (as I’d been advised) it’s a little on the “fresh side”. In other words, it was cold. I have experienced cold temperatures of -35c before however, with Churchill being on Hudson Bay the wind chill was and is extreme and it cut right through me so whatever the temperature was at the time you can add another -11c to it.
Day 2
Up and out early to grab breakfast, although talking to others it would seem that because of jet lag everyone was awake from around 05:00. Breakfast was healthy scrambled eggs and very crispy bacon with pancakes………in other words the usual fare for Canada.
Once breakfast was over a quick trip back to my hotel room to pick up my camera gear (with plenty of fully charged batteries and spare cards) and outdoor clothing to keep me nice and toasty. Back outside I boarded a small bus (12 people) to take me around 15/20 kilometres to the tundra.
Arriving at the tundra buggy site, I climbed into my buggy for the day (big and long vehicles with huge wheels – so high up that polar bears can’t reach you).
The buggies are heated and comfortable with plenty of seats, they also have bathroom facilities, just as well because once you are on the tundra you can’t get out of the buggy as you might just get a bear coming up to say hello to you.
First sighting of the day was a mum with 3 cubs now, this I believe is unusual. A mum with a single cub or two not so, but to see a mum with 3 cubs was exciting and a very pleasant surprise. The smallest of the cubs looked very tired and was lagging behind.
One sort of feels sorry for the little cub……however, that’s nature.
The little cub was named “Rudi” by the tundra drivers. Now hear comes the sad part to this adventure. Rudi was seen with his mum for a couple of days and was seen later during the week but this time not with his mum. From this point onwards I don’t know if Rudi was abandoned or if he had just lost contact with the family. So, I’m not sure if he survived, I’m pretty certain that being so young he would not have had the skills to hunt for himself. Hopefully he would have found some food left by the older bears after they had made a kill. Not forgetting that my timing in Churchill coincided with the sea freezing over and therefore the bears were on their way further north to catch seals.
Days 3, 4, & 6
These days were much the same with plenty of healthy-looking bears plus sightings of artic fox, cross fox and ptarmigan.
Day 5
I had the use of a 4×4. Whilst I mention the 4×4 – I was told to leave the doors unlocked, the reason being that should a polar bear be on the loose anyone can climb into the car for their protection.
As it happened on one night I heard (what I thought were fireworks…. thinking of November 5th and then realising Canada doesn’t celebrate Guy Fawkes). The sound of the so-called fireworks was in fact crackers going off to frighten away the bears which were then in town.
Driving around in my hire car enabled me to see other animals……which indeed I did. I came across a “cross fox” looking for food it also gave me a chance to photograph it listening and then jumping into the snow trying to catch its next meal. I also managed to see an arctic hare all snuggled up next to a rock. At this point I must mention again the extremeness of the cold/wind chill. If I tell you that after about a few seconds, I couldn’t feel my index finger to press the shutter button on my camera, this will give you some idea of the temperature.
Also, on this day I was lucky enough to see a mum feeding her two cubs and a single bear on the rocks around the bay. It was just after I had spotted the bear when the conservation people and the police appeared and ushered me on. This not only to protect the visitors but to protect the bears.