Welcome to the polar bear capital of the world: ‘It’s kind of epic’
Tucked away in the Canadian province of Manitoba for several weeks each autumn is the largest wild polar bear concentration in the world.
An estimated 1,000 or so polar bears gather near the small town of Churchill, waiting for Hudson Bay to freeze over so they can hunt seals and other marine mammals
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Dream Vacations: Whale and Polar Bear Photo Safari
Last year, I was fortunate enough to meet Martin Gregus, a photographer who shot to international fame with his award-winning photos of polar bears in bright purple fireweed. Since then, I’ve been more anxious than ever to make it out on a photography expedition to try to capture my own (likely nowhere-near-as-good) photos of not just polar bears, but other extremely unique species like wolves, beluga whales, and, if luck is on my side, narwhals (a writer can dream, right?)
Driving change in Canada’s polar bear capital
Observing polar bears via an electric vehicle seemed improbable at best. “Sounds like you’ll be a polar bear’s snack,” said my grandmother when she heard about my invitation by Polar Bears International to the sub-Arctic. And she wasn’t the only one who was skeptical — I also questioned the invitation to view these apex predators on an electric-powered Tundra Buggy.
Northern exposure: The story of the polar bear and a remote frontier town
In the far north of Manitoba, in the middle of an incredible subarctic landscape, a small community coexists with the mighty polar bear. She is magnificent; imposing in size, quiet – deathly quiet, in fact – and incredibly curious, the female polar bear less than a metre right below me, standing on her hind legs to get a better (read: nice and close) look at me in my high-set, safe and secure viewpoint. There’s an overwhelming sense of great awe from me and my fellow Frontiers North Adventures Tundra Buggy® occupants as we stand nearly face to face with the largest land-based predator on the planet in her arctic tundra home. On her hind legs she’s nearly as tall as our three-metre-high viewing platform.