Out on the Tundra - Bear Watching, Canadian Style

By Diana Ellis

Every October the polar bears descend on Churchill, Manitoba Canada, population 850, to gather and wait. No they are not waiting for the 15,000 tourists who come to see them every year. They are waiting for Hudson’s Bay to freeze over so they can begin their winter feeding.

They hang around the tundra, lean and hungry, waiting for the ice to come so they can start hunting their favorite food – seal. While they wait the enterprising citizens of Churchill play host to thousands of people egger to get a glimpse and a photograph of a polar bear in its natural habitat.

Tourists come from all over the world to spend a few days or even a few hours riding around the tundra in a specially designed tundra buggy, complete with heater, food service and a toilet, to “hunt” polar bear.

On a Sunday in late October, 2006 I was one of these bear watchers. I paid a small fortune to take a day trip from my home town of Edmonton, Alberta to Churchill just to see a few polar bears hanging around the Bay. I wasn’t alone, the airplane was full, as the tour was sold out well in advance. The charter flight left Edmonton at 6 am. There were animal enthusiasts of all ages, from young children with their parents or grandparents to wizened senior citizens. There was even a naturalist on board to tell us everything we always wanted to know about polar bears and then some. We arrived in Churchill shortly before 10 am and then boarded an old school bus for the short ride to the tour office. There we got onto the tundra buggies anxious to start our great polar bear adventure. For nearly 6 hours we would ride around in the tundra buggy, in the rain, hoping to spot some bears or other wildlife.

The tundra buggies themselves were comfortable. The buggy had a small propane heater, a toilet, windows that opened, semi-comfortable seats with plenty of leg room and they served beverages and sandwiches for lunch. You even got a “bear claw” pastry for desert. As passengers we sat high off the ground and had a good view of the terrain. There was a viewing platform outside at the end of the buggy that held about 10 people. The ride was slow and bumpy. It took nearly an hour before we saw anything other than tundra buggies.

Then we saw our first wildlife. No not a bear, a Turin. It was in the bush, near a small lake. We got as close as possible for a photo opportunity. It was amazing how excited everyone got over this small white bird that was barely visible in the snow. After a short drive we finally found what we came for – polar bears; a mother and teenage cub. The tundra buggies all lined up to get a good look, and the young bear did the same. He was very curious and came right over to one of the buggies, examining the undercarriage in great detail.

We spent the afternoon driving around the tundra trying to spot more bears. We saw a total of seven polar bears. The bears seem to be solitary creatures, preferring to wait on their own. They hadn’t eaten since spring and were low on energy so they didn’t move around a lot. Polar bears don’t hibernate; they are active all year round, especially in the winter months.

They are not afraid of the tourists, they will come right up to the buggies to check us out, hoping for a handout or maybe they just are just plain curious. Our guide, Mark, was full of interesting polar bear facts that I promptly forgot minutes later.

On the way back to town we saw an arctic hare, potential polar bear food. It was hiding in the small brush trying to avoid becoming someone’s lunch. We also saw an arctic fox that had already caught himself something to eat – a crow or magpie most likely. He was running around the rocky terrain trying to avoid the tundra buggies and a polar bear that was resting nearby.

The town has a bear jail, where they keep the bears that come into town to forage through the garbage. Churchill has a policy of not feeding the bears. They lock up their garbage (only in Canada, eh) in military like compounds to keep the bears out. When a bear is caught breaking the law, it is incarcerated in the bear jail until the ice freezes over. Then they are released. The jail had 12 occupants on the day we were there.

The town of Churchill caters to the bear watchers with several souvenir shops lining its main street. You can buy all kinds of reminders of your trip to Canada’s polar bear capital. We had a 50 minute stop to shop, and then it was back on the plane, for the flight home and our yummy in-flight dinner. We arrived back in Edmonton at 9 pm, our great white adventure over.