3 days at the lodge where we every morning had breakfast from 0700 and boarded our buggy at 0800. In the morning at some point we would be served coffee/tea/chocolate and cookies (and Kahlua/rum if you wanted that added – and who doesn’t?). Lunch was brought from the lodge and was served as it fit into our driving, but usually around 1300-1400-ish. It would be soup followed by a simple but delicious main course; samosas, sandwiches and tortellini. We returned to the lodge at around 1600-1630, and while that does sound early on paper, at that point it had gotten too dark to really be able to easily see anything, anyway.
The two first nights we were the only guests at the lodge, and being 16 people at a place that has a capacity of 40 it never gets crowded. The last night a second group arrived, but as they were only 10 it wasn’t too bad having them around, too. The lodge was built up by several units; One end was two accommodation units each with 20 beds, 3 toilets and 2 showers, followed by a lounge and dining hall. After that the kitchen, staff quarters and workshop. Each accommodation unit had its own buggy access so two groups arriving at the same time wouldn’t get in each other’s way, and apart from those there was also the water buggy and the staff’s transports always available.
If there ever was an animal that represented the feeling "Mondays"...
The food was absolutely delicious; snacks when we returned from a drive and 3-course dinners where everything clearly was made with care. House wine was even included in the price!
The conservation area was quite small (relatively speaking) and it was not unusual to find ourselves at the lodge hours after we had left it, simply because that moment’s hunt had naturally led us back. Considering the heavy bear traffic around the lodge you could probably have stayed at the lodge all day and still have gotten some great views. And when looking at the area in general it was all quite flat, so you would almost always have a clear line of sight to the lodge.
Sparring.
So we drove around and looked at (mainly) polar bears. And if you had any expectations of having to spend time hunting for anything to see you’d be mistaken. Many, if not most, bears were not very shy so you could get quite close to them and it wasn’t uncommon to be able to see 5-6 of them at once. A large number of bears were lying around, resting, playfighting/sparring or just being downright curious when we drive by. The buggy was basically a large box with a platform in the rear with a grating floor and tall enough that a fully grown male bear standing wouldn’t be able to reach the windows or past the railing. Curious young individuals would stand up below the platform and have a close sniff of us – and trying to figure out what all those phones lying on the grating filming the close encounter were. Moving the phone during and feeling the bear’s breath on your fingers is something else.
As can be seen, even when on their hind legs they won't be able to reach.
Polar bears are a solitary creature unless they are mating or if it’s a mother with cubs. Churchill is the only exception and only at this time of year. All the bears are gathering in the area and waiting for the ice to form on the Hudson Bay, and them all being there together they tolerate each other’s presence and it’s not uncommon to see them actively socialize and cuddle together.
Socializing.
Foxy walk.
We ended up seeing two mothers with cubs – that was our conclusion, at least. It could technically have been the same mother and cubs, but during some sightings the bears were very skittish, and other times they didn’t care about our presence. It makes no sense that it would be the same family we saw that acted so differently between sightings, hence the conclusion.
A mother with her two cubs.
We also managed to see a few red foxes but no arctic ones, though. The latter are being pushed away by the former, as due to the heating climate the reds can go further north, pushing the arctic foxes away even further north. While we did have a few sightings, we saw significantly more tracks from foxes than foxes themselves. We were lucky enough to also get to see a snowy owl, albeit at a far distance. Technically we probably saw two, but the first sighting was just a quick white flash past the window when we were in the diner having dinner.
Owl sitting in the tree.
So overall, the number of polar bear sightings greatly exceeded my expectations. To be honest; after seeing a bear in the middle of the sunrise on the third day (which was also during the only few hours it wasn’t completely overcast while we were there) I was ready to go searching for owls even if it meant that we wouldn’t se another single bear on the trip. I was happy for all the encounters we had, but I wouldn’t have minded a bit more variation at some point, even though it was the bears we had come for.
Sunrise.
More sparring.
On the last day, instead of returning to the lodge we drove back to the dock (the fox was there again!), got back into our minibus and returned to Churchill. We checked in, had dinner in the restaurant and ended the day.
The fox was still present!
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