The Home of Daryl & Sharna Balfour Safaris
  • SAFARIS
    • OUR SAFARIS open here to see NEW OFFERINGS >
      • NEW!!! BIG TUSKERS
      • NEW!!! PUMAS OF PATAGONIA
      • NEW!!! THE LAST RHINOS
      • GRIZZLY BEARS of ALASKA
      • JAGUARS, MACAWS & TOUCANS OF THE PANTANAL
      • POLAR BEARS in the ALASKAN ARCTIC
      • BIG CATS of the MARA
      • GREAT MIGRATION
      • GORILLAS IN THE MIST
      • WILD DOGS of Botswana
      • Botswana - Desert thru Delta
      • Icons of Africa
      • Safaris & Spice
      • Serengeti & Ngorongoro
      • Spots & Stripes
      • Secret Tanzania
      • Tanzania's Deep South - Ruaha, Selous & Zanzibar
      • Tigers in Africa
      • Zambia's Best
    • About Us >
      • Our Guides
      • Our Mobile Camp
      • Guest Book
      • Daryl's Blog
      • Contact Us
  • Albums
  • Prints
  • Guest Info
    • INFO Documents

Our Inaugural Polar Bear Safari - November 2011

6/12/2011

28 Comments

 
Sharna and I recently returned from our inaugural Polar Bear safari to the polar bear capital of the world, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. What a spectacular and dramatic event this turned out to be, with a particularly memorable finale we could all have done without when our lodgings, the Northern Nights Lodge, burned to the ground on our final (thank goodness) night in Churchill! More about that later!

Our safari started from Winnipeg, the capital city of Manitoba province, with snow falling on the day of arrival to set the tone for the remainder of our safari. Winnipeg is quite a charming city, with some great restaurants, a wonderful old hotel in which we stayed - the Fort Garry - and some interesting sights. While in Winnipeg we picked up our polar boots and parkas supplied by the safari ground handlers, Natural Habitat Adventures, and met our dedicated polar bear guide. Brad Josephs has been guiding polar and grizzly bear trips since 1999 and there's not much he does not know about these animals. We hope to work with Brad on all our future polar bear safaris!

Day one of the safari saw us take a chartered Boeing 737 to Churchill, about two hours north of Winnipeg, on the shores of Hudson Bay. We arrived to a wintery wonderland of snow as far as the eye could see, and a very frontiers-type village. After a hasty lunch we were fortunate enough to be able to witness a bear reloaction from the "polar bear jail" where bears that trespass into the town of Churchill are held long enough to realise Churchill is not a good place to be, then airlifted out some 30 miles onto the northern tundra to continue their migration northwards.

Standing outside our bus to photograph this relocation we realised for the first time just how chilly things were likely to be! With a howling wind blowing snow in our faces, the wind-chill factor must have been at least -20C! Very brisk & bracing indeed!

However, excitement was high for our ensuing adventures, and at breakfast the next morning, around 6am - still pitch dark outside - there was an excited hubbub in the dining room! One of our regular travelers, Greg, asked me what my hopes and expectations were for the day. I gave it some thought and raised my fingers - four. "If we see four polar bears I'll be totally happy," I replied. Greg told me he'd love to see a bear and two cubs...which I thought was setting the bar a bit high!

Well, to cut the story short - by lunchtime that day we'd seen a dozen bears, including a mum and two cubs right up alongside our tundra vehicle, the polar rover, several males sparring, and had two bears stand up against our rover in an attempt to see inside! Wow...mind blowing!!!
According to our guide Brad, it was the best day's viewing of the whole season to date, and I'll have to admit that even in my wildest dreams I'd not hoped for a day so spectacular. Incredible, awesome, fantastic.

Life on the polar rovers is interesting, fun and exciting. They are spacious and quite comfy, huge and powerful. There's a propane heater in the back, but because we were a group of photographers, with cameras & condensation to consider, the inside temperature was kept relatively cool - read cold - so there was not too much condensation on cameras and lenses when venturing in and out (there's an open viewing platform out back). The rovers have a flush toilet on board, and hot soup along with tea, coffee or hot chocolate are on offer. I had an interesting experience when I placed my Coke on the floor during lunch one day, to find it semi-frozen when I picked it up a few minutes later! Most of the photographers enjoyed the added freedom of photographing on the open back deck, but it is difficult to stay outdoors very long when there's a gale blowing, and snow & ice are whipped in your face! On the first day I stayed outside for over and hour...and had my eyelid & lashes freeze closed! Brrr...

The land of the icebear is harsh indeed, but beautiful in its starkness. We enjoyed many stops to photograph the landscape, stunted spruce trees crusted with ice, frozen ponds with bear tracks crossing them, but most of all we enjoyed the polar bears and their antics. We had a number of sparring episodes, and a great sighting of a young male taking a snow bath right alongside the track on our second morning.
Thus went our days. Rise early, an excited pre-dawn breakfast back at our lodge in town, followed by a bus ride for about 30 minutes to the polar rover "launch area" out of town. From there it was generally less than 30 minutes in the polar rover before we'd see our first bears of the day. Weather conditions were testing at times, with blizzards limiting visibility, driven snow and f-f-f-freezing temperatures. We had an absolute ball though...and I cannot wait for next year's return to Churchill and the Ice Bears! We have decided to make a few minor changes to the program, not least of it being to take fewer people in the polar rovers so that everybody has an entire row of seats covering both left and right sides of the polar rovers. This will of course make the safari more expensive than in 2011...but also that much more exclusive! Many of these polar rover & tundra buggy tours have 30 or more people in them! We already have a number of guests interested in joining us in 2012, so if you are keen, get your names on the list as soon as possible.

But back to the fire. As my friend Greg said the next day...you can sell this as the Fire & Ice safari, but it is not something we'd like to repeat. About 10 pm on our last night we got a knock on our door. I was about to get into the shower, having just completed our packing for the early departure next morning, so Sharna opened to find a member of the lodge management saying: "The hotel is on fire...please evacuate."  Ever practical, Sharna turned to me and said: "I'm taking the cameras outside. Get dressed quickly." Fortunately both camera cases were ready pack, standing behind the door, so she picked them up and left the hotel by a back entrance near our room. Outside Sharna quickly did a head-count of our guests and saw that everyone was outside, apart from Greg and Mary. She immediately asked two of the hotel staff to move one of our elderly guests into a motor vehicle as she was standing inthe cold in a night-dress, sneakers and her parka. She then returned to the hotel to find Greg & Mary, whom she encountered walking down the passage carrying some of their baggage. Returning to our room, she urged me to hurry up - I was finishing dressing again - grabbed her clothing bag and a duvet off the bed, and once again left the hotel. I picked up my bag which was waiting fully packed on the bed, scooped the clothes we'd laid out to wear the next day into a black trash can liner I'd used to protect my cameras & lenses from condensation, and followed her out into the snow.

By this stage the Churchill fire department was on the scene, as well as buses from Natural Habitat into which all guests were shepherded out of the wind and cold. The hotel was not quite ablaze as yet, but thick toxic smoke was billowing from the building. getting on to the bus where most of our guests were, Brenda - a South African traveler - informed me that her passport was still in the building in her bag "on my bed."

I returned to the lodge and asked the fire chief if he could send someone into the room - I pointed it out to him - to collect the bag, knowing that a South African abroad without a passport faced many major obstacles! He responded that he was not interested in saving "personal belongings", so I decided to go in myself, skirting the fire officers who seemed to be having trouble getting water to flow through their hoses.

I made my way to Brenda's room, and there on her bed found the small brown bag she'd taken on the polar rovers each day, as well as a duffel bag with her clothing. I grabbed these and made a hasty exit, confident I'd saved her documents! But when she saw me Brenda wailed..."that's not my passport & cards, they are in my handbag, on the bed...or next to the bed."

So I went back to the hotel, where the firemen tried to prevent me from entering the building. Again I skirted them and went through a back entrance, made my way to the passageway where Brenda's room was located...and then as I entered the room the electricity exploded, lights went out and a cloud of smoke erupted through the floor. I was forced to beat a hasty retreat, empty handed! Many of our guests left the hotel empty handed, or relatively empty handed, though almost everyone else did take their passports etc with them. Some lost clothing, others cameras and cellphones. It was a traumatic night of fire amid the ice, one that most will never forget. I was relieved however that the Natural Habitat Adventures staff in Churchill and Winnipeg reacted so quickly and so well - as one of our guests, Mary, later said: "I do think Natural Habitat has handled the situation as well as anyone could have hoped for or expected.  Thanks to you, Daryl, for choosing the best, as always."

Hopefully anomalies such as fires on ther tundra are a once-in-a-lifetime mishap. I certainly look forward with eager anticipation to the polar bear adventure next year.
28 Comments
Greg
9/12/2011 08:01:01

We had a hot time in Churchill, Daryl. Thanks to you and Sharna for setting up the Fire and Ice tour. See you next year!

Reply
www.apietigconcrete.com link
19/6/2012 07:57:39

Nice blog on the trip.I like the blog post to read.Thanks for the blog post.

Reply
press release link
5/7/2013 01:11:15

Yachtbooker.com is the world's largest reservation system for yacht charter. Here you can find reviews and last minute discounts for more than 4000 yachts worldwide. Compare prices and book online!

www.opcionesbinariasbiz.com/ link
6/12/2013 06:19:55

I couldn't agree more...

opcionesbinariasbiz.com link
6/12/2013 06:20:29

Very true :)

vidéo insolite link
5/2/2013 06:54:18

Cool merci ^^

Reply
Klick link
6/12/2013 06:21:12

Definitely :)

springbed murah link
7/6/2013 01:48:31

This one is enlightened blog post. You're so cool! I don't think I've read anything like this before. So good to find somebody with some original thoughts on this subject. Thanks for starting this up. tava tea Thanks a lot for sharing your valuable views through this blog. I bared so recurrent fascinating stuff in blog.

Reply
jasa seo murah link
6/11/2012 03:14:22

Your post is an excellent example of why I keep coming back to read your excellent quality content.

Reply
folgen hier link
24/4/2013 12:45:39

It's been a great reading, you got pretty valuable info on the subject. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Reply
outlookaddressbooks.com link
8/5/2013 06:01:20

Great post! I am glad that I have found you people. I was actually in search of details about inaugural polar bear safari . the photographs look candid and so amazing.Life on the polar rovers is interesting, fun and exciting. They are spacious and quite comfy, huge and powerful. I have book marked your site. Keep up the good work. Expecting more information from you! All the best!

Reply
seo services link
21/5/2013 00:13:44

This one is great post. I am glad that I have found this post. Its very beautifully description of polar bear. I like this animal. They have a preserve nature, Which I like most.

Reply
how to get facebook likes link
23/5/2013 03:40:30

Your post is an excellent example of why I keep coming back to read your excellent quality content.

Reply
car logbook loans link
24/5/2013 23:14:15

I like polar bear safari so much. He is really so cute and a soft kind animal. They and preserve nature and cool in behaviour because they live in ice countries. The environment of there totally affects them.

Reply
m1a stocks link
30/5/2013 01:15:10

polar bear... wow its my favourite animal.. He is so cool in nature. Have a good trait which make them different from all the animals..

Reply
Professional Seo Services link
30/5/2013 04:27:11

Nice blog on the trip.I like the blog post to read.Thanks for the blog post.

Reply
Seo Services link
6/6/2013 01:04:49

Very nice. I like it so much. Thanks for this nice collection of pics and all.

Reply
wordpress themes link
6/6/2013 03:34:01

This one is great post. I am glad that I have found this post. Its very beautifully description of polar bear. I like this animal. They have a preserve nature, Which I like most.

Reply
ppi claims link
7/6/2013 00:29:21

Your post is an excellent example of why I keep coming back to read your excellent quality content.

Reply
automated submission tool link
7/6/2013 01:48:09

This is getting you closer to polar bears than you ever dreamed possible, leaving you with memories you’ll never forget.

Reply
adt reviews link
11/6/2013 00:06:40

Polar bears is all time my favorite and I think this is so nice animal and so cute from all.. I like them very much.

Reply
hair extensions clip in link
16/7/2013 04:18:42

Your post is an excellent example of why I keep coming back to read your excellent quality content.

Reply
tung link
2/8/2013 02:26:53

Nice blog on the trip.I like the blog post to read.Thanks for the blog post.

Reply
tung link
2/8/2013 02:27:40

http://www.hocbanglaiotob2.net

Reply
Click Here link
2/10/2013 14:46:46

I don't like your template but your posts are quite very good so I will check back! Also i can't sign up to your rss feed! Any ideea why? My best regards.

Reply
Buy YouTube Likes link
26/10/2013 01:38:00

Great tips and very easy to understand. This will definitely be very useful for me when I get a chance to start my blog.

Reply
Small Business Web Design link
28/10/2013 12:04:28

This web site is known as a walk-by means of for all the information you needed about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and also you’ll definitely discover it. There is noticeably a bundle to know about this.

Reply
more bonuses link
15/1/2014 00:40:30

I appreciate, lead to I discovered just what I used to be taking a look for. You've ended my 4 day lengthy hunt! God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Daryl & Sharna Balfour

    Daryl & Sharna Balfour are among the most highly acclaimed African wildlife photographers and safari tour operators, based in Africa for most of the year, but also offering exclusive safaris too both the Arctic & Antarctic on request & by arrangement.

    Archives

    August 2015
    May 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    January 2014
    April 2012
    March 2012
    December 2011
    July 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Big Cats
    Big Cats
    Birth
    Botswana
    Cameras
    Cub
    Elephant
    Equipment
    Giraffe
    Lenses
    Leopard
    Lion
    Lycaon Pictus
    Migration
    Mombo
    Nikon
    Oxpecker
    Painted Wolf
    Painted Wolves
    Safari
    Tripods
    Wild Dogs
    Wildebeest

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.