Earlier this summer of 2023, my wife and I visited the province of Manitoba. We explored its capital, Winnipeg, for several days, and while that was an excellent cultural experience, the big draw for us was visiting Churchill to see Polar Bears and Beluga Whales. As it turns out, we also got lucky and experienced the Aurora Borealis (northern lights) for the first time. Lastly, as readers of my Parks & Peaks blogs know, it would not be a complete trip without a visit to a national park, in this case, Wapusk National Park. August is one of the best months to see it all!
Located on the shore of Hudson Bay (of the Arctic Ocean) at the mouth of the Churchill River, the town of Churchill is unreachable by road. You may endure a 600-mile, 2-day train ride from Winnipeg, or you do what we did and take a 2.5-hour flight.
The charter flight from Winnipeg was arranged as part of a package by Lazy Bear Lodge and Expeditions, far and away the best game in town. The guides led us on boating adventures up the western coast of Hudson Bay into the northern territory of Nunavut to see polar bears lounging on rocks along the coast. We also journeyed across the land in a bearproof “Arctic Crawler” to observe bears in their element. The guides also took us pontoon-boating, kayaking and aqua gliding on rafts to get close to beluga whales who return to calve in the warmer waters of the River and Bay. In addition, the Lodge orchestrated impromptu, midnight van rides far out of town to see the northern lights, an unexpected bonus.
OK, let’s get to the main events: the Three Bs: Bears, Belugas and Borealis.
Polar Bears
Churchill is where polar bears decamp for summer. About 1,000 of them, reportedly. They laze around, basking in the sun, not doing much. As soon as the ice forms on the bay (by early November), they are gone in a heartbeat to hunt and eat as many seals as possible. Some of the summering bears get curious and wander into and through town. Churchill vigilantly maintains a daily polar bear patrol from dawn to dusk, warding off the bears and occasionally tranquillizing them to sequester them for a month in “lockdown”, aka polar bear prison, before reintroducing them to the wild by helicoptering them far away from Churchill. Really – there is a prison on the outskirts of town.
So, we were advised to walk around town in groups, never after sunset. Mid-morning one day, I was walking in town not far from the Bay and asked a local if it was safe to walk down to the shoreline. Her response: “We refer to those tourists as Polar Bear Bait.”
The tours with Lazy Bear afforded excellent photo ops, particularly for those with a telephoto lens, to capture the bears from a safe distance on board the boat or in the Arctic Crawler.
Belugas
The belugas were the highlight of the trip. As is said up here, you come for the bears and leave in love with the belugas. Belugas come to the waters around Churchill – an estimated 50,000! — to calve in the warmer waters for a couple of months before heading northward across Hudson Bay to the Arctic Ocean. They are curious and playful. While kayaking, they followed us around, even trailing our kayak and lightly bumping us from behind. When we went aqua-gliding – which involved laying on a large floatable mat towed slowly behind a boat — we used facemasks to peer into the water, and the belugas would swim up to within a foot or two of us and peer into our faces. We fell in love.
Borealis
Churchill is one of the top places to see the Aurora Borealis. While late fall and winter seasons offer the best odds for a sighting, late summer occasionally provides an opportunity. We got so lucky!
A Very Brieft Vist to Wapusk National Park
Along with my primary goal of visiting every U.S. national park, I am equally committed to visiting at least one Canadian national park in all thirteen provinces and territories. The province of Manitoba has two national parks. Riding Mountain sits atop the Manitoba Escarpment and is about a 5-hour drive northwest of Winnipeg, and the biggest draw is a herd of bison. No thanks.
Wapusk is challenging to visit as there’s no way in. No roads, no trails. In short, “Unescorted travellers are not permitted in Wapusk National Park.” The purpose of Wapusk is not visitation but wildlife conservation. It protects one of the world’s largest polar bear maternity denning areas. It is also a critical area for caribou migration. These are worthy objectives, to be sure. Many of Canada’s northern national parks function as conservation and/or research areas not geared to the public, so I’ve limited my visitation goal to one park per province/territory.
Nevertheless, as Wapusk lies near Churchill, I found a way to visit it — well, sort of — and I’m counting it regardless of what you think. How? I got a chopper.
Hudson Bay Helicopters flew us out and over Wapusk National Park for an hour, hovering 300 feet above ground. We saw even more polar bears along the coast and waterfowl, such as snow geese enjoying countless little bogs of water. Miles and miles of flat, uninspiringly boggy, relatively treeless terrain. Hey, this is the Subarctic.
Visiting Churchill, Manitoba – the “polar bear capital of the world,” is not inexpensive but well worth it if you enjoy observing big animals in their natural environment – think of it as a different sort of safari. Ensure you plan well in advance, and you won’t be disappointed.
Carpe diem!
