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.
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