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The Polar Bears of Churchill
By © David Cardinal
Churchill and the nearby Wapusk National Park of Canada have a population of polar bears year
round but late fall is when most of the action happens. Churchill is transformed from a sleepy
grain port of 900 people to a bustling tourist destination with over 2000. The excitement is the
congregation of bears along the shore of the Hudson Bay near the town. Polar bears would rather
be on the ice hunting seals than just about anywhere else. Many of the populations of polar bears
can stay on their ice fields all year, but because Hudson Bay melts each summer the bears need to
come ashore. There they spread out, eat what they can, and wait for the fall freeze up. Beginning in
October as the freeze gets close the bears head back north to the Bay and as many as several hundred
wind up milling around the Churchill area waiting until they can get back out on the ice to begin
hunting seals again.
Wapusk: Churchill's Polar Bear Theme Park
My only hesitation about photographing the polar bears near Churchill was the exclusive use of the so-called
"Tundra Buggies." Sort of an oversized bus on huge tractor tires, the resulting vehicle puts the photographer
way up in the air--out of harm's way but also out of position to create images of imposing polar bears. In short,
you're always looking down on the bears, which doesn't make them look very large or powerful. But there are so few
ways to see and photograph polar bears reliably that I was willing to give it a try. What I didn't realize is that
all 18 allowed tundra buggies have only a couple roads they can use in the Park (a reasonable regulation to help
keep the park from getting torn up) so that at any given time you might see as many as a dozen of them, plus one
or both of the two "mobile" lodges that reside in the park. The result is that the overall experience smacks more
of Lion Country Safari than of wilderness. At one time there were as many as eleven very large vehicles watching a
single pair of bears. I don't know if there is any realistic alternative to how the buggies operate, but it is something
you need to expect and come to terms with before deciding to go to Churchill.
The Bear Experience
The good news is that the bears are absolutely worth it. They are stunningly magnificent creatures. Somewhat larger than
even the Alaskan Coastal Brown bears they were unafraid to approach our vehicle, investigate us and even mouth the tires
and the door handles. Of course that's not exactly wild bear behavior so we were much more excited when a pair of the young
males began sparring. Their play fight carried them across a variety of photogenic backgrounds and provided us with literally
hours of entertainment. Several family groups of mother with one or two cubs were also out. The mother with a yearling cub
(born about 20 months ago) was completely unconcerned when her cub (pictured) came over to see if our buggy had any edible
parts. But the mother with two small cubs was uninterested in having them near us and wandered off. Our driver (and hopefully
all the drivers) was tuned in to the bears reactions and signs of stress. He was sensitive to not chasing bears who didn't
want to be around us and not continuing to get closer to bears after they'd shown any overt reaction to our presence.
The Trek to Churchill
Before you can see the bears of course, the first step is getting to Churchill. Package trips tend to use charters
(ours was on Nolinor) from Winnipeg, the standard jumping off point. Nolinor was friendly but their schedule seems to be
quite loose so allow plenty of time. There planes also have very little room on board, so prepare to cabin check your photo gear
(they euphemistically call it "valeting" your bag). Calm Air also provides scheduled service and from checking around it seems like
they are fairly reliable for a small regional carrier operating in a hostile environment. Churchill Taxi can get you to and from the
airport for about CDN$20 once you're there. Churchill has a huge runway courtesy of the old military base, but winds can be high so
there can be weather delays. The least reliable way to get to Churchill is the train from Winnipeg. Scheduled for an already
lackadaisical 36 hours to make the trip from Winnipeg (600 air miles away) it has been running well over 40 hours recently due to
track problems. They are hoping to have the track improved by 2009.
Churchill: A Company Town?
Only two companies have permits to operate tourist vehicles in Wapusk Park. Frontier North (Tundra Buggy Adventures) and Great White
Bear (booked exclusively through Natural Habitats). Since they have a limit of 18 vehicles between them and the bears are why everyone
is in Churchill this essentially allows them to control the flow of tourists to and from Churchill during the "bear season." They book
most of the hotel rooms for their trips and of course they own all the tundra buggies. If you do get a choice of where to stay I highly
recommend the Bear Country Inn. It's clean, quiet, has good service, a free continental breakfast and the manager Michelle Beaton makes
everyone feel at home. But keep in mind that all the accommodations in Churchill are of the plain and simple variety, essentially motels
with common entrances, so don't expect a fancy hotel or fancy services at any of them.
Polar Bears and Sled Dogs: The Infamous Brian Ladoon
One of the most famous photo sequences from Churchill is a polar bear playing with a sled dog, shot by Norbert Rosing, author of the new and
must read book The World of the Polar Bear, in 1992. It was taken out at property owned by Brian Ladoon where he keeps his dogs. Brian is a
longtime Churchill resident who has no end of projects designed to help the native population. But residents and animal rights groups have
taken him to task for his sled dog teams and how they are treated. I don't know enough about the situation or about sled dogs to have an
opinion, but another tourist stop and possible bear photo destination is to pay Brian to let you drive around (typically in a taxi) and
photograph any polar bears who come by to see if they can get a free meal when he feeds his dogs. You're very unlikely to see any dog-bear
interaction, though, as that is apparently quite an uncommon event.
Myrtle
If you have time in Churchill and can arrange it, there is a "Métis" (literally mixture or half-breed) woman, Myrtle DeMuelles who gives a
wonderful [chat aqua] style presentation about her life and the life of the Cree natives and the Scotts (from whom she is descended) in the
Churchill and northern Manitoba areas over the last half century. She comes from seven generations of story-tellers and she is a master of
the craft. She apparently also helped rescue the craft of tufting (using Moose or Caribou hair) from extinction, and has an impressive
array of native artifacts and craft samples. The talk is something of a pretext for her to promote her craftwork which she sells, but is a
good way to spend one of the many hours of darkness when you can't be out photographing the bears.
Polar Bear Photo Safari, Churchill Style?
I've had many requests from those of you who've been on my other trips or who read the newsletter to lead a polar bear photo trip to Churchill.
I think it would be a really fun trip and we'd all learn a lot and get some great photos. However, I don't think that the tundra buggy experience
is any kind of substitute for the "on the ground" work we do in Alaska each summer photographing the Grizzly bears. So I don't see myself adding
Churchill as a regular destination. But it would be worth doing as a specialty trip. If I did it we'd maximize everyone's shooting opportunities
through a dedicated tundra buggy and lots of time out with the bears (package tours often skimp by limiting the amount of time you actually get
to spend on a buggy out photographing bears--something you should definitely research before you sign up for any trip to Churchill). So if
you're interested and would be willing to put down a deposit in early 2008 for a fall 2009 trip, drop me an email at safaris [at] cardinalphoto.com
and I'll see if there is enough interest for a one time trip. Otherwise you're always welcome of course on our very popular Alaska Grizzly Bear
and Puffin trips.
Learning more about Churchill's Polar Bears
Without question Norbert Rosing in his book, The World of the Polar Bear, has collected some of the most stunning images I've ever seen, over
many years of photographing there. For our participants to have as a keepsake, we've assembled a short photo book with some information about
our trip, what we learned about the bears and how to photograph them and photos from our trip. For the curious the book of our trip is also
available for purchase in both hardcover and softcover.
David Cardinal Bio
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