We arrived in Churchill, a town of 700 permanent residents, just as the Olympic Torch relay was happening. We jumped off the bus with our cameras and followed it to the town sqaure. Watched the last of the 3 runners light the cauldron and we all sang O Canada. Then the school kids sang it in French and Iniut. A couple of people spoke, we got our picture taken holding someone's torch and had a free hotdog.
Excellent intro to our 3 night stay here.
Back to the hotel to checkin. Grace then went off dog-sledding. Since dogs and I do not get along, I went out for a walk with camera in hand and shot a few rolls. The town is perched between the river and Hudson's Bay and so the ice forms here quite quickly due the heavy mix of fresh water.
Dinner and then down to the Park Office for a lecture about the Northern Lights.
Finally getting into bed about 9:30 after having been up since 4 am and Grace comes racing into the room for her camera. The Lights are out she says. I jump up, pull on the warm pants and jacket over my pjs and rush outside. Fantastic swirls of green light.
Next 2 days were spent in the converted school buses roaming the tundra and we are very lucky - we saw about 30 bears each day. A few had cubs that the guide told us would probably me almost 2 years old. They are born in December January time, stay in the maternity den until about March when Mum brings them out to play and teach them survival.
The bears are getting anxious to eat as they have not done so for 5 or 6 months. They are at the shore waiting for the ice to solidfy so they can catch the next seal meal. Bears cannot see that well but they can smell and they smelled the fresh meat on our buses so they would come right up to investigate who we were. It was awesome.
Fantastic trip - a privilege to be able to see the bears - highly recommend it.
2009/12/04
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