Canada - Day Seven - Thursday 10th October

Another early morning – breakfast at 6.30am in the main dining hall and then activities start for the day.  Breakfast here is fairly simple, but substantial enough.  By 7.30am we have got the jackets and wellies on – they provide all the outerwear that you will need – and have boarded the boat to get to the other side of the estuary.  On the way across one of the Finnish gentleman – I later get to know that he is Jari Peltomaki, a world famous wildlife photographer – spots a brown bear on the shores about one hundred metres from the lodge.  We swing round to get a few photographs, as well as the thirty or so harbour seals that are lying on the top of a couple of logs in the water.  They just look up to see who we are, and don’t seem bothered at all.  We needed wellies on today as the tide is very low, so the boat can only get so far.  We have to jump in to ankle deep water and go across seaweed and mud and rocks to get to the bank.

After the bus ride, we get to the hides and today I am in “Finger” – probably because it is at the end of a piece of land that sticks out like a finger.  This overlooks the same piece of water we overlooked yesterday, as well as another river at the back of the hide.  We are not disappointed yet again.  The river is full of bears.  There is a mother and her two cubs and are foraging for eggs in the shingle, another mother and two older cubs that are playing with fish and several other “singles”.  The two hours just whiz by.  Jari is in this hide – and his camera, which is about two feet long and all his equipment - looks as if he has got some superb shots.  It sounds like a machine gun – I think he might even be taking more shots that I did.  One of the bears actually walked up the bank and right beside the hide, giving us a sideways glance as he went.  Surely I must have at least one good shot now!!

After the two hours we go back by bus and boat, and get coffee and cake before the next trip, which is another estuary cruise.  The weather is just amazing for this time of year – it is cold, but very bright.  It makes the mountains and forests look magical.  We see heron, goldeneye and heaps of bald eagles amongst the huge display of bird life, but no more bears.  There are also wolverine and cougar in these parts, but they don’t make an appearance either.

After another lovely lunch – everything here is homemade, and really tasty, we have to get the jackets on again as we are going bear tracking. 
That isn’t actually following the bears, it is just looking out for where they have been.  Although we are warned what to do if we come across one – and the signs along the road say “Extreme Danger – Grizzly Bears” where we get out.  We are shown where and why they have “rub trees” and the cameras and equipment that they have out here for dna testing and other research.  There is an awful lot of research going on by various people studying for their phd’s – it is an ongoing process over many years and for many years to come.  Bears sense of smell is apparently around seventy times that of humans – that is why we have been asked not to use perfume or any other scented toiletries before going out to bear viewing.  How could they not like Oscar de la Renta??  After learning about where the bears sleep in their day beds, what their poo looks like and various other things about the rainforest we are in, an hour and a half has gone and it is time to head back across the estuary.  Another coffee and cake – I could get used to this!  The Nanaimo Cake is so nice I might just have to get the recipe.

At 3.00pm we set off for our last bear viewing of the trip.  It is quite sad knowing that we aren’t going to be seeing them any more after this.  Along the road there is a black tailed deer and a baby deer just walking and minding their own business.  They take a look at the bus, and then carry on in the middle of the road.  Very good at keeping speed restrictions – perhaps we ought to adopt this method in the UK.  We get to the hides, and again we are in “Finger”.  There is another mother and two cubs, about ten bears up by the weir and a couple inbetween.  Again, the two hours just fly by watching how they react together – or ignore each other.  We start back, and there are two large bears in the road.  They eventually pull over to let us pass, and then another two appear.  It is as if they are all coming out to say goodbye and one of them was Gary!

After dinner tonight we have a presentation by Jari, the Finnish photographer.  He has a slide show of some of his bird shots – they are amazing!  If only mine were to come out as good as that – I wish!