Polar Bears with Frontiers North - Intro - Pre-tour

We are back from our Polar Bear adventure, and it was awesome! As always, I will do the blog one day at a time as I get through the photos. 

While there are other places to see polar bears in the wild, we chose Churchill, Manitoba. The world’s most southerly population of polar bears migrate around Churchill, which is why the town has closed-circuit cameras, bear traps, and a bear jail for bears that get a little too close.

Churchill is known as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World”.  The small town of Churchill lies on the southern coast of Hudson Bay and with the influx of freshwater from the Churchill River, the sea ice begins to form here first, around the middle of November. Polar bears eagerly wait for solid sea ice so they can begin their seal hunting season.

The next decision was how to see the polar bears. There are a few options. One is to stay in town and take day trips out to the tundra and explore in the tundra buggies. https://frontiersnorth.com/the-tundra-buggy-adventure

The other is to stay in the Tundra Buggy Lodge right out on the tundra so you can be in the buggies pretty much from sunup to sundown. Then, you sleep in the Lodge at night where bears can be seen right outside your window. https://frontiersnorth.com/tundra-buggy-lodge

There are also companies that will take you on foot to see them and often requires staying in tents or other rustic options or fly in for the day. We ruled that out quickly. Being a once in a lifetime experience, we chose the Tundra Buggy Lodge. We chose a week-long itinerary that includes a night in Winnipeg and then we are flown to Churchill to spend a night there. We visit the Itsanitaq Museum and have a dog-sledding adventure. We have plenty of free time to explore the small town and the next morning we head out to the lodge for 3 nights and 4 days. We return to Churchill and fly back to Winnipeg and then home.

We added an extra night in Winnipeg for any flight or weather delays. If all goes well, we will have a free day to explore Winnipeg. 

We chose https://frontiersnorth.com/adventures/autumn/polar-bears-at-tundra-buggy-lodge

There are only two companies that have permits to visit Churchill Wildlife Management Area which is the largest wildlife management area in Manitoba. There are 18 permits given by the Churchill Wildlife Management Area (CWMA) to explore the network of trails in this area and Frontiers North holds 12 of those permits. (Nathab/Great White Bear has the other 6 and only goes out for half day buggy rides with the rest of the time spent in their Tundra Lodge) Reviews were good for both companies.

We booked about a year in advance since Oct/Nov are the prime polar bear viewing months. This is when the Polar Bears of Churchill, Manitoba congregate on the shores of Hudson Bay as the sheet ice begins to build-up enough for the bears to go out and hunt seals.

So, fingers crossed that the ice cooperates, and we get to see polar bears!

Spoiler alert: WE DID!