Finding Polar Bears

We usually bring our hopes and expectations along with us on expeditions. For many folks, it’s about seeing certain animals in their home habitats. As I noted last week, I recently returned from a trip to the Arctic. One person in our group was keen on seeing a musk ox, but we only spent a day or two in their range, and that person’s desire was not fulfilled.

For others, polar bears were high on the list. Cedar Swan, the Adventure Canada CEO, told us that she always feels a certain concern in her gut over whether they can find us polar bears on each trip.

However, finding polar bears is a mixed blessing. While they are on many folks’ bucket lists, they are also the most dangerous animal we could encounter. We had a mandatory polar bear safety meeting that included a Canadian governmental video along with a very clear briefing on the role of bear guards. The guards carry not just lethal bullets but also rubber bullets and other nonlethal deterrents in order to discourage bears whenever possible rather than killing them.

The only people who can carry firearms in Nunatsiavut (an autonomous area claimed by the Inuit in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) are the Inuit, so all bear guards are native to the land. I think that’s a great way to make sure that the native perspective prevails in honoring and caring for both humans and polar bears.

The expedition team’s first priority when checking out any landing site for exploration was therefore—and ironically for anyone with polar bears on their bucket list—to make sure there were no polar bears nearby.

For our first morning in Torngat Mountains National Park, a landing site in Martin Bay had been picked out and described to us in our briefing. It included the only Nazi invasion/landing site on North American soil during World War II—a weather station that worked for only a few days! A scout team headed out to prepare for our landing while we had breakfast. This included archaeologists to flag unexcavated Thule and Dorset sites and items of interest so we wouldn’t accidentally disturb something and an Inuit woman with a drum to make spiritual preparations for our “invasion.”

And at that first site there were polar bears! Hooray for the bucket list—though not for the history buffs who hoped to stand on that bit of historical soil (the artifacts were long ago removed to a museum). While staff zoomed off in zodiacs to check out the next possible landing site, we crowded on the ship decks to catch glimpses of as many as four(!) polar bears in the area.

The most visible was one large bear walking along the shoreline as if it owned the place—which I imagine it does! We watched and talked for a while as the bear made its way along the shoreline—and then walked below where another bear was lying in the sunshine. (In the image above, can you see the bear fairly directly above the one walking on the beach? Look for the black nose in the pile of white fur.) At that point, the one above stood up and chased the other bear out of “its” territory—and you can see in this image how much bigger that top bear is! The smaller one turned around and retreated uphill, so there was no direct encounter, but it was exciting to see this interaction in the wild.

The day turned out to have an abundance of bears. Three more landing sites had to be rejected because bears were nearby! Meanwhile, we enjoyed two lectures (on arctic birds and botany) and lunch while the boat was repositioned, and they tried to find a place for us to get out and walk where there weren’t polar bears in the vicinity. An abundance of riches!

Finally, we were all able to board the zodiacs and get out to explore the arctic tundra, learn about a Thule home site (that the team didn’t know about until they landed to explore), and wander hillsides filled with moss- and lichen-covered rocks, small rivulets and ponds (“marshy bits” in our expedition’s lingo), and assorted tiny plants that were already going to seed. (More on them in another post.)

All too soon, we were being herded back to shore—because yes, yet another polar bear had been sighted! This one saw all the human invaders and decided to swim across the fjord to get a closer look. So, while one naturalist in his zodiac kept a careful eye on the bear’s progress, we all donned our life jackets and high-tailed it back to the ship.

Polar bears? Check!

What animal(s) have been or are on your bucket list? What stories do you have to tell about wildlife encounters?