Nature Grande Slam in North America: Grizzly, polar bears & beluga whales.
Once arrived in Vancouver, the young and dynamic economic capital of British Columbia, you will have an immediate and first contact with the West Coast culture thanks to the presence of some sculptures and totems welcoming you at Vancouver International airport. This explorative route is going to be a naturalistic expedition rather than a normal touristic tour. You will reach the North American areas, well known as being the most fascinating and interesting in the world. The main target of this explorative Tour will be the Great bears, the greatest carnivores on the planet along with whales, the greatest sea mammals. In order to satisfy your curiosity and security needs as well, you will enjoy a safe and guided tour with any equipment provided. During every step and movement you will take, your guides, expert ethologists and naturalistic photographers, will take care of you like angels.
The first part of your itinerary will take you to Vancouver Island, which stands right in front of Vancouver city. You will fly over Vancouver Bay and the spectacular Georgia Straits to arrive at Campbell River, where you will be welcomed by our guide and accommodated at your deluxe hotel. The morning after, you will take another seaplane toward your deluxe lodge, located in the area bordering the Great Bear Rainforest. Here you will spend 4 spectacular nature watching days. This forest has been called “ the jewel of Canadian naturalism” and its park has been acknowledged by WWF and UNO as one of the most beautiful temperate Rainforest Park in the world. Here, there are so many Gr
izzly bears, Grew wolves, bald eagles, bull elks, together with black bears. All these creatures will be the real stars of your journey.
izzly bears, Grew wolves, bald eagles, bull elks, together with black bears. All these creatures will be the real stars of your journey.Everyday, for four days, you will have an excursion together with some naturalism experts that will take you to explore many sites inside the park. At times, in order to better reach some sites, expeditions will take place by boats and dinghies. All meals will be served and based on the finest West Coast cuisine and healthy seafood. You will also have the opportunity to have other excursions during these 4 days, like forest mountain climbing and some boat cruise/expedition along the famous Johnston Straits coast and if you want, you can practice kayak paddling along the Straits, with the exciting possibility of having a close contact with dolphins, sea lions and also with famed killer whales! But don’t worry, there has never been any accident with these wonderful creatures.
Every day, coming back from your long excursion (some of them can last up to 10 hours), the warmth of your beautiful lodge will welcome you back with a relaxing bath in your hot tub. In the fourth day, you will go back to Campbell where your guide will be waiting for you to take your flight back to Vancouver. The morning after, you will leave Vancouver to reach Winnipeg and, from there, you will fly to Churchill. In Churchill you might join an excursion for a panoramic flight over the arctic tundra before reaching your lodge.
The Heritage Lodge will be the starting point of your adventure in the semi-arctic tundra. This lodge is the only quality lodge in the bay, strategically placed on the Hudson Bay coast, near the Seal River estuary. This is an ideal position to practice whale watching. Seal River estuary is about six marine miles far away from the lodge, and here during summer time, thousands of white beluga whales gather. Furthermore, thanks to the distance from Churchill (about 50 km and 35 minutes flight), in summertime, polar bears can be watched in the bay, together with a range of other wild animal and plant species, like rare birds and many other kinds of birds, foxes and wolves. This will turn your excursion into one of the most exclusive route around the semi-arctic tundra.
You will watch and take pictures of one of the most fascinating naturalistic events. Keep your eyes and ears wide open to be able to see and hear wolves howling in the distance. Beautiful arctic foxes go unnoticed, among so many other stars of this local fauna. The same is for great eagles, that are the “raiders” of caribous herds, chasing their newborn. As already mentioned, a lot of birds fly over this land, like the white arctic grouse, Smith, Ross Longspur and the Bonaparte Seagulls. As a matter of fact, it is not unusual for birdwatchers to spot over 100 species of birds during their staying here.