Our trip to Churchill Manitoba Canada to see the Polar bears

We flew into Winnipeg in Canada ( all the canadians we have met call it winterpeg) for good reason its so cold. Anyway we flew there on the 24th October, we had given back our hire car in America after 6 months of driving around America and Canada. We had done over 22'000 miles. The next day we met Paul and Sandra who had flown over from England to join us on the Polar bear trip. It was very cold in Winnipeg and we felt it even more as we had just come from Palm Springs with temperatures in the 100s.  We had a really good week with Paul and Sandra catching up, eating and drinking of course. We visited the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg, this is where they mint the everyday coins, and the special coins are minted in Ottawa.

We all left Winnipeg on the 2nd November on our Arctic adventure. We flew the 2 and half hours north to Churchill in a propellor plane, this did not go down well with Brian. We landed on ice and snow and it was extremely cold. We all had really warm ski boots etc and you needed it. We couldn't believe how much snow there was, we had not seen so much before. We got taken to our hotel and on the way the driver took us to the Polar bear jail, this is where they put the bears that have been drugged because they have wandered into the town. Nobody in Churchill locks their doors night or day, so if you happen to come across a bear you can go in the closest house etc. The bears in jail are then air lifted by helicopter about 50km away north for safety.  Churchill is a small town that can only be reached by plane or a 36hr train ride.

The first afternoon on arriving, we all went dog sledging, it was great fun, Emilia even got to stand on the back with the musher. 8 dogs were used to pull the sledge at one time. One of the dogs called Isobel was blind, but she could still run and pull a sledge the same as the others. Another husky called Thunder was a retired dog, but he was lovely.

Monday the 3rd we all had to get up early and pile on the bus to take us to the Tundra buggy launch pad. The Tundra buggy is specially made for viewing the bears. It is really tall and has enormous balloon like tyres to enable it to go over the the delicate tundra. It was very cold the temperature dropped to -18 at one point and it had snowed again. Everything was white. We set off and within 20 mins we saw our first bears, a mother and two cubs. they were so cute, they were rolling with each other and chasing after mum. Later a male bear was walking over the tundra rowards us it was huge and we all got good photos as it walked right past us all.  The Tundra buggy is high up as when the bears stand on their back legs they can reach up to 13ft. On the 1st day we saw 20 bears which was fantastic. The tundra is so bleak and the Hudson bay is massive. The bears test the ice, sleep or just roam about. They all look so cute with their little black noses, but are mans only predator.  The 2nd day we saw 5 bears, during the night there had been a blizzard and even more snow was falling, it was difficult to see and very cold. We still ventured out, but our Tundra buggy slid off the track and got stuck in deep snow. It took 3 buggies to pull us out.  Although this day was bad weather we got some off our best shots of a male bear, he was making a den.

We were due to fly out that night, but all flights had been cancelled, so we had to stay another night. It all added to the adventure though. This trip was booked through  www.cregoradventures.com and was an amazing experience seeing these magnificent bears in their territory. We all had a fantastic time and would recommend it to anyone.

Polar bears of Churchill facts

There are around 900 Polar bears around Churchill during this 6 week period, that is the same as the population of Churchill. From October to the middle of November the bears gather along Cape Churchill. They become land locked for this part of the year as the ice breaks up in late July and the bears come ashore to summer inland or along the coast. The bears wait for the ice to freeze over on the Hudson bay. The Cape faces north and is a shelf jutting 30 miles out into the Hudson bay. The bay needs to ice over so that the bears can return to their hunting grounds over the ice for them to hunt their main food source the Ringed Seal. They kill a seal on average every 5 days and build up their body fat, after months of feeding bears are very fat and finally swim ashore. They have up to 4" of bubber. Once on land they usually fast for these months, but given half the chance will forage for berries, grasses and kelp. They will even eat a snowmobile seat if available. The Polar bear is highly intelligent and adaptable, during these summer months they will enter a state of walking hibernation. They reduce their metabolism lowering energy demands to conserve fat stores.

A male bear can measure up to 4 metres plus standing on its hind legs. They can weigh up to 650kg (1'430 lbs) and live up to 20 years.

Females are smaller and weigh on average 250kg (550 lbs). They are about the size of a small male. They live between 25 and 30 years and usually have 2 cubs at a time.

The Polar bear can smell 20 times stronger than humans and can identify scents up to 60 miles away.