VISITING POLAR BEARS--NOT AT A ZOO! Guest post by Sara Louise Kras

Polar Bear, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

My friend and fellow writer Sara Louise Kras went to Hudson Bay to research her recent book, The Hunted: Polar Prey, and has graciously written this article about her trip.  You can find out more about Sara and her many other books and travels at her website, www.saralouisekras.com . All of the excellent photos of polar bears in this post are by Sara's husband, Joe Kras.

For many years I fantasized about seeing polar bears in their natural habitat.  But our travels took us to other places – mostly warm – to do research on the various book projects I had been hired to write.  Finally, in 2008, I decided to take the icy plunge and fly to the Arctic to see polar bears.  I was working on a fiction book about a polar bear, so I thought it would be great to see them firsthand.  After very little research, I realized that the most optimum place for viewing these elusive creatures was in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.  This tiny town bordering the Hudson Bay is inundated with polar bears from October and November.  Polar bears wait there for the Hudson Bay to freeze so they can go out on the frozen ice to hunt seals. 

Polar bears don’t eat much during the summer – just what they can scrounge up – so they are literally starving.  This hungry state actually makes it very dangerous for the people who live in Churchill, including children.  Polar bears don’t have a problem with eating humans.  To them, food is food.  Also, given that they are the largest bears in the world, at eight and a half feet long and more than two thousand pounds, these bears can cause some serious damage.  I heard stories of polar bears breaking down front doors and rearranging the furniture--including knocking over a refrigerator!  

Again, doing more research on the internet, I found two companies who seemed to have the same exact itinerary in Churchill – except one was about $1,000 cheaper per person.  The difference is one was based in the United States and the other was based in Canada.  After thoroughly interviewing the Canadian company, I decided to go with them.  The name of the company is Churchill Nature Tours.  

My husband and I normally do not travel with groups.  We are very independent travelers.  But traveling to Churchill is completely different.  You can’t rent a car and drive out to see the polar bears.  You must travel with other people in tundra buggies, bus-like vehicles with wheels six feet tall. 

 

Our package tour was five nights long.  The first and last nights were in Winnipeg, but the middle three nights were in Churchill.  When we arrived in Churchill in the early morning, I was shocked at the size of the airport.  It was only as big as a small house, but it was literally stuffed with tourists, all searching for their tour company or group.  Once we found ours, we were whisked away to the helicopter company and taken up to see polar bears from the air.  It was an amazing beginning.  We saw a polar bear with an elk kill.  We saw a moose slowly making its way through the deep snow.  We saw a mother and baby polar bear.  On Hudson Bay, icebergs floated, looking like giant chunks of Styrofoam.   Later we visited the Eskimo museum where I got an invaluable contact for my fiction book.  Several weeks after the trip, the owner answered many questions via email about the Inuit, which brought an interesting twist to my story. 

The next two days were spent out in the tundra buggy.  Because our tour company only allowed eighteen people on their tours, there were plenty of window seats for everyone.  We were on the buggy all day – both days.  For comfort, there was a toilet on the buggy and we also had piping hot lunches and snacks.  We saw many polar bears even though throughout the second day there was a blizzard!  I credit the wonderful guide who was in charge of our group.  He seemed to know where to look, even when there were few polar bears at times.  If you’d like to see polar bears, I highly recommend traveling with this company. 

By the end of my trip, I had a firsthand knowledge of the depth of cold in the Arctic.  I had firsthand knowledge of how to attach a carrybag to a helicopter to transport a polar bear.  I had firsthand knowledge of how polar bears move and swim.  All of this was used in my book.  Now my book, a fiction story, The Hunted: Polar Prey has been published through Speeding Star.  It is about a boy who has to save his mother.  She is floating on an iceberg and is being hunted by a polar bear.  It’s a quick read and plot driven.  If you’d like to check it out, you can get it at http://www.speedingstar.com/books/The_Hunted/4261#.VG-Ybcm6j2s

BEIJING ZOO and PEKING DUCK, Beijing, China (Day 5)

Red Panda, Beijing Zoo

The following is an excerpt from the diary of our trip to China July, 1995.  We were traveling with three friends, spending five days in Beijing and then three days in Xian.  China has changed greatly since our visit but many of the places we went to are still among the popular tourist spots.

Golden Monkey, Beijing Zoo

Beijing, Day 5:  Our last day in Beijing was a free day with no organized tours.  In the morning, Art and I took a taxi to the zoo.  The weather was hot but not unbearable.  The panda exhibit is the first inside the gate and required an extra fee.  The inside enclosures were filled with cut bamboo and one panda was eating.  The others were more active outside.  We also photographed a red panda, which circled around and round its enclosure before finally climbing a tree to sleep.  After leaving the pandas we searched for other Chinese animals and saw some cranes and golden monkeys.  The zoo is huge and we got somewhat lost because there weren’t many maps.  At the far end we found two polar bears play-fighting in the water.

Polar bears, Beijing Zoo

After the zoo we took a taxi to the Great Bell Temple to see the biggest bell in China.  You can read more about the bell in my post on 6/30/14.

Preparation of Peking Duck

That evening we went out for a Peking duck dinner at a restaurant recommended by the hotel.  The waitress convinced us that we needed two ducks (for five of us) but we would have been better off with just one because they were so greasy and rich that we ate too much and felt sick the next day.  The waiter brings the whole roast duck on a cart and then carves the pieces into piles on small plates.  You eat them with your hands, folding the duck pieces inside thin pancakes that have been swabbed in bean sauce. Afterwards we watched them prepare and cook the ducks and bought a few souvenirs, including a duck hat for Art.

Tiananmen Square at Night

We then walked back to our hotel via Tiananmen Square, where people were picnicking, talking, playing badminton and soccer, and flying kites.  (Badminton was obviously very popular in China. Every night on television we saw broadcasts of the international badminton championships which were being played that week.)  The moon, which had been a crescent earlier in the week, was growing fuller and small bats flew among the kites catching insects.  After a hot day, the relatively cool night air was refreshing.

My bird kite purchased in Beijing