noise. If a conversational volume did not deflect them from the group, the guide would raise his voice. Escalating the auditory experience, MacPherson would reach into his parka, pull out fist-sized rocks and clack them together. Again, a sharp sound not familiar to the bear. We never saw more than these three steps used to turn a bear. Only once was I apprehensive, when the grizzled old male called Bones (short for Bag of Bones) came directly toward us. The guides had told us Bones was a no-nonsense type that the younger bears avoided. Guides also carry small pistols, from which they can fire either of two types of noise-making shells but without projectiles. And guides carry 12-gauge shotguns. The first shell is a blank, with the expectation that the sound of the percussion would frighten away a bear. Finally, the guide would fire a loaded shell toward the ground in front of the bear, so that the noise and ricocheting shot would turn the bear for good. In 20 years, MacPherson said, Churchill Wild has never shot a bear. Shooting a polar bear is banned on lands not occupied by the aborigines, who are allowed to hunt bears and walrus. Once our guides were certain we would quickly obey the calm instructions to get out of harm’s way, Ryan and MacPherson allowed us to get closer to the bears. Which left me wondering how I could describe to readers just how close I had been to a 700-pound carnivore. We were careful to give Bones plenty of room. We were less concerned about the four other males and two females we encountered, although it seemed that at least one of them, whom the guides had named Bob, wanted to hang out with us. That was obvious one morning when I went into the fenced back yard of the lodge, the only fencing anywhere. Perhaps 5 yards from the fence was Bob, estimated to weigh between 600 and 700 pounds and to be about 7 years old. The thin wire fence had holes large enough to allow a camera lens through. As I took off my outer glove and turned on the camera, Bob came toward the fence. And kept coming. Finally, he settled down almost against the fence. He opened his mouth and put his enormous upper and lower jaws into one of the holes. I snapped some photos and had my picture taken by other guests. As long as we spoke to Bob, he kept opening his mouth and clamping it gently on the fence — flossing, the guides jokingly called this. So I had a new standard of my proximity to the bears: No longer was my closest encounter to a bear about the length of a parking space. No, now I felt his breath and could have petted him. I did want to reach out to touch the top of Bob’s white muzzle, but his canine teeth were easily as long as my thumbs. And I wanted to keep my thumbs, and all of my fingers. If he kept flossing, then I could keep admiring him — an arm’s length away.
CHURCHILL WILD Owner-operators Jeanne and Mike Reimer have had 20 years to expand and renovate Seal River Heritage Lodge, which accommodates 16 in rooms sleeping two or more. (The three other Churchill Wild lodges are busy at different times of the year depending on what critters you most want to see — beluga whales, mother bears with their cubs — or to fish for.) With both a chef and pastry chef at Seal River, the meals always featured hot entrees, often a choice of soups, and rich desserts. Guests tend to burn off the calories during the five to six hours of daily frigid-weather walkabouts. Hot hors d’oeuvres, cheeses or hummus are offered at cocktail hour, as are wine, beer and liquor. (Also offered at dinner, the alcoholic beverages are included in the price, as are three meals a day and flights on small planes to reach the isolated lodge.) After dinner, guests gather in front of the wood-burning stove in the lodge’s lounge for presentations about the region’s history, animals and how the Reimers and staff restock the lodge using a tractor to haul a huge sled for 36 hours over the Hudson Bay ice.
A fence separates them, but they were so close to each other that Robert N. Jenkins could feel the breath of Bob, a 7-year-old that weighs between 600 and 700 pounds. Photograph courtesy of Robert N. Jenkins
The Churchill Wild trips are typically four days in the lodge and a day in Churchill, about 40 miles south of Seal River. The price for 2014 trips is about $9,560, including two nights in a Winnipeg airport hotel before and after the lodge trip, and round-trip flights to the lodge. For more information, go to churchillwild.com. A less costly (about $1,400 U.S.) one-day alternative is offered by longtime Winnipeg tour operator Don Finkbeiner. After a twohour flight on a twin-engine plane from Winnipeg to Churchill, passengers board a Tundra Buggy, which rolls high above the snow. The buggy travels routes where bear sightings are frequent; the buggy has large windows, is heated and restroom-equipped. For more information, go to heartlandtravel.ca.