Seal River is on the western side of Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Canada. It is the place for polar bears in the summertime, and about a zillion beluga whales. Seal River Lodge takes only about a dozen people in a family environment. The hospitality and friendliess are memorable, the food is astonishing, and the experience is life-changing. If you love wilderness and you have good camera gear and you want a rare experience, go. Tell 'em I sent you. My pix are all RAW and then processed down to small JPGs for SmugMug. Hope they don't disappoint.
We saw lots of bears, including this mother and cub. We were careful to be with them for only a couple of minutes, so we didn't stress them.
The last picture in the mother and cub series. I have maybe fifty showing them trotting along the beach. But I love this one. The cub is a grubby teenager......
Back at the lodge, the Reimer kids play with the guard dog, a black labrador called Dakota. Whenever they go outside, they must take her with them, because she can sense bears long before they can. She is incredibly healthy. Her coat shines.
We travel with two bears. That's Teddy on the left, from the Edinburgh Tattoo and his mate Polar, whom we acquired on a small-boat trip in the Bering Sea with Cruise West. They were on lookout duty for bears. This was our bunk room. The bars on the windows are there because sometimes bears (big ones, that is) try to break in. Polar loved it at the lodge. One day, he thought he saw his uncle in the distance. (Just so you know, we're not a bit weird; I am writing a children's book about the bears' travels. They have their own passports.)
One day, a bear came along the path to the lodge. They do that. The pretty flowers are called fireweed and they're a pest in the arctic and sub arctic.
Matt Breiter, the German-born wilderness photographer quickly set up. They wouldn't let him go outside. Matt spends a lot of time in Alaska and has written several books on bears.
They allowed Matt outside briefly, but only on the porch. My wife Karen looked apprehensively through the window, and Ian Thorleifson, the Icelandic-born guide, stood guard. The shotgun was loaded.
The bear came closer......
.... and closer ......
.... until it was right out front.....