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.
And then at the window.
Fee, fi, fo, fum.... I smell people.....
Just after I took this picture, the bear stood up and it was well over my 6ft tall. Ian had told me: "If it stands up, bang on the glass, because it could come through." It did stand up, and I smacked the glass. Fortunately, it didn't like the noise and dropped to all fours. But it was "interesting" for a moment.
Linda Besse burned lots of rolls of film while the bear was right there.
I love this picture. Two bears. Rolf, a German army colonel, was up close and personal.
No food, so the bear left. That's photographer Louise Murray in the left of the picture.
Me, left, with Mike, wearing our "Churchill Wild" polar fleeces.
That night, our last, we had "goose boobies" on the barbecue. Every year, hunters kill hundreds and hundres of Canada geese. They leave Mike a freezer-full of goose breasts. They are absolutely delicious.
Closeup of the "goose boobies" cooking on the barbecue. I may have eaten better than we did at the lodge, but I can't remember when!!
Leavin' on a float plane. This was our last view of Mike, as it had been our first view, days earlier. We didn't want to go.
We will be back.
We will be back.