Great Bear Lodge is a mix of no-nonsense accommodations, gourmet dining and grizzly bear tours.
British Columbia lodge offers more than bear necessities
Great Bear Nature
Tours in British
Columbia offers
viewing tours of
grizzly bears from
Port Hardy. The
motorized, flat-bottom boats are often
rowed by the guides
to avoid disturbing
the wildlife.
PHO TOS BY JOE ROSEN
guide and naturalist.
Rivest’s redheaded partner, Marg Leehane, is a chatty, expat Australian who, to
the casual observer, seems to be the lodge’s
untitled general manager and liaison to the
outside world.
By Joe Rosen
It was all hands on deck as a midsummer afternoon faded into early evening: Freebie, a female grizzly, was foraging for food along
the shore line no more than 30 feet from the moorings of our
floating wilderness camp, the Great Bear Lodge, and the lodge’s
resident naturalists and guests, cameras at the ready, were capturing her every move.
Affectionately nicknamed Freebie because her failure to conceive over the years
had in no way diminished her appetite for
serial assignations with willing male bears,
the 6-year-old grizzly was no stranger to
Great Bear Lodge, located in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rain Forest.
For days, the 10 of us staying as guests
— a capacity crowd in the five-bedroom
lodge — had tracked her, with the guidance
of the naturalists, from flat-bottom boats as
she ambled along the edges of the estuarine
grasslands feeding on sedge, berries and
skunk grass until the salmon runs of late
summer would offer a tastier menu.
Moreover, she had nosed around
the camp environs before, looking for
protection from some of her more ag-
gressive paramours.
“The females sometimes seek out humans because
they know the adult males are afraid of
us and won’t follow them here,” said John
Humphries, a Great Bear naturalist and
guide who’s a former project coordinator
with the U.S. Geological Survey.
“For that reason, some pregnant females
find their way here to deliver their cubs because they know they will be safe from the
males, who have been known to kill and eat
their young.”
Lodge operator Great Bear Nature Tours,
which is located 50 miles north of the tip
of Vancouver Island at the aptly named
Port Hardy, is owned (with partners) and
operated by Tom Rivest, bearded and looking every bit the part of grizzled wilderness
Responsible nature tourism
Offering day trips from Port Hardy since
1999 and operating as a lodge since 2003,
Great Bear is a mix of no-nonsense accommodations (each bedroom has a washroom, with hot showers nearby);
three-meal-a-day, gourmet
dining; and photography/
viewing tours of grizzlies
in their natural, pristine
habitat.
“Our philosophy is
consistent with our goal
of safely viewing bears
in a natural setting while
eliminating or minimizing the impact on them,”
said Leehane. “Guest safety
is of the utmost importance,
and our viewing program is organized using the protocols developed
at the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary
on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.”
When guests are in a viewing blind, for
example, the bears are normally not aware
of a human presence, she said. “Our aim
is to see the bears but not have them see
us,” said Leehane. “And we make all of our
movements in the valley predictable so that
the bears can choose to avoid us.”
One way of doing this while on the trail
is to walk in groups and to “walk loud,” calling out “Hey bear!” every few minutes so
there are no surprises for the easily spooked
grizzlies.
Four wooden viewing blinds, shed-like
enclosures that tend to contain human
4 NIGHTS $
FROM 2255
(AIR, HOTEL & TAXES)
VACATION INCLUDES:
• Round-trip economy class airfare on
Singapore Airlines from San Francisco
• 4-Nights accommodation at Sheraton
Hong Kong (Harbour View)
• Daily breakfast
• Hong Kong Island tour with Sampan ride
• Round-trip airport transfers
• All taxes, fees and surcharges
CALL FOR RATES FROM OTHER CITIES.
Departures from SFO. Rate is per person, double occupancy unless
otherwise stated. Rate valid for select travel 6/6-8/20/08. Rates terms,
conditions, availability and itinerary are subject to change without notice.
Certain restrictions apply. CST# 1007939-10. UBI# 601 915 263.
888-996-8883
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