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The inmates of Cell Block D were restless. A few were hammering on the metal doors. Officially it is known as the Polar Bear Compound. To the locals in Churchill, Manitoba in Canada, where the bears convene every year in readiness for a winter feeding frenzy on the frozen Hudson Bay, it’s the Polar Bear Jail, housing the most feared and fearless killers in the North. Fourteen bears were in the jail when we were there. Former mayor and tour company owner Mark Ingebrigtson told us most bears were not aggressive. "We only capture the bears when they get too close to town." Those are tranquilised humanely and jailed in an old quonset hut, a relic of the time there was a military base in these parts. Some of the concrete-block cells with their metal doors are for single male bears, others for mothers and their cubs. Many pregnant females converge in October to a denning site about 60 kilometers south of Churchill where in mid-winter they give birth. In "jail", the Polar Bears are not fed, just given water. Bob, a driver/guide, said of the "jail": "The old hands who’ve been here before take it placidly. They settle down quietly to await release."  When the Hudson Bay begins to freeze over, the Polar Bears are airlifted out one by one on a first in, first out system. Sedated, they are transported back into the pristine wilderness in nets dangling from a helicopter. You might say Churchill is the staging point for the Polar Bears’ winter feed. From October to November they arrive from their summer ranges south of Churchill in a state of semi-hibernation to wait for Hudson Bay to start freezing over, when the first ice floes will carry them out onto the bay to spend their winter hunting seals. The seal pups, which they cherish, are rich in fat and protein. Often the seals are too quick for them. They probably miss nine out of ten and they need to kill two seals a week to keep their cubs alive. By Spring, when the ice melts, the Polar Bears are prepared for their long fast, having stored enough fat reserves to see them through the summer. The Inuit call them "pihoqiaq", the ever-wandering one. At the last estimate, there were only 12,000 Polar Bears left in the world, most of them in Canada. At Churchill one of the last great wilderness adventures awaits tourists. Slap in the middle of one of the world’s most demanding environments, Churchill is a one-horse town of a thousand inhabitants, hundreds of polar bears and Beluga whales. In the winter it’s transformed into an icy desert. The Northern Lights and ripple overhead, sketching surreal Technicolor patterns in the night sky. You’ll stay at hotels with names like Lazy Bear Lodge, Bear Country Inn, and Northern Nights Travel Lodge . Probably the most important building for the people of Churchill is the Town Complex. Here, under one roof, you’ll find the school, civic offices, ice-hockey arena, curling rink, swimming pool, gymnasium, library, indoor playground, theater, cafeteria and bowling alley and health/hospital complex. Occasionally you’ll run into a sign: "Polar Bear Alert STOP - Don’t walk in this area". There’s even a bear hotline. On the outskirts of Churchill at Cape Merry the sign says: "If you are not accompanied by a Park guide while visiting Cape Merry and a polar bear is sighted leave the area immediately – never approach a bear. Bear Alert phone 675-BEAR". Hallowe’en night comes at the peak of bear movement near the town. That’s when dozens of townsfolk in radio-equipped cars patrol the outskirts, watching for bears to protect the children who are out trick-or-treating. This is frontier country but it’s like an urban area with a high mugging rate, so you stay away or you’re wary, one eye over your shoulder looking out for polar bears as you walk home at night. We were at the Parks Canada visitor centre one evening when an Australian tourist asked about the timing of the cinema show and the danger or otherwise of walking home later in the dark. The Parks Canada attendant told her: "I've lived here 40 years and you won’t catch me walking home at night at this time of the year!"  The only way to be sure to see the Polar Bears is to travel out on the tundra in heated, specially designed vehicles adapted to go out on the snow and the ice. Then there is the Tundra Buggy®, designed and built by a Churchill man, Len Smith, and used by Tundra Buggy Tours which is a division of International Wildlife Adventures. These all-terrain monsters sit about 4.5 meters (about 15 feet) above the ground on huge balloon tyres that exert minimum pressure on the fragile tundra. They go through steep ditches without jolting passengers, cross mushy tundra with comparative ease and drive across rivers and onto lakes – even into the Hudson Bay – up to a depth of 1-and-a-half meters. The Tundra Buggy Lodge, like the Great White Bear Tundra Lodge, is a custom-built mobile camp complete with a dining/kitchen car, a lounge car and a sleeping car. Here tourists spend a day or more and the cooking smells attract the Polar Bears. Their sense of smell is so acute that they can detect a scent 32 km away and pick up the scent of a seal under four feet of snow and ice. Feeding is strictly forbidden, carrying a $1,000 fine. We’re picked up early in the morning by coach. The drive to the Tundra Buggy is about 30 minutes. On the way we see Polar Bears ambling across the snowy wasteland. Most of the tour operators head for Gordon’s Point where we find five Polar Bears snoozing lethargically in the cold sun in a state of semi-hibernation. Two others spar playfully for twenty minutes to let off steam and then waddle into the freezing sea to cool down. Another is nibbling sea-weed and then rolls around in the snow. "They love the ice. I’ve seen one break off a piece of ice and use it like a piece of soap to cleanse himself with both paws," said Bob. This is a total role-reversal. Here the Polar Bear is in its own environment, in its kingdom, watching the humans confined to their caged buggies, being fed their hot soup, egg-salad sandwiches and coffee. One lumbers over, pigeon-toed, to check us out, disturbing the tiny snow buntings. He stands on his hind legs and peers in the windows, sniffing. No matter how often you’ve seen one in a zoo, nothing can quite prepare you for the real thing. It’s magnificent. Massive head held high, coal-black nose and eyes set in an ivory coat. Only when it approaches this close do you begin to get an idea of the massiveness and the power. Most of the males weigh in at about 1,000 lbs, but the biggest Polar Bear ever measured was 12 feet high and weighed 2210 lbs. Yet it can walk on thinner ice than a human can because of its weight distribution and the size of its paws, each about 12 inches across. Bob says: "He doesn’t fear anything. Around these parts he’s top of the food chain. He has only man to fear." It may look cuddly, but it can kill a 500 lb seal with one swipe of its paw.  Soon the other tundra wagons form a semi-laager around our bears. Two of them had started playing again, standing on their hind legs and pawing at each other. The one tires of this frivolity, sits down and simply rolls on his back like a giant teddy bear. The other takes a mouthful of ear and tugs at it, but when he detects there’s no interest, he stalks off, bored. Instead, he comes inspecting the humans in the Tundra Buggy, poking his nose against the windows, no doubt thinking of all the fat inside. An arctic fox comes snooping around. One gets close to the Polar Bear and then lopes off hurriedly when the bear shows an interest at this possible tidbit. That day we see 12 polar bears. Len Smith tells us: "Most I ever saw on one day was 62. That was a freak year. The bears were just everywhere. One driver came back one evening and said "There’s so many out there, it’s scary." Back in Churchill we find a cute poster in one of the few shops. The photo is by famed wildlife photographer and writer Robert Taylor. Looking much like an overweight Mae West, the Polar Bear has her eyes closed, her legs daintily crossed. "Come up and see me some time," she says. Thousands of tourists are doing exactly that every October and November. Photos: Ursula Retief and International Wildlife Adventures  Churchill is the only human settlement where polar bears can be observed in the wild. Best viewing time is October to early November. Churchill is also famous with birders - some 200 species of birds nest or pass through on their yearly migrations – and white beluga whales. More than 3,000 beluga whales come in early July to feed and calve. You can fly to Churchill on Calm Air or travel there on VIA Rail’s Hudson Bay from Winnipeg, a two-night, one-day trip, three times a week in comfortable bedrooms or roomettes and Manitoba cuisine in the dining car. Polar Bear tours are run by several companies, among them International Wildlife Adventures, Great White Bear Tours and Churchill Nature Tours. For sightseeing in and around Churchill and wildlife tours try Adventure Walking Tours. Sea North Tours offers boat and Beluga Whale tours. The Churchill Northern Studies Centre is one of the few places in the world where the public can enrol in arctic studies. Churchill and the surrounding area has a unique history and several national historic sites are in the area, including Prince of Wales Fort, Sloop Cove, Cape Merry Battery, and further south, about 250 kilometers is York Factory where visitors can experience the diverse history of the Hudson's Bay Company and the fur trade of the 1600-1800s. |
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