Hello. Fellow travelers,
I was thinking of going on a bear viewing expedition. It would be exciting to see those 1,200 pound bears at a safe difference, some eating salmon from the river, some playing with the little cute cubs. I thought about this until I viewed a video with a guide and people with cameras. What I thought was , these people were incredibly so close to these bears. The guide had said, safety is our number one priority. So needless to say I would not want to be there feeling unsafe and very uncomfortable. One instance it showed a bear walking toward the guide with tourists behind him. He took out a huge hand gun and had to shout numerous times to get the bear turned around. The bear finally did after being stubborn. There are companies in Vancouver Canada and will check this out and if it’s at a safe distance I may consider going to one. Another thing is those high viewing platforms, bu what happens if a bear decides to climb the stairs. Just a thought. Larry
Posted by
430 posts
Fly into a lodge that uses boats for viewing. The bears will be on the shore, and you will be in the boat, very close however as in a few feet. J
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14815 posts
A friend and her grandson did a trip to Brooks Camp at Katmai National Park in Alaska in August. They have a friend who is a Ranger there in the summers.
https://www.nps.gov/katm/planyourvisit/index.htm
They are both seasoned Yellowstone visitors and often hike and camp in Grizzly country in Montana and Wyoming but she said this was a totally different experience. Her Ranger friend said a lot of it is to do with food availability. The salmon are so plentiful at some times of the year that the bears are not as aggressive as the bears in the Yellowstone Ecosystem. They rented waders and walked down the river with the fishermen and said they were pretty close to the bears but the bears mostly ignored the people. Their pictures are fantastic.
If you do FB, here is a link to the grandson's photography page with some of the AK pictures.
https://www.facebook.com/BraedenRoeslerPhotography/
The trips take a lot of planning as you need to coordinate lodging with the float plane transportation.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
119 posts
We drove from northern BC to Stewart BC and Hyder Alaska where we went to Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site. There is a great elevated platform and park rangers to ensure safety and it did not disappoint. There was incredible wildlife viewing and the drive is also beautiful.
Posted by
Boise, ID, USA
2309 posts
Sounds like an echo, but a friend and her grandson did an Alaskan bear camp trip to Lake Clark National Park and loved it. I'm pretty sure this was with the Natural Habitat company.
Posted by
OP
25 posts
Want to thank you for the reply’s. The place in Vancouver Iam looking at is in the extreme northwest Vancouver. It is called Bella Coola. It is close to Port Hardy.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7935 posts
Typically, wildlife appearances are not guaranteed. This opportunity sounds seasonal. I mean, lots of people think they are going to see the Northern Lights in Iceland in July. But it's light for 23+ hours a day!
Posted by
Alsenborn, Germany
1547 posts
It's too late to do this in 2024. What you want is to time your trip to when the salmon are running.
My suggestion, if you want to see Alaskan wildlife is fly to Anchorage, and then take the ferry to Valdez. The ferry runs parallel to the shore line and you can see bears, moose, etc. Way better than the tourist megaships, and Valdez is one of the world's most beautiful places.
Posted by
Vancouver, BC, Canada
1327 posts
https://www.grousemountain.com/wildlife-refuge
See grizzlies up close, easily, safely and inexpensively.
Posted by
Arlington TX
606 posts
Look into Admiralty Island which is off the coast of Juneau AK. There is a set up bear viewing area. My daughter worked there for several years as a wilderness ranger. She carried a large caliber gun but she always said she kept the bears safe from the tourists. It’s something you have to book in advance and you have to fly in on a small float plane or come in by boat. But it’s an amazing way to see lots of bears. It’s one of the densest ratios of brown bears per acre.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
5487 posts
The place in Vancouver Iam looking at is in the extreme northwest Vancouver. It is called Bella Coola. It is close to Port Hardy
I suggest you take a closer look at a good map. Port Hardy is nowhere close to Vancouver. It is neatly 500 km away, on the northeast tip of Vancouver Island. And Bella Coola is even further away - nearly 300 km northeast of Port Hardy on the mainland.