When people talk about seeing animals in their natural habitat, most people think of things like an African safari. Had it ever crossed your mind to go see polar bears in their natural habitat? Well, that's why we headed to Churchill! It’s a small town up on the Hudson Bay. 

That first afternoon/evening, as we were driving to the area where the large rovers would take us out to see the bears, we came across two bears. One was laying down looking all comfortable, and the other one was clearly having fun playing in the snow! Because this was outside of the protected land, anyone driving by could stop and look at the bears, and there were quite a few cars parked along the road watching them!

The next day we got to go on a dog sled ride!  That was something I was really looking forward to! The first two sleds that took off in our group had quite the experience with a bear encounter, and we all got a great story to tell afterward! You know when you sing about a winter wonderland, that’s what this was! 

Each of the next two days we spent 8 hours out in the rover seeing firsthand why it's called the polar bear capital of the world! Really early on that first morning, we had a bear walk right up to the vehicles.  He would just look up at us and keep walking!  We were standing on the back deck of the rover watching him, and he was literally right there next to the vehicle!

Later that day we came across one bear all snuggled up, and another bear who was walking in that direction.  Everyone thought that when they got face to face they might spar. The one kept walking, and when the sleeping bear noticed, he started to wake up. They started walking toward each other, things were looking promising. They were feet away from each other and getting closer.  Then it was a quick sniff of each other's faces and the one that intruded on the nap decided he didn’t want trouble so he turned around and kept on walking.

The next day it was more polar bears! We did come across a bear laying in the willows.  We stopped to look for a little and realized there was another bear right behind them.  Initially, we thought it was a mom and a cub. However, after a while, the one in the back started to move around, and that definitely was not a cub! He was a big boy! Apparently, when the bears are sparring, they get tired, so they’ll just stop, lay down and take a break.  After they’ve both rested, they’ll get up and do some more.

The next day was our last in Churchill and we were so excited to hear that the helicopters were flying! We knew that we would probably see polar bears during the ride, but we also saw moose! We flew over some beautiful scenery, and then our helicopters landed on this land overlooking a river.  We walked down the side of the hill/cliff just a little bit to see an abandoned bear den! Then we each crawled into it! That’s right, I was in a bear den! 

Then we took back off and headed towards the tundra.  In our helicopter, I spotted the first bear.  We ended up seeing so many of them! We saw two polar bears laying somewhat close to each other, but if you really looked, you could see their footprints all over.  They clearly had been sparring, and now it was nap time! Then, a little further away we saw two more bears that were actually sparring! 

Later on, we headed to the airport to go back to Winnipeg.  However, before we got there we stopped at the Polar Bear Holding Facility (commonly known as Polar Bear Jail).  This building is a large facility that will hold those bears that seem to be troublesome or dangerous.  Say they wander into town, and the typical scare tactics don’t work on them.  After trying to get them to leave on their own, they may be tranquilized and taken to jail. 

The whole idea behind the jail is that the polar bears would equate the stay to going to town, and hopefully not go back to town again. After their stay, they are tranquilized and taken away from town via helicopter and let loose, hopefully not to return to city limits. When we got to Churchill, there were no bears in there.  When we left, there were 6!  Yes, there had been bears in town while we were there too! I mean, that's how it gets its nickname, Polar Bear Capital of the World.

After getting our passports stamped with a Polar Bear Capital of the World stamp at the airport, we were headed back to Winnipeg, and the following day we flew home.  The experience was life-changing! To see these animals out in their hoods, doing their things, was just awesome.  Granted, they don’t do that much, but just a glance from a bear who is curled up in the snow will change you!  Visiting these magnificent animals in their natural habitats is definitely something you should be considering now!

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