Day 1: Get Settled, Gear Up, and Meet Your Team
Arrive in Winnipeg where you will enjoy a relaxing stay at our choice hotel, The Grand by Lakeview at the Winnipeg Airport. Your winter gear fitting and collection will take place at 5 pm prior to meeting the rest of your group at an orientation dinner hosted by a representative.
Day 2: Welcome to Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge!
Fly to Thompson or Churchill, where you will be met by our staff, and then on to Nanuk Lodge.
Upon arrival, your hosts will provide a tour of the Lodge and get you settled into your room. A thorough orientation on travelling in polar bear country will be provided prior to any outings. Then it’s time to assemble your cameras, hard drives, and tripods and start shooting. Time permitting, we’ll head out for a shakedown hike.
After the excitement of the day prepare for the first of many fine meals from the award-winning Blueberries & Polar Bears cookbooks.
Day 3 to 8: Find the Wolves!
Enjoy a hearty breakfast while our lead guide briefs us on what the scouts are reporting and our plan of attack for the day. After breakfast, it’s time to head on safari!
These daily safaris (usually one in the morning and one in the afternoon) are a chance for us to track the wolf packs and get you as close as possible to observe and photograph their behavior and social interactions.
While it’s often possible to observe wolves right from the viewing decks at the lodge, wolves regularly travel to hunt and mark their territory; they can easily cover 40km a day. We keep in close radio contact with our scouts as they monitor activity at various points along the coast. With our small group size and high-guide ratio, we are able move quickly along a network of established safari trails.
After morning safaris, we’ll head back to the lodge to enjoy a light lunch and some well-earned downtime. By early afternoon we’ll head back into the field. Some days, depending on wildlife and weather, we may opt for an all-day safari and extend our range.
For those interested in becoming involved with our citizen-science wolf study, the safaris are also a chance to conduct field work. Depending on the weather and wildlife situation, we may have opportunities to collect trailcam images, cast animal tracks, study social relationships, map territories, conduct and record howl surveys, and gather traditional knowledge from First Nation oral histories. Participants contributions will become part of the yearly study.
Evenings at Nanuk are a chance to unwind and enjoy a nightly happy hour with a short presentation on wolf biology and natural history, storytelling and wildlife photography, followed by a delicious dinner and socializing around the fire.
The Kaska Coast boasts over 300 nights a year of Auroral activity, making it one of the best places in the world to see the dazzling Northern Lights. March weather is cooler and can offer more crisp clear nights increasing our chance for Aurora viewing. If the sky is clear and the solar winds are active, we’ll be sure and wake you up for a dazzling show. Jad will be on hand to help you set up your cameras and capture the haunting beauty.
This is your expedition. While we want to offer you as many experiences as possible, we also encourage you to relax. Take an afternoon or morning off (or a couple) and have the lodge to yourself. We’ll stoke the fire, pour you some coffee and leave you with some tasty brownies. Some of our best wildlife viewing happens right from the lodge. You never know who might wander up to the window and look in on you.
