Home»Blog

Day 7: The French army, drunken bears, and Miss Piggy

November 17, 2012  •  Leave a Comment

Day 7

Weather report:  -13C, with a windchill of only -23C (The warming trend continues...)

 

Yesterday was our last day on the tundra, so today was spent in a regular shuttle bus, touring the outlying area of the town of Churchill.   We started off at an old canon site on Cape Mary, an unprotected point overlooking the entire Hudson Bay.  Across the bay from us was a fort built to protect the Hudson Bay Company's holdings and trading of pelts in the area, from an invasion by the French army.  However, the fort was manned by fur trappers and was no match for the army.
After leaving the area, we went in search of red tailed foxes, arctic foxes and ptarmigans, known to hang out in the area.  They must have known we were coming and all hid in the snow, since we never saw anything.  However, what we did see was a big polar bear off in the distance.  When it was first spotted, the bear was about a mile away, but wandering in our general direction.  After 15 minutes or so, it was close enough to photograph, but being that we were all crammed into this small shuttle bus, it made it tight.  Our Natural Habitat guide wouldn't allow us out of the bus - apparently there is some silly clause in their liability policy that doesn't cover fights between guests and bears.  Taking turns at the door and the one small window that opened on the bus, we all were able to get some shots off, until the bear headed off for the safety of the ice.
After leaving the bear, we went in search of Miss Piggy, an old plane that crashed shortly after take-off.  The aforementioned pig wasn't too hard to find, as it was out in plain site and only about 100 yds from where the bear was.  A few quick taps on the shutter button and our icy adventure was pretty much over.

 

Since our time in Churchill was winding down, we headed over to check out the 'polar bear jail', went to lunch and then off to the airport to catch our flight back to Winnipeg.  The jail is where they take bears that wander into town, looking to get drunk and start fights.  The roving rangers attempt to put a stop to that by taking the scofflaws off to jail in one of these bear traps.  After the bears have sobered up, they are flown by helicopter out of town, dropped off on the ice, and given a stern warning not to return.  Once in Winnipeg, we checked into the hotel for the night, had a good-bye happy hour, before our departure for home on Saturday.

 

 

Comments

No comments posted.
Loading...
Subscribe
RSS
Recent Posts
Hello from Fairbanks Sleepless in Fairbanks Another day, another 3-hours of sleep South Africa & Zimbabwe 2022 - 4 of 4 South Africa & Zimbabwe 2022 - 3 of 4 South Africa & Zimbabwe 2022 - 2 of 4 South Africa & Zimbabwe 2022 - 1 of 4 2021 Coast Road Trip Happy New Year, 2020 I Feel Guilty
Keywords
Archive
2012
January February March April May June July August September October (1) November (8) December
2013
January February March April May June July August September October November December
2014
January February March April May June July (9) August September October November December (1)
2015
January (1) February (1) March (6) April May (2) June July (13) August September October November December
2016
January February (1) March April May June July August (11) September October November December
2017
January February March April May June July (7) August September October November December
2018
January February March April May June July (6) August September October November December
2019
January February March April May June July August September October November (1) December
2020
January February March (1) April May June July August (1) September October November December
2021
January February March April May June July August September October (1) November December
2022
January February March April May June July August September (4) October November December
2023
January February March April May June July August September October November December
2024
January February March (3) April May June July August September October November December
2025
January February March April May June July August September October November December
© Mary and Andy's Photos
Powered by User Agreement