Big Brown Bears

For almost as long as I can remember, I have wanted to see Brown Bears in their natural habitat. In July of 2008 just a week before I would depart Australia to explore the wilderness of Canada I watched an imax documentary decriptively named 'Bears'. It detailed the lifestyles of Black, Brown and Polar Bear. The most memorable part of this film was seeing the film makers hiking amongst beautiful scenery with an experienced guide having HUGE brown bears seemingly unbothered by their presence simply walking by and at times approaching their human guests with no threat towards the visitors' safety. I was mesmerised by what I was seeing. These animals are so commonly portrayed as dangerous beasts that will attack at any given opportunity. Yet here they were simply going about their business with no bother towards their observers. It was this scene that reinforced my interest in visiting Alaska at some stage of my upcoming occupation of Canada.

I would not set foot on American soil until 13 months later. My time in Canada had been incredible. I had been fortunate enough to see a few Black Bears within my first month and over a hundred Polar Bear during my time in Churchill. Yet even after 13 months travelling this huge country coast to coast and viewing almost every kind of North American wildlife I had not seen a single Brown Bear. It was time to cross the border.

After making our way over the 'Top Of The World Highway' and working our way down to the coast of Alaska we arrived into Homer. This is the gateway to Katmai National Park and Preserve. We had driven all the way from Winnipeg, Manitoba with as few stops as possible in an attempt to arrive before the Bears had stopped fishing for the salmon. We searched all the ads and brochures for flights and guides to get us over to Katmai. It was the 5th of September and many operators had already finished for the season. We got a promising reply from one operator only to receive a phone call a few hours later saying they were unable to take us, however, they did refer us to another operation that would be able. This was a huge winfall for us. The operator was Emerald Air Service headed up by a husband and wife team by the names of Ken and Chris. This wonderful couple just also happened to be the ones from that memorable scene in the 'Bears' film. I too would share that incredible experience I had witnessed in the film.

On the 6th of September we gathered at the Emerald Air HQ and had a briefing along with the six others in our group before loading onto the Otter Aqua Plane then flew 123 miles to Katmai. The flight in itself is truly memorable flying past active steaming volcanoes and incredible scenery. Apart from Cat and I our group consisted of two of America's leading nature and wildlife photographers, two young ladies and one of the guides from McNeil River had joined the excursion. Cat and I are two very experienced (and very BUDGET) backpackers and normally like to venture by ourselves, never considering to pay $600 for a tour but this was well worth it. Arriving so late in the Bear viewing season we thought we may be lucky to see just four or so bears. Within moments of landing and a short hike we sat on the hill to view six bears fishing, swimming, diving and socialising within close proximity. It was incredible. Bears weren't the only wildlife on show as a few Ptarmigans and Arctic Ground Squirrels made a few quick appearances also. Chris and Ken are extremely knowledgable and with over 20 years experience have come to know the behaviour of the Katmai bears.

Venturing further downstream we kept seeing more and more bears all along the way and even had a Sow with 3 cubs follow us along the way. We lost count in the end of how many bears we had seen. Some would have a little look at you as they walked up and then on their way. We would simply stay put and let the bears come to us. A couple came within as close as 20 feet. There was never a moment of feeling unsafe. Just an ongoing feeling of awe. I was very thankful there was not a single firearm or bearspray amongst us. It is very evident just how much Chris and Ken truly care for these magnificent creatures and just how endangered they truly are.