Posts Tagged ‘Churchill’
Monday, June 27th, 2011
The summer months are truly the lazy days for the polar bear. It’s time for them to relax and wait for hunting season to begin all over again in November. Every summer the ice melts around the end of June or the beginning of July – this date keeps moving up ever so slightly as the years go by.
Walking hibernation is a term used for polar bears conserving their energy over the summer months while barely eating anything along the way. All of their energy is instead conserved so that when seal hunting starts, they are ready to pounce.
Although seals are the polar bears preferred meal, they do have snacks in the summer months, snacks we humans also enjoy! Berries and sea kelp are among the plant life the bears eat on the tundra as they await for the ice passage to open for them once again in late November.
Here in these pictures, you see a hungry guy getting berries all over his furry face as he noshes on delicious berries from the tundra.
Tags: Churchill, Polar Bear
Posted in Polar Bear | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
A quick Churchill report from staffer Dave Allcorn aka our resident (amateur) botonist/naturalist.
The recent 20 degree temperatures had people in Churchill wearing shorts and kids were playing down by the beach. The ice has started to break up and many birds are arriving in the area. I also spotted three flowering plants: purple saxifrage, arrow-leafed colts-foot and the bearberry. It won’t be long now before the belugas take over the Churchill River, the polar bears migrate onto the land for the summer months and the tundra becomes a blanket of colour.
Dave captured this image of a ‘Fata Morgana’, a type of mirage on the horizon, which is quite common for this time of the year as the ice breaks up. Learn more about the ‘Fata Morgana‘.
Finally for all the bird lovers out there, Dave sent along this picture of ruddy turnstones on the railway line in Churchill. Signs of summer are all around!
Tags: Churchill, Hudson Bay, ice, Polar Bear, saxifrage, spring
Posted in Beluga Whale, Churchill, Hudson Bay, Polar Bear, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, October 25th, 2010
Our staff and guests at the Tundra Buggy Lodge were all a buzz yesterday when an old friend wandered over and laid down square in front of one of the viewing decks. Dancer’s back in town!
Dancer has been coming around for years and has become a favourite because he is quite a character. Dancer usually doesn’t make an appearance until November so it was a thrill to see him a week earlier than usual. In addition to being quite the character, he is also often the biggest bear around the Lodge so he tends to stand out.
Dancer appears on the cover of this popular book about bear season in Churchill as well!
Notice how he’s got a few more scars on his nose since the picture for the book was taken!
Tags: Churchill, Dancer, Polar Bear, Tundra Buggy Lodge
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Staff and Guests on a world-famous Tundra Buggy
For those of you who have already had an Authentic Arctic Experience with Frontiers North Adventures, we’re sure you’ll be able to relate to some of these. Here are our top ten favourite things about Polar Bear Season.
- Bears!!
- Seeing our guests faces light up at their first glimpse of a bear
- Bears lumbering across the tundra, backlit by a Manitoba sunset
- Reconnecting with old friends as staff (and bears!) arrive in town for the season
- Northern Lights
- The clicking of cameras
- The people of Churchill
- The sense of adventure
- Nicest sunrises/sunsets you will ever experience
- Meeting people from all over the world
Aside from our top ten favourites, here is a sample polar bear season through the eyes of our staff:
- mother love (mother & cub)
- seeing our seasonal staff back in town and catching up
- A packed gift shop – this year there will be more room – hurray!
- the sound of the plane/train arriving into Churchill – sort of like “OK, everyone. All hands on deck”!
- bears sparring!
- Hallowe’en in Churchill, there’s nothing like it!
- softly falling snow
- howling winds
- helping our guests smell, taste and feel this environment
- empowering vastness, wilderness
- majestic animals living trough climatic changes
- exposure to a totally different environment
- anticipation
- Gypsy’s Bakery
- crisp air and snow crunching under your boots
- when a guest takes the time to stop by the office and say thanks for a great trip
- excited guests
- the smell of cold air
- the “whooshing” sound of the propane furnace firing up in the morning
- camaraderie and joking around while getting the buggies ready in the morning
- ruddy cheeks
- sun dogs
- exhilaration
- peace
- solitude
- driving a buggy through a storm and seeing the sun breaking through the clouds showing the way
Have any of your own to add?
Tags: Churchill, Polar Bear, Tundra Buggy
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
In 2009, long-time WWF volunteer Wanda Hall won the Earth Hour contest and traveled to Churchill with Frontiers North Adventures to see polar bears and other wildlife.
Wanda has travelled far and wide to see animals in the wild, but she said that this trip in particular, getting to see polar bears in their natural environment, made her realize how important it is that we decrease our footprint on the earth.
Wanda also happens to be the gal behind WWF’s panda mascot. Read all about Wanda’s adventure as the WWF panda mascot meeting Frontiers North polar bear. http://blog.wwf.ca/blog/2010/07/20/why-i-volunteer-wanda-hall/
We’re thrilled to know that Wanda had such a great experience with us in Churchill.
Tags: Churchill, mascot, Polar Bear, Tundra Buggy, WWF-Canada
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Yesterday we showed you some great street-level imagery used by the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) in New York City to promote Canada, including polar bears in Churchill. Here is another example of how the CTC has worked towards accomplishing their goal of increased awareness of Canada in Germany. The image below shows a billboard that was displayed in the Spring of 2008 in Frankfurt, Germany. The billboard was located in very high traffic area on the “Zeil“, right in the heart of Frankfurt. The area is home to high-end fashion boutiques and department stores with many pedestrians and tourists in the area each day.
According to Global Tourism Watch (2008), with one in five mentions, “Canada” ranks third among the long-haul destination brands identified by Germans on an unaided basis. “Australia” and “the US” are the two top brands, with each mentioned by just under a third of German travellers. The CTC has done a tremendous job promoting Canada in Germany, especially our Tundra Buggy Adventures in Churchill. We look forward to seeing their next big advertising campaign.
Tags: Canadian Tourism Commission, Churchill, Frankfurt, Germany, Tundra Buggy, Zeil
Posted in CTC | No Comments »
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
We have a great working relationship with the Canadian Tourism Commission. A couple years ago, we hosted one of their film and photography crews up in Churchill to capture some great promotional images and video. One particular image of a polar bear leaning on our Tundra Buggy has been utilized by the CTC in major billboard and magazine campaigns all over the world. The latest is a great campaign in Manhattan to grab New Yorkers attention about Canada as a vacation destination.
The fronts of three Manhattan stores were wrapped with huge vinyl wallpapers covered by engaging imagery illustrations of unique Canadian experiences – one of which was the large polar bear and Tundra Buggy image with the following question as a headline: Does polar bear breath smell like fish?
Check out the image below of the wallpaper and this article that further explains the campaign!
Tags: Canada, Canadian Tourism Commission, Churchill, Manhattan, New York City, Tundra Buggy
Posted in CTC, Tundra Buggy | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Virtual Tourist is a worldwide travel community where real travelers and locals share real travel advice and experiences. It is one of the largest sources of unbiased, user-generated travel content in the world, with over 1 million registered members from more than 220 countries and territories.
We were very excited when we learned a previous Tundra Buggy Lodge guest posted about her experience on the website. Here is what she had to say about her stay with us at the Lodge.
Tags: Churchill, Tundra Buggy Lodge, Virtual Tourist
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Tags: Churchill, polar bears
Posted in Churchill, Polar Bear | No Comments »
Monday, April 26th, 2010
We were extremely fortunate to have journalists travel from all over the world to participate in our 2010 Northern Lights & Winter Nights adventure in March. Chinese journalist, Chen Qun, travelled with us and captured some amazing images that were featured in the April issue of InFlight magazine in China. InFlight is the official airline magazine of China. It is also the largest, distributed by all major Chinese airlines.
Check out the images below of the pages of InFlight magazine and of Chen’s photography in Churchill.
All images © 2010 Qun Chen/Images by RedRocks http://www.redrocks.net
Tags: China, Churchill, InFlight Magazine, Northern Lights
Posted in Northern Lights | No Comments »
Summer Bears
