Bear Watching, Tofino, Vancouver Island, Canada
It was 7am on a bright and sunny April morning in Tofino on Vancouver Island. Having already travelled over 5,000 Km so far on this trip across the Pacific Northwest of the USA and Canada, we were anxious to get to finally see some black bears up close and personal....though not too personal we hoped.
The best way to do this is to go on a guided bear watching tour. Some people try to do this themselves and many have not lived to tell the tale or were given a healthy dose of regret after doing so. The bottom line is DON'T look for bears by yourself. More often than not these beautiful creatures have already crossed your path without you even realising. They can smell you up to 25km away, maybe further if you haven't washed recently (though I know you have).
When they hear or smell you coming, they generally leave the area without you knowing they were ever there to begin with. However, if you try sneaking up on them, they are likely to try to defend themselves aggressively, especially if they are with young, and that's just the black bears. If you are looking for an encounter with a Grizzly - forget about it! For more info on being bear aware, check out site's upcoming article on bears (though bare in mind, no pun intended, I am not an expert on bears).
Anyway, back to our trip. As you can see from the above video, seeing these creatures in the wild is a remarkable experience. Bears are highly intelligent animals and not the monsters they are often made out to be. They deserve respect and acknowledgment as masters of the forest.
We set out from the cosy coastal town of Tofino on a pretty niffty Zodiac speed boat. The trip would last for 3 hours and we would not only see black bears, but wolves, eagles and Californian sea lions. This region of the world is another world when it comes to the variety of wildlife that one can see here.
The guide you travel with communicates with other tour companies via a radio so that if one company spots something, they will tell the other company. This almost guarantees that you will see some interesting sights along the way. In fact, part of the excitement really is partcipating in the search for the bears. It is up to everyone, not just the guide to help out with this. In fact this is how we got to see the wolves I mentioned earlier. In this case, they were sighted by a client on the trip with us.
The wind blowing through our hair, and quite often restyling it in dramatic new shapes (I for one looked like a received an electric shock afterward), we made our way through inlet after inlet with the most amazing scenary passing us by. Vancouver Island is extraordinary. Tofino is sublime (see the photos).
A hushed excitement came over over the five of us on the boat as we sighted something moving on the shoreline. It was a black bear. They come down to the shore early in the morning searching for seafood to feed on. And this region has it in abundance. The video above shows this particular bear munching on what seems to be a crab. Notice the power of the bears front limbs as it overturns large rocks with almost no effort at all. That's why they call the paws of bears 'meat hooks'. You don't want to come to close to these.
But close it what we came. The boat floated to within just a few metres of the bear who didn't seem at all interested in the Irishman, the Pole, two Swiss and a Brit staring at him in awe and admiration. It is surreal to be so close to animal like this in the wild. This trip is a must for nature lovers who visit this part of the world.
Following this encounter, we then moved onto to see another bear about a mile away followed by a pack of wolves (apparantly the first encounter with a pack in two years by this particular tour company - see the video). Finally we sited a group of Californian sealions basking on a large rock (see video).
Experiences such as this change your perception of nature and how you see your own place in the world. It makes one realise that nature truly is more powerful than us and that we have no right to take what we want from it. We need to live with it and understand it's needs. Go to Tofino on Vancouver Island, experience it's beauty for yourself, and see these wonderful creatures in their natural habitat.
Cost of Bear Watching Trip: $80 (Canadian) per person - no young children allowed
How to get there: From Victoria, Vancouver Island, Take the Trans Canada Highway 1 to Nanaimo, then take Highway 19 until you meet the interesction with Highway 4 which will take you all the way to Tofino on the west coast of the island.
Time needed to get there: 5 hours from Victoria (lot's of windy roads on Highway 4 which make it take longer than it looks on a map)
Recommended Number of Days to Stay: 3 days
Other Things To Do: Hiking, Whale Watching, Surfing, Great Beaches, Sailing
Videos, Photography and Music on this article filmed, performed and edited by the author
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IyfM-vX78Y
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