Photographing Polar Bears in Churchill, Manitoba!

My sister Melissa and I decided we would make the trip to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada to see the polar bears. Our plan was to leave from her house in Lewistown, Montana and make the over 10 hour drive up to Nippawin, Saskatchewan and stay the night there. From there we would make the remaining 6.5 hour drive to Thompson, Manitoba. We would then board a train for the 16 hour ride up to Churchill. You cannot drive to Churchill, so you either have to fly or take the train. Most people would leave from Winnipeg for either option, but for us it was faster and cheaper to make the drive up to Thompson and catch the train there. Our first stop after leaving Lewistown was to cross the border into Canada at the port of entry north of Malta, Montana. We did not have any trouble going through. This port does have limited hours however, so you might want to check ahead of time to make sure it will be open when you want to cross. When we were there it was only open from 9am to 5pm on weekdays. Going across southern Saskatchewan was very flat and was mostly farmland. As we got farther north and east we started to go through more wetlands and wooded areas. Including our stops at the border, fueling up and finding something to eat, we ended up having about a 12 hour day. We pulled into the small town of Nippawin just after dark. We had a pleasant stay at a small hotel and enjoyed a dinner at the little chicken joint that was downstairs. We got up early the next morning and started for Thompson. We didn't get far out of town when the highway turned into a gravel road. I guess we should have researched our route a little bit better. We did not have any trouble and it did pass through a nice nature preserve, but it wasn't ideal. We took a different route coming home to avoid the stretch of road. Eventually we did end up back on the pavement and we made our way into Thompson. We made it there in the early afternoon so we had plenty of time to have an early dinner and then make our way out to the train station. The station is a ways out of town in an industrial area. They advise against leaving your car at the train station since it is not well monitored. We took a chance and left ours there and we did not have any trouble, but I think we would have felt better if we had made other arrangements. We heard from some fellow travelers that one of the hotels in town would let you park there and for a small fee they would shuttle you out to the station. We had also heard that there may have been opportunities to park at the firehouse or even at the police station for a donation and then you could catch a taxi to the station. It would probably be worth looking into one of these options if you plan to take the train from Thompson. Shortly before 5pm it was time to board the train. The station is small so the boarding process was rather informal and a little chaotic if you ask me. But we and our luggage got on okay without any issues. Since it was going to be an overnight trip we decided to go with a sleeping car. This provides you with a private bathroom as well as bunk beds that pull out of the ceiling and out of the walls. It is a small space but it was more than manageable. If you are trying to save money there are other options that even include a sleeping area that is just less private or you can just stay in your seat if you want to go economy. We did enjoy some time up in the dome car where you can get 360 degree views of the scenery as you go by. Of course with the short days we only had maybe an hour or so of daylight to enjoy the scenery. Early the next morning I could start to see the lights of Churchill in the distance and not much later we were at the station. We actually arrived almost an hour early. We spent a little bit of time at the station while we waited for our shuttle to the hotel. There is a nice little visitor center there and while the trains are running the park service has a staff member there to answer any questions you might have about the area. Since we wanted to play it safe, not knowing if there would be any delays on the train, we did not schedule anything for our first day in Churchill. This actually worked out well as it gave us time to really explore and see all the things around town. If you make plans to visit, I would make sure you leave some time in your schedule as well. There is a helicopter tour in town so you will see them coming and going. Besides doing tours, they also help move problem bears out away from town and assist in search and rescue operations. There are tons of cool murals to find around town, lots of little shops, restaurants, museums, visitor centers, and points of interest that include statues and informational signage and etc. The town of Churchill is small and there are only around 800 full-time residents. We were easily able to explore all the town on foot. Please be aware there are signs posted around town for areas you should not go for your own safety. You should always be aware of your surroundings as the bears do come into town. Much of the housing in Churchill is actually government housing and there is also one very large complex that hosts most of the town's essential services including the school, hospital, civic center, and many other things. You should also be aware that the train station is out on the edge of town so you will probably want a shuttle to get to your hotel if you have any luggage. And the airport is quite a ways out of town so transportation is a must if you are flying in. Our first day of tours we were with NANUC Operations with our guide Jamie in a four wheel drive van. There were two other older couples with us as well. Jamie was awesome and it didn't take long for us to find our first polar bear. This one was just on the edge of town. Since it was so close to town it did not take long for the conservation officers to show up and haze it towards the river farther away from town. We then headed closer to the bay to an area known as Polar Bear Alley. We spotted several bays farther out and eventually we found this guy walking the beach. Our guide did a great job anticipating where the bear would be going and got us into position for some great viewing and photography moments. We then headed out to the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. There are areas of the management area that can be visited by car but the rest of the area can only be visited by a tundra buggy which we would be doing the following day. After spending some time observing a few more bears we eventually saw this mother with her two cubs of the year working our way across the ice. We decided to stay and see if they would get closer. While we were watching the mother with cubs we saw this fox running out on the ice as well. We saw several foxes while we were there but we did not get any close up photos of any and we never did get to see an arctic fox which was on both of our wish lists. The guides we talked to all said the numbers are really down these days and they don't see them as often. Eventually the mother with cubs did come out of the willows fairly close to us. They were a lot of fun to watch and gave us some great photographic opportunities. When it was time for lunch we went out to the Churchill Northern Studies Center. This was an interesting place that hosts events and serves as a center for research projects going on in the area. Besides the cafeteria there was also a gift shop inside we were able to visit while we had our lunch. The center is near the old base where they used to test rockets. One of our last encounters of the day was with this very curious young polar bear. It eventually got so close we all had to retreat into the van. This footage is from my GoPro inside of the van. The GoPro has such a wide field of view you cannot really appreciate just how close to the van this bear is. This is probably a good time to mention that any time you are outside of a vehicle you are required to have an armed guide with you. The next morning we had a tour on a tundra buggy with Great White Bear Tours. I should clarify that tundra buggy is actually a trademark term from another company. So Great White Bear actually calls theirs polar rovers. Much like saying Kleenex for a tissue, pretty much everyone calls them all tundra buggies regardless of which company they are referring to. Great White Bear does have an interesting system at their facility for loading and unloading. They have a ramp the buggies can pull up to so you can avoid having to climb up into them since they do sit pretty high up in the air. Pulling away from the loading area you are on maintained roads but eventually you do leave the roads for trails where only the buggies are allowed to go. This involves crossing creeks, going over broken ice, and up and over rocks. As a result the rovers do not move very fast and they do a lot of rocking back and forth. This might be something to be aware of if you get motion sickness easily. They do have flushing bathrooms on board so that is nice. You are not allowed to touch the ground once you are out in the wilderness area so they need to be self contained. It was not long before we had our first bear sighting. There is a platform area on the back of the rovers where you can step out or all of the windows open for viewing and photography opportunities. Eventually it was time to move on to another area. We spotted a bear not far from the path we were on. When we stopped the curious bear came right up to the rover to sniff around. This video is also from my GoPro right outside of the window. Again, because of the wide angle lens it is hard to tell but this bear is only a few feet away from me. It wasn't long and this mother with her two older cubs got curious and came to check us out too. It was then time for lunch. They provided a warm beef stew, a dinner roll, and a drink. I thought the stew was really good, an appropriate choice on a cold subarctic day. They did have a vegetarian option as well. We picked a pretty good spot to have lunch. The temperatures were just warm enough by the afternoon that some of the ice was melting so provided some really interesting views of the bears and their reflections as they walked over the ice. While we were eating lunch some of us with longer lenses on our cameras spotted this seal sitting out on a piece of ice in the bay. Our guides were initially suspicious as they said there should not be any seals in the area yet as it was a little too early but once we showed them the footage they had to believe us. It was then time to start our way back to the loading area to end our day. We had a good time out on the rover and it did provide some unique viewing opportunities. From a purely photography perspective shooting from the rover was a bit of a challenge. I found it a lot easier to get the photographs I wanted from the regular 4x4 vehicles we were on. But I would still recommend spending at least one day out on the rovers so you can see and experience some of the things you would not be able to otherwise. Once we departed the rover the shuttle took us back into town and dropped us off at our hotel. Our last morning in Churchill we woke up to blizzard conditions. This was the only day that really felt cold. We had been pretty lucky the rest of our trip. We went out with sub-arctic tours and our guide was a Churchill native named Stanley. He was a very interesting person and it was fun to get some information and perspectives from someone who had grown up in the area. He took us around to some of the places around Churchill that we had not already seen yet. This included a crashed airplane site from when the military base was at Churchill. We also went out to the polar bear jail where they will hold problem bears before releasing them by helicopter out of town. He also took us out to one of the old radar bases which had a really great mural painted on it. Despite the rough conditions we did eventually find some polar bears. And probably one of my favorite opportunities from the trip, we were able to watch these two male polar bears sparring with each other. It is not mating season so they were not seriously fighting. It was more like practice. We found some other wildlife as well like these ptarmigans out in the storm. This bear was content to just hold up in the rocks and wait for the storm to pass. After our tour it was back to town and back to the train station to start our journey home. We had a great time in Churchill and I would recommend it to anyone that has a chance to go up there. If you enjoyed this video please consider liking and subscribing. Please also check in the description of this video for links to featured items as well as a link to my blog from the trip where I have posted a lot more pictures and detailed information.