Journeys of the Heart: Polar Bears - Churchill, Manitoba 2010

One thousand miles north of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (as the crow flies) lies Winnipeg, Manitoba. A two hour flight north from there (as a jet flies) lies Churchill, a small Canadian community that lies on the Hudson Bay. No roads lead to Churchill. It can only be reached by railway from Winnipeg or by air.

Churchill was once a military post for Canadian and American servicemen. American soldiers must have thought they had been banished to the edge of Dante's frozen hell when they arrived in this barren wilderness. In the winter, the world looks like desolate miles of flat, snow white tundra where the Arctic winds strip bare one side of all of the trees with icy gusts that blow from the north.

But that is merely appearances. Actually, there is life in the tundra. Amazing life. If the servicemen were patient, I imagine they occasionally noticed a mound through the blowing white snow, and if enough time passed, they would witness the small head of a bear peaking above a sleeping mother. This was our experience on our first day on the tundra along the shores of the Hudson Bay.

We were greeted by snow and winds of up to 60 mph on the tundra outside of Churchill. (One of the airlines flying out of Winnipeg was named "Calm Air" which I hoped for to no avail). I wondered for a time what I had gotten myself into. But as we rode across the tundra, I forgot my apprehension when we came across a mother and her cubs.
We watched them for a time and my concerns about the harshness of the environment abated somewhat. We moved on to our "Tundra Lodge" which didn't look accomodating at first but later proved to be a warm haven against the arctic winds.

The Lodge had five "cars" similar to old passenger cars of trains but unlike the trains of old, these cars had wheels. There were two cars for sleeping, one car for dining, one for cooking, and one for meetings and relaxing. The Lodge is rolled out onto the Tundra in the fall when the polar bears begin to gather on the Hudson bay shores to wait for the bay to freeze over. It is rolled back into Churchill in November when the bears have left to go out on the ice to hunt for seal. Hopefully no signs of human presence are left behind.

The last two cars in the Lodge are sleeping cars. I was assigned a room in the last car which had one bathroom that was shared with 16 people. The other sleeping car had two commodes and one shower. All of the cabins are single bunk rooms. Ladders allow access to the top bunk, and suitcases and clothes are left below the bed. Heat is in the hallway. On the first night we were there, the Lodge rocked in the 42 mph winds with gusts even higher. Although the accommodations were not the Hilton, they were manageable. The trip attracted a diverse group of people. In our group were retired teachers, lawyers, physicians, speech therapists and two professionals from the National Geographic. Most were from the United States although three had come from near Cambridge, England.

Travel across the Tundra was accomplished in a "Rover." Half of the group went in search of bears in the morning and the other half went in the afternoons. There were always bears to watch.

The first day we were on the Rover, we were in near white-out conditions with the wind still blowing up to 60 mph. But any disappointment with the weather vanished when we ran across a bear sleeping on the edge of a frozen pond. He was wholly unimpressed with our presence and after we oohed and aahed for several minutes, he raised his head, yawned, got up for a few seconds, changed positions and laid back down to resume his nap.

He really didn't care that a group of human beings were so enchanted and excited about his presence.

Before the bears leave this area and go out on the ice, they will spar with each other. This looks playful and is wonderful to watch. Our guides explained that what the males are actually doing is sizing up each other to check out the competition that will exist for females out on the ice. (Female bears conceive their cubs out on the ice and will hopefully feed on enough seals to return to land and have their cubs. If the females fail to gain enough weight to bear the cubs, they will wait until the next year's hunt. If they have gained enough weight the next year, they will have their cubs when they return to land. If they haven't gained enough weight, they will abort the embryos). But regardless of the motives for sparring, it is a wonder to see.

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More than once, a male will approach another and just like children, one (usually the younger, smaller bear) will without warning push the larger bear in his chest. With that, the sparring is on! And the wrestling will continue until one of the fighters get overheated. A "big flop" ensues as an overheated bear tumbles to the cold ground and stretches out to cool himself on the snow. Oftentimes, they will sleep, only to arouse themselves later and start the sparring again.

Bears are curious animals. Everyday a water truck made deliveries of fresh water for our lodge. On one afternoon, a curious bear delayed delivery while another bear played "hide and seek" with a rover full of photographers.

Although it is easy to forget that these creatures are wild animals, no one stepped foot on the tundra the entire time we were there, including the staff on the tour. We ate, drank, and slept on the lodge and rovers.

When the sun is out, the north turns from a world of gray and white into a vibrant world alive with blues, browns, aqua and red. Male bears could be easily seen that day - walking solitary across the large icy ponds.

The male bears are solitary creatures. This is in stark contrast to the mama bears who have the job of corraling their cubs and guarding them. And just like the children of humans, the cubs have a way of always being underfoot.

The lodge was surrounded by bears who must have been enticed by the smells from the kitchen to investigate. The windows had no screens and we took advantage!

We saw other creatures, including winter ptarmigans and an artic fox.

But the bears were the stars of the show.

I don't have a clue about "climate warming" or "climate change." Nor do I know anything about causes. I do know that change is a part of this life's existence. But I hope that these animals will always have a home on earth. Their presence is a wonder to behold - -

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