Grizzly Bear and Wildlife Tour Blog

We offer an exceptional fly-in lodge for Grizzly Bear Watching and Whale Watching in British Columbia.

Learn about What’s happening at the Lodge, view our British Columbia’s Wildlife Report, read our Grizzly Bear Watching Blog and Whale Watching Blog. Learn more about a Day on the River Blog, see Our Tour Guide’s Photos & Blog and  Photos from Our Guests.

Wildlife Viewing – Black Bears

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Grizzly bear and in this case black bear cubs stay pretty close to mum especially when they are new born or first year cubs.  They are not quite in step but never far behind. The first photo was taken on one of the “first evening in camp” trips that is normally a guests first boat trip of their stay. A good low tide and the bears come out to play / eat.  The second photo is from the morning grizzly bear tour up Knight Inlet all safari trips whether for grizzlies or whales often involve black bears in this case a mother and three cubs.

 

Not sedge grass

The previous day’s blog show the food grizzly bears eat in the spring.  Our guests frequently comment on the quality and quantity of good food provided for meals.  From the seafood dinners served by your guides (we are versatile employees) to the self-serve picnic lunches. Although our “wilderness lodge” requires a floatplane flight from Campbell River it does not mean we “rough-it” for meals.

 

Spring Grizzly Bears

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In the spring the grizzly bears we view on lodges wilderness tours are primarily grazers.  They some down to the shores of Knight Inlet to eat the sedge grass which is very high in protein this sustains them until the salmon enter the rivers of British Columbia’s coast in mid-August. The morning grizzly bear tour uses 18 to 20 foot boats to travel up Knight Inlet to the Glendale River where we transfer to smaller flat bottom boats that allow us to drift along the shore to watch and hear the bears eating.
 

Grizzly Bear Swimming

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Grizzly bears are great swimmers and are commonly seen in the water in the river estuaries of BC’s Knight Inlet.  They swim so well that they have now migrated across Johnstone Strait to Vancouver Island and this is between one and a half to a two-mile swim.  The area biologists but radio collars on ten grizzly bears about eleven years ago and one of them crossed Knight Inlet five times.

 

Grizzly Bear Bath

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Some days the grizzly bear watching on July and early August are quite warm it is unlikely this was a “bath” rather think back on a hot day that you may have experienced and add a heavy fur coat. That is the likely reason mother and cub are in the water. They are in the Glendale River estuary which is a mixture of fresh and salt water so their coast will not contain allot of salt when dry. The sedge grass along the shore is the main reason for the grizzly bears to be in the area as the salmon to not appear until late August.

Safari Race?

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On the grizzly bear tours and whale watching safari, boats form the lodge often travel together.  This day Glen and I encountered a pod of white-sided dolphins who decided to play with the boats.  Glen managed a great photo of my guests not believing what they are seeing.

Humpback Whale Watching Safari

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Luwen & Liwen on a visit from Singapore had several great days of viewing grizzly bears and whales. This days whale watching in the area of BC’s Johnstone strait included a humpback whale “lunge feeding” just astern of our boat.  The idea is to locate a ball of herring from the bird activity on the water and then to move into the proximity of the herring ball and wait for the whales to feed. 

Grizzly Bears??

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Again photos from Grant and Judith Fuller of Bangor NSW Australia.  No these are not grizzly bears even if one appears to have a brown tinge to its fur, just two good-sized black bears.  Whether on a whale safari or a grizzly bear tour we are constantly looking for black bears and other wildlife while we scan the shore from the boat.  On your first evening in the lodge we do a black bear tour for about and hour and a half if the tide is low enough.  Low tide is required, as it is hard to find bears on the beach if there is no beach.

 

Wildlife Viewing on Knight Inlet

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The morning run up Knight Inlet on the grizzly bear tour is always interesting.  It is a spectacular view, the lodge is located approximately 20 miles from the mouth, and the grizzly viewing area starts another 25 miles up the inlet, which is about 90 miles long. Eagles are abundant on the morning run this one being in the Glendale estuary the primary grizzly bear viewing area.  Eagles are not always in trees it is not uncommon to watch them pick up a fish from the water and then land on shore to eat the “catch of the day”. Grant and Judith Fuller of Bangor NSW Australia provided the photos of the inlet and bald eagle.

Wilderness Tour – Classy Lunch

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On our whale watching safari we try to eat lunch at an interesting location normally in the area of the sea lions or humpback whales in the waters off Telegrahp Cove on Vancouver Island. “There is nothing like French champagne to celebrate these three marvelous days in August, plenty of dolphins, orcas, grizzly, salmons, black bears, seals, great friendship and with particular thanks to our two outstanding guides.” (Note the champagne was brought from France for your picnic lunch in the boat.) Nicole et Jean Martin-Dondoz of Marseille France provide pictures and comments.