The planet's largest land predator looked disarmingly cuddly. Ambling over the snowy tundra toward us, he was all big furry head and huge shaggy paws -- which we got a close-up eyeful of as the polar bear stopped, rose up on his haunches and placed his big feet on the side of our vehicle to stare into my daughter's astonished face, a mere pane of glass between them.
Sure, we'd seen polar bears in the zoo. But nothing prepared us for the sheer magic of watching the King of the Arctic in its natural realm. Mothers nurtured yearling cubs; young males romped and pushed each other over in spirited displays of play-fighting; lone bears wandered regally over the snow, white on white.
Our family had traveled to Churchill, Manitoba to spend three days among the bears as they congregated along the shore of Hudson Bay waiting for the ice to freeze and seal-hunting season to begin.
Observing bears is a thrill for wildlife lovers, as every long line of cars stopped to ogle a roadside black bear in Yellowstone attests. While Yellowstone may be most famous for bear watching, there are other sites that belong on every nature traveler's ursine pilgrimage list, offering opportunities to see and photograph wild bears often at close range.
- Churchill, Manitoba: Churchill is the polar bear capital of the world, with the greatest concentration of bears on view each October and November. Several hundred gather here along Hudson Bay each fall, and guests travel over the tundra to see them via specialized vehicles called Polar Rovers. Some lucky visitors may enjoy a stay at the Tundra Lodge, a unique rolling hotel that's placed each season in a remote location with high bear density, for a complete immersion in the polar bear's habitat.
- Spitsbergen, Norway: Spitsbergen, the largest island in Norway's Svalbard archipelago high in the Arctic, is home to more than 3,000 polar bears. Sightings are frequent in summer, when expedition cruise ships ply the ice-laden waters of the remote realm of jagged peaks and glaciers. In addition to its famous polar bears, Svalbard is also home to reindeer, polar fox, whales, seals, walrus and multitudes of sea birds, protected within six national parks, three nature reserves and 15 bird sanctuaries.
- Katmai National Park, Alaska: Perhaps no place in the world is more renowned for bear watching than Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park. As many as 50 brown bears congregate along a mile-long stretch of the Brooks River during the annual salmon run, waiting atop the falls with gaping jaws as the fish leap into the air -- and often right into the bears' mouths. Brooks Lodge is within walking distance of the falls, where visitors can safely view bears from raised platforms. For an even greater thrill, watch coastal grizzlies directly from the beach at Hallo Bay on a yacht-based Alaska adventure cruise into the Katmai wilderness.
-- Wendy Worrall Redal