Monday, November 2, 2015

Polar Bears Day 3: Bloody Bears!

Day 3: First day on the land rover

Apparently Natural Habitat is the luxury version of the tour operators. No buses for us, but nice new tour vans. New land rovers with cushy seats and bathrooms. And homemade food – even a vegan meal for me. We’re talking white chocolate snacks, fresh fruit, and fresh salad. Which is remarkable given that milk costs $12 per 2-liters – which is the same cost as a bottle of vodka. Hmm…

Our first day, we hit the jackpot. We get a tip (which we learn is a no-no in the tour operator world because you don’t want too many of the mere 12 land rovers to collect in one place) and head to a spot where we see two polar bears feasting on a seal. It’s a bloody bath and later one of the polar bears has a bath to get clean – basically scraping their body against the ice – and then magically 5 minutes later white and spotless again.

The seal feast is a rarity and Brad tells us this only happens once or twice a season and rarely so close up.

We also see a mom and cub (called coy) pair all curled up. Two highlights! Plus about a dozen polar bears more. And a ptermagon (white bird).


We ended the day with a talk by a dog musher and also some photo lessons on how to take photos in the dark.


































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