Majestic Manitoba - Spotlight Online

TRAVEL | Canada
Majestic
Manitoba
Meet Ursus maritimus:
polar bears are a
big attraction in Churchill
O
ver there, behind the rocks,” says my guide, pointing. “Two of them.” I look through binoculars at
the shoreline 300 metres away and watch as a large
white head rises from its rocky hiding place. en another
animal comes into view, plants its heavy white paws on
the ground and tests the air with its black nose. ese are
polar bears, icons of the Arctic, waiting near Churchill,
Manitoba, for the ice to come.
Located in the unexplored heartland of Canada, Manitoba is about the size of the UK and Germany put together,
but it is home to just 1.2 million people. Churchill lies in
the far north of the province, on the western limit of Hudson Bay. Surrounded by snow and ice for ten months of
the year, this is the polar bear capital of the world.
“is area freezes before anywhere else on the bay, so
this is the first place where the bears can get back on to
the ice and begin to hunt seals,” explains Duane Collins
of Parks Canada. “As the fall freeze-up approaches, bears
move towards the Churchill area. It’s this concentration of
animals that makes it such ideal viewing: this is the one
place on earth you are likely to see a polar bear at this time
of year.”
ere’s no snow or ice when I visit. In fact, some Arctic
plants are in flower, and Manitoba’s infamous insects (there
are 50 different species of mosquito here) are biting hard.
We walk towards the stone walls of Prince of Wales Fort,
built by the Hudson’s Bay Company in the early 1700s.
Collins tells me that for three centuries, this powerful organization controlled the lucrative fur trade, supplying the
European hat market. Trading centres — today’s modern
cities — were established across Canada.
e only way to reach Churchill is by plane or a 36hour train journey from Winnipeg, the capital city of the
province. But it’s worth the effort to breathe in the fresh,
clean air and see the ghostly green Northern Lights dancing across the night sky. Polar bears are not the only
wildlife attraction either. ere are beaver, caribou, Arctic
foxes, grey wolves, a huge number of birds — and whales.
Fotos: Mauritius
Die „freundliche“ Provinz Manitoba im
Herzen Kanadas ist noch nahezu
unerkundet und gilt unter Natur- und
Kulturfreunden als Geheimtipp.
JULIAN EARWAKER hat einen Streifzug
durch das wilde und vielfältige „Land der
100 000 Seen“ unternommen und
berichtet in dieser Reportage von seinen
spannenden Erlebnissen.
approach [E(prEUtS]
bay [beI]
beaver [(bi:vE]
binoculars [bI(nQkjUlEz]
fall [fO:l] N. Am.
fort [fO:t]
freeze-up [(fri:z Vp]
fur [f§:]
infamous [(InfEmEs]
likely: be ~ to do [(laIkli]
paw [pO:]
point [pOInt]
seal [si:&l]
shoreline [(SO:laIn]
herannahen
Bucht
Biber
Fernglas
Herbst
Festung, Kastell
Zufrieren (des Meeres)
Pelz
berühmt-berüchtigt
mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit tun
Pfote
mit dem Finger zeigen
Seehund, Robbe
Ufer
5|13 Spotlight
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TRAVEL | Canada
Close, but not too close: seeing the bears from a tundra buggy
Beluga whales: friendly, playful and always on the move
Every year in July and August, beluga whales arrive in
their thousands to feed on small fish at the mouth of the
Churchill River. Returning from the fort on board a Zodiac, I see movement in the water. Soon, dozens of white
bodies appear in the waves around us, playful, sociable,
close enough to touch. It’s an unforgettable experience.
Back on dry land, there’s time to visit the Eskimo Museum, which contains some exquisite carvings and artefacts
from the tribes that have lived in the region for more than
3,000 years. Afterwards, I am told that my supper menu
will include Arctic char, braised caribou and musk-ox
roulade. Even on the short walk to the restaurant, however,
I’m searching the shadows, imagining hungry polar bears.
I wonder what it’s like to live here.
“It’s good for kids to grow up with a little bit of fear
and a lot of respect for nature,” says Paul Ratson, a local
guide, when we meet the next morning. “But you can’t
have people hiding in their houses.” He explains that the
town’s population of 850 or so is protected by a polar bear
warning system. Any bears that wander into town are
chased out by wildlife officers. Problem bears are caught
and held in Churchill’s “bear jail” — a special facility just
outside the town — before being returned to the wild.
e safest way to get up close to polar bears is to go
with a “tundra buggy”, which is like a Portakabin on
wheels. In the afternoon, I board one, and we bump slowly
over the tundra, through some shallow water and over old
beach shelves. We don’t see any bears, but maybe that’s
no surprise. “We have 60 miles of road and 10,000 square
miles of wilderness,” laughs Ratson.
e next day, I’m flying over this very empty lands c a p e ,
A figure from
travelling south towards
the Eskimo Museum
the Manitoban capital of
in Churchill
Winnipeg. I look
A CLOSER LOOK
Eskimo is the general term for all the Arctic maritime peoples and groups, including the Inuit, who live in the huge
region that includes parts of Siberia, Greenland and, in Canada, Manitoba, Nunavut, northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories — plus the US state of Alaska. The word, long thought to mean “eaters of uncooked meat”, is now
understood to have the meaning “people who speak a different language”.
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Spotlight 5|13
Seesaibling, Rotforelle
Sandbank
Weißwal
geschmort
hier: rumpeln
Schnitzerei
jagen
Einrichtung, Anlage
seefahrendes Volk
Moschusochse
Baucontainer
seicht
Stamm
Left: the author in his
bug jacket; right: Duane
Collins of Parks Canada
tundra buggy
[(tVndrE )bVgi]
Zodiac [(zEUdiÄk]
busähnlicher hoher Geländewagen zur
Beobachtung von Eisbären
Schlauchboot mit Außenbordmotor
Fotos: Alamy; J. Earwaker; Travel Manitoba
Arctic char [)A:ktIk (tSA:]
beach shelf [(bi:tS Self]
beluga whale [bE)lu:gE (weI&l]
braised [breIzd]
bump [bVmp]
carving [(kA:vIN]
chase [tSeIs]
facility [fE(sIlEti]
maritime people
[)mÄrItaIm (pi:p&l]
musk ox [(mVsk Qks]
Portakabin [(pO:tE)kÄbIn]
shallow [(SÄlEU]
tribe [traIb]