We made our way back down to Bella Bella, left Heron tied at the Shearwater docks, then flew north again to the King Pacific Lodge, where Kim had an assignment. Jeff was happy to tag along, especially since guests are flown in on these cool 1948 Grumman Goose amphibious planes. We swept in, banked a tight turn, and landed with a splosh, floating right up to the KPL docks...
 |
| View of Barnard Harbour from the lodge... |
 |
| Hiking on Campania Island. |
 |
| Meeting National Geographic photographer, Thomas Peschak. |
 |
| Welcomed by a resident humpback feeding right in Barnard Harbour.... |
The best part of our King Pacific Lodge stay was having such access to the spectacular wildlife and marine environments of the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the few places left on the planet where wild land meets completely wild ocean. Because there is no industry, the ecosystem is alive and flourishing. You can see whales, wolves, bear, salmon, bald eagles, all in the same day. This remarkable place has been the backyard of the Gitga'at First Nations culture for centuries. We were lucky enough to spend a second day bear-watching with local guide Marven Robinson, and this time encountered three female black bears (two with pairs of young cubs), and a magnificent male black bear. It was mesmerizing to spend hours watching them hunt salmon in this fish-rich stream...
The highlight of the day - and indeed, a life highlight! - was when this beautiful spirit bear showed up. Spirit bears (black bears with a recessive gene that causes them to be born white), are elusive and shy. An estimated 400 of them live in the Great Bear's moss-draped rain forest... and they are extremely rare to see. We'd met people who had spent weeks trying to sight a spirit bear, with no luck, so this one was a rare gift! Like something out of a dream...
 |
| The Spirit Bear comes out of the brush... |
 |
| Fishing for lunch. |
 |
| And heading upstream, too soon gone. |
 |
| Kim is pretty happy about the sighting! |
As if the bear wasn't enough, as we were hiking back out of the forest, Jeff spotted a Northern Spotted Owl. Marven had only seen ONE in his life, and the wildlife guide at KPL had
never seen one. They are nocturnal animals, and rarely out during daylight hours. It is estimated there are less than 30 nesting pairs left in British Columbia's old growth forests, and that there will be none in BC in a few years, so this was really something...
 |
| Northern Spotted Owl camouflaged in the alders... |
 |
| Northern Spotted Owl. Wow! |
 |
| Meeting more humpbacks on the ride home... |
 |
| Canadian Coast Guard ship sitting in Barnard Harbour, storm front approaching.... |
No comments:
Post a Comment