Tundra life

Today was a full-day adventure on the Tundra Buggy! (If you haven't seen this behemoth of a vehicle, you've got to check out the link.) It is absolutely massive and VERY bumpy on the summer tundra.

In the summer the buggy drives around on "roads" constructed by the US Military back in the day when they used the site as a training ground. Sometimes the "road" dips down into one of many lakes, and sometimes it is just easier to drive through one of the hundreds of lakes.

Note that standing at the back of the buggy is not only crazy bumpy, (think back of the bus from school, times a thousand) but dusty. While the views are great; the coating of dust is not.

Land of many Lakes
The lakes are only a few feet deep at maximum and all freeze over come winter. This means that there are only a teeny stickleback fish and a couple of frogs that live in these lakes. The frogs actually freeze in the winter, but survive since they have antifreeze in their blood, which keeps them alive.

These frozen lakes, and ample snow, means a smoother ride for the tundra buggies in the winter. But I still like the summer, as you get the beautiful colours of the vast plant life and flowers. Apparently we're really lucky this year as everything seems to be blooming ahead of time, and at the same time.

Finding North
It isn't hard to find North in Churchill. With the skinny pine trees here you just have to look for the side with no branches. The joke in Churchill is that to make a Christmas tree you have to take two trees and put them together.

Countless birds
Besides the flowers and plant life, there were tons of birds. Snow geese, snow swans, pipers, these whirly birds and dozens of names I can't remember since they're foreign to me. There was always something to look at when cruisin' the tundra.

Polar Bears
The first bear we spotted was a ways away. The buggy seems to go about 5 km/hr, so by the time we got near the water's edge it was walking out into the water and out on a point. You could see it swatting at the horse flies, and generally just content to sit. Such a magnificent creature.

I won the prize for the best spot - the second (and final) polar bear. While we didn't achieve great quantity, we surely made up for it in quality. This bear was more ambivalent to us and was fine with us driving, and parking, pretty close to it. It did everything a photographer would love - sit, walk, lay down, swat at flies, shake its head, sip from the water and more. I'd guess we were watching for about an hour, and even took the opportunity to have some lunch.

Since the buggy started to sink in the bog, we had to move on to the end of Polar Bear Point on more stable ground. We didn't move too far, so the bear ended up making its way towards us! It came so close to the buggy that I could see the bugs on its face. It looked at us, swatted a bit, stuck out its black tongue, and then made its way out into the Bay. We couldn't have asked for a better bear!

Unfortunately we weren't able to spot much else. The arctic fox population has taken a hit due to an outbreak of rabies and mange. Arctic hare are generally hard to spot. Still, with our friendly bear and the rest of the wildlife we saw, it was an amazing day.

Top notch tourists
Having traveled a fair bit, I'm actually pretty impressed with the tourists we've ran across. All are respectful of the environment and surroundings, most have traveled a fair bit and the good majority have excellent cameras. It seems the higher cost and remoteness seem to weed out the chaff you'll usually find in your typical foreign urban or well-traveled haunts. An added bonus!

Last night in Churchill
As the day is winding down, I'm really going to miss this place. Being out of town you find nothing but wilderness and beauty. This place has a certain charm to it that gets under your skin. I can see why foreigners come to live here and pick up work, just to be able to enjoy this beauty every day. Makes you think about what life is about!