Brown bear watching & wildlife tours on the coast of Katmai National
Park, Alaska
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A TYPICAL DAY
OF BEAR-WATCHING
(IF THERE IS SUCH A THING)
 Rogers
described a typical setting. “The skiff brought us ashore after a
great breakfast on the boat and a quiet night in the calm bay.
Flocks of puffins, scoters, and murrelets parted in front of the
skiff, and the watchful heads of harbor seals and sea otters dotted
the water. Overhead,
eagles and gulls searched the water for leftovers provided by the
seals and otters. On
shore, we walked a couple hundred yards inland, passed a red fox den
while the parents watched, and climbed a grassy rise to scan for
grizzlies on the sedge flats around us. We counted 31 including
cubs. Some were grazing. A male and female were
sitting quietly after a bout of playing and attempted mounting. It was
June—mating season. Mothers with this year’s cubs
watched the other bears nervously.
A mother and yearling dug clams where low tide exposed a mud
flat beside a stream. We joked
that we must be crazy to be standing unarmed in the middle of so many
grizzly bears, but the truth is that I have never felt the slightest
bit threatened by these bears. We saw a mother I knew, a
beautiful blond mother whose fur glowed in the soft northern
light. Her cub from this year was nestled beside her, and she
was resting with her chin on a piece of driftwood. As we walked
toward her, sandpipers flew up from the short sedges ahead of us and
wild tundra swans walked out of our way. My group quickly lost
their fear when they saw how the bears reacted to us. These timid animals were
certainly not the aggressive beasts that grizzlies are usually
portrayed to be. Our focus became how to behave so as not to
scare them. We made wide detours around bears that looked
nervous. We didn’t want to make them change their
behavior. But we knew the blond mother had a calm personality
and would go about her business with us nearby. She lifted her
head and watched as we approached. We stopped when she looked
away as if thinking about leaving.
The same mothers that ferociously charge intruding bears will
retreat from brash humans, but some bears like this mother will ignore
small groups that act nonaggressive. We lay down on the
lawn-like sedge flat. She dropped her head back onto her
driftwood pillow and closed her eyes. She regarded us as
non-threatening. A half hour later, she got up and began grazing
toward us unconcerned. Her
cub pranced over to within 30 feet and stood on its hind legs, waving
its arms to keep its balance as it watched us lying there. About
the size of a cocker spaniel, the fuzzy cub stole everyone’s hearts
as we clicked and videoed it against a backdrop of snow-covered
mountains. The mother woofed, and the cub ran to her side. We were in the world’s
largest grizzly protection area, and the cub was doubly secure by
its mother’s side. The cub found a piece of driftwood to play
with, rolling on its back and trying to balance it on its four
feet. We named the cub Daisy after it sniffed an arctic daisy
like some of us had done on the walk in. The mother continued
grazing, turning some of the nutrients into milk. A half hour
later, she lay on her back and the cub came trotting over to lie on
her chest and take its share.
Too soon, it was
lunchtime for us, and we radioed the boat to send the skiff and take
us back to the boat. After
lunch, a couple people took naps and the rest of us talked about the
morning. We had learned
a little more about the true nature of grizzly bears by watching
scenes that go on today as they have since the glaciers melted from
this wilderness over 10,000 years ago. In mid-afternoon, we
skiffed back to shore to explore another area and have another bear
adventure in a new setting of Alaskan wildflowers and clear ponds
that reflect the beauty of the background. The tide was higher
then, and we skiffed a half mile up the stream. A lady remarked, “If
people pay to see wild grizzlies without killing them, thousands of
people can enjoy the same long-lived bears over the years, and the
demand for this experience could lead to protection of additional
areas.”
[ Values of Bear-Watching along the Katmai Coast ] [ Observing Grizzlies ] [ Bear Watching ] [ Living on the Boat ] [ Coming into Bear Country ] |
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