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| Enjoy the majesty of the coastal mountains as we explore spectacular Knight Inlet to find grizzly bears in the spring. As the snows melt, both black and grizzly bears emerge from their hibernation dens on the mountain slopes. |
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Departs 7 AM Returns 4 PM |
| Hungry bears make their way down to feed on the spring sedge grasses in the river lowlands. Sedges have 20% vegetable protein value, enough to sustain the bears. |
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| At low tide the bears feed along the inlet beaches, eating seaweed and turning over rocks to find crabs, barnacles and mussels. Many of the young bears are blond in the spring. |
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| Bears are conserving energy this time of the year. They get up late, and take siestas when ever they feel safe. Big Bertha here opened one eye when the camera shutter clicked. |
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| Late May to mid June is the mating season with lots of interesting interaction. The big boars chase the not-too-interested females, displacing other bears along the beach. Certainly this is our favourite time of the viewing season. |
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| We view the bears from the safety and comfort of the boat. On some tides we use our flat bottom skiff to get into the shallows. Please bring a good pair of binoculars. |
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Mid July is the season of cubs scrambling along behind their mom as they first explore their wilderness home. Mom is very
protective of her cubs as she teaches them bear survival.
Grizzly News Flash:
July 1, 2007 Lenora (a.k.a."Roll") has brought her new
cub-of-the-year into the estuary! August 11: Sadly Roll's cub died today
from a blow from a big bear. We certainly will miss her zesty antics...
June, 2008: Sarah, an older female has come out with a cub-of-the-year! They are hiding down inlet in an avalanche alder chute, and poking their noses out at low tide to roll rocks for eels and isopods.... May 2009: Lenore has come out with a c o y. Sarah has survived the long winter with her single cub, now a yearling. |
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Departs 7am July & August, returns 4pm. |
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Visit the Tour Calendar
for our spring & summer bear
tour schedule. Lunch is provided. Check out our Wildlife Viewing Reports |
Bear pictures courtesy of Joachim Ruhstein, Comox Valley., Sarah & coy Christina Marsch Bears
at the beach Watch a video of our tour with Kerry Dawson & CBC Country Canada.
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Children 8 to 14 are welcome at $220 per child, All tours subject to a 4 person minimum. We do not guarantee bear sightings, but we do the best we can to get you close to the action. 2008 we had 100% sighting rate! In 2009 about 98%. We do not take pregnant women nor people with back or neck problems. |
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| By mid August the salmon are running at the river mouth. The bears are chasing the fish around in the low tide pools .... Lots of fun. Watch grizzlies at the river mouth flats on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdAkxfRb1U4. Often our viewing skiff is right in the river. And with wearing polarized sun glasses you can see schools of salmon massing to head up river to the spawning channels. Eagles dive down to snatch salmon, bears charge around like horses chasing fish up onto a gravel bar. |
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| Our summer Grizzly Bear Tour where we find bears along the beaches through out Knight Inlet now becomes concentrated where the bears feed on salmon at the river mouth. Bears are chasing fish, eating salmon carcasses and digging for rice root. As the tide rises, we drift up the river into the West Coast rainforest listening for a bear in the bush to crunch into a salmon head. Bald eagles are everywhere. A true West Coast rainforest experience! |
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