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Polar Bears
– churchill, manitoba
Logistics,
accommodations, food and clothing
A
personal report on this trip
BK
travel's pictures from this trip in 2007
Don’t take the
train. Slow and
unreliable. Often as much as 8 hours late. FLY.
Arrival: You are NOT
met at the airport in Winnipeg.
There is a
complimentary shuttle from the airport to the Hilton
Hotel. You need to call from the Hotel/Motel board in
the airport for them to come and pick you up. There is
only ONE shuttle that holds eight people so if there is
a group of you then they will take some and return for
the others. You can also take a taxi. The hotel is only
ONE MILE from the airport.
At the
Hilton Hotel: There is nothing in your rooms on
arrival from the tour company. The hotel is a classic
Hilton airport hotel with a small lobby, a bar, and a
restaurant. 100% smoke free. Internet is available for a
charge. The guest rooms are similar to those at the old
Embassy Suites hotels with a lounge on entry, a coffee
bar with tea and coffee, a mini bar, a king sized bed,
and bath with over head shower. Nothing fancy here but
acceptable. The food was surprisingly good.
No
contact is made from the tour company until dinner at
7.00 pm. You simply go downstairs to the restaurant
at 7:00 p.m. and there will be a large table with a
representative from the tour company who will be with
you for dinner. We had the owner of the company. She
shared that we were to be downstairs at 5:45 a.m. for
departure to the airport.
Next
morning: It is too early for the restaurant to serve
breakfast. Coffee and donuts were available in the
lobby. There were several vans for transport to the
airport and we loaded up and headed for the airport.
Each person checks in individually with Calm Air. What a
great name for an airline! Through security we go and
there were some small shops selling coffee and muffins. 
Flight to
Churchill: Cabin baggage is taken from you at the
plane and put in the hold. You receive this when you get
off the plane. It is a small twin engine propeller
plane but a NICE plane. The flight takes about 2 ½ to 3
hours. It is fun as you get close and see the tundra
below. The cold hits you the second you leave the plane
and make your way to the terminal. Dress warm to be
prepared for this chilly arrival.
Arrival
in Churchill: Now things get a LOT more organized.
Our guide Steve, a nice down to earth man who is a local
and knows the area extremely well, met us at luggage
pick up. Steve has been requested to be the guide for
the 2009 group and unless he stops guiding he will be
your guide. We gathered together and loaded in a school
bus. I did not know a school bus could rattle this much.
However, by the end of the trip we came to really love
our old school bus. Your group will do a tour of the
town, see the Polar Bear jail, visit the Eskimo museum
and then enjoy the included dog sledding. This is a
change from our program in 2007. We did a night time
tundra buggy ride with dinner on the vehicle. This was
not a good thing to do. You could see nothing and the
dinner was like the lunches you will have each day on
the tundra buggy. I believe it is much better to have a
nice dinner at Gypsy’s and a dog sled ride.
7:00 a.m.
– off to Gypsy’s for breakfast. Steve and the
faithful school bus will pick you up and take you to
Gypsy’s Café for breakfast. If you want to walk you can
do so, as it is about five blocks. More detail will
follow on Gypsy’s café. After breakfast head back to
the motel and then off to the Tundra Buggy for your day
of Polar Bear watching.
It takes
about an hour to get from the town of Churchill to the
Tundra Vehicle loading area where you pile out of the
school bus and into the tundra vehicle.
 The
Tundra Vehicles: There are two companies that have
tundra vehicles, the original “Tundra Buggy” and the
newer “Great White Bear Company.” There is no comparison
in the two companies’ vehicles and operation. The Great
White Bear Company is far superior. Two companies,
Natural Habitat and Churchill Nature Tours, are the only
tour companies that can use the Great White Bear Company
tundra vehicles. Natural Habitat is the most expensive
operator in Churchill. They have the same types of
programs as Churchill Nature tours; they use the same
tundra buggies and also eat at Gypsy’s. They do give
their participants a nice parka and use different
accommodations (probably at about the same level as the
Aurora Inn, nothing really fancy in Churchill), but
other than that their program is almost identical to
that of Churchill Nature Tours, just at a far higher
price. The owner of Churchill Nature Tours, Thuraya
Weedon, is a personal friend of the owner of the Great
White Bear Company. This is a real coup to have these
tundra vehicles, as Natural Habitat would like to have
complete usage of all the Great White Bear Tundra
vehicles.
Some
information on Natural Habitat and Churchill Nature
Tours: There is a rivalry that you are very aware of
between Natural Habitat and Churchill Nature Tours. It
was obvious in Gypsy’s café. We got preferential
treatment all the time. We had the nice wood table and
Natural Habitat had the metal tables. We were served
first every time. If we wanted anything they would say
“are you with Steve?” We would say yes, and we got what
we wanted. I asked Steve about why this was happening,
and he explained that Natural Habitat brings in guides
from the outside that do not know the town. They are
huge with lots of money behind them and are taking over
the tour industry and cutting out the smaller
operators. They are more expensive and slick and get
the majority of the American’s business. This is of
course not the fault of those that buy Natural Habitat
tours, but it is very obvious that the locals are not
too fond of the organization. I am sure there is even
more to this story. In researching I just felt that
Natural Habitat was too expensive and was pleased that I
had found Churchill Nature Tours and booked with them
instead.
The
Tundra Buggy Experience: The tundra buggy will hold
about 30 - 40 people, but the tour is limited to 20
people. So there is plenty of room as we have private
use of the vehicle. When you see the other company, The
Tundra Buggy, you will note that every seat is taken and
they are crammed in like sardines. The buggy is heated
but when a bear is sighted people are going in and out
to the platform at the back and also opening the windows
to take pictures. It gets cold very quickly. You need
to dress very warm and in layers – more on that later.
It takes about another 30 – 45 minutes to get out to the
areas that the bears are located. You can see them at
anytime, but there are definitely areas that have more
bears. The colder it is the more active the bears
become. The seats are reasonably comfortable; we used
two different vehicles and one was more comfortable than
the other was. There is a flush toilet on board, the
same kind you see on trains and boats. You are out
until around 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. depending on the
sightings. Then back to the staging area and into the
school bus for the ride home to Churchill. Lunch onboard
is hot soup, sandwiches and pastries from Gypsy’s Cafe
served with coffee and soft drinks. We did make a stop
at the liquor store in town and some had wine to have
with lunch. Usually they stop in an area where bears are
in sight so you can watch the bears while you eat. You
are taken back to the motel and then picked up for
dinner at around 7:00 p.m.
The next day
you start all over again. We have three full days on the
tundra. Steve will take some time for you to see the
local shops on the way home from the tundra one evening.
You will also be taken to the post office where you can
get your passport stamped. If the skies are clear he
will pick you up and take you to an area very close to
town where you would be able to view the Northern
Lights. He is your group’s personal chauffeur during
your stay.
The last
day in Churchill: On the last day you leave the
tundra a little early, have an early dinner at Gypsy’s
before heading to the airport and your flight to
Winnipeg. You are picked up in Winnipeg at the airport
and transported to the Hilton Hotel. This time the pick
up is by the tour operators with enough vehicle space
for everyone to go at one time. Overnight at the Hilton
Hotel again with breakfast included the next morning and
your own arrangements to the airport for your flight
home.
CLOTHING - WHAT TO
TAKE
No dressing
up. We did not change for dinner; it is incredibly
casual. You wake up in the morning, put on your tundra
clothes, and simply peel off layers when you are in the
restaurant or if it warms up in the bus or tundra buggy.
The
temperature ranges dramatically and it can be very cold.
Remember you WANT cold so the bears are active. From
the low teens to the mid thirties is to be expected.
Layer -
Layer - Layer!
Body:
First layer should be long underwear, top and bottom.
Then some warm fleece type pants and top and a good
heavy coat. Maybe even three layers. On one cold day I
wore my waterproof pants from Antarctica. I would not
get wet but they are very insulating and warm.
Feet, hands
and head. This is what I found got the coldest.
Feet:
I purchased some snow boots for $20, which is the best
investment I have ever made. They were felt lined, and
without them I think I would have been miserable. I wore
a liner pair of socks and then some heavy warm socks.
That did the trick.
Hands:
The hand warmers you can buy really make a difference.
Particularly if you are taking pictures as your hands
get cold very quickly. Also wore glove liners and then
a pair of ski gloves.
Hat:
A warm hat is a nice thing to have. The more you go out
on the platform in the open the more you will need the
hat.
You are not
out in the elements. You are in a vehicle most of the
time, but it is still cold with the windows opening and
the door to the platform lets in a blast of cold air.
Luggage
Limit: Is the same as most airlines. No more than
70lbs per person including your ONE checked bag and
carry on. No checked bag over 50 lbs.
Tour
Booklet: After final payment you will receive a
tour booklet from Churchill Nature tours before
departure that will go into more detail.
GYPSY’S
CAFÉ
We had one
professional photographer in our group that had been in
Churchill for a full week prior to our arrival. He was
a wealth of information about what the other tours were
like in comparison to our experiences. He had eaten at
all the local restaurants and was “THRILLED” to be
eating at Gypsy’s for every meal. He said there was
absolutely no comparison. This is not a fancy
restaurant. It started as a bakery and their bakery
products are wonderful, a huge case full of tempting
delights. Linda is pictured in front on the case on the
pictures on the itinerary.
You can
have anything you like. There is a blackboard with the
specials of the day and a set menu with everything from
Pizza to Steak and Fish; they even had escargot. In the
morning at breakfast the tour leader tells you the
options for that evening and takes your order for the
main course. There is always a soup or salad, main
course and then the bakery for desert. Coffee and tea
is a help yourself option and they charge for cokes and
wines. The food is good basic food. Very tasty and
presentation is simple. However, we all enjoyed our
meals there and the quality was surprisingly good for a
town like Churchill where even getting lettuce is a
difficult proposition.
There is one
large wood table at the back and all the others are
metal tables and chairs jammed together. The place is
always packed. It is amazing how they serve the volume
of food they serve. It is a family that works the
restaurant, cooks, bakes and serves. It felt like
“home” very quickly.
 Aurora
Inn
Do you
remember the loft apartments of the 1970’s? There is a
big living room area downstairs with a kitchen, and the
bedroom loft with bathroom is upstairs. Not that well
furnished but lots of room to spread out. That is the
Aurora Inn. We never saw anyone behind the desk except
at check in and check out. There is a washer and dryer
for guest’s use and there is a computer and also
wireless internet access in the rooms. There is daily
maid service. Nothing fancy but I did like how big they
were and that we could really spread out. Television in
the living room and upstairs in the bedroom. We really
were not there that much. Up early, home late. A place
to sleep.
Amenities
-
living rooms with
free cable TV, movie station, & VCR's
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fully-equipped
kitchen with complimentary in room coffee/tea
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loft bedroom with
either a queen bed or two double beds
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private baths
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faxing, public
computer access, wireless high speed Internet access
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24 hour telephone
system
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complimentary washer
and dryer for guests use
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wheel chair
accessible, handicapped suite available
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Ideal for families,
groups or business meetings
www.townofchurchill.ca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill,_Manitoba
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