My travel dreams have always been of exotic, far-off lands. Foreign-ness is alluring to me, like the tropics with 365 days a year of hot weather or camels in the Sahara Desert. But on a recent learning vacation with Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC), my definition of “exotic” was redefined.
Evidence of indigenous habitation in the Churchill region dates back at least 4,000 years. European settlement began in the late 17C, initially as a fur-trading base for the nearby Hudson’s Bay Company and later as a grain-shipping port and military base, both now defunct.
The Churchill settlement has survived, thanks in part to CNSC, a non-profit research and education facility. Initially established in 1976, the CNSC’s modern LEEDS-certified (ultra-innovative water and energy-saving features) 2011 building is juxtaposed amongst a strange collection of deserted 1950s rocket research buildings and launching pads built by the military, 23 kilometres outside of town.
With a vision to understand and sustain the North, the CNSC offers university credit courses and learning vacations for the public. These week-long programs, led by professional scientists and expert guides, focus on studying the local environment and culture. During your stay, you share the comfortable 84-bed dormitory (each room has two bunk beds and bathroom facilities are shared) with experts from around the world.
Home-cooked, cafeteria-style meals are included and, even though fresh ingredients can be a challenge to obtain in the North, at CNSC they grow their own delicious greens and herbs in a 40-foot long, heavily insulated shipping container equipped with a hydroponic growing system.
When I arrive in Churchill in October, it’s the start of prime polar-bear viewing season. The terrain isn’t covered with snow yet; as far as I can see is a rusty landscape like a diorama composed of golden-burnished ochre and cognac wools, dotted with muskeg ponds. But already, the wind-chill is biting (thank goodness CNSC has parkas, snow pants and heavy boots available).
Churchill is unique in that it is positioned on the corner of three biomes: marine, boreal and tundra, fascinating to scientists and allowing for interesting learning vacations. More than 250 species of birds nest or pass through Churchill on their yearly migration, including hundreds of snow geese and rarities such as Ross’ gull and the Bohemian waxwing. In the spring, the tundra comes alive with boreal and arctic wildflowers and, in the summer, the Bay is the feeding “ground” for over 3,000 belugas, the largest population in the Arctic.
Another northern phenomenon is the aurora borealis (the CNSC has a program for this as well), best viewed in late winter. However, Churchill is under the auroral oval, where a high level of geo-magnetic activities from the north pole offers visibility at least 300 nights of the year (you haven’t lived until you see these swirling arcs and rays of light).
What’s really put Churchill on the map is that it has become the polar bear capital of the world, due to its location on the annual migration path of approximately 1,000 of these massive creatures. In fact, CNSC’s most popular learning vacation, the one I’m participating in, is the Lords of the Arctic, which is all about studying them.
In the fall, the bears congregate on the shoreline of the Hudson Bay waiting for the ice to freeze enough to venture out on ice floes where they hunt as many ringed seals as possible. It’s no wonder polar bears have become the poster children for climate change – with global warming, waters freeze later and thaw earlier, affecting their livelihood.
Not only bears and belugas survive in Churchill’s unusual environment. There are also 900 hardy bipedal inhabitants. Winters here are long – about eight months of the year – and it’s not unusual for temperatures to plummet to a frost-bite-inducing minus 45 degrees Celsius. After all, Churchill is located just below the Nunavut border. Like the gray jays’ eggs that can withstand nearly -40 degrees and wood frogs that hibernate and freeze solid in the winter, these humans have adapted.
But Churchill folks aren’t just surviving – most declare they’re in love with the place. Evan Roberts, a CNSC program co-ordinator who came up from Winnipeg one summer four years ago, and never left, is one example of someone who has had the tundra and northern life take hold of his heart.
“A lot of the draw is the people and sense of community,” he says. “When you ask for help, 15 people are waiting to assist.”
How do people co-habit with the world’s largest land predator? At the CNSC, you’re not allowed out of the building without an armed bear guard. The town itself has its own Polar Bear Alert Program, with a team who patrols the perimeter of town. Unless there’s a bear alert, you’re generally safe walking the streets to explore the gift shops and other attractions like the Itsanitaq Museum with its comprehensive collection of historical artifacts and contemporary Inuit art.
There is also a polar bear “jail,” where habituated-problem bears are held until they can be flown further north. Painted on the outside of this holding facility is a giant sleeping polar bear, one of 18 murals scattered about town and along the 30-kilometre length of Churchill’s driveable road – part of the 2017 Sea Walls Festival to bring awareness to protecting the world’s oceans.
Of course, there’s no guarantee you will see a Lord of the Arctic on your learning vacation, but CNSC does its best to provide opportunities. On my second last day, the scheduled activity is a helicopter ride with a local operator, for a birds-eye view of the region. As our pilot sweeps over polar bear hang-out spots, I eye my first bear far below in some sand spits called “the lounge” – a favourite place for them to lay on kelp beds to rest and conserve energy. I’m hooked, now I want to see these amazing mammals up closer.
I get this thrilling opportunity the next day on a tundra buggy ride. Our driver, Jim, has been doing this for 14 seasons, so he regales the group with local folklore as we bump and grind along old military roads.
“All the bears have different personalities,” says Jim. “Five per cent of them don’t like the buggies and run away. Other bears, like Victor, who has a hashtag scar on his face (from fighting), are laid-back with buggies.”
My group is fortunate to see several bears, close enough that we don’t need binoculars, sleeping behind bushes and strolling the tundra. They glance at us with casual aloofness, not interested, for now at least, in checking us or the buggy out. Jim makes an observation, driving home that nothing here is familiar to me: “We’re the ones in the cage – we’re the primates in the zoo – this is their land.”
My definition of exotic has been blown wide open.
IF YOU GO:
For more info go to: https://churchillscience.ca/ or Travel Manitoba
Regular flights go from Winnipeg to Churchill, or there’s also train service from Winnipeg.
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