Author: kiwadian

On January 22nd 2018 Justin Allen and his team of 12 dogs departed Churchill, Manitoba on a 4 month dog sled expedition, over 3000km’s to Saint John, New Brunswick.

Justin and his support crew of 3 (Danielle Sinclair, Philip Da Silva and myself) travelled across northern Manitoba, Ontario, across James Bay into and across Quebec and finally down into Saint John through the middle of winter, ending up at our destination in the second week of May.

Freezing temperatures, wolves, snow blindness, polar bear country.. these are just a few of the challenges we met along the way.

I filmed and photographed the whole journey on a Panasonic GH5, which withstood months of being beat around on the back of skidoos, in komatiks, on dog sleds and in outside in anything down to -45 Celsius. It truly exceeded all of my expectations.

Here are a few photos from that expedition, and if you want to see a compressed (4 months into 44 minutes) trip, you can find it on cbc’s website here.

What a wonderful and weird season it’s been.

The ice has formed earlier than recent years. Much earlier. That means that the bears are already on the move, cutting bear season almost in half.

What we have seen already this year however has been amazing action.

I arrived up here mid October and was greeted that afternoon with a mother and cubs. She was the same one I had been following during the summer time and it was a fantastic way to start the season.

Throughout this moth we’ve seen an early freeze up and plenty of bears on the ice. Foxes both red and white hunting for the winter. Bears sparring, lazing, rolling and playing. The aurora has also been out when we’ve had clear nights. It may have started slow but for the last week of october and the first week of November the wildlife came out for us.

The ice is forming fast now and it seems we have lost a good many bears already. Tonight a south wind blows, and although that will blow the ice away and leave us with some bears on land, it will also blow the ones we’ve lost north of here.

All in all so far it’s been successful, but this early freeze up means an early season and it’s always sad to say goodbye to the bears.

I have another two weeks up here and some time off coming up which will be nice. Early mornings and late nights if the aurora is out can make for a tiring month!

A few shots from the last few weeks below.

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I arrived yesterday for another 9 day shoot looking for more summer(ish) Polar Bear footage. It’s been blowing a storm since I arrived so shooting video has been out of the question, however when the north winds hammer the Hudson Bay coast here we get an amazing foam build up and crashing waves on the rocks. Today, instead of shooting video, I went out with Alex de Vries from Discover Churchill to photograph the storm instead.

While out for a long weekend at Asessippi Provincial Park with the family the northern lights decided to show up. I have the GH5 with me and haven’t had the opportunity to test it out at night yet, so this seemed like a good opportunity.

While it wasn’t really a spectacular lights show, that actually helped me get an idea of how it performs with terrible northern lights conditions.

This was taken from our yurt. The lights never really got higher than the horizon.

This was taken just down the road with the hills in the background.

Considering the level of lights that were actually out I’m pretty happy with the first test. I’m looking forward to being back up north during the season too see how it performs with serious lights out.

An early start, beautiful light and only eagles to show for it.

We went out for the sunrise with hopes to find the mother and cubs that have been spotted but the morning showed nothing but eagles. The light however was amazing and the landscapes here as always are a joy to look at regardless of any wildlife (or lack thereof) in it.

The afternoon started to prove fruitful with a lone bear in the marsh. Unfortunately it was in the town limits and it didn’t take long for it to be picked up by conservation and  removed from the area.

Later on however we finally got across the river. Late afternoon sun and a mother and cub gave a little taste of what will hopefully be good days to come. The bugs were out in abundance and these two lay down in the willows and fireweed for some relief before the mum dug a shallow day bed to likely tuck in for the night.

On the other side we found a large bear feeding on something, but unfortunately due to the angle we couldn’t quite see what.

I’m hoping tomorrow will give us a full day of action.

No bears today unfortunately.

On the scout to Bird Cove we came across a golden eagle and a little caribou. The eagle, perched on the rocks down by the bay, was sitting pretty but as I was setting up to shoot I noticed movement to my right.

This little guy was making his way down towards the bay.

He didn’t stick around for long and I was lucky to even snap a shot before he disappeared into the willows and never came back out.

By the time I got back to the eagle the rain was setting in and he was on the move. Neither were what I was looking for but both were still nice to see.

We arrived at the airport around 1425 yesterday afternoon (it’s 0128 right now) for a 1600 flight. Checked in and through security, the dog in her kennel and out to be loaded onto the plane. Boarding comes, everything is going smooth until the voice comes over the intercom. Engine problems.. de-plane and wait.

By the time we finally get into Churchill it’s midnight. The poor pup has been stuck in her kennel for almost 10 hours and I’m beat. We landed into the beginning of a storm, the fog obscuring the ground until just before the wheels touched down and the whole plane seemed to come up onto one wheel for a moment.

We’re up for a 9 day summer shoot of polar bears, belugas and maybe some eagles and foxes with our new piece of kit, the Lumix GH5. Last year was very lucrative for summer polar bears with lots of action in the water. It’s still early this season and hopefully it picks back up again. The rain is meant to stop in the morning. When it does it’s out to the cabin to pick up the guiding kit and then go for a scout to see what’s around.

– The Nanuk Operations Team

A different year…

The cold snap didn’t arrive until after the majority of the season was over this year, meaning little to no snow, no ice on the bay and a hard slog for getting those great shots. Not that we didn’t get them.

Does this mean the season should be extended? Probably not.. although it’s hard to say. This seemed to be quite abnormal and it’s doubtful it will follow the same pattern next year, however the traditional “end of Bear Season” in Churchill is never really a sure thing as Bears don’t check their calendars often and don’t know when to leave on time.

Lots of Mothers and Cubs this year. One collared mother who lazed around on the rocks by the bay for days on end (when she wasn’t being moved around by too many over keen people trying to get too close). One orphaned cub who ended up being captured and moved down to the Winnipeg Zoo, something that is quite the hot topic among Churchillians.

There was even a Beluga Whale spotted in the area in November, something that I don’t recall happening since I’ve been in Churchill. Likely sick, or old and didn’t make the run with the rest, but it still goes to show how the warm weather effects more than just the Bears.

The summer of 2016 offered amazing opportunities, not just for the Beluga Whales migrating through, but also for Polar Bears. This year was exceptional, with displays of sparring in the bay, swimming with whales, hunting geese and much more. If this summer is anything to go by for the future, it may end up being more exciting than our current Polar Bear season.

Keep that in mind when looking at booking to go to Churchill..

During the warm fall, on a day where no one was finding Bears anywhere, we spent close to 7 hours at this one spot. It’s hard to tell, but in the distance on the rocks is a sleeping bear, perfectly positioned in the morning sun for some great photos. Almost six hours later he finally got up and with the sun behind him, these guys got some incredible shots of him moving over the rocks and across the land, backlit and beautiful.

If you’re looking at coming up, don’t forget to book yourself a guide. You can do a lot yourself, but the knowledge and safety of having a guide with you can’t be beat. With your eye up to the viewfinder, you may see what you’re looking at, but you’re blind to the bear behind you!

Hope to see you up there next year!

– The Nanuk Operations Team