Part 2 Abu's Camp, Okavango Delta: Number 179 of the 1000 Places to See Before You Die

It was bad enough being led to the single prop Cessna 206 plane- quite another seeing it was the smallest plane on the runway...and another to realise that I'd be bouncing along it in on the way to the remote Abu's Camp on the western part of the Delta. The floods from the Angolan Highlands were expected in a week and so in the interim only the seasonal rains had cast patchy dark green water pans over the scrub of the Delta basin. 40 minutes later we touched down and I was greeted by a cocktail and Jacko who was to be my guide for my stay. He joyfully advised me as we headed into camp that his first task had been to arrive ten minutes before our arrival and clear the runway of game - this boded well for the next three day safari.

Off to Abu's camp

Up there as one of the first and therefore most famous camps in Botswana (the other contender being Jack's Camp in the Kalahari and perhaps Mombo on Chief's Island in the Delta), Abu's Camp was the brainchild of Randall Moore who had a vision of rehabilitating trained African elephants back into the wild and eventually chose a spot in the Western Delta as his base for both a luxury lodge, a research centre, and an elephant riding school. A few km away the sister lodge, Seba had been built, catering more at the family end- or as they say in the Delta- a "classic" camp meaning full capacity was 20 people rather than Abu's at 12 guests.


Now Abu's is not a cheap place to stay. It may not even at certain times of the year be deemed the best based on game viewings standard (Abu/Seba only has the Big 4 and is missing the rhino which only exists at Chief's Island in the middle of the Delta after it was reintroduced there recently) . It probably, on any scale, wont rank as best value, not that that is necessarily a sound measure anyhow. But as Mastercard promises..............some things are priceless!!

Now I've done quite a few safaris in my time.....you, a landrover, following another landrover, following another ten landrovers etc..but nothing compares to the Botswanian safari for starters. Huge private concessions (the Abu/Seba camps are on a 500,000 hectares concession) targeting the high value low volume tourists. And, to make it unique amongst the other camps- Abu's was the first and remains the only Botswanian place to provide all safaris on elephant back. Every day, twice a day, you clamber on board an elephant with a mahout and ride out into the Delta! Abu's herd- consisting currently of 4 elephants that guests can ride, a further 2 being trained up and a young baby, have 18 full time people dedicated to their care. Now elephants cant travel very far quickly, so Ab u's camp isaided in their game drives by the guides at Seba who radio in positions of wildlife as they go about the game drives with their guests.

Nothing can describe that moment when I met Cathy , the matriach of Abu's herd who I would ride on my first day. At a whopping 3.8 tonnes, she stood 2.4 metres from her front five toenails to the top of the neck. Add a rounded back, and a saddle, and I sat a good 3 metres off the ground. My mahout demonstrated the "stretch down" command and brought this 51 year old elephant to a gentle kneeling down position whereupon, aided by a junior mahout's knees, I clambered aboard my own little maharini saddle, swung my legs down both sides, and gripped the tops hard as she lumboured back to her feet.

On Cathy

The first ride- a short introduction- was quite a contest between looking at my wonderful elephant (who would have known they had hairs on their trunks and ears and the world's longest eyelashes), the 2 babies following her who couldnt resist rolling around in the water, diving with just their trunks showing and generally getting in the way most of the time, or spend my time looking for wild life. Thankfully my mahout, firmly wedged behind Cathy's ears, took care of the latter leaving me time to watch the interaction between these amazing mammals and marvel at how close we could get to the wildlife without any signs of agitation on either side.

At this juncture, I probably should fess up two things. The first is that I couldn't actually stay at Abu's as they had razed most it to the ground for a complete rebuild and it wont open until April 2011......so I was staying at the sister lodge Seba a few kilometres away. However in a lovely twist - they allowed us to use the Abu's elephants as if we were Abu's guests. Normally Seba guests only have access to talks by the elephant research people (there are normally about 5 on site doing various projects on the 7 elephants that have been released back into the wild as well as the surrounding wild elephants), and perhaps go and see Abu's herd once.

Now when both resorts are open again shortly, Seba will average about $1200 a day with Abu at US$2500 per day. Which one to pick? I'd have to say Abu's Camp- even though it's actually still in construction but the luxuriousness of a resort that is built in 2011 can not be underestimated. However the obvious reason why I'd pick Abu's is the elephants and the unlimited interaction with them from just hanging out in the boma with them to the twice daily game drives.I was treated by the Seba camp manager to a tour of Abu's in the making so to speak. It looks "luxury" already - sweeping decks, amazing tents all with outdoor baths overlooking the Delta, chesterfields in a library stacked full of books, original artwork to admire, nooks and crannies to tuck into, large pool, gym, wifi etc. The honeymoon tent (view from the deck pictured below) was mind blowing with heated floors, outdoor bath, private plunge pool and a stunning deck overlooking a water hole replete with resident hippos and thousands of white water lillies ( I wouldnt have left that tent so its comforting to know that dinners on your deck can be provided) . 
The Stargazer villa- rentable by the night- was a 2 storey feat of wooden engineering right next door to the elephant enclosure replete with bathrooms and outdoor shower on the ground floor and a massive top storey deck with no walls and one gigantic mosquito net suspended over the deck. It was a pity it was still in construction as sleeping here, with nothing between yourself and the stars, the sounds of the elephants moving around in the night, the grunts of the hippos in the surrounding water interspersed with the call of the hyenas and if you are lucky the roar of a lion would be I imagine one of the most magical experiences possible in the whole of Africa.

Honeymoon Suite in the Making, Abu's Camp

Star Gazing Deck in the making - Abu's Camp

The second thing I should explain is that the price, at either camp, includes charter plane to the camp, all food and drinks, and 2-3 game safaris a day and the most fabulous private tent. Now" tent" Ive decided is a bit of a misnomer in the Delta. My Seba tent was actually an extremely generous 2 bedroom london size apartments- built on stilts with a wooden base and canvas walls. A massive king size bed, armchairs, built in wardrobes, tiles in the bathroom, private wooden deck (mine with a plunge pool), each individually decorated in the style of a Batswanan tribe....are you getting the idea? Tents on the ground these are not!

My "tent", Seba's camp

Plunge pool on my deck, Seba's camp




Reading tent, Seba's camp


But back to the activities......After the first afternoon elephant drive we had aperitives around a camp fire before sitting down to one big dining table- a safari tradition Im told. Dinner was stuffed mushrooms followed by roast lamb and creme caramel. After a few post dinner digestives, I was walked to my lodge by my guide (for safety after all we are in the middle of wild animals) and sat sipping a rather fine glass of red on my wooden deck overlooking a water pan listening to the night sounds. There was the scent of damp vegetation and water in the air lifted by the pungent sweetness of the wild sage that danced in the light breeze on the paths around my tent. Hippos grunted close by as they grazed on the 4 foot high pampass grass, cicadas churped in the trees and in the distance a few bullfrogs started to practice their mating call- perhaps they had heard like us that the annual flood of waters from Angola was due to arrive in the next four days. Hyenas called to the full moon in the distance, while closer to my toes fish gently plopped out of the still dark waters which were only broken by the whiteness of the stairway to the full moon and the green flashes of fire flies as they danced amongst the reeds. Tiny fruit bats performed acrobatics around my head jostling for the best position in the Moriula tree and a male lion roared in the distance while nightjars called to each other across the lagoon. This was Africa- untainted nature, devoid of signs and sounds of human habitation.Just animals going about their business like they had done for thousands of years when man's footprint on the Earth was negligible.

Its a credit to the Botswanan government that they are very strict about the fragile ecosystem of the Delta. No villages are allowed to be created in the Delta so everything is flown in from Maun, no gardens are allowed to be planted, no seeds taken out, all kitchen waste shredded so that monkeys cant inadvertantly eat seed carrying plants and spread them throughout the fertile plains. Anti poaching units are prevalent along with constant inspections by the government to ensure the lodges are following strict guideliness. All buildings, bar the fuel storage areas, have to be built with wood rather than concrete and brick so that they are in effect semi permanent and can be removed in full at the end of the time frame granted on any concession without any permanent marks on the habitation.

Day 2, slightly stiff from 2 hours with my legs hanging either side of Cathy as well as a late night from star gazing in my plunge pool, we rose for a 6am breakfast . The oranges and reds of dawn had given way to blue skies and a searing heat. by the time we were back on the elephants for the 7am early morning game drive. This time I was on Shirene- without doubt a greedy elephant!! Elephants only digest about 40% of what they eat and so to support such bulk they constantly moved through the vegetation tearing up clumps of grass and munching them without breaking a step nor failing to grab the next morsel ready to be eaten as soon as they had finished the first. They added back to the vegetation by becoming a veritable mobile fertilising machine. 


On the back of Shirene


The mahouts largely worked in silence, urging on the elephants when needed in order to move quickly to the ultimate position, or utilising apparently universal elephant commands such as "come here" (which turns the elephant left) and "get over"(which turns it right). I wonder whether Randall realised when he was training the first herd of elephants that teaching them "left" and "right" was perhaps not a great idea when you had a guest on board and wanted to point them out something and the mahout said "see to your left a lion" and so the elephant started walking left..."and then to your right some impala" and so the elephant turned right. At some stage sooner or later the elephant is just going to sit right down and say "my mahout is missing some marbles". Elephants by the way have the ability to learn more than 2000 commands- all of Abu's herd could raise their trunks and kiss me , shake their ears, rumble to us, lift their trunk, stand on two legs, hold their ears out- and its reward for doing it on command was to have a handful of horse pellets thrown into its mouth by the mahoot.



Two mahouts ready for warning shots if wild elephants came along



Gently swaying in my saddle as this beast ambled out of the boma and into the surrounding water plains, I could not but feel a moment of superiority as I gazed down on the noses of a few juvenile crocodiles basking in the cool muddied waters. Cresting a corner we then waded into a pond and spent an enjoyable 20 minutes looking down from our great height on a family group of hippos including a tiny baby a mere 5 metres away who were completely unconcerned about the elephants. 








To the wildlife- we were just an elephant- rather than an elephant with a person on the back, which enabled us to literally walk right up to game. Such close encounters with the likes of impala, kudu, warthog, buffalo, hippo, crocodile, hyena, giraffe and zebras- all of which were encountered on Day 2, was enough to bring even the most seasoned safari person to speechless silence.







impala and zebras




Day three was another two game drives on the elephants - this time I was on the smaller Gika and we took them to their mud baths. It was so cute watching these massive elephants get down on the ground and roll around in the mud, the little babies sqealing with delight, then it was down to the task of covering themselves with dry sand to further cake their bodies.

 



Baby Abu as unconcerned about the close proximity of the lone male buffalo as we were





Jacko my guide preparing pimms at sunset

 After returning to the camp for lunch we went out to ride them again in the afternoon- all now a rather ghostly grey from the sand- for a leisurely two hour amble through the bush back to Abu's camp. After that pimms on the delta before a return to camp for dinner- tuna mousse with salmon, roast chicken and tarte tatin was followed by a night drive to find the elusive leopard. Sadly it was not to be but we did get to watch a hippo graze on the banks and bush babies nimbly fly from branch to branch.

Visiting the places in the 1000 places to see before you die has meant seeing some incredible sights, visiting some amazing countries and staying in some fabulous places, yet I have to say that, while Abu's camp will no doubt be the height of 5 star luxury - and Seba's is one of the few that cater to families- the experience of such intimate interaction with Abu's herd of elephants is up there in the top two best experiences Ive had so far in this book. The other being the polar bears in churchill.



Cathy and I doing a photo shoot....until she starts looking for treats



Both very different but i have to say- Abu's wins hands down! The sun is always shining, sitting on an elephant a few metres away from the most dangerous animal in Africa the hippo and being completely safe was mindblowing, the incredible hospitality of the Seba camp managers and the ability to see so many wildlife with the assistance of fabulous guides........this is the place so far in the book Id say "number 1"...even though for me its number 179 of the 1000 places Ive seen in the book.

and then gently nudges me out of the way when she cant find any!

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Number 178 - Okavango Delta, Bostwana - Part 1

This entry is a two part as I did one at the edge of the Delta (178) and one at Abu's Camp in the Delta (179).



View from the Island Safari Lodge deck

 ......It was dark by the time we got back to our base, the Island Safari Lodge Maun on the Thamalakane river which is feb by the Okavango River, after an exhausting 16 hours seeing a mine site outside of Maun, Botswana.



The half moon had settled its luminenscence over the inky green waters bathing it in a swathe of grey and blues, highlighted by the pads of the water lillies, their perfumed flowers on 7 foot stems now closed for the night. African Jacana's, also known as Jesus birds, bounced nimbly on the pads, their name an apt shoice as from a distance they did appear to be walking on the water. Underneath, their fat bodies swallowed by the might of the highest Delta waters seen in a decade for this time of the year, bullfrogs competed for attention, their loud chorus echoing through the still night, interrupted only by the occassional fish plopping out of the water. Deeper still in the tranquil flooded plains lurked crocodiles searching for food- but I had yet to sight these- or indeed the 3 tonne bull hippo which had slipped into camp during fence repair work and was content not hitting the river bank and swimming to someone else's problem upstream.

It was hardly of comfort, as I had checked in during the night time when these beasts are grazing on the banks that im overlooking, that I hadnt known about him at the time and was only alerted after walking 400 metres down a barely lit path to my lodge to find a note from management on my bed warning me of his existance. Handy hints such as "do not scream or wave your arms about or make a noise" seemed extremely belated. Known to kill more people in Africa than any other animal I couldnt have vouched I would have acted like the instructions advised if Id rounded a corner with my suitcase and came face to face with that!

Anyhow the next day at least progressed without incident. Nursing the slight vestiges of a hangover which had only been marginally tempered with a late night swim in the pool, I clambered aboard a boat for a 4 hour excursion to the edge of the delta. Too tired for much else I figured Id save the main attraction of going deep in the Delta for the following day.

I am here in February where the levels are slowly rising but in 3 months time they will be in full flood. This year is expected to be very high-  on average the Angolan highlands receive an annual rainfall of 1.2 to 2 metres a year....yet this year in the panhandle where it is already coming through, the water levels have already risen three metres. Such levels havent been seen in 25 years and there was much nervousness by local home owners as to the loss of livelihood that would occur this year, especially after the massive floods they had in 2009. The greatest surge of water recorded to date was in 1984- some 1100 cubic metres per second entered the panhandle.

The Delta, which is actually Africa's largest oasis, can swell to some 25 000km² when flooded and at the driest time of the year, will shrink to about 6 000km². As a result, it has one of Africa's largest concentration of wildlife with great herds of antelopes, zebra, buffalo and elephants as well as the carnivores- lions, leopards and cheetahs, all dependent on the size of the floodwaters.
    

Aerial views of the Delta


Even though the floods were still a month or so away, the expanse of wetlands was something to behold. Tall trees and thick grass taller than a man lined the banks of the fast flowing river, bending as the swirls and eddies rushed by with little fish gamely trying to swim against the currrents. Everywhere water lillies rose up, their strongly perfumed white petals a refreshing balm against the heat and dampness permeating the air.

In a country which is 80% arid, the waters arriving in the Okavango Delta in Botswana is critical to the survival of one of the largest concentrations of wildlife in Africa. Two seasons exist- summer rains and the winter floods. Rising in the Angolan Highlands, the wet season starts in November and from around early March onwards the Okavango River- which is about 1000 km long- finally enters the Delta in the so called 'pan-handle,'as a wide, fairly swift, flowing river. Due to the overwhelmingly flat landscape as it meanders south it splits into three main channels, each one carrying water in a different direction and creating different ecosystems before flattening out and then completely disappearing, soaked up by the parched land until the following year.

But I was only at Maun- gateway to the Delta- and so while the  river I was travelling down was in full flow, it was none the less only about 5 metres wide. Occassionally as we rounded a bend a lone fisherman would be squatting on the banks with a single line cast out to catch a fish. Heavily laden down boats putted by in the opposite direction carrying 8 foot long bundles of freshly chopped reed to sell. Donkeys brayed across the banks as they mournfully sought friends, the odd one or two yoked to primitive carts carrying fresh water from the banks. Lithe black bodies of semi naked children stopped their frolocking in the shallow banks as we went by to wave and smile at us, a few enthusiastically trying to swim to the boat, secure that they could spot the crocodiles coming given the crystal clear waters. Nearby a cluster of skinny goats in their charge ate steadily, their heads not even lifting as we passed by as they concentrated on the more important task of survival. The contrast between us and the children was sadly staggering- Botswana has one of the youngest populations in Africa with the highest number in the sub 15 years old range- and despite the number of tourists flooding to the Delta each year, this is a country that has prided itself on high cost, low volume eco lodges. I wondered how all these people would get employment when they grew up.

The landscape was dotted with huge trees- some more than 60 metres high. A number of these were dead from the devastating 2009 floods when the waters rose above the height of them for months on end, before they finally succumbed to a watery grave. But out of everything comes something else and these once waterlogged tree trunks, now dry, form the supply of wood to make mokoros, the wooden canoes handcarved out of a fallen tree that provided the means by which the Batswanan people traversed up and down the river systems.

I decided to jump off the boat and hire one. A 9 foot pole was provided to me as the sole means of movement. Hard work trying to steer these unsteady canoes along the banks, I spent the best part of half an hour poling a left , then a right path, wobbling my way in a very jaggged line until I mastered the hang of it and smoothly went a few further kilometres upstream. However it was wonderful to hear the sounds of the bush rather than the noise of a diesel engine, broken intermittently by a few choice words of mine as I hit the rushes on the side banks uncontrollably. 

Rounding a bend I realised that I had hit the edge of the delta and was no longer in a tributory river. The contrast was dramatic with the landscape widening out and a large water pan as far as the eye could see. The vegetation also shifted dramatically with green grass now dominating the landscape and smaller shrubs. Not having purchased the requisite permits to go into the Delta itself I sadly turned around and poled back to the paddlers base to return the mokoro.

When the sun had lost its grip on the earth and was slowly sinking down i embarked on a 2 hour horse ride through the bush. My guide hadnt been out in a few days so was keen to put the horses- and my thighs- for a hard workout. Serves me right for saying I was an experienced rider as we dodged the thorn bushes (and one wasp nest) on a mad gallop to see if we could reach the edge of the delta. After 20 minutes and a rather laboured horse I wheeled it into a canter and advised that just hitting a river would be fine. So imagine my surprise when we went rounded a bend a short while later and there was the river. Well I can hear you saying now "whats the surprise...?" Well that came in the form of 2 ears, 2 nostrils and 2 very beady and somewhat alarmed eyes. Theres always that moment when the brain shuts down its processing power, floods the limbs with go-go juice, and then starts working again to decide if the adrenalin really is needed. And so it ticked into action.....

Have i seen this before? Yes............ but never so close.
Is it a threat? Holey $%^* its the bloody hippo.

And so I saw the beast. First in line for the thundering affront and its 40cm molars as well. Now they might look like an overfed grey piggish squat legged cow but give them a minute and they can run along at 20-30 km/hour on the ground- guess that is why their name means river horse rather than river cow. Thankfully of course my lodge had provided me the night before with instructions of what not to do! So i didnt belt out Hi ho Silver and feverishly point at the water to my guide while rearing the horse in front of the great beast to make myself look larger and more threatening. No, I calmly brought the horse to an abrupt stop, narrowly avoiding being turfed over its neck right in front of the hippo and just stood still. Good news on my side was that it was 5 metres away and in the water.

After that the brain went into normal hippo thinking mode- am I on one its paths? ( thats why they attack).....hard to say. Can I see a baby? (~F%$£ed if that was the case....no). Will my adventure travel insurance policy cover this? (couldnt remember seeing "being eaten by wildlife" in the clause). So suffice to say my horse, Fox, who I could feel was shaking, was calmly turned around and that was my brief sojour at the river. After the event of course I can say it was a beautiful moment and a highlight of my time at this lodge. After! Still needed a river shot on the back of Fox though......got that slightly later on the way back!

The next day I threw caution to the wind, and a significant amount of dosh and chartered an entire plane for myself for a flight over the Delta to my next point of call- the sister Seba and Abu Camps, on the western edge of the Delta, the latter which is featured in the book 1000 places to see before you die. Sounds rather glamorous doesnt it- a whole plane for myself. The truth is the concierge service didnt give me the right times to be at the airport and so I missed the charter flight carrying everyone to the lodge. As a result they had to send it back just to pick up little ole wee me. Oh...and the $700US that that mistake cost me. I was one extremely grumpy bunny that morning but needed to change my mood before i got in one of those ghastly single prop engines that, after years of dealing with African bush pilots, I just so hate. Time to put my hippo training behind me and start thinking about how to survive in one of Africa's most animal populated areas should the plane go down. Im going for climbing up a tree and gently dropping on the back of an elephant so Im out of range of the carnivores....but not sure that method will work.

And so...on to the next place that I will see before I die.

Number 170 of the 1000 places to see before you die - Polar Bears in Churchill Manitoba, Canada

I was at the end of a round the world trip with the last two flights to take into North America when i jumped on the Boeing from London to head to Toronto. As well as being able to knock off a couple places in the 1000 places to see before you die in Toronto, the timing was also good to head into the tundra of Churchill, in the Canadian province of Manitoba to see the largest population of polar bears outside of the Artic circle.

From late October hundreds of bears congregrate at this remote town, self proclaimed as the Polar Bear Capital of the World, waiting for the bay to freeze completely so that they can cross over and head north into their winter hunting grounds. Churchill has the fastest access on to the ice, which in freezing winter aside from the bears has little other reason for visitation bar the fab food at Gypsy's cafe along with its exotic Portugese son of the owner. Population swells from some 1000 people as more than 8000 tourists trickle into town for polar bear season. With limited accomodation and facilities, the town stretches to breaking point during these two months with every restaurant booked out solid by the tour groups.

The best way to see these bears- and to learn about them- is by a tour ( in fact I think its the only way) and so i signed up with Natural Habitats, one of the world's leaders in nature expenditions led by trained guides. Checking in at Winnipeg I met my tour leader and the other 9 people in the group. The first thing to sort out was a battery for my newly purchased Sony- an upgrade at Heathrow as I thought having a 10* zoom feature would be necessary in order to capture the bears- how wrong I was in this impression I was to find out less than 24 hours later.

An early morning charter flight had us winging up to Churchill some 1900 km away. My group was to stay in the town for the 4 day trip- the 20 others on the tour were to head out to the tundra where they would stay in a semi permanent buggy camp for the entire time. I was feeling a bit knackered from my 19 cities in 6 continents in 32 days, so id picked the town option in the hope that I could have a few massages and do some shopping while I was there.

After a check in at the very rustic motel- replete with a standing 8 foot polar bear and a twinkling plastic Christmas tree in the wooden clad lounge- we had lunch then headed out for a tour of the town. An ancient yellow school bus had been commandered as our means of moving about- let me tell you heating was not one of its features! Churchill was a brisk minus 2 degrees celsius and that was a lunchtime. Nighttime temperatures were expected to drop to minus 23 degrees. Not making it a habit of mine to spend any time in colder climates I was grateful that the organisers had provided outdoor winter jackets and boots- but I still had to supplement this with 2 scarves, 3 layers of shirts, a beannie, thermal underwear and ski socks, in order to stay somewhat warm.

After a tour of the town- about 8 streets, one post office, one bank, a couple of souvenir shops, some run down motels and 4 restaurants, we then headed to the outskirts of town where our driver, Kerry, had been informed that a polar bear was being "moved on." In human speak, that means that the bear, who was merely trying to get to the freezing ice, had come to close to town and needed to be moved in another direction for the safety of the townsfolk. In the distance we heard the pop of air rifles going off as the polar bear rangers kept the bear moving at a steady clip over the snow covered roads and rocks until it was out of town. It was, I admit, pretty thrilling to finally see the world's largest carnivore albeit from a distance of some 600 metres or so as we were not allowed to get between the bear and the rangers' trucks.

After checking we were all suitably frozen to our seats from cold and awe, Kerry then regaled us with stories on polar bear encounters in the town. Everyone was always on alert for the bears in or close to town as they had just come out of their hibernation and were starving. Bears can lose X kilograms during hibernation and the desire to feed, at any cost, can cause conflict with humans. The rangers worked around the clock in shifts, responding to calls from residents waking up to the sound of their garbage bins being overturned, or sighting a bear through the frost of their windows. Or indeed "incidents" like one silly chap who decided to go for a walk down the main drag at night and happened upon a bear (killed and munched on the spot). Rules with polar bears- Do not move and do not play dead!! The rangers apparently get very good at recognising each bear and operate a "three strikes and youre out rule." The third time a bear is caught trespassing, so to speak, close to town they are sedated and moved into the Polar Bear Holding Facility.

This huge drum of a shed lies about 15 minutes drive out of town. Here the bears are segregated into high pens so as to reduce their stress of being close to each other (they are solitary animals and the females with cubs particularly avoid at all costs interactions with male bears who will kill the offspring to bring the female back into a breeding state). They are kept until the Bay has frozen over before being re-released. Apparently the experience of this is enough that they learn not to transgress the following year. In the old days Kerry told us, bears were fed in the shed- but then the following year a number of these bears returned to the shed seeking free handouts. So perhaps they actually are capable of understanding that this is the equivalent of a football player's time on the bench.

We were fortunate enough on the last day to see one of the bears being released. A huge operation that needs to be sponsored by someone due to the cost as the bear needs sedation, wheeling out, careful manouvering onto a large fishing net type of sack which is then roped together, attached to a hook on the bottom of a helicopter, which then slowly ascends and, once the vets have checked that the bear is going to be fine, rises into the distance with a back up helicopter transporting the bear some 30km up the coast.
In this case, we had the pleasure of not only watching the bear going up in the sky, but also Martha Stewart, the cooking tv personality, freshly out of her own "on the bench" seat of 5 months in a federal penitentiary, board her private plane next to the bear and fly off after it for more shots as she had been in town filming for her tv show and had sponsored the bearlift. If you see this programme on her show you might see a person, replete in green parka and black beannie, slightly to the left of the bear when its hanging about 30cm off the ground, jumping up and down waving her arms for the camera- that'll be me!! No doubt I wont make the first cut but hay ho!!

Anyhow, it was now about 4pm and the sun was setting fast so we headed out to the tundra for a night time drive. As always when in the middle of wildlife, security was paramount, so we arrived at the tundra buggy garage where we were only allowed to disembark once a woolly looking man with a large rifle arrived at the front door to walk us the 15 metres to the back of the buggies. With tyres alone at some 2 metres tall- the only way into the buggy was off the concrete bunker that had been specifically constructed for this purpose into the back of the buggies. Holding about 40 people and about 15 metres long, the 9 of us had plenty of room to spread about and take a window each.

And so into the ghostly darkness we went, eddies of snow gently swirling around us, headlights blaring, we rumbled down marked out tracks in the bleakness of the tundra searching for wildlife. It did not take us long before we came across a mother and two cubs- however they are very skittish with babies and she moved quickly out of our range before we could get a good look at her. We then moved out to the permanent tundra buggy motel that Natural Habitats had a license for, and there we had a bit more luck. Hungry bears, attracted by the smell of cooking and looking for some appetizers before the main course of seal arrived, were roving up and down the buggy, some rising up to the windows to peer in at the startled guests eating their night meal. After an hour of watching the action, with the temperature in the buggy plummeting as people lowered their windows to take a volley of photos, we headed back to town.

Being a Friday night, and conscious that I was by far the youngest in my group of fellow explorers, I waived the early to bed instructions and hit the bar of the motel. Like a time warp, it was still faithfully decorated in the 60's style when it had been built. I was told by the bar girl (who didnt look older than 16), that as the motels only really operated for tourist season and were always fully booked there was no point in "funkying them up" she said- bringing me an irish coffee. I then settled down in a rickety old granpa chair to hear the local band- very famous in these parts as they were the only band in town AND had recorded an album play. I have to say they were damm good. I even confess to having tears in my eyes at one stage when they did an amazing cover of Men at Work's song "I come from the land Down Under"  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6oAFlPLGA8). How surreal to be in the middle of nowhere, literally, on a freezing winter night, and hear a Canadian band singing about vegemite!! 
  
The next morning we went out for our first full day drive on the tundra. Action time. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the ground was frozen, my camera was ready- and I was one very excited bunny indeed. The day proved to surpass my expectations. You see I thought that we would see bears at a distance. Instead of which, the bears, who could smell our tasty sandwiches a mile off, could not resist us. Dont get me wrong- this is a very carefully controlled environment. No food is allowed outside the inside of the buggy, no one is allowed to feed the bears or put their arms outside any window (standing up the bears standing up easily reached the bottom window which was not moveable and sat some 3 metres off the ground) and you clearly are never allowed outside your buggy either ( they can run at speeds of 40 km/hour). Each buggy was fitted with an outdoor viewing platform about 3 by 2 metres- metal sides with mesh on the floor so you could see the ground.

And that was my first surprise when outside on this platform. A young female wandered right over to us and spent the next 20 minutes sniffing the air, her huge teeth a few millimetres from our feet, separated only by the wire mesh. At one stage she reared up, placing her massive paws on the sides of the platform with her shiny black nose about 10cm away. They had said not to make any noise when the bears were around, but when she finally sat back on her haunches and looked up at us, you could hear the rushed exhale of air from every one of us.

Its pretty hard to describe the feelings of being so close to such a powerful animal that could kill you with just an accidental swipe of their paws. Given their hibernation and lack of fat on their bodies, you could see the outline of over developed muscles moving under their coats. The heavily rounded hindquarters spoke of the strength they possessed. Massive paws barely made a sound as they traversed on the snow. The need to withstand long distances of travel with uncertain food supplies, had evolved into a massively strong body with a small head. Tiny ears with round intelligent black eyes seemed an afterthought from the overproportioned long nose with its gleaming black tip. Baby pink gums with 15 cm front incisors lay in front of a full set of sharp teeth. Their creamy white coat hang in layers- a shorter coarser coat lying closer to the skin for insulation. Entirely captivating. You wanted to say "here, kitty kitty kitty" and give them a tickle behind their ears. But of course this was the world's most largest carnivore, unfraid of man and they were very hungry.

The next day was adventure time- a helicopter ride over the tundra, a visit to a birthing den, a mushing adventure with huskies. What fun!

It became extremely hard over the next four days to work out just which was the best encounter with the bears. It is very easy to get caught up in the cuteness of them- watching them roll around in the snow, becoming blase about all the times they were pacing alongside and standing up on our buggy, the sheer numbers of them hanging around in frustration for the waters to completely freeze over. Personally, watching two males play wrestle with each other was however the highlight. Fully grown and standing over 3 metres high, two of them decided to pit their strengths against each other in a mock battle. Teeth bared they rose up on their hind legs and repeatedly smashed into each other. A bare 5 metres away you automatically shuddered at the sounds of 600 kilogram bodies colliding into each other. Evenly matched, neither bear gave ground at the meeting of each body. For 40 minutes we watched them rear up, collide, drop to the ground before repeating the process over and over again.

It had made for a magical last day...with tonight's treat- hopefully a magnificent display of the aurora borealis over the tundra... but thats number 168 of the 1000 places to see before you die!