We spent the morning wandering around town and visiting the Eskimo Museum. It has a large collection of Indian artifacts and art as well as Caribou horns, Indian canoes, many stuffed animals and plenty of interesting facts about artic animals and lifestyle. Even today they really live off the land and have so many uses for all products obtained from hunted animals.
This afternoon, was time to board the Tundra Buggy and head out to explore the tundra with a guide who is a botany specialist. The buggy is a huge bus, carrying about 50 passengers, with a really wide aisle and is very high off the ground to protect you if polar bears stand up against the windows. It is also slow and very bumpy. It had a viewing deck out the back, a toilet on board and we could walk around it fairly easily. Setting out onto the tundra, we saw many different types of arctic birds including breeding snow geese. This area is in the transition zone between boreal forests and tundra, so there are a few hardy spruce trees, but the branches only grow on the south east side of the tree protecting them from the prevailing wind and snow. They are very sparsely vegetated with very few pine needles. The tundra itself is almost marshy and spongy. There can be many species of plant and lichen in one square metre of ground and the area is riddled with water ranging from puddles to pans to small lakes. All shallow and crystal clear. I could just picture the winter snow and icy winds howling across the icy barrenness. In winter the temperatures are about 14 to 18 degrees maximum and in winter often reach – 50 degrees C!
We also drove over to the beach and sure enough we found another polar bear. I spotted him moving behind some rocks and he then trotted off across the grass and onto the stony beach. We watched him sitting there, ambling around and digging at the seaweed. He was still fairly far away, but we did manage to get some photographs.
Driving home, I just marveled at this fabulous unique ecosystem and how I have fallen in love with the Hudson Bay. I have often since my childhood looked on the map at this part of the world and wondered what it is like. I really want to come back here in spring and see the ice bergs floating in the Bay!
Liam was on Northern Lights duty tonight and this time he got up at midnight to check. He was soon tugging at my big toe to get up. We got dressed and crept out through the quiet town in the dark. We have no car in Churchill and I was really nervous about bumping into a polar bear as they are more active at night and often come into town. Anyway, we found a place just near the beach and just out of the town lights and we looked up and across the Bay, the sky was alive with moving green lights dancing across the sky in curtains. I just stood there spellbound whispering wow! Wow! Wow! I was so excited and awed, whilst digging my fingernails into Liam’s palm and jumping every time the breeze blew. I continually looked around, especially at the rocks in front of us – eyes peeled for polar bears. I was terrified and felt so exposed and everything was so quiet and deserted. We watched the Northern Lights shine and wane for about 15 minutes before deciding we had tempted fate long enough and headed back for the town lights and our hotel. Another life long quest achieved, I was so excited that I could not sleep for hours. |
| A real wild polar bear! Amazing! |
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