Grand Ammjays Fairview Inn

Churchill Manitoba, found on the west shore of Hudson Bay in north Manitoba, Canada, easily lives up to its moniker of Polar Bear Capitol of the World. This tiny village of only about 800 all year residents lies right in the middle of one of the densest populations of polar bears anywhere.

What Makes Churchill Manitoba Polar Bears Exceptional

Only about 50 miles south of the village not far from the Broad and Owl Rivers, is one of the densist denning areas for the bears in Canada. Large, deep snowdrifts pile up on the steep sides of the river sides, making for fantastic snow dens for pregnant bear mothers to be.

In addition, this area is one of the first to freeze up in the fall along the west side of the bay. The Churchill River, one of Canada's largest, empties into Hudson Bay at the townsite, and the typically north-south shoreline takes an abrupt east-west turn, forming Cape Churchill. The enormous quantity of salty water in the river estuary forms ice at a hotter temperature than pure sea water, and the frequent northwesterly winds then push the ice along the east-west shoreline of Cape Churchill.

Since the bears have been essentially fasting all summer, they are keen to head out on the pack ice for the winter seal hunt, and the Churchill area's early freeze-up pulls the bears like a magnet. While the bears have been on land in the area all summer, by late September they start to gather along the shoreline of Hudson Bay, usually east of the village of Churchill. A lot of this area is a section of a provincial animals management area and solely to the south is one of Canada's most recent nationwide parks, Wapusk Nationwide Park.

Best Viewing Seasons for Churchill Polar Bears

In mid-October, the pools begin to skim over with thin ice and the first snow falls on a regular basis. This is the beginning of a temporary, but intensive traveller season. Big tundra buggies with giant tires and seating up to 50 visitors stalk the tundra looking for bears and other Arctic wildlife. This is the most popular way of watching bears, as it not only provides visitors with warm shelter from the cold winter weather, but safety also. Polar bears can stand more than 10 feet tall on their hind legs and these vehicles put visitors just out of reach of inquisitive bears.

The autumn season is only slightly over a month total time, from mid-October to about the 3rd week of November, when Hudson Bay generally starts to freeze in the Churchill area.

Nevertheless since the bears are nearby in the region after they venture off the sea ice in June, they can be encountered in the summer too. Actually this can be a superb chance to see them on the blooming tundra and other life and birds also.