Muir's Tours - polar
bears
The Polar Bears of
Cape Tatnam
See the polar bears in the late summer and autumn before they make their way to Churchill
Seeing polar bears without snow is not so appealing to some, but it does make the photography easier.
The Cape Tatnam Wildlife Management Area is populated by polar bears and August, September and early October is a perfect period for observing the mothers and cubs as they forage along the shoreline of Hudson Bay. Like Wapusk National Park (Wapusk is Cree for great white bear) to the north west, Cape Tatnam is a polar bear denning site, where females give birth to their cubs in winter. It is therefore quite common to see mother bears and their cubs as they pass the time away in the Cape Tatnam area until the ice forms on Hudson Bay.
Cape Tatnam WMA lies in the south west corner of Hudson Bay, about 130 miles south of Churchill and we travel there from Winnipeg via Gillam in two flights, the last being in a multi engine Islander 9 passenger aircraft or similar, which allows great views and photographs of the changing scenery below.
Cape Tatnam Wildlife Management Area is home to polar bears, black bears, moose, martens, wolverine, wolves, beluga whales, bearded seals and ring seals. It is also a birders’ paradise: willow ptarmigan, snowy owls, bald eagles, osprey, parasitic jaegers, the northern shrike, bonaparte’s gulls and arctic terns are all found here. Hundreds of thousands of snow, ross’s and Canada geese stage here to rest and feed before travelling further south. More
Cape Tatnam WMA traces the shoreline of Hudson Bay from the mouth of the Nelson River to the Manitoba-Ontario border. Comprising just over 530,000 hectares this coastal habitat lies along the clear waters of Hudson Bay, with endless sand beaches relieved here and there by high ridges and broad river valleys. One of the features of the area is a striking and abrupt transition from spruce forest to tundra along the edge of Hudson Bay.
The majority of the maternity denning habitat in Manitoba is protected by Parks Canada. Maternity denning occurs in the Cape Tatnam and Cape Churchill Wildlife Management Areas. Both of these WMAs have management plans under development that will control access to maternity denning areas. Our tours will be in accordance with the regulations. We avoid the period around February - March when the mothers are emerging from the dens with her new cubs and they hope to feast on seals from the iced up bay. The mother polar bear may have lost as much as 50 kilos of body weight, as she will not have eaten since entering her den in November or December. By August the bear family is well established.
Add this to a longer trip to Canada. Ask us if you need help with ideas for other parts of Manitoba or wider afield.
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Is it safe to be
near polar bears ?
Attacks on humans by polar bears seldom occur, and human fatalities are rare.
For example, the death in 1999 of a Baker Lake, Nunavut, woman following an
attack by a polar bear was the first in 25 years. In November 2004 a researcher
was injured in Wapusk NP, but was not seriously hurt, as the bear was chased
away by other people. These are the only two reported incidents in over 25
years. But to be sure we have a Buffalo fence around our lodge.
Polar Bear Facts courtesy of Polar Bears International
