Once upon a time there was a magic far-off place where humans and animals played together without fear, where the sparkling water reflected the blue of the sky, and the shiny rocks glittered in the bright sunshine. The water was pure enough to drink, the air clean enough to breathe, and there was no sound except the beating of one’s heart.
Guess what–It’s still here.
Wager Bay is high up in Canada’s Northwest Territories, a few miles from the Arctic Circle. Yet it’s not that difficult to reach. Just ride that 7 a.m. Calm Air flight out of Winnipeg, get off at the last stop (Baker Lake), hop on a chartered Twin Otter, and in another two hours you’ll see a vast expanse of water open up below you with enormous cliffs on either side.
At 150 miles long and 40 miles across, Wager Bay is an inlet off Hudson Bay. Until a few years ago, it was unknown to the outside world except for an occasional whaler in the early 1900s and a short-lived Hudson’s Bay post. But for thousands of years it was the homeland and burial ground of the Inuit (formerly called Eskimos), including the Thule and Dorset peoples; it is their descendants who welcome you there now.
After flying over the emptiness of the Great Barrenlands, suddenly you see six specks on the rocks that comprise Sila Lodge.
Five little cabins and a large main building for meals, socializing and hot showers, the lodge is the starting place for hikes around the area, boat trips and some of the best wildlife viewing the world has to offer. It’s a northern Galapagos where animals don’t fear humans because they’ve never been hunted by them.
As in every wildlife area there is a pecking order here. If the tourist to Africa craves lions, the traveler to the Arctic craves polar bears–and if there’s anything Wager Bay has in great abundance it’s polar bears. I’m not talking about through-the-plate-glass polar bears you’ll see from a tundra buggy at less remote outposts like Churchill, Manitoba. I’m talking about polar bears swimming around your open boat in the bay!
Depending upon your spirit of adventure and your blood pressure readings, there are two ways to see the bears: You can ride in a big boat with other visitors and hang over the side for a fantastically close view; or you can go out alone with only a driver in a small boat (as I did) and go almost eyeball-to-eyeball with these huge creatures.
Either way it’s exciting. But, especially if cubs are around, the bears sometimes seem to be annoyed by groups, greeting them with some low growling or teeth grinding.
Riding in the small boat, however, does not seem to intimidate them. The bears swim right up, just as curious about you as you are about them. One big guy even came sneaking up on my boat with his black nose under the water thinking I couldn’t see him, just as the bears cover their noses with snow when hunting seals in winter. I fooled him and took his picture anyway.
Scary? Not really. Polar bears would never attack a human unless it were threatened or starving–and the bears in Wager Bay are far from starving. Fat and sassy from gorging undisturbed on the plentiful, blubbery seals the year-round, they can float lazily in the frigid water as if it were the Caribbean. Furthermore, as a visitor you are always in the hands of your Inuit guides who know their wildlife and never put visitors in any danger.
Although the polar bears alone are worth the price of the trip for most people, there’s much more to see at Wager Bay. Dozens of silvery seals ogling you with their limpid eyes and long lashes follow your boat; herds of graceful caribou wander along the banks of the bay or tranquilly graze on the salt flats below the main lodge building; arctic wolves trot past in front of the cabins and howl under your window at night; plump ptarmigan near the shore refuse to budge even though you almost step on them; and the sik-sik, a furry ground squirrel, gladly poses for photos. The hardest to see are the big birds, because they nest high in the rocks and it involves a bit of a climb.
If none of the above interests you, whole days and nights can be spent just breathing in the clear air and gazing at the spectacular sky. The nights don’t get dark that far north in summer, except between midnight and 2 a.m., so don’t look for sunsets, stars or northern lights. But the color and clarity of the sky and the unique, ever-changing cloud patterns will boggle your mind. If you should be lucky enough to catch a full moon rising over Wager Bay at midnight, you’ll have an experience to store in your memory bank forever.
The place is magic. I wasted little time sleeping because I might miss something.
DETAILS ON WAGER BAY
Since you are allowed only a duffel bag and a daypack on the Twin Otter flight, take only the minimum. Waterproof hiking boots and rain gear for the open boats are a must. Take sturdy pants and shirts, a cap and a warm jacket. Don’t forget sunglasses, binoculars, Dramamine–and all the film you can carry (on a good bear day you could see as many as 24).
Wager Bay is only accessible in the summer months. If you go in July you’ll see bears eating freshly caught seals on the ice floes; in August the weather can turn quite balmy; by mid-September the bears could come ashore and swarm through the lodge, so everybody leaves quickly!
Cost of the trips booked by Frontiers North Inc. is about $3,250 (U.S.) from Winnipeg and includes seven nights at Sila Lodge, one night at Baker Lake (an outpost southwest of Wager Bay), all meals, guides and transfers. Another $310 or so buys you an add-on stopover in Churchill, which includes three nights of accomodations, a Beluga whale tour, tundra buggy tour and bus tours of all the historical sights. Round-trip air fare from Chicago to Winnipeg is $198. Call 800-663-9832.
