saph

We are travelling to Canada and Alaska August 2011. Wildlife is very important to us. We were thinking of going to Knights Inlet but too expensive.
Is there anywhere similar so that we can see bears. We want more than just a day trip on a boat.

semiramis

A couple of comments - where in Canada are you going to be?
What kind of bears do you want to see?

I have seen bears IN Vancouver (north shore), Whistler, Banff, Lake Louise various places in my home province - Ontario.

Bears are wild animals - they do not appear on command and sightings cannot be guaranteed. Also,they can be EXTREMELY dangerous. You should NEVER closely approach any bear or have food on your person when near them. Bears do not normally hang around in groups. They are NOT social animals.
Most sightings would be of a single bear.

taggie

I've seen bears in my friends' backyards, but not when i wanted to! semiramis is right. They don't appear on command. The only place you can guarantee that you will see bears is where they are held in captivity. That said, there are places you can go and tours you can take where you stand a decent chance of seeing one. Please post back with your destination(s) while in Canada and people can make suggestions.

saph

Thank you for your comments.We were actually trying to find somehere similar to Knights Inlet to stay for 3-5 nights to see the Grizzly Bears.We will be staying on Vancouver Island for one week and around Banff for another week and Alaska for another 10 days. Whilst in Canada we will fit in a stay somewhere if somebody can tell us where we will have a high change of seeing bears.We are totally flexable and open to suggestions. So many people come back to Australia and tell us they didn't see a bear. I would be devasted.We have travelled to South Africa twice in the last 3 years just to experiece the wildlife, so I hope you can gather the importance of the wildlife sightings.

semiramis

The problem with bears is for the most part they are solitary animals who really don't like to be near people.

So if you want to see bears in concentrations you may have to go on some sort of excursion or stay at a lodge that takes you somewhere where they congregate seasonally. For example in certain parts of British Columbia you can see relatively large groups of grizzlies congregating for the annual salmon run. (They have to eat a lot of salmon to fatten up before winter - so this is one of the few times they will tolerate the relatively close presence of other bears and of humans.) NOTE: this kind of concentration is ONLY in the fall. You may still see lone bears at any time - I once saw one 50 feet from the chair lift at Whistler. NEVER EVER approach grizzly bears closely - they are an apex predator and NOT particularly afraid of people who are potential prey. Black bears on the other hand don't really regard people as potential meals (except for children and small adults).

Do a search on "Grizzly Bear Viewing British Columbia" and you will get some hits other than Knight's Inlet.

ShelliDawn

As noted above, bears don't appear on command. You have a better chance of seeing black bears than grizzly but nothing is guaranteed. I have seen black bears many times in my hikes through the Rockies but never a grizzly.

<i>I would be devasted.We have travelled to South Africa twice in the last 3 years just to experiece the wildlife, so I hope you can gather the importance of the wildlife sightings.</i>

I may be wrong but my understanding of a lot of wildlife tours in (South) Africa is that they are on wildlife parks and these are generally fenced keeping the animals in. This is not the case with Canadian parks. We have fences to try to keep the wildlife off busy highways for their own protection but they are not confined to the parks and roam freely in and out of them. Also, the mountains are much less accessible than safaris with most places not accessible by vehicle.

If you do see a black bear, give it as much respect as a grizzly. They are very capable of attacking and killing people.

Sam_Salmon

http://www.aboriginaljourneys.com/

semiramis

I checked out Sam_Salmon's link - this looks excellent and I like the idea of supporing a First Nations company.

saph

Thank you all very much for your comments. We have chosen a lodge Running Bear Lodge for a three day stay. Before we book has anybody any feed back on this lodge.