Cloud Wolves Of The Kaska Coast

Depart the UK on your chosen scheduled flight to Winnipeg. Upon arrival, you will make your own way to The Grand Winnipeg Airport Hotel. Your first night is yours to settle in and explore Winnipeg at your own leisure. 

Your second day in Winnipeg is free for you to explore some of the many sights this beautiful city has to offer. We recommend a visit to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a stunning seven-floor exhibit brimmed with history from around the world, or the Journey to Churchill exhibit home to polar bears, muskoxen, Arctic foxes, and other northern species. It is the most comprehensive northern species exhibit of its kind in the world and will give you a taste of what’s to come in the coming days. Your winter gear fitting and collection will take place at 5 pm prior to meeting the rest of your group at an orientation dinner hosted by a Churchill Wild representative.

Arrive in Churchill by air where one of the expert staff will meet you at the airport and provide you with instructions for the morning transfer. You will then be transferred by fixed-wing aircraft to Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge.  This exciting 60-minute flight takes you over Wapusk National Park as well as the historic York Factory.  Keep a sharp eye en route for wildlife including wolves, caribou, and polar bears. 

Upon arrival, your hosts will provide a tour of the Lodge and get you settled into your room. A thorough orientation on traveling in polar bear country will be provided prior to any outings. Then it’s time to assemble your cameras, hard drives, and tripods and start shooting. Time permitting, you’ll head out for a shakedown hike.

After the excitement of the day preparing for the first of many fine meals from the award-winning Blueberries & Polar Bears cookbooks.

Enjoy a hearty breakfast while your lead guide briefs you on what the scouts are reporting and the plan of attack for the day. After breakfast, it’s time to head on safari!

These daily safaris (usually one in the morning and one in the afternoon) are a chance for you to track the wolf packs and get you as close as possible to observe and photograph their behavior and social interactions. 

While it’s often possible to observe wolves right from the viewing decks at the lodge, wolves regularly travel to hunt and mark their territory; they can easily cover 40 km a day. Guides keep in close radio contact with the scouts as they monitor activity at various points along the coast. With your small group size and high-guide ratio, you are able to move quickly along a network of established safari trails.   

After morning safaris, you’ll head back to the lodge to enjoy a light lunch and some well-earned downtime. By early afternoon you’ll head back into the field. Some days, depending on wildlife and weather, you may opt for an all-day safari.

For those interested in becoming involved with the citizen-science wolf study, the safaris are also a chance to conduct fieldwork. Depending on the weather and wildlife situation, you may have opportunities to collect trail-cam images, cast animal tracks, study social relationships, map territories, conduct and record howl surveys, and gather traditional knowledge from First Nation oral histories. Participants’ contributions will become part of the yearly study.

Evenings at Nanuk are a chance to unwind and enjoy a nightly happy hour with a short presentation on wolf biology and natural history, storytelling and wildlife photography, followed by a delicious dinner and socializing around the fire.

The Kaska Coast boasts over 300 nights a year of Auroral activity, making it one of the best places in the world to see the dazzling Northern Lights. November can be stormy, but if the skies are clear and the solar winds are active, you’ll be sure and wake you up for a dazzling show.

This is your expedition. While experts want to offer you as many experiences as possible, they also encourage you to relax. Take an afternoon or morning off (or a couple) and have the lodge to yourself. They’ll stoke the fire, pour you some coffee and leave you with some tasty brownies. Some of the best wildlife viewings happens right from the lodge. You never know who might wander up to the window and look in on you. 

After breakfast it’s time for one last goodbye howl to the wolves before you fly back to Churchill and on to Winnipeg. 

Back in town, you’ll spend the day with one of the tour guides exploring the town and surrounding area and learning about its rich history as a seaport and ex-military base. Your tour will include highlights such as the Parks Canada exhibit, the Itsanitaq Museum, the Polar Bear Jail, chatting with the Cree and Inuit ladies sewing moose-hide mitts at the Arctic Trading Post or learning about the Lost Franklin Expedition while gazing at the stained-glass memorial in St. Paul’s Anglican Church. Along the way, your guide will point out murals that were commissioned in 2016 as part of the SeaWalls mural festival. Before a group dinner, your guide will give you free time to shop for last-minute souvenirs at the unique gift stores in Churchill. 

Your flight south to Winnipeg will take place this evening. Upon arrival, collect your bags, head out of the arrivals doors, and back to The Grand Hotel for one final night.

This morning, there may be time for some last-minute shopping or sightseeing before you make your own way back to Winnipeg International Airport check-in for your flight back to the UK.