Bear Watching in British Columbia
We went bear watching with Campbell River Whale Watching and Adventure Tours. It was an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience!!! We started out at 7 AM with a group of about twelve with a captain. The tour begins in the town of Campbell River on Vancouver Island. We traveled by boat for about 2-1/2 hours to Toba Inlet. We stopped once for a snack (the snack was an excellent home-made granola bar with tea/coffee) and a view of a waterfall. The ride was very beautiful! The boat was enclosed with a back deck where you could stand.
We arrived at Toba Inlet around 9:30 AM and were greeted by our guides who were members of the Kahloose nation. After a safety talk, we boarded a small bus. We had to leave all food in the boat. The bus took us to wooden elevated platforms along a river. We immediately saw a grizzly mother with two older cubs. They were in a clearing eating a fish, then they wandered into a grassy meadow and ate some grass, then they disappeared into the woods. We soon saw another grizzly which seized a salmon that swam into it and then it sauntered into the woods to eat.
We saw five grizzlies and six black bears. It was so impressive to see these animals close up! It was also fascinating to see the life cycle of the salmon in action. Some were spawning, many were dead, which happens after they spawn, and some were idly swimming in circles in the process of dying. The smell was overwhelming at first, but we got used to it. These are chum salmon and they run up the river seasonally. Therefore, the bears are only in the area for a limited time of the year.
We also saw several bald eagles and ravens. It was all just amazing!
Although we were about thirty yards from the bears, I felt safe. A guide exited the bus first and checked the area for bears near the platform. They pulled the bus right up to the stairs up the platform, which was about six feet off the ground. Another guide followed behind the closed the gate behind us. On the platform, we were asked to be very quiet. The bears were aware of us, but were focused on gaffing salmon out of the water. The bears prefer to take the fish into the woods to eat them. We visited several platforms along the river. The bears keep to themselves and the grizzlies and black bears avoid each other. The guides were interested in seeing so many black bears. They said it was unusual.
Around 1 PM, we returned to have lunch on the boat. Lunch was good - dried fruit, a wrap and cookies. We saw a humpback whale on the way back. We got back about 4 PM. Our captain was wonderful and I learned a lot about bears, salmon, British Columbia and more.
I have two suggestions: Find the parking lot and Campbell River Adventure Company dock the day before. It isn't hard to find in daylight, but at 6:30 AM, it might have been a challenge. Take a good camera. The platform is shady and the bears are often in bright light. I took photos with my iPhone and it had trouble focusing because of the differences in light.
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