A Week in Khutzeymateen
I'm afraid of bears. My fear goes beyond healthy fear and a bit into paranoia. Yet, I continue to seek them out and to explore places they call home. Grizzly Bears hold a special place in my heart and simultaneously in the fear receptors of my brain. I've only seen a few grizzlies in the wild and until this year only from a very safe distance. The thought of going to where they call home and to an area that has a high population of them, just wouldn't go away. This year, I finally had the opportunity and traveled on a photo expedition to the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Preserve in British Columbia, Canada. Outside of the salmon rivers of Alaska, the Khutzeymateen, particularly in spring is the best time to see grizzlies bears and see them up close.
I got to spend almost a week in the Khutzeymateen and so no fewer than 12 individual grizzly bears. We had the opportunity to observe them in their native habit and going about their daily lives eating, sleeping, interacting with one another, and even mating.
In spring in the Khutzeymateen, they're drawn to the shore and meadows filled with Lingbye's Sedge, a grass-like plant in appearance high in protein, rich in vitamins, and oh so plentiful this time of year. We got to see them grazing on the sedge and digging for and eating clams, two behaviors I have never seen before.
In the Khutzeymateen, you are the visitor. No one is allowed to set foot on land. You need to sleep on boats, explore from a boat, and take photos from the boat. I have never spent a week without walking on land and that simple limitation was a new experience for me.
Our home for our excursion was the floating lodge, the Khutzeymateen Wilderness Lodge, a perfect home for exploring the Khutzeymateen. Our guides were top notch, the beds warm and comfy, and the food was wonderful.
Grizzlies are solitary creatures except during their very brief mating season. For a few weeks every spring they will seek each other out. It’s a complicated, aloof, and dangerous mating ritual. Males will challenge and chase each other and female bears will seemingly spend more time running away or warily keeping their distance when being pursued by male grizzlies. When they do get together the emotional spectrum seems to swing from stoicism to violence.
A short video of end of their mating encounter. After a few seconds of seemingly violence, they both calmed down and within a minute afterwards they both began digging for clams.
A flock of Sandhill Cranes glides past the mountains in the Khutzeymateen.