Travel + Leisure Asia - 09.2019

58 SEPTEMBER 2019 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM

BY THE TIME Big Bear and Slightly Smaller Big

Bear fought, so much had already happened.

We had taken a dramatic floatplane ride

from the small island town of Kodiak, Alaska,

across Sheli kof Stra it to Katma i Nationa l Pa rk

& Preserve, on the Alaska Peninsula. Our pilot

was Jerry Borshard, resplendent in a newsboy

cap and scraggly red beard. He looked like the

kindly proprietor of a bike shop. The seven

courageous members of our tour group were in

search of bears, on the Great Alaskan Grizzly

Encounter, a five-day cruise around the park

organized by Natural Habitat Adventures. The

engine droned, and someone asked Jerry if he

had seen anything spectacular on his flights

into and out of Katmai.

“Not really,” said Jerry through his mic. He

then proceeded to list things he’d seen out his

window that sounded pretty spectacular: a

breaching whale, swimming bears, running

moose. We landed a few minutes later on water

as smooth as glass. “See you in a week,” Jerry

shouted above the din of the propeller.

We took a floatplane because it was the only

way to get to our ship, the Natural Habitat

Ursus. Almost immediately our two guides,

Brad Josephs and Teresa Whipple, began their

daily routine of taking us out in a skiff to find

some grizzlies, which are the primary reason

their patrons travel so far to be here. The Ursus

moved once or twice, but remained centrally

located off the shore of the park.

Once we paused at high tide on the shores of

Hallo Bay, we found the bears quickly. It was

the kind of scene that many people watch on

nature shows narrated by David Attenborough,

but few get to see with their own eyes. Wearing

waders, Teresa jumped into the icy water and

quietly moved the boat closer to shore. Two

males grazed about a hundred meters apart as a ALEK KOMARNITSKY/COURTESY OF NATURAL HABITAT. OPPOSITE FROM LEFT: RALPH LEE HOPKINS/GETTY IMAGES; BRAD JOSEPHS/COURTESY OF NATURAL HABITAT

Where the

Grizzlies Roam

On a tour of Alaska’s Katmai National Park, intrepid travelers

find themselves face-to-furry-face with some of the most

awesome creatures on the planet. BY STEPHEN RODRICK

Visitors on the

Great Alaskan

Grizzly Encounter

tour can get within

30 meters of

bears in the wild.

DISCOVERY