Travel+Leisure India & South Asia – August 2019

travelandleisureindia.in

OnatourofAlaska’sKatmaiNationalPark,intrepid

travellersfindthemselvesface-to-furry-facewith

someofthemostawesomecreaturesontheplanet.

ByStephenRodrick

“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, bears

swimming between islands, running

moose. We landed a few minutes later on

water as smooth as glass. “See you in a

week,” Jerry shouted above 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

thousands of miles 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 television 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 metres

apart as a female watched lazily in the

Visitors on the

Great Alaskan

Grizzly Encounter

tour can get within

30 metres of bears

in the wild.

Where the

Grizzlies Roam

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 Shelikof

Strait to Katmai National Park & Preserve, on the

Alaska Peninsula. Our pilot was Jerry Borshard,

resplendent in a newsboy cap and scraggy 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 organised

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.

CLOSE ENCOUNTER

ALEK KOMARNITSKY/COURTESY OF NATURAL HABITAT