Classic Canadian Tours
29-2000 Pegasus Road N.E. T2E 8K7 Calgary, AB, Canada

Polar bear season is over. Darkness has come to the North and the final Tundra Buggy has rolled back to town. Hudson's Bay has frozen and the bears have returned to their favourite habitat, hunting ring seals on the ice. But the cycle of life is always on the move. When the ice melts the bears will have to return to land, and in the fall will once again congregate on the shoreline near Churchill.... There is a comfort in this inevitability, especially in this year where so much we take for granted has been interrupted. But Classic Canadian Tours remains optimistic, and with that in mind for fall 2021,we have planned six Polar Bear Safaris to Churchill, Manitoba. Check our website for details.

Three little bears! What a rare sight. A larger litter size is one indicator of a healthy environment. This mother bear came out of her den in March with three offspring. The family headed straight out to the sea ice where, against incredible odds, the female was able to successfully feed and protect her cubs. Returning to land in summer, after the ice melts brings its own risks, but this skilled predator has managed to get her trio of cubs to their eight-month birthday. She is now testing the ice along the Churchill coast line preparing her cubs for another season hunting seals. A good news story in this troubling year. Photo credit: Polar Bears International.

"It’s early November. It’s cold. It’s snowy. And polar bears are waiting for the sea ice to form. It’s Polar Bear Week!" https://polarbearsinternational.org/get-in/polar-bear-week/

"George Black Ferry being moved to dry dock for the winter.Now we wait for the ice bridge to form on the Yukon River to connect Dawson with West Dawson and Sunnydale. Until then residents across river are in freeze-up mode with no direct link to the outside world for last minute groceries, mail, visits to the pub etc. Now's the time they spend to reconnect with neighbours and enjoy the silence isolation brings. Stay safe everyone." Photo & Caption: Claus Vogel #VisitDawsonCity #ExploreYukon #CanadaNice

This year the possibility of travelling to view polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba is a no-go with Classic Canadian Tours, although others will be there. But for the bears, nothing has changed. Right now they are gathering on the Hudson Bay shoreline waiting for the sea ice to form. They will spend the winter on the ice hunting their favourite food, ringed seals; then back to land next spring. In the meantime, if you'd like to see what's happening in Churchill you can go to https://explore.org/livecams/polar-bears/polar-bear-cam

Springtime signs all along the Kutzeymateen Valley. Join us on our one-day adventures this May or June from Calgary and Edmonton.

Balletic and seemingly choreographed, these American bald eagles are involved in the dance of dinner, keeping a sharp eye out for anything tasty. You will be able to photograph these splendid creatures from the deck of the "Inside Passage" on your trip to the Khutzeymateen. Classic Canadian Tours' West Coast Grizzly Bear Tour departures are from Edmonton and Calgary in May and June.

Double your pleasure. Today is International Polar Bear Day; to celebrate why not take your partner on a one-day safari to Churchill, Manitoba for a chance to view these iconic apex predators of the ice. Travel with Classic Canadian Tours in October and November from Calgary, Edmonton or Saskatoon.

Here at the entrance to the Khutzeymateen there is great excitement as two pods of transient killer whales come together to form a superpod. This co-mingling allows bachelor males to mate with females of another matrilineal line and avoid inbreeding. Classic Canadian flies to the Khutzeymateen for a one-day all-inclusive adventure from Calgary or Edmonton this May and June. Check out our Grizzly Bear West Coast Tour.

Not a mud puddle in sight. This adult grizzly has a dusting of pollen which comes from face down foraging through the knee-high grasses of the B.C. coast, just one sign of spring in the Khutzeymateen.

HAPPY 2020! Our 2020 product is out and our office is open - check out our newsletter featuring our tours for the coming year: https://mailchi.mp/classiccanadiantours/2020

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & NEW YEAR! Our office is now closed, but we'll be open again on January 2, 2020!

For the nature lover on your Christmas list. Consider a Classic Canadian gift certificate.

Quite a season. Gone seal hunting! See you next year.

The ice is in! This determined mother leads her two cubs onto the ice to begin a new season of hunting seals. This year winter came in with a bang. The formation of the first ice in Hudson Bay is predictable; a counter-clockwise current brings in ice from the north, rivers in the area provide fresh water that freezes sooner and combined with a straight shoreline running from Churchill to the Cape, 40 kilometres to the east, allows for the formation of the first ice. That is why bears gather here each year. What is unpredictable is the timing. A week previous the Bay was still open and there were still migratory birds in the area; usually a dependable sign that winter was not yet close. An early freeze-up is good news for the polar bear as it gives them the opportunity to begin hunting, something they have been waiting 4 months for.

Almost invisible. With a fresh dusting of snow on his coat and the surrounding willows this bear blends in effectively with the surrounding landscape. Polar bears evolved from the brown bear, today's grizzly bear, 250,000 years ago. One of the more significant evolutionary adaptations for life in the Arctic was coat coloration; brown to white. Come celebrate Polar Bear Week in Churchill with Classic Canadian Tours.

This radio-collared female stops to allow her two 11-month-old cubs to nurse. Mothers will breastfeed their young for 2 1/2 years with milk that contains 31% fat; the highest of any bear species. This is one of the many adaptations allowing them to survive in an extreme Arctic environment. Travel with Classic Canadian Tours to Churchill to witness these incredible carnivores of the North.

Willow pillow. It's hard to find a place to rest your head while waiting for Hudson Bay to freeze over. Churchill, November 2, 2019.

Come celebrate Polar Bear Week on the shores of Hudson's Bay. Classic Canadian Tours has added an additional one-day safari from Edmonton, Saturday, November 16, 2019. Come experience the feeling of the Arctic and see the polar bears as they gather on the shoreline waiting for the ice.

Polar Bear week is coming soon, November 3 - 9! Join us on our newly added November 16th Polar Bear Safari departing Edmonton! https://polarbearsinternational.org/

First bear of the new season. Highlighted by the morning sunlight this polar walks through grasses along the Hudson Bay coastline. Bears will soon gather in larger numbers drawn by the prospect of being first on the ice.

As winter approaches and the temperatures drop polar bears begin migrating to the shoreline near Churchill, Manitoba waiting for the first ice to form. For many bears, it may have been 3 or 4 months since they last successfully hunted for seal. At this time bear activity increases as they probe the shoreline with heightened anticipation. Travel with Classic Canadian Tours to watch this spectacle.

There must be something good under here! Polar bears have a keen sense of smell, which they use to find prey. A polar bear can sniff out a seal's breathing hole more than a kilometre away. Travel with Classic Canadian Tours this fall to view polar bears as they gather along the shores of Hudson's Bay waiting for the sea ice to form.

The tundra offers surprising photo opportunities apart from the bears. Textured mosses and lichens, tangles of kelp along the shoreline, and windswept russet willows.

First prize! Classic Canadian Tours delivers you to the heart of polar bear territory. And, if you are lucky, you might end up with a photo like this, taken by a CCT's lead naturalist, which won Frontier North's 2019 "True North" photo contest. Put yourself in the middle of the action in late October, early November....

"There are so many fall colours in the Yukon. During the day the bright gold, orange and red mixed with the evergreen forest and in the evening the ebb and flow of the sky shining with hues of green and pink. Simply amazing and a true delight!" Brenda Trockstad, Managing Director, Tour Host.