The wonder of tree branches. Fabienne Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
by Christoph Jansen / ArcticWild.Net
Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge sits directly in front of a large polar bear denning area. Every year around Christmas, polar bear moms give birth to their cubs in snow or peat caves, so-called dens. They will spend the first few weeks protected from the elements in this den. But around the middle to the end of February, they emerge from their dens and start preparing for their challenging journey from the boreal forest to the sea ice of Hudson Bay.
Contemplating life as the future King of the Arctic. Christoph Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
Our goal is to find their tracks and put ourselves in a position to watch them on this journey, but that’s like finding a very small needle in a very large haystack; the scouts are therefore constantly running their backcountry trails looking for the telltale paw prints.
Mom’s my backup. Fabienne Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
This year, we received awesome news from the scouts before we even arrived at the lodge. We were still preparing for our trip in Winnipeg when they informed us that they had already located two polar bear moms, one with two cubs, and one with a single cub. So instead of getting to the lodge and having some time to get acclimatized to the cold, we had an immediate launch into our adventure!
We spent a whole day watching and photographing Mom and her cubs. Christoph Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
We drove roughly 25 km to the west, to the Menahook River, then up that river for another 15 km, and then deeper into the forest. The timing was perfect. Sure enough, there was a mom with her two cubs, lit by some rays of golden sunlight. The cubs were pretty active already, given that they had just moved out of their den a few days earlier.
This is my twig! Christoph Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo
We spent the entire day watching and photographing them. Just before sunset, we had to call it a day because we still had more than two hours to drive back to the lodge. Just around sunset, we arrived at the spot where the polar bears were denning. Seeing an actual den was a first for us. What a privilege!
Northern lights at Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge. Christoph Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
On the way back, we were losing daylight quickly, but our perfect first day in the Arctic was not over yet. As night fell, the northern lights started dancing across the sky. On our entire drive to the lodge, we had the final hints of sunset at our backs and the aurora borealis dancing above us. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect day.
Polar bear den. Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge. Christoph Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
After a short night, we got out again the next morning well before sunrise. Our scouts had found “our” mom and her cubs again, not far from where we left them yesterday. Again, we spent many hours with them.
Nature studies. Christoph Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
One of the cubs started getting a bit bolder, taking a few steps towards us. Mom didn’t like this at all and hissed at him (let’s just assume it was a boy…). That worked, and the adventurous cub returned to her. But only for a few moments. He was just too curious.
Brave and curious. Fabienne Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
Mom finally decided to move her misbehaving cubs a bit further away from us, into the thickest forest imaginable. We respected this move and didn’t try to follow them. Life is challenging enough for a polar bear mom and her cubs, so we would never push or stress them just to get the perfect shot. Instead, we started to make our way to the coast.
Nibbling on Mom’s paw. Fabienne Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
Just west of the Menahook River, we identified two sets of polar bear tracks heading out onto the sea ice. This was probably the mom with the single cub, whom our scouts had discovered a few days earlier. While we didn’t see the bears, it’s always good to know that they safely made it to their hunting grounds on the sea ice.
They made it safely to Hudson Bay. Fabienne Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
We can’t wait to see if we will be able to locate “our” mom again on our next outing! And it’s only day three of this adventure.
What an incredible start!
We couldn’t have imagined a more perfect day. Fabienne Jansen / ArcticWild.net photo.
Churchill Wild Polar Bear Safaris 2025-2026.
What a delight – the bears
What a beauty -the landscapes
Yes, Christa! Nice to see you here! Thank you!