Photos courtesy of Bob and Lynne Croy
Churchill Wild is proud to announce that the winners of the Great Ice Bear Adventure 20th Anniversary Contest and a trip for two to Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge are Bob and Lynne Croy of Wakefield, New Zealand.
Congratulations Bob and Lynne! We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Great Ice Bear Anniversary Contest winners Bob and Lynne Croy at Dymond Lake Lodge.
Extensive travelers since retiring eight years ago after 31 years of operating a service station, the couple had already been on safaris in Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar and South Africa before traveling to Canada for the Great Ice Bear Adventure last November with Churchill Wild.
“We had dreamed about the Great Ice Bear Adventure for so long,” said Lynne. “And it turned out to be an amazing trip.”
“We had actually sent an inquiry to Mike Reimer at Churchill Wild many years ago and we were going to go but we had some issues at the station and couldn’t make it work,” said Bob. “We kept that letter all this time and showed it to Nolan (Director of Lodge Operations at Churchill Wild) when we arrived at Dymond Lake.”
The couple turned their Great Ice Bear Adventure into a month-long Canadian vacation, beginning with a flight from New Zealand to Vancouver. They then went to Victoria for a few days before flying to Winnipeg and on to Churchill, where they boarded their flight to Dymond Lake Lodge on a cold Canadian November day.
The polar bears soon warmed them up.
First polar bear at Dymond Lake!
“It’s generally 25 degrees or better where we are,” said Lynne. “My husband always wears shorts, and I had never worn ski pants, but we were well prepared, even when it got to 37 below. We had our Merino Wool layers, ski pants and jackets and we were out to see a polar bear on our very first day at the Lodge.”
“It was very special to get so close to such a large animal in the wild,” continued Lynne. “We were surprised at how big they were! We spent a lot of time photographing that first polar bear. It was a wonderful experience.”
“There were quite a few white foxes about too,” said Bob. “One day, while out walking, we came upon a sleeping bear, and two Arctic foxes ran out and startled him. The bear jumped up quickly and that was quite a sight from up close! But we always felt safe when out walking. The guides were extremely professional.”
Arctic foxes getting ready to wake up a sleeping giant.
The couple and their fellow travelers on the Great Ice Bear Adventure also enjoyed a beautiful evening of aurora borealis displays while at the Lodge.
“We had a lovely mix of people with us,” said Lynne. “A fabulous group, we’re still exchanging photos and videos from the trip. And the food was amazing. We bought their Blueberries and Polar Bears Cookbook and fully intend to use it.”
And their trip wasn’t over when they flew back to Churchill from the Lodge. The Croys also spent two days on the Tundra Buggies and then added in a dogsledding adventure. “Doreen (Adventure Specialist at Churchill Wild) arranged that for us,” said Lynn. “She was very helpful and it was a lot of fun!”
You know I can still see you, right?
Continuing on with adventurous nature of their trip, the Croys took the train from Churchill to Winnipeg instead of flying, and were blanketed by a fresh snowfall that made for “picture perfect scenery the whole way.” They then took the scenic train ride from Winnipeg to Jasper to Vancouver before heading home.
The Croys can now add polar bears, Arctic and red foxes to the host of wildlife they’ve been up close and personal with, a list which also includes lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, rhinos, wildebeest, zebra and more. Next on their agenda is a trip back to Tanzania this spring to see the young animals in the wild.
The Croys are planning their trip to Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge for 2015, and there’s a very good chance they’ll be able to add polar bear mothers and cubs, black bears, wolves, a myriad of birds and possibly even moose and caribou to their growing list of wildlife sightings. This time they say they’d like to see the fall colours of Nova Scotia before they head up to the Lodge at Nanuk, which will have even more upgrades by the time they get there.
Polar bear leisure activities.
“We really wanted to see the mothers and cubs,” said Lynne. “But we never thought we’d get back there. When we got home my husband turned on the computer and said you’d better come and look at this. It was an email saying we won the trip to Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge. We were thrilled!”
“Let’s just say it got a little noisy in the house,” said Bob.
This curious black bear popped up in front of Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge last fall while we were returning from a day trip and was snapped by numerous guests. If you would like more information and photos on the Mothers & Cubs trip the Croys won, click the bear 🙂 This photo courtesy of Robert Postma.
