Summer polar bear at Seal River Heritage Lodge. Birds, Bears & Belugas safari. Johnny Berg photo.
The fireweed bloomed early this July at Seal River Heritage Lodge, turning the tundra purple weeks ahead of schedule. Photographers ditched their big lenses for wide shots of the sweeping landscapes. But it was four polar bears throwing punches in the Seal River that had everyone talking about the opening weeks of Churchill Wild’s Birds, Bears & Belugas safari.
“We had four bears all hanging out together and we were just floating in and amongst them,” said Johnny Berg, Churchill Wild’s newest guide, three weeks into his first polar bear season. “They were jumping on each other and pushing each other in the water. They were punching each other in the jaws.”
Berg, 29, used to push numbers around a Toronto accounting office. “I discovered that there’s more to life than that,” he said. “So I quit and went travelling, and after that I realized what I wanted to do was be a guide.”
He went to guiding school on Vancouver Island, spent three years at a wilderness lodge in B.C., walked with grizzly bears in the Great Bear Rainforest, and worked his way up to what he calls “the polar bear level” at Seal River Heritage Lodge.
“Every group had really good bears,” said Berg. “It may not have been right at the beginning, but they had great bears by the end of their trip.”
Polar bear mama and her cub on Birds, Bears & Belugas safari in 2025. Johnny Berg photo.
The first group was a buyout of the whole lodge, 16 guests, three families from different corners of the world who get together for unique adventures. After a few days of searching, the bears showed up in spectacular fashion during a zodiac run to the Seal River.
“We saw three bears originally in the water, and they were sparring,” said Berg. “Swimming around and sparring. And then a fourth one that was hunting on a rock jumped in the water and felt left out, so it ended up being all four of them hanging out together, and we were just floating in and amongst them.”
Eighteen-year-old Finn got incredible shots of the sparring bears, the kind of photos you can only get when you’re right there with them.
But the lodge visits were just as memorable. One of the next groups was eating dinner when a female polar bear started walking toward the lodge. Everyone dropped their forks.
“Are you talking about me?” Jolie Hamilton photo.
“Kellie was crying, that’s how excited she was that the bear was right outside the window,” said Berg. Kellie Scott was at Seal River with her husband Brian, a doctor from Iowa, and they had been to Churchill Wild’s Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge on a previous trip.
“She came by right at dinner, so we all stopped dinner and scooted out to the viewing platform,” said Berg. “It was pretty spectacular.”
The lodge setup works perfectly for bear watching. The picture windows, fence, viewing platforms, and tower give you front-row seats when curious bears come sniffing around.
View this post on Instagram
Brian wasn’t the only doctor on this year’s early safaris. “We don’t ask, but doctors are one of the main occupations we hear about,” said Berg, regarding what some of the guests do for a living. “Both Brian and Kellie easily understood the science discussed during the trip and trusted the safety protocols.”
One of the groups this year was on Churchill Wild’s new Summer Polar Bear Photo Safari, a specialized version of Birds, Bears & Belugas designed for photographers, and they knew how to wait for the shot. “With the photo group, you wait until something happens, and they really understood that,” said Berg.
Polar bear picking up the scents at Seal River Heritage Lodge. Beno Budgor photo.
One bear at Lodge Point gave them a masterclass in patience, lying around for a day and a half while photographers worked every angle. “We got down into the intertidal zone when the tide was out,” said Berg. “Where the ocean would normally be, we were down below, and the bear was up high. So you got the beautiful blue background without all the plants in the way.”
The photo group went beyond the typical bear portraits. Guide Boomer Jerritt got them shooting the early fireweed bloom too. “They had these beautiful sweeping purple landscapes to photograph,” said Berg. The fireweed came out weeks early this year, a bonus for people who sometimes book trips just for the purple show.
Kellie stood out from the photo crowd. “She was quite witty,” said Berg. “And always in high spirits, even when we were doing more searching than viewing. And she was always like, ‘This is the day. This is the day.'”
The belugas showed up in full force. Berg called it “beluga soup,” thousands of beluga whales in the Seal River estuary with “great vocalisations and playing” and “boat following” behaviour that got guests leaning over the Zodiac rails.
Guests viewing beluga whales on a Zodiac tour at Seal River Heritage Lodge. Shayna Plett photo.
The bird watchers also got their money’s worth. The current group has “four major birders and one that’s super knowledgeable to the point that they’re teaching us a thing or two,” said Berg. They spent extra time with Hudson Bay godwits, whimbrels, sandhill cranes, and Arctic terns.
Churchill wild guide Luke Kolla attracting the Arctic terns. Gordon Money photo.
Other wildlife popped up too. “We saw a bunch of Arctic hares this year,” said Berg. “Plus the usual sik-siks (Arctic ground squirrels) and one memorable scout wolf that crossed the ridge and kept going.”
Guest satisfaction was off the charts. During the final slideshow, one guest stood up in front of everyone, staff and guests. Speaking for himself, his wife, and hopefully everyone else in the group, he said the trip was “one of the best trips that they’ve been on” and they’d been travelling to places like Antarctica and Africa.
“The guests have been smiling and cheering and having a great time,” said Berg. “They don’t want to get back on the plane to go home. Every time they leave, they’re like, ‘we don’t want to go.”
Berg’s girlfriend Mercedes will join him at season’s end for Churchill Wild training. His jump from accountant to Arctic guide just feels right. “It’s been incredible,” he said about his first weeks with the polar bears.
Fireweed fun. Johnny Berg photo.
The early fireweed is still putting on its show across the tundra, and the polar bears are doing what they’ve done for thousands of years along the Hudson Bay coast. Seal River Heritage Lodge remains the only place on earth where you can safely walk with polar bears on their turf, thanks to Churchill Wild’s three-guide safety system developed over five decades. This summer’s team includes head guide Boomer Jerritt, second guide Luke Kolla, and the newest team member, Johnny.
The Birds, Bears & Belugas safari season runs until August 22 this year, and the polar bears will be hunting beluga whales throughout the season, you just have to be lucky enough to catch them doing it. But each new group has a chance to get their own version of Berg’s sparring bears and purple fireweed, moments that turn accountants into guides, and remind everyone that…
Some things just can’t be replicated anywhere else.
Birds, Bears & Belugas at Seal River Heritage Lodge
