Polar Attraction The Tiny Town Of Churchill, Manitoba, Draws Wildlife Lovers From Around The World To See Native Bears

Two polar bears were standing jaw to jaw on the tundra, like adversaries contemplating a duel.

There was a gust of snow as the first blow was struck. Then the bears raised up and began sparring.

They boxed and they wrestled. Finally, one of the young bears retreated. The winner posed “king of the hill”-style on an icy boulder.

Show time!

“Peanuts, popcorn and polar bears,” said Dick Kaiser, a visitor from Portland, as he aimed a long-lens camera.

The polar bear combat was what biologists call “play fighting,” a usually harmless rehearsal for what may come later when the scrappy boy bears reach breeding age.

That travelers are able to witness such action close-up is due to nature’s ancient rhythms - and to a gaggle of big-wheel vehicles called Tundra Buggies that look as if they should be roaming the moon.

Africa has the Serengeti for wildlife extravaganzas. South America has the Amazon. Canada’s Manitoba province is the only place in the world where humans can move safely among the great white bears.

This is how it happens:

Each fall hundreds of hungry polar bears migrate from their summertime ranges near Churchill to the shore of Hudson Bay. There they wait for new ice to form on the bay so they can go hunting for seals and other prey.

Sometimes bears promenade right through downtown Churchill.

When that happens, security officers capture the intruders with baited traps made of culvert pipe. Then the bears are lodged in a steel building (locals call it the Polar Bear Jail) until Hudson Bay freezes like a skating rink.

But most of the bay-bound bears skirt the town of 1,200 residents and congregate 20 miles or so to the east.

By then, thousands of visitors are gathered aboard Tundra Buggies, right in the polar bear pathway.

Tundra Buggies are like buses on fat balloon tires that ride about seven feet off the ground, rocking and rolling over the tundra where there are no roads.

Len Smith, a Churchill businessman, built the first buggy back in 1980 to take his family on tundra picnics. A National Geographic crew chartered it a few months later to photograph polar bears. A Texas tour operator read about the adventure and called Smith. The rest of the story, as they say around here, is happy history.

Now Smith’s company, Tundra Buggy Tours, has 13 of the homemade rigs.

He doesn’t have to advertise. Last season’s prime-time polar bear packages were sold out months in advance. Bookings already are in hand for the year 2000.

“I really didn’t intend to go into tourism,” Smith says. “But I guess that’s where we are.”

Smith not only has his Tundra Buggy fleet. He also operates the only overnight camp in the polar bear zone, officially the Churchill Wildlife Management Area.

Most visitors stay in Churchill motels and schedule bear-viewing day trips aboard Tundra Buggies.

But those who are willing to pay for full time with the bears - 38 passengers at a time - base at Smith’s Polar Bear Lodge 28 miles out of town.

The wilderness lodge is a mobile camp, with two bunkhouses, a dining car and other units mounted on all-terrain tires and hitched together like cars on a train. At the end of the viewing season, they are towed back to Churchill.

Bear sightings virtually can be guaranteed around the camp in late October.

Bears at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The bears “hang out” by the lodge, sometimes so close that you can see them thumping on the walls.

Maybe it’s because they smell food from the kitchen - even though there is a strict prohibition against feeding the bears. Or maybe it’s because the lodge is only a few yards from the shore of Hudson Bay.

This was the scene one morning last October:

It was a frigid day, with the temperature at about minus 10 degrees. Fresh snow sparkled like sun sequins in the morning light.

“There are bears out there - right there, I tell you!” someone shouted.

Guests abandoned their scrambled eggs and rushed to an open platform outside the dining car.

A polar bear was standing only five or six feet away. Its fur was the color of creamy ivory. Its eyes were like dark jewels. It looked for all the world like a giant stuffed toy in a department-store window.

“Pretty boy,” said Myra Jean Keyton, from Dayton, Ohio.

“Pretty boy” must have weighed 500 pounds or more. And he was hungry. He had not eaten since being forced ashore last June when the ice broke up on Hudson Bay.

Gold and crimson from the fading sunrise outlined the bear’s huge head. Cameras clicked. Strobe lights flashed.

“Let’s roll,” said Paul Nicklen, our Tundra Buggy driver-guide.

“You have left behind your e-mail and cell phones. You are going to do things today that few people in the world will ever do.”

Nicklen, 29, a wildlife biologist from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, knows polar bears. He has worked among them, from Churchill to the islands of Canada’s High Arctic.

Our Tundra Buggy was only about five minutes from the lodge when Nicklen coasted to a stop and switched off the diesel engine.

“I see seven bears right in front of us,” he said.

One of the bears was rolling on its back and stretching, like a teenager waking from a deep sleep. Another was plodding toward the edge of Hudson Bay, checking to see if the ice was ready. It wasn’t.

Two bears raised from the snow, stood on their hind legs and began brawling with paws as big as platters.

“They’re doing the Polar Bear Tango,” said Myra Jean Keyton, a former classical dancer.

Another sparring match began. But this scuffle was more violent. Blood from a ripped ear stained the fur of the loser.

“Just incredible,” said Pat Davies, of Walnut Creek, Calif.

“I like the reversal,” she added. “We’re in a ‘cage,’ watching - and the bears are out there and free.”

Tundra Buggies make good camera platforms when passengers remember their manners.

Windows open a few inches for photographers. And there is a box-like deck on the back of the vehicle with camera angles in three directions.

“Let’s take turns,” Nicklen said, as he used a pair of wrenches to lower some of the buggy’s frozen-shut windows.

A grumpy non-photographer, bundled in a heavy, red parka, immediately was unhappy.

“Close the windows!” he yelled.

“In just a few minutes,” Nicklen promised.

In fairness, a visitor also should restrain himself from taking 36 slides of the same bear as Arctic air blows through the open windows.

“Bring your sense of humor,” said Pat Davies, a California travel consultant.

Time to reload cameras, Nicklen invited passengers to take turns driving the eight-wheel buggy.

Maneuvering a Tundra Buggy is more difficult than it appears from a back seat. It takes awhile to steer a turn in soft snow. The sensation reminded one passenger of piloting a small boat in a following sea.

There are no brakes. Fortunately, the buggy travels at less than 5 miles an hour on mostly flat terrain.

“You’re all great drivers,” Nicklen said tactfully as he reclaimed the controls.

A few minutes later a snow-white Arctic fox scampered along the Hudson Bay shore. The fox stopped, probed, then trotted off with its prize, an unfortunate lemming.

Then a flock of ptarmigan in winter-white camouflage took flight from a thicket of dwarf willows.

And more restless polar bears were prowling the tundra as ice cakes twirled on Hudson Bay.

“How I wish we will see the northern lights tonight,” said Elke Pape, a teacher from Bad Pyrmont, Germany.

Wish granted.

A spectacular aurora blazed over our camp that night. Curtains of light dancing across the sky in a space ballet for several hours.

“I am so happy,” said Elke Pape. “This is what I dreamed of.”

Virginia Shipman, from Portland, hurried outside to photograph the aurora.

“It’s like a geyser - it’s everywhere!” she said.

Another traveler took a quick look and returned to the bunkhouse, shivering.

“That was very interesting,” she reported. “Brrr.”

Polar bears and polar light.

There may not be a better travel show on the planet.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: IF YOU GO When: Prime time for polar bears in Churchill, in northern Manitoba, is from about the second week of October through the first week of November. The greatest concentration of bears usually is in the last week of October. Travelers are advised to book a year or more ahead for tours and accommodations. How: Some visitors travel to Churchill on their own - flying in from Winnipeg, Manitoba’s capital, finding rooms in Churchill motels and scheduling day trips by Tundra Buggy for polar bear viewing. Others buy tour packages that include lodging and round-trip air fare between Winnipeg and Churchill Eight-hour Tundra Buggy excursions last fall for independent travelers were priced at $130 U.S. a person daily, lunches included. Cost of round-trip air transportation from Winnipeg last fall was about $380 U.S. for passengers making their own arrangements. The 2-1/2-hour flights between Winnipeg and Churchill are aboard twin-engine turboprop aircraft of Calm Air, a Canadian Airlines partner. Churchill is 650 air miles north of Winnipeg. Complete tour packages last fall ranged from $1,136 to $2,159 U.S. a person - with the higher prices for tours in the late-October, early November period. Packages included two nights’ accommodations in a Winnipeg hotel, two nights at the Polar Bear Lodge (a mobile camp on the tundra near Churchill), all meals during the lodge stay and transfers in Winnipeg and Churchill. Tundra Buggy Tours says prices should be about the same in the fall of 1998. Polar Bear Lodge: The lodge is about 28 miles from Churchill - by bus part way, then by Tundra Buggy. Accommodations are spartan, with upper and lower bunks fitted with Velcro curtains for privacy. There are two bunkhouse units, each with indoor bathrooms. There also is a small shower stall, but water is limited. The lodge generator shuts down about 10:30 p.m. Guests are given flashlights for moving around after the lights go out. Meals, which tend to high-calorie fare, are served family style in the lodge’s dining car. Wine is served one night. Many guests bring their own beverages. Days are spent searching for polar bears aboard a 50-passenger, restroom-equipped Tundra Buggy. Visitors with back problems should be advised that travel aboard Tundra Buggies can be rough at times. Packing: Fall temperatures with wind chill can be frigid in the Churchill area. Dress in layers, with gear that includes long underwear, wool shirts or sweaters, a heavy jacket or parka, a hat, gloves or mittens - and boots that will keep feet warm when the temperature falls to 10 or 20 degrees below zero. But space for luggage is limited at the Polar Bear Lodge. Best to dress warmly in Winnipeg or Churchill before departing for the lodge and carry a small suitcase or overnight bag. Photography: Film speeds of 100, 200 and 400 are advised. Weather can range from bright to overcast. Best results for photographing polar bears are with cameras equipped with 300mm to 500mm lenses. Photographing white bears against snow is tricky. Guides offer good advice about bracketing exposures. Suggestion: bring extra camera and flash batteries; cold weather can drain batteries quickly. Additional information: Tundra Buggy Tours, P.O. Box 662, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada R0B 0E0; phone (800) 544-5049 or (813) 823-4026 (December through June), (204) 675-2121 (July through November); fax: (813) 894-2582 (December through June), (204) 675-2877 (July through November). Travel Manitoba, 7th Floor, 155 Carlton St., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C 3H8; phone (204) 945-3796; fax (204) 945-2302.