Churchill Manitoba

P.S.: As you read this page, I hope it will come across as a story of one little episode in our stay? It certainly isn't intended to be "about me"!

Any place you go has its own special hazards. When people from the US visit London, they have to be very careful crossing roads, after a lifetime of looking right before stepping onto the road, it takes care to remember to look left, which is where the car that will kill you will be coming from.

Yes, a bear can hurt you. And yes, you can encounter one in town. And not every bear will be embarrassed into retreating by clouting it on the snout with a handbag, as the lady who was careless did not long before we visited.

Chris has extensive experience of bears, even of Churchill bears. That didn't stop him employing a guide to give advice, keep us safe, during the first two days while we were filming in the town, and in the wild places just outside the town

One of the rules is "stay alert". And, as I was "spare" to other requirements much of the time, I tried to keep an eye out while the others were filming.

One of the candidates for the transition shot was the beach just north of the big civic complex in town. Great spot for the needs of the film. And a pretty good spot to see bears. Nice if you want to see bears; not so good if you aren't paying attention and "see" it when it is closer than is comfortable. While they prefer seal, and aren't generally "hunting" at this time of year, it will have been seven months since they last ate. A 90kg bungle of flesh and fat might be welcome as an unexpected snack, even if you do have to pick the GoreTex out of your teeth afterwards.

Here are two views the layout of the filming location. The first is looking roughly to the west. In the second, "up" is north.

Look closely at what the arrow in the first photo points to... that's a person. The civic complex is surreal, vast. In the second picture, the two things by "A" are large SUVs.

So! The intrepid film crew was at "B". I stationed myself at "C", on the higher ground, watching all around, but particularly to the east. As the pictures on the "maps" page will show you, There's very little but wilderness to the east of here... a fine corridor into town for the bears.

No bears came along to interrupt filming, but there were two things which let me feel that I wasn't being an old woman to keep watch...

In the same spot, if I recall the stories we heard at the Gypsy's Bakery and Restaurant properly, not long before we arrived in town, some tourists were on the same beach, and were saved from a bear because someone in the civic center was paying attention when the tourists weren't. The thing is, out on the beach, you are a long way from a building or vehicle, and you may find the bear between you and one of them.

Sadly, it ended badly for the bear, which is a pity. Something that didn't need to happen if the tourists hadn't been foolish.

And then, besides the story, there was a second little hint that my watchfulness was perhaps relevant. As I was walking past "D", going back to our vehicle, at "A", I passed by the beached boat which has been turned into something for kids to clamber on. I saw what at first I took to be some faked bear tracks. I assumed some kids had made them, for fun.

Then I investigated further. No, not kids... they were real bear's tracks. (I do like tracking bears in sand and mud... you don't have to be raised to it to see things!).

Look again at where Chris and Karel had been filming (B), where I'd been on lookout (C), where the bear tracks were (D), and where the vehicles and buildings are....

Not a "bad moment"... but a reassurance that paying attention was worthwhile! (No "bad moments" in Churchill!)

The tracks were quite fresh... not "past hour" fresh, but we decided we were probably looking at tracks from a bear going away from the inhospitable greeting the bear patrol gave him early that morning. (Some towns have dog catchers to deal with strays. Churchill has a team of people employed to minimize bear-human interactions.)

The bear was probably bounding along at speed... even so, a stride of about seven feet is impressive...

Watching for any bears who might interrupt filming on beach. The glacier-smoothed rocks were substantial and rolling... and full of little dips and pockets where a bear might well have settled, sheltering from the stiff wind off the bay...

Photo (c) Chris Morgan, WildlifeMedia.org

Camera never lies? This is the original of the above. I was NOT pregnant... that was my camera under my windbreaker. But I thought photo manipulation preferable to explanations. Tell the truth... had you spotted anything "funny" with my abdominal profile? I don't think I took off more than the camera. "Making up" the background was remarkably easy. You can spot it if you look... but did you see it before you were invited to look? The photo was taken in late dusk light. I couldn't get that part right while manipulating the image, nor the water's color, which didn't look so tropical! Photo (c) Chris Morgan, WildlifeMedia.org

Just to round out this page...

This is one of the "icons of Churchill", a modern day replica of an Inuit inuksuk. (The link will open the Wikipedia article for you in a new window or tab, so it is easy to get back here when your curiosity is sated.)

Watch out for the inuksuk in the movie BearTrek! Dean spent over an hour capturing a time lapse of the sun going down behind it. Something which will fill, what?, 10 seconds of the 90 minute film? The inuksuk is at "E" in the second image, above.

This page © TK Boyd 5/12. Click here to contact him.

This is one of the sub-pages from my report of my visit to Churchill, where you can go if you have an appetite for more!

You are also invited to Tom Boyd's homepage, including Windows software for schools, kids, and others.

Page tested for compliance with INDUSTRY (not MS-only) standards, using the free, publicly accessible validator at validator.w3.org. Mostly passes. There were two "unknown attributes" in Google+ button code. Sigh.