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Best Excursion (Private or Cruise) to see bears?


!MSteacher
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My husband and I will be on Celebrity Solstice next summer (late July, early August). It is a celebration for our 20th anniversary. Can anyone advise me on the best excursion to see and observe bears in a NATURAL habitat (not a preserve)? Given it is our anniversary, we are willing to spend what it takes for a top experience! I'm looking at private companies, but I have no idea who is really "the best". Can anyone advise me on a company they have used in the past? Is there an excursion that has been "a winner" in this area?

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Many views but no response to your question...I think you've asked a very hard question.

 

Trying to view bears in nature as opposed to a preserve is unpredictable. There's some forecasting that can be done regarding bear behavior but there's no guarantee that your window of opportunity in a port will coincide with anticipated bear behavior.

 

Maybe I understand the motivation behind your question...not wanting to have some sort of "canned" viewing of bears...but I would think that you would want to research the preserves. By their very nature, preserves are trying to keep bears in a natural habitat. While I haven't visited any personally, I have been to elk preserves and it's a wonderful experience...a preserve is not a ZOO.

 

I recently followed this thread...and I've linked to the page that includes photos from their bear excursion:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=56631975&highlight=bear#post56631975

 

Scroll down to see. There aren't any fences in this location? It is a "natural" location. There is more discussion about this excursion on the previous page on the thread...and IIRC the author has been on this excursion before and this is a repeat for them because it was such a success the first time too.

 

Like I said...not my thread...not my experience...just something I read here that may help get you started with getting more information for selecting your bear excursion.

 

FWIW, we saw a mama bear and her cub on the Kenai River. I've been told that salmon run season is good for bear viewing along rivers. I think your itinerary is RT? So you wouldn't be able to tack on a land tour...but doing a land tour may be a better bet for bear viewing as you wouldn't be limited by the times in port. Our bear sighting happened while we were fishing in the river...the bears walked along the shoreline. They were about 10 feet away from us and we got to see them for all of 2 minutes before they disappeared back into the woods along the river.

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Is this a cruise only trip or is their land travel pre or post cruise? And it would help to know which ports you are visiting.....

 

I'll assume you're stopping in Ketchikan, which is the most popular location for bear viewing tours while on a cruise. There are a few different locations out of Ketchikan; each location has peak periods, which are dependent on that area's salmon run. Anan seems to be the most favored out of Ketchikan.

 

Info on Ketchikan tours here:

http://www.experienceketchikan.com/bear-viewing-in-alaska.html

 

The Alaska Dept of Fish And Game is another good resource. Look at the links at the bottom for bear viewing sites: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=viewing.landmammals&species=bears#anchor

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Many views but no response to your question...I think you've asked a very hard question.

 

Trying to view bears in nature as opposed to a preserve is unpredictable. There's some forecasting that can be done regarding bear behavior but there's no guarantee that your window of opportunity in a port will coincide with anticipated bear behavior.

 

Maybe I understand the motivation behind your question...not wanting to have some sort of "canned" viewing of bears...but I would think that you would want to research the preserves. By their very nature, preserves are trying to keep bears in a natural habitat. While I haven't visited any personally, I have been to elk preserves and it's a wonderful experience...a preserve is not a ZOO.

 

I recently followed this thread...and I've linked to the page that includes photos from their bear excursion:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=56631975&highlight=bear#post56631975

 

Scroll down to see. There aren't any fences in this location? It is a "natural" location. There is more discussion about this excursion on the previous page on the thread...and IIRC the author has been on this excursion before and this is a repeat for them because it was such a success the first time too.

 

Like I said...not my thread...not my experience...just something I read here that may help get you started with getting more information for selecting your bear excursion.

 

FWIW, we saw a mama bear and her cub on the Kenai River. I've been told that salmon run season is good for bear viewing along rivers. I think your itinerary is RT? So you wouldn't be able to tack on a land tour...but doing a land tour may be a better bet for bear viewing as you wouldn't be limited by the times in port. Our bear sighting happened while we were fishing in the river...the bears walked along the shoreline. They were about 10 feet away from us and we got to see them for all of 2 minutes before they disappeared back into the woods along the river.

 

 

Thank you so much for your helpful response. I will continue to dig into the boards to see what I can find. We are not doing the land tour. In this season of our lives, it isn't an option to be away from home that long.

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Is this a cruise only trip or is their land travel pre or post cruise? And it would help to know which ports you are visiting.....

 

I'll assume you're stopping in Ketchikan, which is the most popular location for bear viewing tours while on a cruise. There are a few different locations out of Ketchikan; each location has peak periods, which are dependent on that area's salmon run. Anan seems to be the most favored out of Ketchikan.

 

Info on Ketchikan tours here:

http://www.experienceketchikan.com/bear-viewing-in-alaska.html

 

The Alaska Dept of Fish And Game is another good resource. Look at the links at the bottom for bear viewing sites: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=viewing.landmammals&species=bears#anchor

 

 

 

No land tour on this trip. We stop in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Victoria. Thank you for the websites - they are helpful. I think we will try to do a private floatplane trip with Tiquan Air.

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There are many different vendors who get permits for Anan tours. Look at the Forest Service web site for info on Anan and permits. And under At A Glance there are 2 lists of authorized vendors for you to peruse.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/tongass/recreation/natureviewing/recarea/?recid=79154&actid=62

 

I have no personal experience at Anan (I'm very content with my visits to Denali) but over the yrs there have been positive comments in this forum about Island Wings, Taquan, Southeast Aviation, Breakaway, Family Air. Look at the details for each vendor as they vary from 3 - 5 hr tours , guided/not, etc......

And you can always use this forum's SEARCH function to find past comments about each vendor. ie enter Taquan and search in Posts not Threads.

 

Permits are very limited so if it's something you want to do, commit to it early. Not something that can wait until next summer to book.

Good luck and enjoy !

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We went to Traitors Cove with Island Wings 5 years ago, it was the best excursion we have been on and was a one of a kind trip. This is out of Ketchikan. There was a ranger to get us to the viewing area that overlooked a creek with an old fish ladder. There were a lot of bears around, even some cubs. My husband got the best picture of one of them up a tree.

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I realize the OP is not going to Kodiak, but for some who might . . . on a recent trip a shuttle bus driver asked where we were going as we waited for our taxi. We told him our plans and he mentioned there was a river outside of town where there was a lot of recent activity due to the influx of salmon (time of year: 2nd week of August); he suggested we ask our driver to go by there. We didn't have time for this with our limited time in port, but met some other passengers on the ship who had taken an excursion to the same area and had great viewing for several hours.

 

Like others said, the probability depends on a number of factors at the present time, which can be hard to predict.

 

While we were in port at Anchorage, we rented a car and went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and thoroughly enjoyed it. The 3 grizzlies we saw played in the pond and seemed oblivious to the curious onlookers.

 

Happy Sailing! :)

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Several years ago we applied for a permit to visit McNeil River Falls in Katmai National Park. It is the premier bear viewing experience. We did this pre-cruise for several days. Very primitive camping (we rented gear) walking several miles daily to view the bears in their natural habitat. No barriers on the pad we sat at all day and viewed the bears at the falls. BEST EXPERIENCE EVER.. Check out Bear viewing/McNeil River Falls/Katmai National Park. Only ten people are allowed per day and you must have obtained a permit from the lottery system. This can only be done with several days land time and takes quite a bit of organizing to get to McNeil River Falls BUT WORTH IT. I realize original poster will not be doing a land tour, but felt the information might be helpful for others who are adventuresome.

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I, too, realize the original poster said no land tour... I was in a similar predicament several years ago, and after reading reviews, YouTube videos, and online photos, I decided to spend two nights at Katmai National Park near Brooks Falls. It was quite expensive, but the best trip I've ever had. You get to view the bears in their natural habitat, that is, if you go during a salmon run. We were there mid-July, and saw dozens of bear fishing and volleying for dominance at the bast spot. If you like camping, I've heard McNeil River Falls is even better. There is a camp ground near the lodge where we stayed, so costs can be less if you camp and have the gear. You can go there as a day trip, but I'm so glad we stayed over night - we got to roam the area with hardly any humans and lots of bears. Before you can enter the area, the National Park Service requires tourists to go through bear training, so you know how to be safe and keep the bears wild. It was a fantastic experience and I'd do it again if the chance appeared.

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