Page 34 - 2023-2024 Travel Guide to Canada

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Albert National Park in Saskatchewan and
Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba.
It is awe-inspiring, but rare, to see an
immense herd of handsomely antlered
caribou stretching far across the tundra.
In September, visitors may view the annual
migration of one of the largest herds in the
world at Leaf River Lodge in the Northern
Québec region of Nunavik. Also in Nunavik,
the “Big Three” week-long package offered
by Inuit Adventures includes excursions
with Inuit guides in search of the polar bear
in its natural habitat, witnessing the great
caribou migration and encounters with
small herds of muskox stranded on Diana
Island, offshore from the community of
Quaqtaq.
DIVING IN
The beaver, Canada’s national symbol, is an
aquatic rodent with a large paddle-shaped
tail and prized thick fur. Found in
waterways throughout Canada, beavers are
industrious, felling trees with their sharp
buckteeth and building lodges and dams.
Primarily nocturnal, they are best viewed at
dusk. One popular place to spot them is
Jacques-Cartier Park near Québec City.
Beluga whales, not much bigger than
dolphins and white in colour, are called the
canaries of the sea for their constant
singing. Every summer about 3,000 belugas
CARIBOU MIGRATION, LEAF RIVER LODGE, QC • JEAN-SIMON BÉGIN
gather in the Churchill River delta in
northern Manitoba. You can get close by
boat tour and listen to them chattering via a
hydrophone. Belugas are so gentle you can
venture out on the water in kayaks for a
BALD EAGLE WITH EAGLETS, BC • SHUTTERSTOCK/BIRDIEGAL
once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Orca, a.k.a. killer whales, cruise all
oceans, but are particularly abundant
around Johnstone Strait near northeastern
Vancouver Island and in the Salish Sea near
Victoria. Extremely intelligent animals that
live in matrilineal pods, their high dorsal
fins slice elegantly through the water.
Numerous boat tours are offered. You may
also see grey whales up to 15 m (49 ft.) long,
especially around Tofino during their
migrations in March and October, as well as
dolphins, seals and sea lions.
The Atlantic coast and the St. Lawrence
River are also prime locales for whale
watching. Every summer some 12 species—
including minke, humpback, finback and
right whales—swim into the Bay of Fundy to
mate, play and feast on the bountiful food
churned up twice daily by the powerful tides.
Salmon live in both the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans and are renowned for
spawning, that is fighting their way
upstream to lay eggs and die in the same
freshwater location where they were
hatched. Spawning salmon, the lifeblood
of the west coast, provide food for bears,
foxes, wolves, eagles and more, who then
fertilize the forest with their droppings.
Spawning salmon can be seen in fall and