June 2, 2015 -- Today I saw a bear. A brown bear. Big brown bear. Ranger Jenny, who we’d dropped off at the Bartlett Bay ranger station that morning, would have been so excited.
Our little group was doing a meadow hike in Fern Harbor. Mostly, we were looking at flowers.
“What is that?” I said, pointing to a brown spot moving in the distance.
“It’s a bear,” someone else said, peering through his telephoto lens. “A big one.”
Our guide Dani stiffened. “He’s far enough away from us,” she said after a moment. We watched him. Clearly, he hadn’t gotten wind of us yet.
Then the bear went into the woods. We went back to looking at the flowers.
“There he is again!” someone shouted. The bear had emerged from the other side of the woods and was ambling across the meadow parallel to us – still quite a distance away.
We watched him for about 20 minutes, nervously chattering away to sooth our fears. Because even though he was far away, it was still a bear. In the wild.
Cameras clicked. Dani was kind of quiet. She had the bear spray ready.
Then the bear did turn toward us. But he still didn’t see, smell, or hear us yet.
“Okay, everyone, get in a circle,” Dani commanded. We did. She shouted, “Hey bear!”
He stopped. Sniffed. Looked at us. To him, we looked like a big black blob.
“Hey bear!” Dani shouted again.
He turned and started loping back to the woods where he’d come from.
Amazing how our bear-scaring tactic worked. Some in our group were relieved that he was gone. Others of us wanted to see more of him.
But all of us thought it was pretty cool to see a bear in the wild.
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.