Where The Grizzlies Roam

On a tour of Alaska’s Katmai National Park, intrepid travellers find themselves face-to-furry-face with some of the most awesome creatures on the planet.

- Stephen Rodrick

BY THE TIME BIG BEAR and Slightly Smaller Big Bear fought, so much had already happened.

We had taken a dramatic floatplane ride from the small island town of Kodiak, Alaska, across Shelikof Strait to Katmai National Park & Preserve, on the Alaska Peninsula. Our pilot was Jerry Borshard, resplendent in a newsboy cap and scraggy red beard. He looked like the kindly proprietor of a bike shop. The seven courageous members of our tour group were in search of bears, on the Great Alaskan Grizzly Encounter, a five-day cruise around the park organised by Natural Habitat Adventures. The engine droned, and someone asked Jerry if he had seen anything spectacular on his flights into and out of Katmai.

“Not really,” said Jerry through his mic. He then proceeded to list things he’d seen out his window that sounded pretty spectacular: a breaching whale, bears swimming between islands, running moose. We landed a few minutes later on water as smooth as glass. “See you in a week,” Jerry shouted above the propeller.

We took a floatplane because it was the only way to get to our ship, the Natural Habitat Ursus. Almost immediately, our two guides, Brad Josephs and Teresa Whipple, began their daily routine of taking us out in a skiff to find some grizzlies, which are the primary reason their patrons travel thousands of miles to be here. The Ursus moved once or twice, but remained centrally located off the shore of the park.