(Lonelyplanet) – Spanning six time zones, three oceans and the world’s longest coastline (at 125,567 miles), Canada is one heck of a big country, and it’s filled to the brim with some of the most epic wildlife adventures you’re ever likely to experience. Nature gives you a giant bear hug the minute you go beyond the cities and into the land of the boreal forests, alpine hideaways or to its remote coast. Be it singing with belugas or seeking out spirit bears, there’s never been a better time to tune into Canada’s wilderness.
Spotting polar bears
Where: Churchill, Manitoba; When: July to November
The ‘Polar Bear Capital of the World’ is Churchill’s nickname, and with good reason. Nowhere on Earth are the odds of glimpsing one of nature’s mightiest beasts higher, with sightings pretty much guaranteed. Mellower in summer, these cuddly-looking predators can be spotted chilling on the tundra during safari tours run by a raft of local operators. But the colder days of October and November are really prime time, as this is when the polar bears traipse back from their summer habitat to Hudson Bay as the pack ice begins to form. When it freezes over, it becomes their winter seal-hunting ground. Operating out of their remote, coastal eco lodge, Churchill Wild gets ever closer to the bears on walking tours that will have you burning up the pixels in your digital camera.
Swimming the salmon run
Where: Campbell River, Vancouver Island; When: late July to October
It’s the summer rush hour on the Campbell River on Vancouver Island, and the water is bumper to bumper with pink, coho, chinook and sockeye salmon, as thousands dash upstream to their spawning ground. Swimming with them is the ultimate thrill. Kitted out in a mask, neoprene suit and flippers, simply let yourself trust the current of this fast-flowing, bitterly cold river to carry you along, eyeballing some of the world’s biggest salmon as they flash past like silver darts. If you’d rather go with a group than go it alone, Destiny River runs salmon snorkeling adventures.
A group of black-and-white puffins with orange and yellow beaks sit on a rocky outcropping of a cliff in misty weather with islands in the background
Ridiculous-looking puffins are one of the main draws of Canada’s Atlantic coast © jacquesvandinteren / Getty Images
Spying Canada’s puffins
Where: Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; When: early May to late August
Watching a puffin take flight is comedy gold. These dinky, white-bellied clowns of the seabird world must flap their wings up to 400 times per minute to become airborne, an image so odd it’s as though they’ve had the wrong batteries inserted. Whether bobbing in the Atlantic or hanging out on rocky headlands and swooping down to thrashing ocean, they receive top billing on Cape Breton Island boat tours in summer. Dangling off Nova Scotia’s east coast, this rugged green island is wildlife nirvana, home to bald eagles, kittiwakes, black guillemots, grey seals, leatherback turtles, white-sided dolphins and, from May to October, pods of minke, fin, humpback and pilot whales.
Getting close to grizzlies
Where: Banff and Jasper National Parks, Alberta; When: May to October
Where would Canada – not to mention bedtime stories – be without the grizzly bear? The country’s most iconic animal is a fearsome, wholly fascinating predator: both powerful and playful in equal measure. Seeing them is the icing on the cake of a visit to Banff and Jasper National Parks, the rugged heart of the Rocky Mountains, with their dark, glaciated peaks, impenetrable spruce forest and turquoise lakes. Up your chances of a sighting by joining Discover Banff Tours on one of their 10-hour grizzly tours, taking in a grizzly refuge, where the chances of spotting a walloping great bear plodding through the wilderness are excellent.
A beluga whale rolls at the surface of the water, making it look like it’s laying backward and smiling in a relaxing way
Belugas are the puppy dogs of the sea, and love to swim up to a friendly kayaker © David Merron Photography / Getty Images
Harmonizing with belugas
Where: Churchill, Hudson Bay, Manitoba; When: June to August
Few experiences are as utterly entrancing as getting within a hair’s breadth of ghost-white belugas in Hudson Bay, Churchill, but you might want to brush up your singing first. Dubbed ‘sea canaries’ because of their cheerful high-pitched chirps, clicks and squeaks, these wonderfully curious creatures rock up in the thousands when the pack ice breaks in summer. They often hover within a foot or two of boats to serenade and converse. Sea North Tours and Lazy Bear Lodge both run terrific whale-watching tours in Zodiac boats. Look out for polar bears, too, which can be spotted swimming ashore as the pack ice melts in summer.
Witnessing the caribou migration
Where: Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec; When: autumn; late winter
Seeing Canada’s caribou migrate en masse from the Labrador Sea to James Bay in Quebec is quite something. A relative of the reindeer, these magnificent antlered creatures migrate from northern Quebec and Labrador in the autumn to Western Labrador and Eastern Quebec, before making the long journey back again in late winter to their calving grounds in the barren northern extremities of the provinces. Woodland caribou and moose are nearly always spotted in abundance on Caribou Adventure Tours, based in Lewisporte, Newfoundland.
A bear with white fur stands on a moss-covered rock in a stream next to a waterfall in Canada’s Great Bear Rain Forest
The elusive spirit bear (Kermode Bear) can only be found in Canada’s Great Bear Rain Forest © jonmccormackphoto / Getty Images
Seeking out the spirit bear
Where: Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia; When: August to October
Everyone loves grizzles and black bears, but in the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, the eyes are on an even greater prize – the elusive kermode or spirit bear. It’s a rare species of black bear that appears white because of a double-recessive gene. An important character in First Nations legends, the spirit bear is almost exclusively found in the moss-swathed depths of the largest coastal temperate rainforest in the world – an isolated expanse of mighty cedars and spruces, fjords and glacier-capped mountains. Canada’s spirit bear might be the Holy Grail for many a wildlife spotter, but they are not alone in these woods, which they share with grey wolves and – on the coast – humpbacks and sea otters.
Marveling at wood bison
Where: Wood Buffalo National Park; When: June to September
Sitting astride the remote Alberta–Northwest Territories border, Wood Buffalo is Canada’s biggest national park and the second largest in the world. Bisected by the immense Peace–Athabasca Delta, these taiga forests and wild grasslands, which seemingly roll to infinity, are the stomping ground of thousands of rare, free-roaming wood bison – not to mention wolves and migratory whooping cranes, moose, caribou, bears and lynx. Strike out on foot on one of the hiking trails or, to notch up the adventure, canoe a stretch of the Peace River, keeping an eye out for herds of bison.
Dozens and dozens of brownish-gray snakes slither over each other around a group of boulders
Thousands of Red-sided garter snakes come to dens in Narcisse, Manitoba to mate © juerpa / Getty Images
Gawping at red-sided garter snake dens
Where: Narcisse Snake Pits, Manitoba; When: late April to early May; early September
Welcome to the biggest snake orgy on earth. If the idea of witnessing such a spectacle fills you with fascination, make your way to Narcisse in Manitoba to glimpse the world’s largest snake gathering, when tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes slither up from their winter dens in the limestone crevices. When the females arrive, the males pounce, creating a seething, writhing ball of frenziedly mating snakes that is utterly gripping. Can’t get there in spring? There’s more action during pre-denning in the fall.
Going on a moose safari
Where: Forêt Montmorency, Quebec; When: September to early November
So goofy and oafish they almost don’t look real, Canada’s moose are like a cartoon animal come to life, with their spindly legs, bulbous muzzle and whopping antlers. For a better idea of how enormous they really are, head out on a dusk or dawn moose safari in the Forêt Montmorency, a massive and insanely beautiful sweep of boreal forest 70km north of Québec City. Primetime for would-be moose spotters is during rutting season (late September to mid-October), when the moose do their darnedest to impress the girls with displays of antler-clashing bravado. Sharing their wild backyard are timber wolves, black bears, beavers, otters, porcupines, foxes and 140 species of bird.