In April 2010 all our plans for the year changed one day when I received an email telling me that my husband and I had won a permit to visit the McNeil River Bear Sanctuary in August.
Living in Cape Town, South Africa, we are a very long way from Alaska but I have long had the wish to see the Brown bears of Alaska catching salmon in the wild rivers during the summer spawning season. The most natural place accessible to ordinary traveller is McNeil River and one can only visit by permit which is awarded on a lottery basis. We had applied many times over the past 5 years and not been lucky but our perseverance paid off and we found ourselves with a mission: organise a camping trip to the wilds of Alaska from the tip of Africa.
The internet is a wealth of information and there is no way we could have brought it all together in those few months without web sites, email and the fabulously helpful and friendly folk in Alaska.
There was something missing however. In all my searches I could not find any practical information on the camp and what to expect from our time there. So I was determined that when I came home I would write about our experiences for anyone else who is lucky enough to get their chance to do this wonderful trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment