"Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures on-line newsletter"
"The Changing Page"
Stories, Interesting Links, Trip Updates, and Newsflashes!
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A message from Tundra Tom: February 2012:
Greetings from the Far North! We are very excited with our new caribou & northern lights viewing camp that we will be operating in a new area for the first time in 2012: it will be a fantastic adventure! Last summer we again discovered an active white wolf 'traditional' den site with two adults and three pups on the eastern barrenlands, and operated a very successful 'Dance with Wolves' wildlife camp in July, which has led into a major documentary film contract underway for 2012! Read below to learn more about our upcoming 2012 expeditions and projects to the remote Arctic regions of northern Canada. Join us in the Far North next summer, and come see the caribou - while you still can! |
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The February 'Story of the Month' Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures was proud to host Wendy Broekx, who traveled from Australia to the far north of Canada to join two weeks of our 'Caribou, Autumn Colours & Aurora' autumn trips... Wendy writes: "The trip was my second to Canada but my first to the 'Barren Lands' - and it certainly won’t be my last! Having never seen landscape like this was certainly an experience I will not forget. The wildlife was amazing and I felt lucky to see such variety." Click here or on photo to see Wendy's photo essay about her trip! |
FAREWELL to LEE MANN: We were shocked and saddened that our long time client, friend and mentor - photographer Lee Mann suddenly passed away after a brief battle with cancer on July 21, 2011. We were proud to have accommodated photographer Lee Mann on two 'Caribou, Autumn Colours & Aurora' trips, and later on one of our special 'Dance with Wolves' trips. Prior to 1998 we had not met Lee before - nor was I familiar with his work. During his first trip with us, one evening we were sitting in the kitchen at the wildlife camp, and Lee showed us a small portfolio of his published poster work. Having the privilege of working with some of the world's best photographers, I didn't really expect what he showed us - immediately I was drawn into his beautiful, haunting - even mystical view of our natural world as seen through the eyes of a true master. After Lee's trip we received a mystery courier package ... inside was a wonderful gift of mounted print blow-ups that we now proudly display both in our office and in our display booth during our various marketing tours. Thanks for everything Lee! |
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Season's Greetings This years beautiful Christmas photo was donated for use by Canadian photographers & past clients Horst & Shirley Baender - taken on a 'Caribou, Autumn Colours & Aurora' trip to Canada's Far North. - Click on photo to see our e-card! |
OUR 2012 TRIPS ARE ON-LINE! We are pleased to announce that our next seasons' trip departures, dates and rates are already on-line and ready to accept bookings. Click here or on photo for an introducton to and direct links for the dedicated webpage for each specific tour! |
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Our AVIATION HISTORY Aviation has always been an integral part of the Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures field operations. The specific type of aircraft we put to service each year depended directly on the type of expeditions we were operating, and the number of clients booked from season to season. Following nearly four decades of remote operations in the central barrenlands we have worked with many aircraft, and have more than a few stories to tell! Click here or on photo to visit our updated photo gallery showing many of the aircraft we have operated in the Arctic over the years. |
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The January 'Story of the Month' Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures was proud to host Canadian pro photography team Horst & Shirley Baender, who traveled from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to the far north of Canada to join two weeks of our 'Caribou, Autumn Colours & Aurora' trips in late August and early September. Horst has been involved in photography since the start of high school, taking photos of birds & bees and things that please. They have photographed the grizzly bears of the Khutzeymateen, the Kermodi bear of the west coast as well as polar bears in the Chuchill & Wapusk National Park areas. Horst & Shirley's complete photo essay is currently our December's 'Story of the Month' - click on photo to check out their northern trip with us - or to see a enlargment of the Baender's special 'Photo of the Month' of red-tinged aurora borealis & caribou antlers. |
Our Mini-Movies On-Line! Check out our new on-line film clip shorts of tundra wolves & pups at the den, the great summer caribou migration, and scenes along the Thelon River. |
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Click on photo to read Martin's Winnipeg Free Press article! |
Article in the Winnipeg Free Press 'Dancing with Caribou on the Treeless Plain'
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New Webpage: During our four decades of remote Northern operations, we have had the privilege to work with - and be owned by - several wonderful camp mascots, whose jobs ranged from grizzly 'alarms' to 'wooing' the wild wolves into the camps to check out & play with the new 'kin buddies'. |
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On-line Magazine Article: 'Good Spirit Guide' Check out the on-line article about caribou, musk-oxen & northern lights in the March 2010 issue of written by Lynn Nicolson. Click here or on photo to read article!
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About the March 'Story of the Month'
In 1999, Barry Girard from Chicago, Illinois joined our two-week canoe expedition down the Clarke & Thelon Rivers when we were based out of Yellowknife. This past 2009 autumn, he returned back north again for two-weeks of our 'Caribou, Autumn Colours & Northern Lights' trips in the Far North of Canada. Click photo to read what Barry had to say about his two Arctic adventures with us, and check out some of his awesome photography! |
Book Release: In the fall of 2008 a wonderful new book about caribou was released. Co-written by Monty Hummel - President Emeritus of the World Wildlife Fund Canada & Dr. Justina Ray, this high-profile book includes a forward by Robert Redford and sketches by renowned artist Robert Bateman. Well, imagine our surprise to discover that 26 of the quality photos (including the cover photo) in this new book were taken by our Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures clients during various wildlife trips that we "facilitated" to remote regions of the Northwest Territories & Nunavut over the past two decades! Click on photo to see our review about this book - and where to purchase it! |
Great Canadian donates another wildilfe trip Gift Certificate to the NANPA Silent Auction in 2010 For the fifth season in a row, Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures again donated another $2,000.00 Arctic wildlife trip gift certiicate to the North American Nature Photographers Association Silent Auction. This year's winner is Barbara Adams of Ottawa, ON. Canada. Founded in 1996 as a charitable organization, the Foundation supports worthy projects involving education and nature photography, including funding NANPA’s educational programs, particularly the two scholarship programs at the Summit. Funding is also provided for the building and preservation of photo blinds in national wildlife refuges, an outgrowth of the Memorandum of Understanding between NANPA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, several grants are awarded each year to promote education, complete environmental projects and share photographic expertise with others. |
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About the February 'Photo of the Month'... It has been a decade since the late, great photographer Galen Rowell and his wife Barbara last attended our 'Caribou, Autumn Colours & Aurora' trips to the barrenlands of Northern Canada - and eight years since their unfortnate deaths in a tragic aircraft crash near their Calfornia home. However, Galen's immortal photography continues to appear in publications & calendars, and this is what has inspired us to present a 'flash from the past' for our Feburary 2010 'Photo of the Month'. Galen once wrote this in his journal: "Tundra Tom doesn't promise more than he can deliver, but he does deliver more than he promises. He never said I'd see a wolverine, or step outside my tent beside a lake reflecting the northern lights and a crescent moon as wolf howls pierced the night.. "
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About the February 'Story of the Month' Dr. Ron Burmeister Ron Burmeister worked for thirty-five years as a medical doctor in the USA. During that time he came North with us five times starting in 1988; and most recently in 2009 on our 'Caribou, Musk-oxen & Northern Lights' trip to the Canadian Far North. Click photo to visit Ron's recent write-up he submitted to our site. Ron''s deep Christian values has also enticed him to write some inspirational articles about the spiritual element of his northern Arctic adventures: see links from his photo essay page.
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About the January Story & Photo of the Month: In August 2009, professional nature photographer David C. Olson attended our 'Caribou, Musk-oxen & Northern Lights' expeditions. David got some wonderful photos - including the northern lights & caribou shot that was used for our season's greeting e-card. Click on photo to check out David's awesome photo essay about his trip to the Far North! |
See wild wolves on the tundra! This photo of tundra wolf pups at the densite was taken by client George Nagel during a 'Dance with Wolves' trip to the central eastern barrenlands in northern Canada. A third pup was in the den while this photo was taken, and emerged shortly after. Tundra wolves and fox favor digging dens under the tree-root systems in the scattered clumps of white spruce trees that grow in sand esker systems found on mainland tundra regions of northern Canada. Den activity links directly to the northbound seasonal caribou migratory routes. |
'Caribou & Wolves - 'The Endless Dance' Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures was proud to facilitate cinematographer Jeff Turner and crew of River Road Films to several wild wolf den sites, and to the Great Summer Caribou migration. Jeff got some awesome footage - with several grizzlies coming in to a remote water crossing to feed in several caribou that were stuck in the boulders of a creek crossing. During the spring of 2004, Jeff also got some quality wolf pup footage on the upper Thelon. This has resulted in an excellent wildlife documentary that was aired in the UK on BBC2 "The Natural World", and on Discovery Channels' Animal Planet in 2006. Jeff had this to say about his trips with us: "I have filmed wolves, caribou and grizzly bears in many areas of the Canadian Arctic over the past 15 years and I have to say that the Thelon area is without a doubt the most beautiful piece of Arctic tundra I have ever experienced. It is a world class wilderness with some of the planets most spectacular scenery and wildlife that is hard if not impossible to see anywhere else. I know of no other place where you can go and watch wild wolves around their den. Wolves are one of the most difficult animals to get close to in the wild and Tom and his crew have been doing it here for years. That says a lot about their sensitivity and success as wildlife guides. Tom and his crew at Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures are ideally placed to give access to this wonderful landscape. There is no-one with more experience and knowledge of the area and they have setup a comfortable, warm and homey camp with good food and facilities in the middle of this wilderness. They live lightly on the land here trying always to keep the imprint of man to a minimum in this pristine place. I admire and appreciate the work they do and wish them much success in the future." Jeff
Turner |
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There are still rare places in the natural world that are safe & free from the meddling of mankind... It is good to know that in this crazy world of financial failures, hot & cold wars, terrorism and corruption, that there are still special places out there in the wilderness that are truly innocent & pure... We offer to bring you to such a place... Click on photo to visit our new special 'introduction' page ranslated into six languages including English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish & Italian!
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Maybe there is hope for us after all - the Environmental Review Board recommends protective status for the Upper Thelon Basin! As the on-going development of diamonds & uranium spread across the Canadian Northern mainland, so does encroachment upon some of our very last critical North American wilderness areas. The Thelon basin is indeed such a critical place. Acknowledged in importance by some of the world's leading nature photographers and travelers, the upper Thelon is a magic land of aboriginal history & power, wildlife and raw nature. Following a lifetime of guiding & flying photographers to this remote region, in January 2007, 'Tundra Tom' was one of many who gave presentations about the critical biological importance of this unique wilderness region at a special meeting held in Lutsel K'e, NWT by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (MVEIRB) to discuss an application about diamond drilling for uranium on the upper Thelon basin... and we WON (for the time being)!! Click here or on photo to read the CBC News article about the MVEIRB conclusions and results of that meeting. |
Moon & Lights - This awesome and rare photo of moonlight and northern lights together reflecting off the waters of a lake along the Thelon River in northern Canada was taken by client Ella Trussell from the camp beach during a 2007 Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures Caribou, Autumn Colours & Aurora' wildlife trip. Click on photo to see an enlarged version of this remarkable new photo addition to our website! |
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Martin Haefele In the autumn of 2007, we were proud to accommodate northerners Martin Haefele & Lynn Cheverie on our 'Caribou, Autumn Colours & Aurora' trip to the upper Thelon in the Northwest Territories. Martin & Lynn live in Yellowknife - Martin worked as a manager for the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, and Lynn as a emergency room nurse at the Yellowknife Stanton hospital. It is good to get the perspective of fellow northerners on our expeditions, and Martin was kind enough to send us a photo essay about their trip with us: Click on photo to read more. |
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Another Photo Gallery... Dr. Ella Trussell is a retired professor of kinesiology from Sonona State University, California, where she worked for 27 years. She came to the tundra with us while on a Sierra Club Outing in 1990, and returned again to visit during the autumn of 2007 - and definately had something to say about her two trips with us... Click on photo to visit Ellie's new photo essay of her northern experiences in Canada. |
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Photo Gallery! During our 2007 season, we were pleased to accommodate Canadian clients Rita Marett & Sandra Hannah during two weeks of our special 'Caribou, Autumn Colours & Aurora' trips.The two have been on group canoeing and camping trips together before, and decided to travel together to the Far North. Click on the photos for a summary of what their experiences on the barrenlands were like with Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures... |
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Canadian Northern Lights Award for Excellence in Travel Journalism: Client & Canadian author Catherine Senecal won the prestigious ' Canadian Travel Commission's Northern Lights Award for Excellence in Travel Journalism' for best Internet Reporting. Well, Cathy's winning story was written about her trip with Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures on the 'Great Summer Caribou Migration'! Click on photo to read Catherine's on-line article, or click here to learn more about the Great Summer Caribou Migration Expedition slated for 2009. Cathy had this to say about her trip: "I loved the camp and being out on the barrens-I even love saying, "when I was out on the barren lands" to people. It makes me sound so adventurous! The truth is your trip, camp and tour make this stunning land and its animals accessible to people willing to let their minds and spirits compel them to a place perhaps more wild and epiphanic than they could have predicted." Click photo to read Catherine's award-winning article! |
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Buried on the barrens of the upper Thelon River.... The Faess family - beginning with Grandfather Carl, Father Henry & Mother Marcella, and followed to this day by Tundra Tom - have together cumulatively spent the past 67 years guiding, exploring & flying the Canadian Far North... To learn more of the Faess Family history, click here or on photo! |
Conde Nast Traveler's 'Diamonds in the Wild' article online! The controversial article titled 'Diamonds in the Wild', excerpted from the December 2001 issue of Conde Nast Traveler magazine in on-line in our website. This feature article was result from Great Canadian Wildlife Adventures hosting author / journalist Alan Weisman, accompanied by Pulitzer-prize winning photographer Jay Dickman for a 'Caribou, Autumn Colours & Aurora' trip to the Thelon region on the NWT & Nunavut, on contract with Conde Naste Traveler magazine in year 2000. 'Must reading' for those thinking of coming to the Thelon - check out! - click here, or on photo at left to read the article! |
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