The afternoon of the 2nd day in Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park, 3 new people arrived with tons of camera equipment. Two of them were photographers from France; they paid extra money to have their own guide. They were on a 6 week project in Alaska. Another man was a retired bio chemist; now he is a bear enthusiast. He has been staying in Hallo Bay about a month every year for many years! Wow, it is very expensive to stay there for 3 nights, but a month, I have no idea how much it cost! He brought a high-end camera, a bazooka looking telephoto lens, and HDR video camera.
Between morning and evening excursions, we had a few hours of relaxing time. However, we weren't allow to leave the Camp area by our self, so I just took a shower and hung out at the main galley. The main galley is a big canvas room with kitchen and dining area with cozy tables. I liked to hang out there and chat with other guests in the galley.
Hallo Bay Wilderness is an environmental friendly operation with only 5 guest cabins. The guest cabins are also made of canvas with simple bedding, sink with a container of water, table and heater. The showers and bathroom are a separate building. The windmill generates all electricity for the camp. We were only allowed to eco-friendly soap and shampoos. i am amazed with their environmental policies for the entire camp. In the remote wilderness, it was still luxurious. Since there were only 10 guests per night, everybody got know each other and become friends. i had a good conversation with a couple from Ireland.
After early dinner, our evening bear viewing session began. we walked through the same way as the morning; along the beach, went through the woods, and tidal cove; it was a high tide at the evening, so no bears hanging around the area. we passed the cove, and then walked up to the meadow. Another 2 groups were already sitting the edge. 2 bear families (each had 2 cubs) were grazing fresh green grass under the sun. The cubs rolled over the grass, and their mom kept eating...
A boar showed up from the woods, far right. One of the bear families got nervous. The mother stopped eating, rose her head up and started huffing. She slowly moved away from the boar, toward to another family in front of us. Boars sometimes kill cubs so that he will be able to mate with the sow. Isn't it terrible? Anyway, the family moved close to another family. Another mother got very nervous for the family moving to them, and began huffing loudly. Then, she walking toward to us with her 2 cubs! They stopped 20 feet away from us, but still looked nervous at other family approaching. The boar came very close to the area where the French photographers were at. Their guide successfully shooed the boar away. However, the nervous bear family moved closer to the family that was 20 feet away from us. The family closer to us got very nervous and started moving closer toward us. They seemed to be coming straight toward us... Our guide Herb stood up and showed a flare, and told them, "no, no," but they were coming to us. I was frozen and hiding behind of Herb and my husband. Someone in our group; German guy, kept taking photos of the approaching bear family. I could only shoot one - a cub's face with bad exposure. The family was stopping and huffing for a while in front of us, and then finally passed about 5 feet away from us. it was too close! I was sweating! The guide, Herb joked, "Sorry guys, we can't get any closer than this." It was after 9 p.m and the bright sun was still above us.
We repeated these kind of bear viewings the next day. Then, the following morning, the small plane picked us up on time and took us back to Homer. Viewing and photographing huge bears close by without fence was an exciting experience. I felt very special feeling toward those magnificent animals.
