The Hill
We went up Freedom Road in 2011 but did not take any video. Reason was it was thick fog, light rain, and we had no real idea of what we were going to encounter. We will get the full story on here elsewhere, but suffice to say it was a nightmare!
Despite having a Jeep Grand Cherokee, it was on road tyres, and was like driving on slime. It is the only road in and out the Bella Coola valley, and we encountered the occassional articulated lorry going down the hill, as well as the 12 foot wide road scraper that constantly traverses the hill, meaning we had to cling to the edge to let them pass.
Credit to the guy on YouTube who shot this excellent footage.
Despite having a Jeep Grand Cherokee, it was on road tyres, and was like driving on slime. It is the only road in and out the Bella Coola valley, and we encountered the occassional articulated lorry going down the hill, as well as the 12 foot wide road scraper that constantly traverses the hill, meaning we had to cling to the edge to let them pass.
Credit to the guy on YouTube who shot this excellent footage.
This is an edited compilation of our Grizzle bear videos.
Grizzly Bear videos taken in early September 2011 mostly on the Atnarko River in Bella Coola in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Taken with a Panasonic DMC-FZ45 14mp 24*Optical Zoom
Black Bears
Unedited Original Videos
Dolphins
Dolphins video taken in 2011 off of Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Orca Videos
Killer whales video taken in 2011 off of Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Unedited Individual Videos
A long video this, but worth the watch.
We were just about to go out on a drift boat, when a bear came out opposite and started feeding. There were two tourist drifts and a fisheries crew waiting to go out, but the bears get right of way, so we all waited for him to move on.
He was pretty hungry and not fussy, so likely a new arrival from the mountains. In fact he stayed so long I got fed up filming him in the end!
Note the pan shot later in the video showing Derinda waiting in the drift boat.
We were just about to go out on a drift boat, when a bear came out opposite and started feeding. There were two tourist drifts and a fisheries crew waiting to go out, but the bears get right of way, so we all waited for him to move on.
He was pretty hungry and not fussy, so likely a new arrival from the mountains. In fact he stayed so long I got fed up filming him in the end!
Note the pan shot later in the video showing Derinda waiting in the drift boat.
Videos
Here are a selection of videos taken with a Panasonic Lumix FZ45.
These are uploaded in full HD. Please click the 'wheel' icon to select the best quality your internet connection will allow, and click the full screen icon to display full size.
These are uploaded in full HD. Please click the 'wheel' icon to select the best quality your internet connection will allow, and click the full screen icon to display full size.
Grizzly Bears
These were taken on our trip to Canada in 2011. We were on the Atnarko river in the Bella Coola valley, in Tweedsmuir Park, British Columbia.
This one is my favourite. He looks quite young and nervous, and was full of life. We took this from a drift boat on the river, with the guide rocking the boat getting his sandwiches out while I was trying to film. He later decided to swim over to us, which was interesting as our guide started rowing to move away - he got within about 10 metres and was huge - but it was more of a dominent play thing than a genuine threat, and he lost interest once we moved away.
It was very sobering that he could swim much faster than we could row, and run faster than a horse - we were very much there with his permission.
This one is another favourite. We had been watching this bear in the river as he came over to our side of the bank, so we backed off (as you do!). I chatted to a local Canadian guy who was stood with us, there was just the three of us, and he said don't worry, just go up on the viewing platform and take some photographs. This was a fisheries viewing area overlooking the river, about 5 metres above the water. The bear came along the bank and stopped directly below me to eat a salmon.
Excellent, but more than a little scary being so close!
This one is my favourite. He looks quite young and nervous, and was full of life. We took this from a drift boat on the river, with the guide rocking the boat getting his sandwiches out while I was trying to film. He later decided to swim over to us, which was interesting as our guide started rowing to move away - he got within about 10 metres and was huge - but it was more of a dominent play thing than a genuine threat, and he lost interest once we moved away.
It was very sobering that he could swim much faster than we could row, and run faster than a horse - we were very much there with his permission.
This one is another favourite. We had been watching this bear in the river as he came over to our side of the bank, so we backed off (as you do!). I chatted to a local Canadian guy who was stood with us, there was just the three of us, and he said don't worry, just go up on the viewing platform and take some photographs. This was a fisheries viewing area overlooking the river, about 5 metres above the water. The bear came along the bank and stopped directly below me to eat a salmon.
Excellent, but more than a little scary being so close!