2023: The Year in Pictures

2023 was an exciting year in the subarctic filled with exhilarating moments, from vivid northern lights and spectacular wildlife. 

Join us as we reflect on the past year and relive some of our most memorable moments. We wish a big thank you to all of our staff and partners who made the year a success and, of course, to our guests who joined us and allowed us to show them all the beauty of the subarctic. 

Our Second EV Tundra Buggy

In 2023, we have continued to work toward our goal of converting our entire fleet of touring Tundra Buggies to electric propulsion technology. As 2023 wraps up, we currently have two EV Tundra Buggies in rotation and are currently working on our third. 

Learn more about our EV Tundra Buggies

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© Frontiers North Adventures

Stunning Northern Lights

The northern lights danced up a storm in 2023, putting on breathtaking displays for our guests. Check out the video below to see a real-time video of the northern lights taken during our 2023 northern lights season. With the solar peak about to occur in 2024, we can't wait to see what the northern lights have in store next.

Learn about the solar peak and northern lights 

© Frontiers North Adventures

Grizzly Bear Spotted On A Summer Tundra Buggy Adventure

Barren ground grizzly bears are uncommon in Manitoba, and spotting one in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area is incredibly rare. In fact, we believe this may have been the first time a barren ground grizzly has been spotted on a Tundra Buggy Adventure! Churchill is a unique area where three ecosystems intersect, and as a result, three species of bears can be found in the region: polar bears, black bears, and barren ground grizzly bears. You never know what you might see on a Tundra Buggy Adventure.

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© Jim Baldwin

We Launched Our Family Learning Adventure Trips

Our first Family Learning Adventure: Beluga Whales and Family Learning Adventure: Polar Bears trips took place in 2023 and were a huge success full of family fun. Designed with families in mind these trips offer the unique opportunity for parents and children to share the magic of witnessing Churchill's epic wildlife and create lifelong memories together.

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©Alex Cupeiro

Mom and Three Cubs

In 2023 a mom and three cubs made an appearance in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. Female polar bears can have 1-3 cubs, with twins being the most common. Over the last few decades, it has become less common for females to have three cubs as climate change impacts how much time polar bears are able to spend out on the sea ice gathering the nutrients they need to sustain themselves and their cubs. Spotting these three cubs numerous times throughout the 2023 polar bear season was a very special opportunity for our guests and staff. 
 
To learn more about the challenges polar bears face and the impacts it has had on the species, we encourage you to visit our partners at Polar Bears International.

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©Natasha Grapes

The Impossible Photo made possible in 2023

Many photographers have dreamed of capturing an image of a polar bear beneath the vivid northern lights, but until 2023, it has been a photo only dreamed of. Paul Zizka stayed out on our Tundra Buggy Lodge and was able to capture this stunning image of a polar bear beneath the northern lights, proving with enough practice, patience, skill, and perhaps a bit of luck (from the polar bear and northern lights) anything is possible.

Social Media Paul Zizka

©Paul Zizka

2023 was full of wolf sightings

Usually, wolves are highly elusive and rarely spotted, but in 2023, a pack of wolves frequented the Churchill Wildlife Management Area and was spotted by our guests on Tundra Buggies numerous times. It was a spectacular season for our guests and staff, having the opportunity to witness these majestic canines roam the tundra.

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©Alex Cupeiro

Yvette the Travelling Polar BEar

Each year Frontiers North Adventures is assigned a polar bear in the polar bear tracker program and throughout 2023 we have followed the location of polar bear Yvette and her cub and in exciting news will continue our journey following their location in 2024 as Yvette remains in the program for another year. 

Yvette is an 19-year-old polar bear with a yearling cub in the Polar Bear Tracker Program. So far, Yvette has proven to be a trailblazer travelling 3812 km to date, further than any other bear in the program! GPS tracking collars provide some of the best long-term monitoring data on female polar bears worldwide. 

You can follow their movements by using PBI's Bear Tracker.

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©Simon Gee

2023 Annual Wildlife Count

Each year, we keep a running tally of all the wildlife we see during our adventures in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. We do this so we can compare year over year how much wildlife we see, in order to have an understanding of how populations in the North are faring. This also helps us share with our guests what they might expect to see when they join us on a Tundra Buggy® excursion.

See our 2023 wildlife count

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©Alex Cupeiro

That wraps up our year in pictures for 2023. We hope you enjoyed following along with us, and we wish you all the best in 2024!

Want to learn more about Churchill and its incredible wildlife? Download our Churchill Adventure Travel Guide

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1 800 663 9832
International Phone
1 204 949 2050