Recently, Good Nature Travel writer Candice Gaukel Andrews traveled with Expedition Leader Brad Josephs on Nat Hab’s “Alaska’s Coastal Grizzlies: Kodiak to Katmai Photo Tour.” “I can now say that having the opportunity to spend time with Alaska’s big brown bears is one of the most authentic wildlife experiences any nature traveler can have. Brad, thank you for guiding me through the places you love and for the generous use of your camera when mine broke. This one’s for you,” says Andrews.
Below, read Andrews’ beautiful account of her trip, in words and images.
Brad and the bears
There’s a meadow above a bay in Katmai National Park, Alaska, with lots of bears.
But Brad says I can’t tell you where it is.
There’s a black boat named Ursus that takes you to that meadow above a bay in Katmai National Park with lots of bears.
But be careful what you drink on the black boat because Brad says bears and booze don’t mix.
When you go out with your camp stool to sit in the meadow above a bay with lots of bears, Brad tells you his names for some of them. I suspect he knows the names of others.
But those Brad keeps to himself.
The bears in a meadow above a bay in Katmai National Park, Alaska, where you go out with your camp stool to sit, come so close to you that you can hear the sounds of grasses being pulled out of the soil and the bears’ mouths as they munch them. I look nervously back at Brad.
But Brad just nods and smiles.
In a meadow above a bay in Katmai National Park, Alaska, where you go out with your camp stool to sit and the bears come so close, a bear mom is trying to bring up three little cubs. Brad hopes all three will make it through the year.
But Brad can’t promise that will happen.
I tell Brad I’ll never be able to make anyone else believe I sat next to wild grizzlies in a meadow above a bay in Katmai National Park, Alaska.
But I think Brad is really just a bear in a human disguise.
Here’s to finding your true places and natural habitats,
Candy
3 Comments
Having Brad guide us through Katmai is an experience like no other! Great photos and a perfect description!
Brad and Candice ~ Thank you for sharing this lovely post. Having just returned from the magical places that Brad and the Ursus find in a meadow above a bay, I am transported there once again through these beautiful images and their descriptions. Being there and being able to sit among the bears is humbling and one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
I agree with you 100 percent, Sarah. It is an awe-inspiring experience.