The Bear Experience
Bears outnumber humans here
As our days in Kamchatka come to and end, the last two weeks have been filled with extraordinary wildlife experiences. From the salmon to the bears, Kamchatka has shared with us moments that we will hold onto for a lifetime. The team has just returned from Kuril Lake, where Bryan worked on loads of underwater salmon footage for In Focus Asia and the rest of the team collected data for Dr. Nicholas Zegre. We had more daily encounters with bears than we will probably ever have again in our lives.
The only way inKuril Lake is clearly one of Kamchatka’s gems. It is the largest Sockeye salmon spawning ground in Eurasia and brown bears outnumber humans by a long shot. This leg of the trip gave us a chance to explore more by foot than by water and also allowed us to see how conservation measures can be successful in Kamchatka. The Pacific Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography runs a bio station that focuses on counting the number of Sockeye returning from the ocean each year. Kuril Lake is also a national wildlife preserve, a national monument and Unesco World Heritage site. As we pack our bags for the return trip home, there is a bittersweet feeling of being some of the luckiest people on the planet and our passion for Kamchatka is as strong as ever.
Bryan getting some time
The ultimate fish catching
The Kuril Lake and Reserve
The fuel of Kamchatka
Salmon basics in Russian
The In Focus Asia film crew
Our camp was protected by a bear fence
Just outside the bear fence
One of the wildest places on Earth