Someday I'll See Polar Bears

Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago

Ever since I read The Cage by Audrey Schulman, I’ve been fascinated by the thought of seeing polar bears in the wild. I’m not sure why. The book is about a nature photographer who joins an expedition to photograph polar bears in the Arctic. They have high tech equipment, including a "safe cage" to photograph and study the bears from. The author did an incredible job of making her readers feel the burning chill of the arctic landscape and also portrayed the bears as the wild, dangerous creatures they are, not the amusing swimmers we watch at the zoo.

Then Mary Carillo did a segment during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in which she travelled to Churchill, Canada to see polar bears in the wild.  As in Schulman’s book, Carillo was protected. She viewed the bears from the safety of a tundra buggy with a tour guide. The polar bears came right up to the monster ice trucks. It looked thrilling. It looked like an endangered opportunity; something that won’t always be available to us as global warming continues.  It looked like something I need to do someday. I’ve added it to my list of future adventures.