Ultimate Alaska Wildlife Safari

Board a private charter boat this morning for a cruise through a realm where the Ice Age still lingers. Your small boat provides the opportunity for close encounters with wildlife, which may include humpback and orca whales, porpoises, sea otters and a large colony of puffins. Glaciers pour from the jagged mountain heights into the sea here and you may observe icebergs calving with a crash as you head back to your exclusive island accommodation.

After a final morning enjoying the wilds of Fox Island, you weave your way back through the fjords to Seward, where you'll have lunch and visit the Alaska SeaLife Center. From here, you head south on the spectacular drive to Homer, following the route along turquoise Skilak Lake. A picturesque fishing town on Kachemak Bay that’s known as “the End of the Road,” Homer is the most southerly point on Alaska’s contiguous highway system. For the next two nights you will be staying at its very end, on the tip of Homer Spit.

June departures: In the morning you fly via private chartered bush plane across the mouth of Cook Inlet, to the roadless wilderness which stretches along the 485-mile-long Pacific coastline of Katmai National Park. Bears congregate here in the summertime, fattening up on sedges and digging clams on the beach before the salmon runs of late summer arrive. Here you have the opportunity to step out on foot with an expert bear guide and enjoy encounters with the bears in their natural habitat. Afterwards you return to Homer.

Jul/ Aug departures: Today you enjoy a private cruise through the abundant waters and striking scenery of Kachemak Bay. The bay is transformed daily by some of the largest tidal fluctuations in the world and is home to plentiful marine life including sea otters, seals, porpoises, sea lions and whales. A highlight of your cruise is the Gull Island rookery, home to 10,000 nesting seabirds, which offers the chance to view puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes and murres. In the afternoon you return to Homer, where you have time to explore at leisure.

June departures: This morning you depart on another chartered flight across Cook Inlet, this time to the Alaska Bear Camp, where you spend two nights. An aerial vantage over Lake Clark National Park is thrilling as you pass snow-clad volcanoes and glaciers pouring down from icefields on high. Bear Camp is located on a historic homestead, a private inholding of coastal land surrounded by Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. These 4 million protected acres of wilderness are the ancestral homelands of the Dena'ina people, preserving an intact ecosystem at the headwaters of the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world. Accessible only by plane or boat, Bear Camp offers an unparalleled immersion in pristine brown bear habitat. From your weatherproof tent cabin, you have immediate access to some of the best, most consistent bear viewing anywhere in Alaska.

Jul/ Aug departures: Today you fly west to King Salmon, then by floatplane to Katmai National Park and the world-renowned Brooks Falls, one of the best places to view giant Alaskan brown bears in their natural habitat. Katmai is home to the world’s largest population of these enormous coastal grizzlies, with some 2,200 individuals inside the park. As many bear populations around the world decline, Katmai's 4 million acres of wilderness provides some of the last pristine habitat for these magnificent animals. From the safety of platforms built over Brooks Falls, you will able to get a close look at this iconic wildlife spectacle, which very few visitors to Alaska have the privilege of seeing. Accommodation in Katmai will be at Gold Creek Lodge in King Salmon.

June departures: Today offers another opportunity to further explore the area with your seasoned bear naturalist guide. While the bear activity here can vary according to seasonal and weather conditions, there's always something interesting going on. Your low-impact presence ensures that the bears are never disturbed, granting you comfortable access to watch them go about their daily routines.

July/ Aug departures: At close range, watch bears stand in the rushing whitewater, jaws gaping, trying to catch the salmon that leap up the falls once spawning season starts. July departures offer a good chance to see fishing bears, since this is when the salmon are running, but bear viewing is excellent in August and September, too, with even more bears in the vicinity. You'll take a break to relax over lunch at world-famous Brooks Lodge, an easy walk from the falls.

June departures: Today offers another opportunity to further explore the area with your seasoned bear naturalist guide. While the bear activity here can vary according to seasonal and weather conditions, there's always something interesting going on. Your low-impact presence ensures that the bears are never disturbed, granting you comfortable access to watch them go about their daily routines.

July/ Aug departures: At close range, watch bears stand in the rushing whitewater, jaws gaping, trying to catch the salmon that leap up the falls once spawning season starts. July departures offer a good chance to see fishing bears, since this is when the salmon are running, but bear viewing is excellent in August and September, too, with even more bears in the vicinity. You'll take a break to relax over lunch at world-famous Brooks Lodge, an easy walk from the falls.

In pictures

June departures: Enjoy one last chance to marvel at the bears this morning, before boarding your bush plane for the journey back to Homer. In the afternoon, a private cruise takes you through the abundant waters and striking scenery of Kachemak Bay. The bay is transformed daily by some of the largest tidal fluctuations in the world and is home plentiful marine life including sea otters, seals, porpoises, sea lions and whales. A highlight of your cruise is the Gull Island rookery, home to 10,000 nesting seabirds, which offers the chance to view puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes and murres. This evening, enjoy a farewell dinner.

Jul/ Aug departures: After a last round of bear viewing in the Brooks Falls region of Katmai, you fly back to King Salmon, then on to Homer. Tonight your Expedition Leader hosts a farewell dinner to celebrate your Alaskan adventures.

Your Alaska wildlife safari comes to a close today as you transfer to the airport for homeward flights, or ongoing travel arrangements.