Ultimate Alaska Wildlife Safari

Your Alaskan adventure begins in Fairbanks, Alaska’s ‘Golden Heart Capital’. The city retains its frontier flavour with pioneer saloons, paddlewheelers and outlying mining camps. You will meet your Expedition Leader at a welcome dinner this evening.

This morning, head south through boreal forest along the Nenana River to Denali National Park. One of the world’s great wilderness reserves, the park covers 6 million acres, with access to the interior of the park only possible by air. At the park entrance, you board a chartered helicopter for a spectacular aerial journey to Denali Backcountry Lodge, where you will spend 2 nights. The alpine tundra and taiga in the park provide habitat for wolves, grizzlies, moose, caribou and Dall sheep, and your flight may offer the best opportunity to spot wildlife from the air.

Today offers the chance to enjoy a host of activities and learn about the natural and cultural history of the area. Perhaps choose to take a hike in search of wildlife with a local naturalist guide or paddle a canoe on Wonder Lake. Try your hand at fishing in Moose Creek or take a ride on a mountain bike. After a day of adventure, you will head back to your lodge to enjoy a hearty dinner.

After flying back to the park entrance via helicopter, your journey continues south through Taiga Forest to Anchorage. Weather permitting, you’ll have stunning eye-level views of the icy flanks of Denali en route. Journey south to Anchorage across the Alaska Range, climbing above the tree line over Broad Pass, then descending through taiga forest to follow the Susitna River through thick stands of birch, balsam poplar, willow and spruce. Eventually, you’ll reach Anchorage on Cook Inlet, backdropped by the glacier-crowned peaks of the Chugach Range. With a population of roughly 300,000, Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city.

Wake early for a scenic ride on the historic Alaska Railroad. From the dome car, watch passing views of Southcentral Alaska’s most beautiful coastal mountain terrain, valley glaciers, waterfalls, deep canyons and dense deciduous forest on either side. The journey ends in Seward, where you’ll cruise to secluded Fox Island, on the edge of Kenai Fjords National Park. The island, with its wild pebble beach and forested mountains, offers a pristine Alaskan experience. The region is famed for sea kayaking, and an easy optional paddling excursion this afternoon is likely to reveal some of the area’s prolific marine life.

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. Enjoy some free time to explore this historic harbor town before heading south on a scenic drive to Homer. 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.

This morning, head out for a full-day hike in Kachemak Bay State Park. A 20-minute water taxi from the lodge takes you through wildlife-rich waters, home to sea otters, seals, whales, puffins, and more. You’ll land at the trailhead to Grewingk Glacier, a 13-mile-long ice flow descending from the Kenai Mountains. The trail winds gently through cottonwood and spruce forest, eventually opening to a glacial lake with floating icebergs and views of the glacier’s jagged face. After the hike, return to the lodge to unwind and enjoy dinner overlooking the bay.

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.

July / August departures: Fly across Cook Inlet to King Salmon, then continue to King Salmon Lodge – a classic Alaskan lodge nestled on the Naknek River. Deluxe log cabins offer a comfortable base for wilderness bear-viewing in nearby Katmai National Park. Once settled into your cosy cabin, it’s time for a presentation on bear biology and behaviour, to prepare us for the adventures ahead tomorrow. This evening, enjoy a gourmet dinner served in the lodge dining room.

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 / August departures: Travel 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. 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 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. Head back to King Salmon by floatplane or water taxi in the evening.

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, spend you free time exploring Homer. This evening, enjoy a farewell dinner.

July / August departures: After a last round of bear viewing in the Brooks Falls region of Katmai, 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 make your way to the airport for homeward flights, or ongoing travel arrangements.