Abundant wildlife awaits company clients

Eagle-eyed birdwatchers who venture to Labrador with Adventure Canada may spot an endangered peregrine if they’re lucky.

And sightings of some of our other feathered friends — including loons, snowy owls, ptarmigans, hawks, and warblers — are certainly a good possibility, with large, sparsely populated Labrador home to large wildlife populations, says Adventure Canada president Cedar Swan.

Among mammals that may be sighted in Labrador are caribou, polar and black bears, wolves, foxes and Arctic hares.

Swan told an Adventure Canada webinar that Labrador is ideal for nature enthusiasts, given the smallish number of people who live there.

“It’s really feasible that you could step on land here and feel that you’re the only human who has laid foot (there)… It has that feeling of being at the edge of the world,” she said.

However, Labrador is home to Indigenous people whose ancestors have lived there for around 7,000 years, she continued.

Adventure Canada takes people to Labrador on its Greenland & Wild Labrador: A Torngat Mountains Adventure itinerary, available Sept. 17 to Oct. 1 and Sept. 28 to Oct. 12; and Newfoundland and Wild Labrador: A Torngat Mountains Adventure, available July 8-22.

Swan — whose husband and Adventure Canada colleague Jason Edmunds was born in Labrador — noted northern Labrador’s Torngat Mountains are the highest mountains east of the Rockies and added that Torngat Mountains National Park is an “unknown jewel in our national parks system.”

Glaciers can be seen, she added.

Also visited in Labrador is the historical settlement of Hebron, which saw the forced relocation of Indigenous people, which Swan labelled a “heart-breaking” development in an area of great beauty.

Adventure Canada clients will meet locals and such topics as reconciliation will be discussed, Swan said.

“You want to speak to people who live here and whose ancestors lived here,” she added.

Another visited Labrador community is Nain, which Swan noted is right on the Tree Line.

The itinerary featuring Greenland first has participants fly by chartered plane from Toronto to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, in an area where climate change is leading to dramatic receding of glacial ice, with Swan stating that she finds it personally “startling to witness these changes first-hand.”

Another Greenland highlight is a visit to its capital of Nuuk, and its National Greenlandic Museum, home to 500-year-old mummies.

Passengers will cross the Arctic Circle as their vessel works its way south and at one point they will be invited to safely jump into the Arctic Ocean from a ship ramp under the watchful eye of ship staff, with Swan noting her youthful daughter has taken the “polar plunge… She currently holds the record for the youngest dipper at age three and I believe we have our oldest swim team captain at age 95.”

Swan noted the itinerary featuring Greenland ends in St. John’s and while sailing Newfoundland waters visits L’Anse aux Meadows, the only authenticated Viking site in North America.

The two tours featuring Labrador can be done back to back, Swan noted.

Adventure Canada primarily  provides sailings in the northern waters on expeditions that don’t take more than 190 passengers.

The smallish size of its Ocean Endeavour vessel means that it can safely visit smaller bays and fiords that are off-limits to larger vessels, she said.

Zodiacs are used to carry people to and from shore, with passengers divided into smaller groups on excursions that also match participants with fitness levels.

Daily workshops deal with bird and marine life, botany, photography and other issues.

Meanwhile, Adventure Canada’s League of Adventurers provides passengers with discounts on future sailings.