Northern Lights! Cameras! Action!
IAN STALKER
The Northwest Territories is catering to people eager to see Mother Nature light up the night.
The territory is attracting people eager to see the Northern Lights, drawing visitors from as far away as Asia who are keen on seeing the celestial display.
Donna Lee Demarcke, CEO of Northwest Territories Tourism, says a combination of factors — one of them being the territory’s location in regards to the Aurora Oval, a belt around the magnetic poles; and frequently clear winter skies and long winer nights — make the northern territory the world’s prime spot for viewing the Aurora Borealis.
“If you are there during one of the two (prime viewing) seasons — it doesn’t matter which — and you stay three nights you have a 98% chance of seeing the Aurora Borealis,” she reports.
Mid-August to mid-October and mid-December through mid-April are the best viewing seasons, something that is reflected in tourist visitations to a territory that has sub-Arctic, Arctic and High Arctic regions. “March is our busiest time of the year and mid-December to mid-April is our busiest season,” Demarcke reports.
“It’s dark and it’s cold (in winter) and the Aurora Oval is right on top of us and you can look up and they (the Northern Lights) will fill the entire sky,” she adds.
The Northern Lights can be seen from communities throughout the N.W.T., says Demarcke, who concedes that her territory sees cold weather during winter but adds cold weather clothing can be rented for those who don’t have suitable attire for viewing the natural phenomenon.
Some tourists are actually eager to experience part of a sub-Arctic or Arctic winter, she adds.
Among particularly notable territorial attractions is UNESCO World Heritage Site Nahanni National Park Reserve , among other things home to Virginia Falls, twice as high as Niagara Falls.
Nahanni attracts canoeists eager to canoe the scenic South Nahanni River, but Demarcke adds the isolated park only attracts around 1,200 visitors a year, ensuring an uncrowded vacation. “Banff is a national park and it probably gets 1,200 people an hour. Nahanni is very exclusive.”
Meanwhile, Demarcke says tourism authorities in the N.W. T. are excited about Air Canada’s plans to begin Yellowknife-Toronto service in December. Yukon airline Air North flies to Inuvik, while Air Canada has Yellowknife service from Vancouver and Edmonton, WestJet links Yellowknife with Calgary and Edmonton, and Canadian North carries people from Edmonton to Yellowknife and then points elsewhere in the N.W.T.
