Before my (Alex) first time in Canada my vision of this vast country was rough. I just pictured a massive untouched forest with menacing wildlife and tons of bears in particular.
After being with Britt for four years and having visited British Columbia three times by now, I have a more diverse and realistic view.
A lot of things come to my mind while thinking back on my time in Canada. The imagery in my head is filled with polite people who “eh?!” a lot, camping trips, Britt’s family, a beautiful modern chinese town called Vancouver, the chill vibe of Tofino and much much more. And yet the stereotype of a massive forest remained. Why? Because it is true! And there is a lot of wildlife to see for sure.
The idea of this post is to share our very personal wildlife spotting locations from our three recent trips (mainly to B.C. and Vancouver Island in particular).
Especially now that more and more friends are coming here to enjoy the wildlife, maybe this might be a good inspiration for you guys where to look closer for the cool stuff.
| Beast | Where | Situation |
| Bear (black) | Most sightings we had near Tofino in British Columbia and in Jasper National Park. | After a short swim in the lake we got in the car to drive to the campground in Tofino; started the motor and suddenly a bear jumped out of the bush onto the street. Apparently he was just near the beach I was swimming at. Luckily it was a black bear = not really dangerous hence not aggressive. |
| Bear (Grizzly) | Jasper National Park | Again we were safe in a car. The Grizzly was only interested in the berries which he was eating like crazy. |
| Cougar | no sightings yet | They say, when you see a cougar he has been already stalking you for one hour at least. |
| Deer | Everywhere | Drive carefully! |
| Rabbits | Everywhere | |
| Lynx | Jasper National Park | What a crazy cat. The lynx had no fear of us at all, just staring at us, being like, “wtf you want I am the boss here!” |
| Elk | Jasper and Banff | One morning at 5 a.m. Alex stepped out of the tent in Jasper to find the campground blanketed in morning mist with a gigantic elk just sleeping next to our tent, less than 1 meter away. It looked like in a fairytale! |
| Skunk | Near UBC in Vancouver | The fellow ran away. Think he found his master! |
| Racoon | Victoria outskirts | The little buddy terrorized a garbage container from within. |
| Snakes | Everywhere | Britt picks them up. |
| Squirrels | Everywhere | They bite Britt. |
| Chipmunks | Everywhere | They make a funny sound like one of these bathtub ducks. |
| Dogs | 🙂 | Nowhere have I seen so many dog owners like in B.C. |
| Wolves | Not yet | But there was a sighting on the campground of Horne Lake (Vancouver Island) just one day before we arrived. |
| Moose | Not yet. I think we need to go up north. | |
| Rat | Uculet | Ready for disgust?! On campsites toilets have this big hole in the ground, in which the digestion results pile up. Saw a rat sitting on the very top of that hill. |
| Hummingbird | Every morning in the summer in Victoria in the garden of Britt’s mother. | |
| Blue Jay | Spotted many on Vancouver island. | |
| Bald Eagle | Seen only once on Sydney spit. | |
| King Fisher | On the islands around Vancouver island. | |
| Harrin | Near Uculet | |
| Hawk | Everywhere | |
| Sea otter | Everywhere near marinas | |
| Seals | Everywhere near marinas | |
| Dolphins | Vancouver island | Seen only once when sailing with Britt’s sister. The schools usually prefer sailing boats to loud motorized boats. |
| Orcas | On a whale watching tour from Victoria. | Same story, sometimes they swim with canoes, kayaks or sailing boats. The super expensive whale watching tours make it still possible to literally chase them. |
| Grey Whale | Alex has never seen one. Britt has seen some when sailing as a child around Vancouver island. |
And the aquarium of Vancouver was also worth a visit to see some wildlife. As I said, all spotting infos are just based on our personal experience – no guarantee. But if you go for instance camping – which is always a good call because you are usually closer to nature – in a national park like Jasper (for us by far the most diverse when it comes to wildlife encounters) it is more then likely to see some cool beasts! Good luck.
One Reply to “Meet the Beasts! Our Canada Wildlife Encounters.”