TORONTO -- A TikTok user from Vancouver has used the platform to document a recent trip to northern Manitoba to see polar bears.
Michael Downie and his father visited Churchill, Man., back in October to view the annual polar bear migration through the northern town, where hundreds of polar bears make their way to the coast of the Hudson Bay and wait for the ice to form.
“It was incredible, these animals are huge and they’re calm,” Downie told CTV News Channel. “This time of year they’re congregating in Churchill because that’s where the ice freezes first. They’ve been on land and haven’t eaten in months.”
Downie recently posted eight TikTok videos of his trip to Churchill, including videos of the travel needed to get there, to footage of three polar bears approaching his “polar rover,” an off-road vehicle designed to traverse the tundra.
“I think it’s a mix of curiousness and hunger and maybe they’re pleasant Canadians as well,” he said of the bears approaching the rover.
The eight clips have each received at least 34,000 views, with one reaching more than 587,000 views.
“People are interested in northern Canada, in polar bears and a friendly father-son trip,” Downie said. “It doesn’t have to be TikTok dances, it can be just good fun.”
Downie has made a career of his travel videos, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced him to look for interesting travel destinations domestically.
“Travel’s been cancelled internationally, so I looked to British Columbia first where I could explore here and then Canada on a large scale,” he said. “Churchill was open for travel back in October, so I decided it was my chance to make that trip that I’ve always wanted to do.”
With tightened travel restrictions, Downie is now focused on keeping his videos to interesting adventures in the Vancouver-area and in the lower mainland.
