Alaskan Wildlife Conservaion Centre

Day 7
Saturday – 6 September

A later start today as we were tired. We thought we would hire a car for the day and go down to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Centre. It was down near Portage but not as far as Whittier. We had a little trouble doing this as it was the Labor Day weekend and lots of people were visiting or holidaying. We were however lucky to be able to get a car at 2.00 from Avis (just a block away from us).

So at 2.30 pm we headed out down the highway in the very nice Chevy Impala. Needless to say I’d didn’t drive it. The Americans drive on the wrong side of the road, the car’s controls are in reverse and the auto was a column shift. I swear Richard had a love affair going on with the right-hand side of the road. We seemed to be constantly veering into the next lane or narrowly missing the gutters. I had to keep reminding him of which lane to use. It was quite confusing to start with. Coupled with the fact that we were in holiday traffic, it was somewhat terrifying. Eventually we made it to the highway and didn’t need to worry quite so much. The drive was a scenic one along the Turnagain Arm so it ended up being quite pleasurable.

The Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Centre was originally set up to protect and rehabilitate injured and orphaned animals. T has in recent years branched out to research into the breeding of bison for return to the plains of North America. So this was a great opportunity to see some buffalo in real life. They are big, hairy and they smell. They are slowly increasing in number and who knows where they may be found in years to come?

This place had our interest for several hours. It doesn’t close until 8 pm as the sun doesn’t set until about 9.30 – 10.00 pm. We saw elk, musk ox, porcupine, brown bears, caribou, moose, black bear (from a distance) bald eagle, horned owl and orphaned moose. It was fantastic to be able to get close to them and know you weren’t about to be eaten or gored. We have some amazing photos of just about all of them.

The bears were most interesting as they were being fed. The biggest of 3 was hogging all the food (an entire moose hind quarter) tied to a rope so he wouldn’t run off with it and visitors were able to stand just 10 feet away and watch and hear him feeding. Oh what BIG teeth he had! He wasn’t about to share with the other bears and ran the younger male off with a loud growl and bared teeth. He can move very quickly too. The younger bear knew his place and sat well away salivating. Every so often he would inch forward trying to get a little piece. No such luck. The female was of wondering in another part of the paddock, eventually going in for a swim and a play in the water. She too decided to challenge for the food and just waltzed in and crawled in and took some knee joint for herself. A few minutes later she had the lot and big bear up and left. Young male was off sulking and looking pathetic a short distance away. This interplay between the bears was interesting to watch.

We headed back to Anchorage and the traffic stopping along the way at a Fred Meyers supermarket – like a big Woolies. It was almost 10pm by the time we arrived back at the hotel. We needed to pack as we had to change hotels the next day.

But first the washing needed to be done as we wouldn’t have another chance for a week. Rick toddled off to bed having checked to see if the machines were free. It was now midnight and there was I sitting in the laundry waiting for the wash to finish and a dryer to be freed up (another lady was also as stupid as me and up doing her washing and hogging the dryer. In the end I finished up and 1.15am and barely awake. But the washing was done and we still had the hire care so we could make the most of the day.

I had no sooner gone to bed when the phone rings. There was excitement at the other end of the phone with Meg delivering the news that Kaitlin had given birth to a baby boy who has been named Blake. What delightful news to receive!
Eventually we both were able to get back to sleep and happy knowing that both Kaitlin and Blake were well.