Posted by Lisa | Posted in General Travel | Posted on 03-09-2009
Tags: Alaska Cruises, animals, Canada holidays, Canada tours, Environment, News
Churchill is on the shoreline of the west coast of Canada. Over the past few years this has become one of the most sought over environmental holidays. This could mean that it is in danger from excessive pollution?
Churchill is most famous for its population of Polar bears, who visit every year around autumn to escape the receding ice flows. These polar bears head inland and invade local towns and villages such as Churchill to find refuge. The nickname, Polar Bear capital of the world, came from the fact there are so many of these cuddly creatures. This has helped boost the tourist industry around the area, and now tour operators offer Canada tours dedicated to this area, to show people the stunning environment.
Churchill is an area known as an Ecotone. An Ecotone is a environmental phenomenon where there is an abrupt change in environmental circumstances. Basically it stands on a border between three very different environments. They are the Boreal forest to the south, the Tundra climate to the north east and the Hudson Bay to the north. If you have never seen the Aurora Borealis then this one of the best places on the planet. Not only does this area have all these attributes, it is also home to the Beluga whales in summer, over 57,000 of them, and has a very extensive amunt of bird fauna that cover the whole area.
Because of all the surrounding species and the Polar bears, Churchill needs to rely on the tourist industry heavily. The simple way to put it, is that Churchill is on the border between three dramatic climate and environmental differences. This will cause the tourist industry to crumble. Canada holidays benefit greatly from this environmental phenomenon, but how much longer will it last. Alaska Cruises also circle round to this area, so maybe that holiday is better sooner rather than later.

