Before actually experiencing the dog sledding first hand I have to admit I did wonder how the musher steered his dog team without reins. The answer is completely obvious – he tells the lead dog where to go by shouting out left, right, straight on etc (or actually haw, gee etc). I’m ashamed that I didn’t immediately work this out. These dogs are above average clever – of course they will follow commands.
That led me to think more about the bears with their enormous heads, most likely crammed with huge brains. What are they thinking when they amble around the tundra? Are they simply wondering if there’s some seal to be had over the next hill, or are they contemplating the meaning of beary life?
One bear in particular intrigued me; he’d loped along to stand about 5m from the bus. Then he just stood there stock still for ages, not quite looking up at us, in fact he almost looked shy. Half of me couldn’t help thinking that he was pretending to look all cute and cuddly in the hope that one of us would jump off the bus. The other half thought that maybe we were parked right next to his favorite sleeping spot. Or just maybe he loves to be the centre of attention – between us we took thousands of pictures while he posed. Who knows what was on his beary mind?
Here he is just looking at us looking at him.
After approx 15 minutes he just lay down and put a paw over his eyes.