Arrive Winnipeg and transfer to the Fort Garry Hotel, built in 1913 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The French-style chateau is still the grande dame of Winnipeg, offering first-class hospitality. Meet your Expedition Leader and fellow travelers at a welcome dinner this evening.

As an introduction to the Canadian north, we explore Winnipeg’s history and natural environs, including Oak Hammock Marsh, with its rich variety of birdlife. We also visit the acclaimed Manitoba Museum, renowned for its exhibits reflecting the human and natural heritage of the province, including the history of northern native cultures. After dinner, we board the evening train to Churchill.

Traveling northward, southern prairies give way to dense boreal forest. We disembark to explore a waterfall and enjoy lunch by the lake before continuing by rail to the edge of the tundra. The train is relaxing and comfortable, and each cabin has its own toilet, sink and large windows, offering a broad vista of the changing ecosystems.

Early in the morning, we arrive in the small northern outpost of Churchill, gateway to the Arctic, with four full days of adventure ahead. Our activities include two Zodiac trips to see belugas in the Churchill River. More than 3,000 of these wondrous white whales spend the summer in the region, and our motorized rafts put us at eye level with them. With their unusual ability to turn their heads from side to side, they appear to be as curious about us as we are about them. Through the use of a hydrophone on board, we can even listen to their otherworldly songs. Few wildlife encounters offer as intimate a perspective as this one. We’ll also take a larger vessel across the river to Fort Prince of Wales, established by Danish explorer Jens Monk in 1619, and where the Hudson’s Bay Company built one of its original fur-trading posts. Churchill became a stopover point for explorers searching for the fabled Northwest Passage and was instrumental in the opening of the Canadian West. A unique tundra vehicle conveys us to a point near Hudson Bay, where we enjoy an outdoor cookout while watching for wildlife here at the interface of the boreal forest and tundra. Caribou with calves, snowy owl, Arctic fox and ptarmigan are often seen, and we may even spot polar bears. At this time of year, it is not uncommon to find mothers with cubs.

After a free morning to visit the Eskimo Museum with its comprehensive collection of native Inuit artifacts and time to pick up some authentic carvings and other handcrafts, we transfer to the airport for our return flight to Winnipeg. Depending on flight schedules, we will have either a farewell lunch in Churchill or a final dinner together in Winnipeg.

After breakfast, we transfer to the airport for flights home.

Return transportation from Winnipeg to Churchill (train and plane), accommodations, all meals (except on train and either lunch or dinner on your final day in Churchill), NHA's professional Expedition Leaders and assistants, all activities and entrance fees, evening presentations, all taxes and service charges.