An Iconic Alaska Wildlife Encounter You Don’t Want To Miss

Michael Scherback/Unsplash

Alaska has a number of factors that make it a haven for wildlife: its sheer size, the abundance of national parks and protected areas, and its status as the least densely populated state in the country.

With great herds and flourishing populations of some of the largest animals on the planet, you’d think it would be easy to spot them, but as adventurer Les Stroud says on National Geographic’s Alaska's Grizzly Gauntlet, that’s often not the case. The great expanse of land and the way some of them blend in with the landscape makes it difficult to find wildlife here, and encounters with some of Alaska’s iconic animals are still rare.

There is one animal that’s become somewhat famous in Alaska, though, and that’s the brown bear. There are now around 30,000 brown bears in the state in total, and over 2000 of those are in Katmai National Park & Preserve. The park’s thriving brown bear population actually constitutes the world’s largest of the species.

While catching a glimpse of an Alaskan giant such as a moose, caribou, brown bear, or gray wolf is probably slim, there is one place that visitors have been coming for years to see something unique: brown bears “fishing” together.

At Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, dozens of brown bears stand in the falls and wait for sockeye salmon to leap into their mouths as they attempt to make their way upstream. According to the National Park Service, up to 25 bears have been spotted fishing in the river at the same time here. The NPS has created several viewing platforms to allow visitors to observe the bears from a safe distance, and thousands of people come to this particular park for that reason.

Alaska Tours says:

Katmai National Park’s Brooks Camp offers the iconic Alaska ‘big bears catching big fish’ experience. This is the ultimate in bear viewing—at peak salmon season along the Brooks River, when dozens of bears with powerful jaws and claws hunt for sustenance for days on end. These bear viewing tours will truly give you the thrill of a lifetime!

This spectacle is the main reason Katmai National Park normally receives between 25,000-37,000 visitors per year, with Brooks Camp being one of the most popular stops. Most of those visitors arrive in July and August, as this is when the biggest bear gatherings occur and when the bears are at their most active.

While nothing can compare to experiencing this in person, it’s not the most accessible destination and requires careful planning in advance. With no road access to the park, the majority of visitors arrive by small floatplane, but you can also travel by boat.

If a trip to Katmai isn’t possible for you, don't worry—you can see the bears via live webcam instead!

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