June 2, 2015 -- Today I saw a bear. A brown bear. Big brown bear. Ranger Jenny, who we’d dropped off at the Bartlett Bay ranger station that morning, would have been so excited.
Our little group was doing a meadow hike in Fern Harbor. Mostly, we were looking at flowers.
“What is that?” I said, pointing to a brown spot moving in the distance.
“It’s a bear,” someone else said, peering through his telephoto lens. “A big one.”
Our guide Dani stiffened. “He’s far enough away from us,” she said after a moment. We watched him. Clearly, he hadn’t gotten wind of us yet.
Then the bear went into the woods. We went back to looking at the flowers.
“There he is again!” someone shouted. The bear had emerged from the other side of the woods and was ambling across the meadow parallel to us – still quite a distance away.
We watched him for about 20 minutes, nervously chattering away to sooth our fears. Because even though he was far away, it was still a bear. In the wild.
Cameras clicked. Dani was kind of quiet. She had the bear spray ready.
Then the bear did turn toward us. But he still didn’t see, smell, or hear us yet.
“Okay, everyone, get in a circle,” Dani commanded. We did. She shouted, “Hey bear!”
He stopped. Sniffed. Looked at us. To him, we looked like a big black blob.
“Hey bear!” Dani shouted again.
He turned and started loping back to the woods where he’d come from.
Amazing how our bear-scaring tactic worked. Some in our group were relieved that he was gone. Others of us wanted to see more of him.
But all of us thought it was pretty cool to see a bear in the wild.
The agent had great response to questions and coordinated well to create an itinerary that met our expectations.
Bob Sunshine
1 day ago
Very responsive to all questions
Teresa Cardoso
2 days ago
Kelly and Rhenee were excellent to work with on planning our trip. The logistics all worked smoothly and everyone was friendly and on time. Our accommodations were very good, particularly the incredible Patagonia Camp in Torres del Paine! Our guides on every excursion were outstanding and made the hikes memorable! Overall we had a wonderful trip with incredible memories!
Scott Gibson
2 days ago
Adventure Life is definitely a first-class safari tour company, and our representative was Franny Friesz. First of all, she responded immediately after we contacted Adventure Life. We told Franny that we had never been on a safari, and she was more than eager to offer a mountain of information about the trip. She informed us fully about all the ups, downs, and all arounds! She even prepared a number of packages for us to review -- even after we made changes to the areas we wanted to explore. Friendly, helpful, professional, and extremely knowledgeable -- these words describe Franny, and what a wonderful trip she prepared! We couldn't have asked for better service than Franny of Adventure Life. We HIGHLY recommend her and her outstanding company! Bon Voyage!
Prima Burke
3 days ago
The staff at Adventure Life made planning my family's trip to the Galapagos Islands as easy as possible. They listened to what we were hoping to experience and made thoughtful suggestions about how to accomplish our vacation goals while meeting the needs of travelers ages 17-76! They patiently answered questions and follow up questions in the months leading up to the trip. They helped us trouble shoot and customize the trip in every way possible. The logistics involved in traveling from Boston to the Galapagos are innumerable. The Adventure Life staff helped us arrange every detail and the team they assembled in the Galapagos was tremendous. I have never done a trip this big before and after working with Adventure Life this time--would not hesitate one second in working with them again.