king pacific lodge, canada - jonathan peach

Having landed at the tiny Bella Bella airstrip from Vancouver, I knew this environment was quite an exception from anything that I had experienced in my life before. The air was thick with a damp, cool humidity that smelled of fresh moss. Scattered before me were a dozen seaplanes, one of which was to be our transport to the remote King Pacific Lodge; a luxury, floating accommodation in north-west Canada. I was later told that the floating lodge, which is braced during the summer season against the shoreline of the mystical Princess Royal Island, is tugged into civilisation every year for maintenance. This must be a sight to behold; a luxury lodge sliding silently along the coastline, killer whales and humpbacks breaching in the foreground.

Landing before the lodge in a sea plane is an unforgettable experience. We circled above the mists, which were steaming and rising off the temperate rainforest like a scene from Jurassic Park, sometimes affording a glimpse of the dripping canopy below, sometimes enveloping the soaking mountains in an eery blanket. The plane banked and then the lodge came into view; it could quite easily have been the remote hideout of a James Bond character - isolated and kitted out with a helicopter and high speed boats. The floats of the plane gracefully toyed with the surface of the still water before calmly bringing us to a standstill. Departing the aircraft, a glass of champagne in hand, I surveyed my surroundings and breathed in the epic wilderness before me.

The combination of superb food, accommodation and guiding, whilst exploring a remote and beautiful wilderness reminded me of an African safari experience. All the elements were there, but this was Canada, a country where the wolf, cougar and bear were apex mammalian predators, in place of the lion and leopard. Princess Royal Island is the only place in the world where there exists a reliable population of the iconic "spirit bear", an animal steeped in mystery and tradition. The Native people would never tell the early European trappers of its existence, believing the white "black bear" to be a highly spiritual entity, a sacred treasure of the forest. The ghostly but strikingly beautiful images in the lodge of the Kermode bear, sitting against an ancient cedar tree, or swinging off the boughs of a spruce tree, bring the immediate forest surroundings of the lodge to life. This temperate, pristine, coastal rainforest, with its mystical presence, had to be explored.

Our paddles glooping softly into the deliciously placid, cool, black waters of the bays and inlets around the lodge, we set off with our guide to kayak into any craggy corner that looked interesting, any movement on the shore that required a second glance. This was the ultimate freedom; it felt like we were the only people for hundreds of miles around and indeed we were amongst only a handful of people for hundreds of miles around. This was British Columbia at its best - deep inlets with untouched, forest-clad mountains rising on either side, full of North American wildlife completely undisturbed by the encroachment of humanity. After exploring a river valley by foot and entering the ethereal forest for the first time, we saw the fresh tracks of maritime wolves near the shoreline. These specially adapted wolves hunt for crabs and even spawning salmon in the rivers. They had been attracted down to the river valley by the start of the salmon run, which had begun in earnest. Every year the salmon make their final journey upriver to spawn and ultimately die. This eternal process is what nourishes the forest with its much needed nitrogen, as the bears, wolverines and crows spread their remains across the forest floor, giving back the ocean's nutrient rich bounty to the ravenous forest soils. This cyclical balance creates an unerring dependence on the sea. In big salmon run years, the tree rings are thicker than in less productive years.

As we returned to the wood-burning fire of the lodge, the helicopter swooping into land with lucky heli-hiking guests, I observed how impressive this operation was, working so seamlessly in such a remote location. The haunting cry of a sodden bald eagle, perched on an idyllic backdrop of steaming mists and trees, and surveying the inlet before King Pacific Lodge, is the iconic symbol of this landscape. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as is a safari or a Galapagos trip; there really is nothing like Princess Royal Island.


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please call 0845 618 2206
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