The Cave and Basin

During one of their last days in Canmore we went to the Cave and Basin in Banff National Park. I should note here that the entire time they were visiting I was assuring them that bears were not an issue, ooops.

We were welcomed by a delightful ranger who advised us that there was indeed a bear in the area and we were to just be cautious. My sister without blinking just responded with 'well that's that then, back to the car!' She wishes.

Off we toddled along the decking walkway that at points was easily 12 feet above the ground, when a ranger went running past us speaking into his walkie-talkie. Watching where he went - just to the viewpoint on the walkway - and pointing out over into the fields my brother-in-law swung his backpack over his shoulders and started to run along the path to the ranger where he was shown where there was a grizzly bear laying among some trees.

For ten minutes we were happy upon the decking taking photographs of this young female grizzly who appeared to be napping. Then she got up and decided to take a like walk toward us – might I repeat at this point we were at least 12-15ft above the ground on the platform walkway so we felt safe enough. The ranger was there with us too so all was well… that was until a fisherman appeared from halfway along the walkway. Without sounds panicked I squeaked ‘ehm.. where did you come from?’ to which he squinted at me and said ‘those stairs’ pointing to a set of stairs that led right down to where the bear was heading.

The bear wouldn’t come up the stairs would she…? Of course she did.

By this point I don’t know what was more funny, my brother-in-law squealing with delight that he got to stay near the ranger and photograph the grizzly or my sister hyperventilating while explaining ‘but my son has only been eating salmon! He must smell like salmon!’ Bloomin hilarious!! Of course my sister says this cheekily but I genuinely feel she may have been slightly serious.

We are ushered up toward the Visitor Center, but not before the ranger shouts at my sister and I (and several other tourists) to stop in case the grizzly makes a direct line off the decking up towards us. Again, it was hilarious watching my sister and all the while my nephew is grinning from ear-to-ear oblivious to what is going on around him. Obviously we all survived and my brother-in-law got some amazing shots of the bear who appeared in that weeks Rocky Mountain Outlook newspaper – the poor girl was just hiding from a frisky big male.

(Unfortunately I did not get any photos of this incident but my brother-in-law did)

Entering into summer

With posts becoming few and far between you do wonder what we get up to all day.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my lovely parents came over for a week at the end of February - celebrating our 'Canniversary'. This celebration brought with it a number of enlightening moments, many of which will reveal themselves over the coming months and year.

March was a whirlwind personally as I moved to a new job. I am very fortunate to work for such a great organisation and the work they do is phenomenal - or phenomenally Canadian according to L. I work with Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative dealing with all things donation related. It is wonderful fun and I am continually learning every day about the projects that we lead or support on, from the tip of Yukon all the way down into America to Yellowstone National Park. For obvious reasons all things bear interest me the most though hearing about the destruction and damage of Dam's (Site C being the most current and horrific) on the environment is overwhelmingly sad. Yet the government see $$$$$ rather than nature. Plonkers.

April was by far my most cherished month here. The arrival of a beautiful baby boy and most beloved sister!! I haven't seen my nephew since he was three moths old and now he is a full year, they changes in him were astounding. He looks like a little man, or more specifically my dad. He is the cutest and most charming baby ever, and a super-duper flirt with the ladies! Waving and grinning
at every girl he saw! We had a wonderful time together and couldn't believe how quickly time flew by.

And here we are at the end of May. Yikes. This month we had L's mum visit us for a week and to take full advantage of the Holiday Monday we decided, at the last possible minute, that we would drive to Victoria. That is correct, a 14 hour drive EACH WAY for a 3 day break. On Friday night we strated our ambitious drive and stopped in Sicamous, then at 5am Saturday morning we continued the journey to reach Cordova Bay on Vancouver Island. It was the best decision ever as I have missed the ocean so much, I am truly a water person and lakes just do not have the same influence on me.

Sunday we explored downtown Victoria, enjoying Fisherman's Wharf and a marching band competition in front of the Legislative Building then on Monday morning 4am (after watching an amazing sunrise) we drove back to Canmore. Worth every minute.

Catching up almost to present - which would include the tale of L cutting his foot on a rock while climbing Saturday and 24 hours later being taken to hospital by moi with blood poisoning. He had to have 4 days of IV antibiotics, we are now friends with all A&E Dr's at Canmore Hospital, and now he has a further ten days of heavy duty oral antibiotics to make sue it doesn't come back.

As you can see we are keeping busy and continuing to explore Western Canada. With one more significant visitor booking to arrive in August for three weeks of climbing, hiking, kayaking and surfing who knows what stories we will come back with!

Time flies when life happens

As you can imagine, there has been lots going on at this end.

The remainder of November went by in a whirr, while December brought a little visitor from Scotland for a quick visit, then Christmas and New Year had been and gone before we knew it.

Now we are in February. What on earth happened? Where did the time go?

It was the first Christmas I have spent away from my family so it was interesting for L to watch and occasionally assist in the non-traditional dinner preparations. After the Thanks Giving turkey fiasco I refuse to deal with poultry... I have just had a giblets flash back and it still horrifies me.

New Year brought with it fireworks from the hill overlooking Canmore which was a giggle. Lots of crazy truckers were around us and they sang us the countdown which really puts a twist on the standard tick-tock countdown.

And now for February which marks our first year living in Canada. On the 24th February we will be having, dare I say it, our 'Canniversary'. I would like to thank L's colleague for this term and take no responsibility for it.

My parents are also coming over for a week at the end of this month, which will be filled with lots of snowy activities, or so we hope. The '9 month winter' we were warned about has been somewhat unexpectedly not true. Thank you Scotland for making me a grateful weather girl.

The '9 month winter' apparently means the 9 months when the temperature is below 20 degrees and you are unable to wear flip-flops - though I have actually seen several individuals in flip flops recently thanks to the sudden increase in temperature. We are above the Scottish spring temperatures and therefore I no longer listen to Canadians who say the winter is dragging on.

Many other visitors are either booked or planning to come across this year so Lewgi's Adventure Tours will begin again!

VIRUNGA

Normally I would never discuss films or things I see on television but things change, especially for this.

Last night we watched the Netflix documentary “Virunga”, which follows a group of incredible individuals who risk their lives to protect the last mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park located in the Democratic Republic of Congo. At least that is what the basis of the story is, as well as the most gut wrenching, saddening and devastating part.

The film then grows into something much greater - if I had read the synopsis then there might have been a 0.01% chance I could have prepared myself for what was to come.

As we are all aware, though not as much as we like to think, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been in an almost continual flux of war, either from internal political issues or external. The catastrophic attacks on communities and the expanding rebel fighting groups have made for a very unstable country and can be accountable for over 5.4 million civilian deaths.

The M23 Rebellion is the latest group that has been fighting against the government in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since the formal end of the Second Congo War in 2003. This group, M23, is the one we see in Virunga and we are shown a driving force behind why they attack the National Park.

 

Virunga national park: 130 rangers have been killed in the last 20 years protecting the gorillas and other wild animals within the park. Photograph: Junior D. Kannah/AFP

A British oil company, SOCO International, were (and possibly still are) attempting to extract oil from Virunga National Park by any means possible. From bribing local security guards all the way up to the top Government Officials, from threatening locals who did not agree, to seemingly in talks with the M23 ‘Communication Leader’ in order for him to ‘calm the people down’.

What became apparent to me from watching the undercover footage shot by French investigative journalist, Mélanie Gouby, of her meeting with two SOCO employees/ contractors – one of which was a self-proclaimed mercenary - was that Virunga National Park is not just rich in oil but also abundant in iron ore and diamonds. Virunga National Park seems to be extremely plentiful in rare goods that the western world covets and therefore have little-to-no power to fight against such large corporations.

Just to make the situation even clearer for the viewer the mercenary, a somewhat evil man severely suffering from a backward conscious-compass, beautifully stated something along the lines of business is business and someone – SOCO International- was paying for the war. I will watch it again to find the exact quote, which will be much more poignant.

I love films like Blood Diamond and The Constant Gardener, and although they are based on truth and the horrific acts that are regularly happening in some African nations, you cannot help but feel a little disassociated as they have been ‘Hollywoodized’. The dramatic music, the actors you love and the somewhat happy ending all allow you to walk away at the end of the film and believe that all is well now.

Virunga does not give you such permission. It is calling on all those who watch it to act and to speak out for the rights of the communities who rely on the land and lake for farming and fishing and the wildlife.

I have honestly never felt so stunned and saddened by the way things are. It is not a worst-case scenario or the evil monster horror story, it is actually happening. Big corporations such as SOCO International have the power because they have the muscle and money to do so.

Upon looking into this I saw an article in The Guardian that explains: “Producers of the documentary Virunga, set in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) park which is home to many of the world’s remaining 800 mountain gorillas, will on Friday publish a list of all major British and international pension funds, companies and banks who back London-based Soco’s search for oil in some of the world’s most volatile regions. They include the Church of England investment fund, M&S, Aviva, Scottish Widows and several high street banks.”

I really hope The Guardian and  New York Times continue to keep readers up-to-date with the situation between SOCO and Virunga, and I too will continue to research what can be done.

 Emmanuel de Merode and Andre Bauma, caretaker of the gorillas in the park, attend the New York screening of Virunga. Photograph: Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images