Wander Woman: A Travel Podcast

In to the Woods

• Phoebe Smith • Season 3 • Episode 11

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Cold breath on the air, pancakes at dawn, and the hush before a bear appears at the treeline – join Wander Woman Phoebe Smith as she journeys from Finland’s close‑to‑Helsinki wilds with a foraging guide to paddle a quiet nine kilometres to a lean‑to where two dogs double as companions and hot‑water bottles. The theme is deliberate slowness: built in boredom, and the forest fills the space. Before a finale at dusk with an elusive sighting of the European 'Spirit Bear' on the Finland-Russia border. 

Also coming up:

  • BBC Radio 4 Women's Hour presenter Anita Rani on what drew her to Race Across the World...
  • Travel Hack: How to keep warm in cold climates
  • Top 10 species of bears to spot around the world - from polar to grizzly and all those in between
  • Meet the tour company in Jasper National Park Canada who is embracing the change caused by the 2024 wildfires to teach travellers about ancient indigenious practises
  • Gear chat: what to pack for a night out in an unheated hut (or bear hide)
  • Mina Benson Hubbard - a pioneering Canadian explorer is our Wander Woman of the Month

Contact Wander Woman

www.Phoebe-Smith.com; @PhoebeRSmith

Speaker 1:

On this month's Wander Woman Podcast.

Speaker 2:

In many countries all the bad things always came from the nature and people were a bit scared. But in Finland it was so that uh well the bad things very often came from the sea or outside outside uh like our area. So we went we went hiding to the forest, so we still have that.

Speaker 1:

By boot, boat and bike, I head deep into the woods in Finland to discover the country's authentically wild side, and it's not Lapland. I also chat to Race Across the World contestant and BBC Radio 4 Women's Hour host Anita Rani about why she's ready to say yes to more adventures.

Speaker 5:

Certainly when you get into your 40s, I don't know what people think happens to women, but I would say you become your most confident and your most adventurous.

Speaker 1:

And I meet with a tour guide called Christian in Jasper National Park to find out how this Canadian tourist town has embraced life post-wildfires to show guests how disaster can lead to something beautiful.

Speaker 6:

There was a beautiful flower flowering in late October, early November. That's not really normal at all. But it's because the soil was still warm because of the heat. And when I saw that, for me, that's when I realised like it's going to be okay.

Speaker 1:

Also coming up, how to stay warm when having an outdoor adventure in cold climates in my monthly travel hack. The top ten best places to see every type of bear globally. And in my regular gear section, I help you pack everything you need to stay warm on a sleepover in a bear hide, aka a toiletless shed. Finally, I'll be revealing this episode's Wander Woman of the Month, the traveller whose name is Lost in the History Books. You're listening to the Wonder Woman Podcast, an audio travel magazine with me, Adventurer Phoebe Smith, exploring off the beaten track destinations, wild spaces, wildlife encounters, and the unsung heroes behind conservation efforts. Come wander with me.

Speaker 2:

This is the time of the Lingonberries, so I come to the forest, pick up 10 litres of lingonberries, and then I freeze them. And then I use them during the like winter time.

Speaker 1:

You join me deep in the forest of Nuusiko National Park. Around me, I'm surrounded by a patchwork of silver birch, hazel and spruce trees, creating a tunnel through which I wander with my foraging guide Annu. I'm staying at one of the properties her grandfather built after World War I, known as Hawks Hill. Mine is a wooden building, heated by a wood-burning stove, overlooked by no one. It feels properly wild. Yet we are only about 35 kilometres away from Helsinki. When it comes to Finland, most people think that you have to go far into the north and Lapland to find some wilderness. But as I was discovering, just a few hours' e-bike ride from the Finnish capital, wild places and wild food is literally on the doorstep.

Speaker 2:

And of course in Finland we have this everyman's ride system, so it means that you can go to any forest to pick them up. No one can tell you that go away, this is my forest. Like we are now in our forest, but I cannot tell anybody that go away, that this is my area. This is forest, and anybody can come here to pick up berries and mushrooms.

Speaker 1:

A news course was all about helping nature-loving travellers like me understand my right to camp, forage and enjoy the outdoors with traditional Finnish recipes. So far we had already found chanterelli mushrooms, berries and nettles too, as well as herbs and flowers for garnish, and there seemed to be nothing she didn't know about what was on offer in this forest pantry. I asked her if this was a common knowledge in Finland.

Speaker 2:

We think we have special relationship with the nature. So in many countries all the bad things always came from the nature, and people were a bit scared. But in Finland it was so that the bad things very often came from the sea or outside outside our area. So we went we went hiding to the forest. So we still have that it's a hideaway place, or then you just disconnect and and we we still uh many people um go to the forest to pick up berries and musc from or just hike or walk, and that's that's so common finish thing to do.

Speaker 1:

And do many people know what to look for to forage? Is it kind of one of those things people taught when they're kids? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we start this when we were we are babies. So um I'm I'm 48 and uh but like my um uh like age people. We usually were taken to the forest with our parents and they had 10 litre pocket and they put it in the middle of the forest and say that we go home when this is full.

Speaker 1:

I loved how harnessing nature's bounty was just normal to them rather than a thing to be taught and learned by only the privileged few. That evening, back at the outdoor kitchen set up beside the house, a new cooked us up a feast. So I'm sat next to the fire and we're cooking some of the spoils we picked in the wood. So what have we got cooking here?

Speaker 2:

Um we have some s chanterrelies and then some chopped um onions, and then we are also frying some rye bread so uh the mushrooms will go on the top of them as a starter.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we have a starter, and then what's the main?

Speaker 2:

Uh the main is uh there is uh potatoes in thin with some nettle and then we have uh some uh sweet peppers, sweet peppers, and we stuffed inside uh mushrooms and uh cream cheese and some cheese.

Speaker 1:

And of course we have a salad with some of the berries that we make there is on the top. Perfect. I'm hungry. There is nothing so delightful as eating outside. Except, I can now attest, as to eating outside the food that you have foraged yourself, cleaned the mud off, and prepared over an outdoor fire. It tasted utterly divine. After we ate, Anu said farewell and I went to bed, watching the light fade into night from the huge picture window and seeing the stars beginning to pinprick the sky. In the morning I headed wilder still, this time to Lake Oulu in the country's Central Lake District region, a little further north. Here I met my guide Kat and we took to a canoe. It was me, Kat, and her two dogs. She offers hikes with them through the local outfitter wild tiger. We paddled for about nine kilometres on the river from the nearest village of Kajaani to reach a wilderness camp where we lit a fire in the designated pit outside of our basic lean to shelter, and Kat told me a bit about these facilities and the thinking behind them.

Speaker:

It goes well it goes like decades, decades back that these kind of facilities have been have been in use and um well any anyway like nature nature and and camping and trekking and hiking um is a very big thing in Finland, especially nowadays again it's starting to be really really popular and the government wants to basically support and make it possible also for people that's that for example don't want to do orienteering by themselves and they need they need different kind of facilities and it's also a method how to keep uh places more clean by providing, for example, outside dry toilets and um preventing, for example, people using wild firewood by by bringing the firewood to the venue.

Speaker 1:

We feasted on stew that we heated over the open fire while hooper swans came in to roost for the night, and Kat's dogs snuggled up to keep us warm. I asked her what inspired her to bring her dogs on these trips as an added extra for guests.

Speaker:

I don't need to be alone with the people. The dogs do the entertaining. The dogs do part. Not not all of it, but um but yeah, this is there is it's a joke, but there is um a seed of truth in all jokes, that's or at least the funny ones, I believe. Um and that, but yeah, like for me it's easier to be around people when I have my friends around me, a few of them. Um they are icebreakers, they um they bring positive atmosphere by just by being present and being themselves.

Speaker 1:

It was a beautifully serene night. We went to bed early, and from my sleeping bag I could watch the moon rise and fill the air with light. The next morning I woke to Kat relighting the fire to make us pancakes. We hadn't done that much compared to the action-packed trips I usually try to squeeze into the outdoors, but I found myself feeling all the better for it. I asked Kat if that was something she had done on purpose.

Speaker:

I don't put like too much stuff and too much things to do, not too much not too long like journeys, um, so that there is also these moments during the day or during the program or during the trip that uh you might even feel a little bit bored because it's really rare and we don't we don't handle that feeling that good anymore as humans or at least like westerners in a modern modern society. I mean it's it's really easy to occupy your mind immediately, especially with the smartphones, and it's we're talking about like nanoseconds that I have the feeling of boredom, and it's like it's there.

Speaker 1:

After we paddled back to the village, I still had one more wild experience left to try, and this one would see me going properly wild, with a night spent in a bear hide. I was at the Bear Centre, a locally run wildlife watching outfit right on the Finnish Russia border. So close, in fact, that when you wander through the trees, you come to an unguarded outpost telling you that you should not cross. The birds ignore it, of course, but I stay where I am, and chat to fellow Brit Harry Read, who had been coming to this centre to photograph bears since 2015. I asked him, out of the 26 hides they have for you to overnight in, which was his favourite?

Speaker 7:

I've actually got two or three favourites, but it depends what sort of shots I'm going for. So there's it's a really unique setup with some of the hides which have ground level openings for photographers. Um Hide 23 is one of my favourites because it's it's quite a spacious hide. It's got a ground level opening and good activity. You get some lovely mists, it's really ethereal feel to the light. And then Hide 13, which is um the smallest hide on site, and you get multiple angles to see the bears from. There's a lot of traffic around that hide.

Speaker 1:

And that one is affectionately known as the coffin. Because you actually sleep on the floor in that one, rather on one of the rather rudimentary bunks that the other ones have. Um, and then describe to me what has been your most amazing wildlife sighting here.

Speaker 7:

So, yeah, by far the standard experience was um because we're in such a wild area, and it's an unfenced area of um the -Finnish Russian border, and obviously the animals can cross as they please. So lots of bears, lots of different um individuals, but also you get wolverine here quite regularly and wolf. So wolf sightings are approximately once or twice a month if we're lucky. And one night we were we were in Hide A, right in the corner of the site, and an alpha female wolf came out, and we watched her for about 30 seconds, and I sort of smacked my head as I jumped down from the bunk bed because the light was fading, and uh I caught a glimpse, she cleared off into the forest, and then about five minutes later she let out this this blood curdling. It was like a really long howl. And then all of a sudden, um the pack sort of joined up with a less than a kilometre from the hide, and it was this sort of yeah, just four or five different individuals uh yeah, howling to one another, and you could hear all the different pictures and tones, and it was yeah, incredible.

Speaker 1:

I was in Hide 4 that night. It was the same size as a small shed with a bunk bed, a chair, three openings for my camera, and a bin for rubbish and uh taking care of business. Did I mention there's no toilet? And of course, with apex predators out there that others want to capture on camera, it's not recommended you step outside to relieve yourself. At first, nothing happened. But after about 45 minutes, I saw a camera lens moving from the next hide and watched in awe as I saw a huge brown male amble out of the trees in front of the lake. Related to the North American grizzly bear, these ones can grow to 400 kilograms and stretch in length over two metres. After he went, out came another male. He sauntered off too, but then a smaller female emerged, and behind her three cubs who played in the dusky light for nearly an hour. Just before it got too dark to see, I got my final exquisite viewing. A ghost-like apparition emerged from the trees. A bear with bright white fur, almost spectral. I asked Harry about it the next day.

Speaker 7:

There's a couple of really pale female uh mother bears, or one especially um pale, and she's really well known. She's she's definitely older than ten, and she's called Lumiki or Lumiki in Finnish, which means snow white. So she's one of our favourite bears. She has lots of cubs, and we we well we know it's one of her cubs because there's actually an older cub which is about four and a half, and she was um referred to as the spirit bear last year. But um, this yeah, this rare genetic variation we think comes from Lumiki and uh a pale male bear, which has also been around a lot last year. So very, very unusual.

Speaker 1:

I felt privileged to have witnessed such a rare sight, and it didn't end there. Before I left, I walked through the Boreal Forest with Harry and spotted so many birds.

Speaker 7:

We've seen a pygmy owl, which was the highlight, so yeah, pygmy owl.

Speaker 1:

Um in the daytime. In the daytime.

Speaker 7:

Yeah, we've seen Willow Tit, we've seen Crested Tit, we've seen Great Tit, Siberian Jay as well, Raven.

Speaker 1:

And we think we scared what did we scare?

Speaker 7:

Oh, and uh hazel grouse.

Speaker 1:

Hazel grouse as well, yeah. So it's not just for bear lovers, birdwatchers would love it here as well.

Speaker 7:

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

And so my wild Finland adventure came to an end with a memory cord packed full of photographs of bears, my belly full of foraged food, and birds swooping unafraid at my feet. Ah, Finland, how you did inspire me with your landscapes, your outdoor living, and your wonderful wildlife. It may have been cold at times and sometimes even freezing, but I would always take a little chill to experience all that I did. And so I have been inspired to pen this week's travel hack with the colder weather in mind.

Speaker 1:

Listen up. Baby, it's cold outside. As my friend and occasional Wander Woman Cerys Matthews once sang with Sir Tom Jones, if you're travelling and doing outdoor activities in winter, spotting bears, waiting for the northern lights, waiting for Santa, to state the obvious, it is going to be cold. You may have the luxury of a bear hide or a cabin, but it's still not going to be centrally heated. So for this episode's travel hack, we're looking at ways to stay warm if you're outside for a while. And though some of these tips may seem obvious, many are most definitely not. Okay, so first up there are three places that if you get warm will help rapidly heat the rest of your body. These big three heat transfer zones are the back of your neck, an area very often forgotten about, your armpits and your groin area. We'll let you insert your own joke here, but these are where major blood vessels run close to the skin. Again, joke ready for you is the fact that you've got to keep your posterior warm. You'll lose a lot of heat through your bum and thighs, so sit on your backpack or anything but a cold floor, aka snow. One way to do that is to make your own hot water bottle by using a single layer stainless steel bottle wrapped in an item of clothing, and you get to drink the contents later. And while on the subject of liquids, drinking warm but not piping hot liquids will help you maintain a steady core temperature. Be aware that very hot drinks will make your body dump heat, cooling you faster afterwards. Staying hydrated is also essential, and I'm afraid you need to stay away from the hip flask, at least until you're already warm. Alcohol dilates blood vessels, so you feel warm but could actually be losing heat. Likewise, eating regularly is important, even if you're not that hungry. High calorie snacks, those are your nuts, chocolate, trail mix, your grandma's flapjack, give your body a quick energy boost. Fuel equals heat, just like a real fire. Then there are the two things that are essential, an absolute must for staying warm. Firstly, stay dry and at all costs. Even slightly wet clothing chills you fast. Water conducts heat roughly 25 times faster than air. Whether it's from rain or snow, or the one to be really aware of sweat, you must stay dry. Those pit zips on your coat are there for a reason. Maintain your temperature by allowing sweat out and keeping heat in. The second must is to block wind as quickly as possible. Wind can cause you to lose heat almost instantly. This is where your windproof outer layer comes in. Once you've got your core warm and you'll need to warm your feet and hands until this is done, protect your extremities. Hat, gloves, warm socks, the obvious stuff works here. And finally, keep moving a little. Short bursts, a couple of star jumps, or even tiny movements such as clenching fists, rolling shoulders, or shifting weight will keep blood circulating. These little micro movements will slow heat loss without crucially breaking a sweat. So uh don't sweat, as with all this, you've got it covered. Remember, some of the richest experiences you'll have will be outside and in winter, and staying warm means staying outside longer to increase your chances of seeing the Aurora Borealis, or maybe even that elusive bear. That was my Wander Woman Travel Hack, the regular advice I give you each episode to help ensure that you can say yes confidently to every single adventure. Now, my first guest has definitely made a point of doing just this in recent years. British radio and television presenter Anita Rani, known most recently for presenting the excellent woman's hour on BBC Radio 4, is currently starring in the BBC's Race Across the World alongside her dad. I caught up with her, fresh back from filming that and a series of adventures with tour operator Discover the World to find out where she first discovered her love of travel and why she chose as her travel companion to wander with her dad.

Speaker 5:

It was always going to be my dad. Me and my dad get on really well. We're very similar. We have a very similar, I mean, that's a we've got a similar sense of humour. Sometimes we can just look at each other and burst out laughing, and we just know what we're laughing about without even having to say it. Um so yeah, it and also my dad uh got married really young. He was 19, he had me at 20, and he's just worked ever since. And he's never really had um, he's never really fulfilled any of his dreams ever. Uh he wanted to do so much, he wanted to join the RAF, he's really adventurous, um, he set up a business really young. So mum and dad just worked all the time and uh gave me my brother like all the opportunities, and I am lucky because I get to do lots of really exciting stuff, and my dad is always so invested, he loves hearing the stories, he's really encouraging, and so I thought he would love to do something, and let's do it before he gets too old.

Speaker 1:

Have you done much travelling with him before this?

Speaker 5:

Never, never. This was your first. Yeah, so we we didn't really do family holidays, which sounds really peculiar. But um, my parents were just really working all the time, and they had a we had a family manufacturing business up in Bradford, and so you can't all leave and just shut up shop. Someone has to look after the business, and it was always my dad. And so we would go away at Christmases with my mum, and I say we, me, my brother, would go with my mum, and we'd often go to India and plot up at my mum's sort of family home in India, and like all I wanted to do was you know, go camping and in the south of France and snog Dutch boys, but I was visiting with relatives in India and attending amazing weddings and having the most incredible experience. Um in no, I even at the time I loved it, but obviously, you know, it was so different to what any of my friends were doing. So, no, I'd never done any traveling with my dads. I've not lived at home since I was 18. And so um I was really excited, but yeah, I didn't quite appreciate that I might revert to being a teenager. We had no idea where we were going, they don't tell you. We were we had jabs, we had yellow fever, and so in my mind, I was being super sleuth, and I thought, right, well, the last celebrity one was South America, so that we won't be going to that part of the world again because they've done it. So we've had yellow fever, so I thought, right, it must be East Africa. We're gonna be going to Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania. Like I had the journey mapped, so maybe we'll end up in South Africa, possibly through Zambia. You know, I just you know, it was all in my head. And uh, so I started drilling my dad in Swahili. I need Swahili dad. I was teaching him the word for cheaper, which is nafu. Um, and I thought, oh, we'll be we'll be fine because there's loads of Indians uh and South Asians who live in East Africa, so we'll go and stay in loads of temples and at least we'll get fed curry. So I thought this is gonna be great, it's gonna be brilliant. And then you get to we got to Gatwick and they sit you down and they took take away your passport. No, they take, yeah, we've they've got our passports, they take away your mobile phone and our wallets, and then they handed us an envelope and we opened it and it said Mexico.

Speaker 1:

You don't really need Swahili for that. No, but your idea sounds really good. You should definitely look to do that another time.

Speaker 5:

I I have actually done that trip. I did it, I went backpacking in 2001, so I just finished uni, um, and then I was what I worked for a year and then basically thought there was a there was a total eclipse happening over southern Africa, yeah, and so I was like 20 23, something like that, and then got a backpack, packed a tent, and went hitchhiking and camping around, and I went flew into Zambia, yeah, uh saw the incredible uh total eclipse, totality for six minutes from a place called Kafui National Park, and then sort of hitchhiked for five weeks through Zambia, into Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda. Went into Rwanda to see the gorillas, and then yeah, and then came home. So that was that was nuts.

Speaker 1:

So I understand you could do a travel series with Discover the World. Tell me about where you've been going, what you've been getting up to.

Speaker 5:

Oh my god, Discover the World are absolutely unreal. This is my moment of saying yes to adventure. Um, I went to Iceland for the first time in the year 2000 for a music festival that I was working on. I was a junior researcher, so I went with a camera and I fell in love with the country. I'd never been anywhere like it. I still remember the trip. Um, it was a press trip, so I was with a load of other journalists and we're in a minivan going from the airport into Reykjavik, and my face was just stuck to the glass, like could not believe the lunar-esque landscape I was looking at, and just fell in love with the place. We did loads of really cool trips whilst I was there and could not wait to get back. Fast forward uh 25 years, and I went in February with Discover the World, and it's just as I remember it. In fact, it's better. What did you get up to this time? So I swam uh between two tectonic plates, which is two continents, uh, which was amazing. Um, we crossed did this brilliant trip in a super jeep where you cross a glacier to go and see ice caves, and that morning was possibly one of the most magical mornings ever because the sun was coming up and it was the most crisp, sunny, cold February morning. But by the time we crossed the glacier and got all our kit on, uh it started snowing, and so we had like real extremes of weather, and then we experienced the ice caves, which are magical, and when you realize that they won't exist in the same way ever again, it's just in that moment in time that you're witnessing the ice cave until it melts, and those pockets of air have probably been there for 2000 years. Um, we then saw an Arctic fox. So I got weather, I got beauty, I got landscape, I got history, and I got wildlife as well, all in the same morning. And the Arctic Fox was just a real treat for me. Um, and then drove to a place called Vic. Vic has this beautiful black sandy beach, and this again the sunlight hit the waves, and it was just sort of like being in a movie. Um, other highlights included uh oh uh a place called I can't, I can never say it properly, Hamsvick. Um I'm desperate to go back there. It's uh they it it's such a an alive country, the landscape, the country, the the all of it is so volcanic, and and you can understand why they're so connected to nature because it's it's just right there, you can't help not be. Um, and there's lots of geothermal activity, and so this place has natural springs and hot pools right by the sea, it's surrounded by mountains, and you can just sit in a hot pool and then run into the ocean, which I did, and drink champagne. I just like to get off the beaten track a bit. I like to say one life, you know, Phoebe. Why the heck not? And I don't think there are enough there's certainly um, it's a nice place to be able to encourage other women um to do that, and I think certainly when you get into your 40s, I don't know what people think happens to women, but I would say you become your most confident and your most adventurous, and if you have the opportunity, you should just take it two more questions for you, they're not long ones.

Speaker 1:

The first is other than your dad, obviously, who would be your ultimate travel companion?

Speaker 5:

Ooh, ultimate travel companion. Paddington bear.

Speaker 1:

He'd always have sandwiches. And the final question, which is what I ask everyone who comes on the podcast, is what's the one piece of travel gear that you would never go anywhere without?

Speaker 5:

Eyeliner. Love it. Have eyeliner will travel.

Speaker 1:

That was TV and radio presenter Anita Rani. What a pleasure to talk to her, especially learning about her most recent series of escapades with Discover the World. You can catch up with her latest travels on her brand new YouTube channel, Anita Rani Explores. Now, as I recorded this, Anita was just heading off to Costa Rica, a place festooned with incredible wildlife. Sloth anyone? But it's not only Latin America where you can enjoy encounters of the animal kind. In homage to my Finland trip and my life-affirming encounter with a spirit bear, this month's top 10 is all about the different types of Ursine you can see and where in the world you find them. Can you bear the suspense? Let's get to it. So for number 10, let's start with the big ones, the polar bears. There is no better place in the world than Churchill, Manitoba, aka the world's polar bear capital. Between October and November, hundreds gather along Hudson Bay, waiting for sea ice to form. It's here you'll get a front row seat to the Arctic's apex predator. At nine, we're heading west to Katmai National Park in Alaska, USA. You'll have seen the photos, the ones where the bear is at the top of the falls and the salmon seem hellbent on jumping right into its mouth. That's here, at Brooks Falls. During the summer salmon runs, you'll find the highest concentration of brown bears in the world. Lake Clark National Park in Alaska is also a great place to see coastal brown bears. At eight, we're headed to the Southern Hemisphere to see the spectacled bears. The best sightings are combined with one of the continent's greatest destinations, Machu Picchu. Also in Peru, you'll see them at Chaparri Private Reserve in Peru, Podocarpas National Park in Ecuador, and across Colombia. They are South America's only bear. Or are they? More later. In at seven, we're heading to Transylvania in Romania. It's here that you'll find Europe's densest population of brown bears. There is a multitude of conservation-led tours with a network of forest hides and maybe a side visit to a certain castle. At six, we're heading up to the beautiful Hokkaido and the Shire Toko Peninsula. This UNESCO site is one of the world's top spots to watch Urssuri brown bears feeding on salmon along the rugged coastline. If there's one around, you won't miss them. They are massive. At five, we're going to the third largest island in the world, Borneo, in search of the sunbear. These are the world's smallest bears. The best place to see them is the Bornean Sunbear Conservation Centre in Seppaloch, where rescued individuals roam forested enclosures. In at four is one of the most formidable, read terrifying. Yep, it's the grizzly, the ones scary films are made about all the time. Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in Wyoming, USA are one of the best places to see these giant bears. Spring is prime time for grizzlies with cubs, and in autumn you'll see black bears fattening up for winter. Note that Grand Teton is generally quieter of the two. At three, it's where I recently went on an admittedly unsuccessful hunt for the mystical white spirit bear, aka a black bear with a recessive gene that makes it bright white, or maybe a little yellow. Join a First Nations outfitter for tours to try and spy it in Canada's Great Bear Rainforest on the western fringes of the BC coastline. At two, it's the panda bear in Sichuan Province, China. They are best seen ethically at the Wulong or Dujian Yang Panda Bases, where rewilding and research programs operate. And at one, the bear you probably won't have guessed is the sloth bear. Not to be confused with the actual sloth that Anita Rani will have seen in Costa Rica. This shaggy, termite-loving sloth bear is elusive, but reliably seen in Sri Lanka's dry zone jungles, especially during fruiting seasons and the Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary in Karnataka, India. And that rounds up our top ten places to see bears around the world. Except we have one more, and for this we must head to the Wilds of London, which is the only place in the world you can reliably spot a small, well-mannered Peruvian bear wearing a blue duffel coat and a red hat. Top viewing sites include Paddington Station, where you should head straight to platform one. Warning. May approach travellers with impeccable politeness.

Speaker 1:

Well, I don't know about you, but I found that top ten very insightful. Sorry, mum joke there, but I do hope it was useful for you to plan your next wildlife adventure, even if that's just to London's Paddington station. Now joking aside, if you can call these attempts at humour jokes, I want to get serious because it's time for my gear section, and this month it's all about staying warm in cold accommodation. I'm talking bothies in the UK, tents and larvaes in the Arctic, and of course bear hides in Finland. We already covered keeping your extremities heated in the travel hack, but for this I look at the items you need to pack so that you sleep well even in the coldest conditions.

Speaker 1:

First up, think about what separates you from the ground because believe it or not, lying on a cold floor is the quickest way to freeze. You lose three times more warmth from the ground than from the cold air around you. So you need a camping mat and a good one. Look for something thick and insulating, and if it's fully inflatable, ensure you take a puncture repair kit just in case. For a sleeping bag, look for something with a high comfort level. Don't be dazzled by the extreme temperature limits advertised. That only means you won't die at that degree, but not that you'd get a good night's sleep. I prefer one filled with responsibly sourced down as it lofts well and packs down smaller than synthetic, so great for travel. But do be aware that if it gets damp it won't keep you warm. So ensure the outer material is made from at least water-resistant fabric. Also, take a silk liner. This can help boost the comfort rating by several degrees and is smaller than a chocolate bar in your luggage. Then think about what you wear. There's a temptation when it comes to the cold weather to layer up with jackets in your sleeping bag, but it won't keep you warm. It can actually trap cold air inside with you. Instead, be bold and strip down to long johns and a base layer top, preferably made by soft, warm and anti-smell merino wool. And wear a different pair of socks than those you've been in all day to ensure your feet go into the sleeping bag dry and warm up fast. I'm not against sleeping in a hat, just look for one with limited seams and limited logos for maximum comfort. And a buff or neck gaiter can be key for keeping you warm around the neck. Finally, be sure to eat and drink to keep warm, and there's no shame in taking a hot water bottle for happy warm nights. That was my monthly gear slot, the part of the episode where I help you ensure you make the most of any conditions you find yourself travelling in. Now, speaking of making the most of present conditions, Jasper in Canada's province of Alberta made headlines in 2024 when wildfire raged across the national park, destroying a third of all properties and burned 32,000 hectares of the outstandingly beautiful landscape that tourists flock to. The message that went out to tour operators and travellers immediately afterwards was stay away. However, the message was perhaps too successful, and the result has been a very slow recovery to the much-needed tourism trade. But there are shoots of hope here. I went on a tour through the burned area with locally owned Jasper Food Tours to learn from their passionate guide Christian how the fire affected them, what positives came out from it, and why they pivoted their tours to start to address the issues of climate change and previously ignored indigenous practices of controlled burns.

Speaker 6:

So the fires they started on July 22nd, on the evening of July 22nd. To kind of give you reference as well, we were in the midst of a big heat wave as well. It had been between about 32 to 42 degrees Celsius for almost two weeks leading up to the fire. So we were in a bit of a perfect storm, is what rolled through this area. What started the fires was lightning strike. So again, both fires started around 7, 7:30 p.m. or so by lightning strike. The first one started at the base of Mount Kirkeslin, which is down the Icefields Parkway. It's the little pointier one that we see. So again, about 40 kilometers down the Asfields Parkway. And then the second fire within 10 minutes of that one started in the eastern of the town, close to what we have, or we call her transfer station. While all of that was happening, those winds that I told you about were moving the fire very, very quickly towards town. And so again, the fire started around 7, 7:30 p.m. We received the evacuation alert telling us pack your stuff, get ready to evacuate, maybe an hour later, around 8:30, 9 p.m. or so. And then the evacuation order telling us get out of town, you must get out of here. Maybe another hour later, maybe another hour and a half. So around 10:30 or so. So basically, within three hours of the fire starting, we had to evacuate town. While all of that was happening, the fire was moving and getting inch and closer and ever closer to town. And then ended up closing that gap, that 40-kilometer gap, in less than 48 hours. So the fire started again 40 kilometers down the highway, and close wasn't a town less than 48 hours after. And myself, I've been getting a Jasper for five years. I've been saying for five years. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when this fire was going to happen. We all knew this was a reality. All of us locals knew that this was going to happen at some point. And so did parks as well. So they had an emergency plan in the case of a fire. But the worst case scenario that they had planned if a fire started where it did again about 40Ks on the parkway, they thought that they would have closer to six to seven days to evacuate the valley gradually. So the hotels, the campground, and then town gradually. Never in a million years did they think that within three hours of the fire starting, they'd have to evacuate the town so quickly like that. So it took all of us by surprise. So the forests that were here in Jasper National Park before the fire were not healthy forests at all. They were very thick, dense, and nothing was really growing at the bottom of the floor, of the forest floor either. So it was basically a carpet of needles. There was no grass, no bushes, no berries were growing in there. So the animals didn't come too often in these forests. They sit a lot closer to the trails and the roads where the sunlight would hit and then where the food would grow for them. So all of this beautiful regrowth is a great opportunity for us to start managing the land properly. The normal life cycle for the forest here in the Canadian Rockies at Valley Bottom is about five to twenty five years normally. So naturally, every 25 years, a fire would have come through here, burned all of that underbrush, the dried grasses, and then left the bigger, stronger trees that are adapted to these fires. There's a very interesting exhibition at the Yellowhead Museum. If you get the chance to go out there, there's a series of photos from 1909 and 1999. And it's really cool to see the difference 90 years apart. The 1909 photos, they look like open meadows and grasslands in the valley bottom. And then 1999 photos are those very dense, thick forests like that. And it's kind of counterintuitive. I think we have a tendency to think that us humans we cut down trees, but in this instance, we let them grow. And that was really because of our misunderstanding of fire and the interaction with the land. So up here, I'm sure you can notice it's quite different up here from where we started our little bit of uphill. It's a lot more open and sparser the forest. And so up here over the last 10 years or so, the Park Canada have been doing a lot of what they call fire smarting. So FireSmart is a relatively new program that's been developed over the last 15 or 20 years or so in collaboration with a lot of local indigenous partners to basically put down in writing their traditional way of managing this land. And the gist of it is basically to sparse up the forest. So that's what they did here over the last 10 years or so. Cutting down a lot of the smaller trees to leave room for some of the bigger trees, like the Douglas firs that are adapted to the fire. So all of this, the fire smart, that's been something we've known about for again 15, 20 years or so. But unfortunately, we're at a time in our forests where it was a little too late to do anything to rebalance these forests. Um, it's at a point where a lot of parks are doing prescribed burns as well. Uh very specifically prescribed burns. We stopped calling them control burns about 10 years ago because we don't actually control them. That's not how they work. So prescribed burns, they're doing that a lot around in other parks. But unfortunately, in here it was too late for that. The forest was so thick, so dense, it was so much dead wood and dead fall that if they started a prescribed fire, they would have lost control of it immediately, I'm sure of it. So at this point, it was too late to reset the forest. Um but again, with this fire, it's an opportunity for us to start managing it properly with the now current knowledge that we have. Um, and to be honest with you as well, all of that knowledge, I say we learned it over the last 15, 20 years, but that's just really us Europeans, the local indigenous populations that have been here for 10,000 years, or if not more, they knew all about that. They did prescribe burns as well for tens of thousands of years. Uh the Stonies, which is one of the prominent groups here in Jasper, they were nomadic people. And when they left their camp, they always left their fire running. And they said if this section of the forest is due to burn, it will. And if it's not, it will not. But when it did burn, it only burned about a like a square kilometer at a time, and then it stopped naturally because there wasn't a hundred years of fuel in those forests. And then all of that was also a, in a sense, a primitive way of uh of gathering animals as well. Because after the fire, they know that when they come back the next year, all the animals will have flooded that area as well to eat all of that new growth. So it's great hunting grounds for them the next years as well. So it's really everything is connected. They had a lot more knowledge about these places than honestly we ever will have, I think. So we have still a lot to learn directly from them.

Speaker 1:

Why did it why did they only start listening to them 15, 20 years ago?

Speaker 6:

Um uh Europeans arrogance, if I want to be very blunt. Uh that's kind of how it was. We were at a time in our history where us Europeans thought that we knew better.

Speaker 1:

So when did you when did the idea come to pivot and do these kind of tools?

Speaker 6:

Uh we had to pivot very quickly once the fire happened. Uh, as you might know, a lot of tool operators they create their uh their offers basically a year ahead of time. And so we were in August during evacuation, and people were pestering Estelle about what's going to be like next year. And she was a point, obviously, she was not back in town. We didn't know what it was going to be like. So when she came back in town, she had to confirm that the stairs were still there, and then that's when she decided to really pivot for the uh for the wildfire aspect, which totally makes sense, honestly. Um, and then that's also when we realized that it wouldn't be possible to be cooking up here uh with the uh the last year's formula. Um it's too it's too hard to ask people to be up here for like an hour and a half in the sun. Uh it gets pretty warm, as you know, and sometimes it gets pretty windy as well, so it gets tricky. So we need a little extra shelter.

Speaker 1:

Was it always an open summit though? You could always see a view.

Speaker 6:

Yeah, yeah, you could always see a view, but we cooked basically a little down there, kind of in the little forest there on the side. So we had a lot more shelter. We're gonna go. As things come back. Exactly. Yeah. This year's the last day it's gonna look like this. Tomorrow's going to be different, next month it's going to be different, next year, drastically different as well. So it's uh it's a good time to see it right now, and uh you can come back in five years, as you're saying, and see the difference as well. Five years on, yeah, which is pretty sweet.

Speaker 1:

You're saying it's this is the new normal.

Speaker 6:

It's the new normal. Yeah, things are changing so quickly. But that's the beauty of it, and that's honestly what's kind of kept us going, I think. This trail opened back up in I want to say late October, early November or so. And I did this trail when it first opened. And I remember uh towards the end of the trail, there was a beautiful flower flowering in late October, early November. That's not really normal at all, but it's because the soil was still warm because of the heat. And when I saw that, for me that's when I realized it's like it's going to be okay.

Speaker 1:

That was this episode's Hidden Hero, the personal people making a difference to others in travel destinations around the world. It was so insightful to see how Estelle Blanchette's company has evolved their usual five-kilometre hiking tour to look at the regrowth habitat and power of nature in being able to bounce back after a natural disaster. It offered every one of us on that tour hope, above all things, as well as incredible views of the entire area. I urge you, if you're thinking of visiting Jasper but are worried it's too soon after the fire, go. The people really need us to visit. And just like that, it's the nearly the end of the episode. So nearly time for me to reveal my inspiring Wander Woman of the Month. I hope you've enjoyed what you've heard. Please do subscribe so you never miss an episode, and please do leave a review. It means so very much. You can follow me on Instagram at Phoebe R Smith, find me on Blue Sky, or go to my website, phoebensmith.com, where you can sign up for my occasional newsletter and of course send me a message. Now, this episode we stay in Canada, but this time over in the province of Labrador and Newfoundland, where a determined woman is continuing her recently deceased husband's legacy on a wilderness journey along a very long river.

Speaker 1:

The trees are almost sparkling in the sunshine as the Boreal Forest catches the early morning light. Here, amid the trees of northern Labrador, a province on the easternmost reaches of Canada, there is a woman smiling for a photograph. At first glance, it looks like she's holding an umbrella, that is, until you see where the light catches the trigger guard of what is actually her rifle. In this photograph, she's posing for, taken in 1905. She is wearing a long skirt, a sun hat, and around her shoulders are a number of leather satchels. Behind her, you can see the classic Canadian wilderness, and she is smiling wide for the picture. And she has every right to, as we are joining her here as she has just completed one of the toughest trips, a 600-mile journey facing bears, freezing rivers, and rapids. It was an expedition that killed her husband. Her name is Mina Benson Hubbard, a Canadian explorer whose life took as many turns as her expedition did, and who is, criminally, largely forgotten, as is her beautifully written account of it, A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador. The odds were already stacked against her before she left. A grief-stricken hysteric, one journalist wrote. Another claimed she should be banned from the wilderness, as they dismissively covered her expedition to explore the Nascope and George River in Labrador.

Speaker 1:

Mina was born in Ontario in April 1870. Her father was Irish and her mother English. We know little about her upbringing, except that she was one of eight children and graduated as a nurse in 1899 from the Brooklyn Training School for Nurses. A year later, while working at a hospital in Staten Island, she nursed Leonardis Hubbard, a journalist two years her junior. Another year later, they were married. In 1903, Leonardis, who was assistant editor of Outing Magazine, led an expedition to canoe and map the river systems of Labrador. It did not start well and got worse. There were navigational issues, and two months into the expedition, they ran out of supplies. While his companions, Dylan Wallace and a First Nations guide George Elson, went to find them, Leonardis Hubbard died of exhaustion and starvation. Wallace was rescued after getting lost in a snowstorm, and Elson survived in a cabin he found. Mina asked Wallace to write a book about the expedition in memory of her husband, called Lure of the Labrador Wild. It was a success, but Mina was far from happy about the portrayal of Leonardis, believing it ruined her husband's reputation. So Mina decided to complete the expedition herself. She enrolled George Elson, who had been one of the three on the first expedition, and two Crete Indians who had rescued Wallace.

Speaker 1:

But here's the rub. Wallace was also planning to complete the expedition too. The press, sensing rightly, a story, build it as a race. On June 27th, both teams set off. It's here that you expect stories of battles with bears and starvation. But the biggest testament to Mina Hubbard is the fact that this expedition went smoothly. It was immaculately planned and perfectly executed. Yes, there was cold, yes, they encountered bears, but they arrived at their destination in 43 days, having mapped a basin that would alter how boats travelled through the region, while also taking notes on the topography, geology, flora and fauna of the country traversed. They also did it seven weeks before Wallace. Mina's account of the expedition is a blend of adventure and reflection, reflection of life and death, of the relationships with First Nations, and of the nature of travel, the outdoors, and what it can teach us. It's a genuinely heartwarming greed.

Speaker 1:

In 1908, Mina embarked on a lecture tour of the UK, where she met and married Harold Ellis and started living in Hampstead, London. They had three children and divorced in 1926, but her expedition days were not over. In 1936, she joined her old friend George Elson for a canoe trip along the Moose River in northern Ontario. She died in tragic circumstances, hit by a train in London, aged 86. In 2018, she was named by the Canadian government as a person of national historic significance.

Speaker 1:

If Wander Woman had that award too, we'd give it to her. And in a way, we just have.