Alaska·United States
Photo: USFWSAlaska · Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
The Arctic Refuge is the largest wildlife refuge in the United States, stretching from the Brooks Range to the Beaufort Sea. In early summer the Porcupine caribou herd, around two hundred thousand animals, moves to its calving grounds on the coastal plain, followed by wolves and grizzlies, while musk ox graze the tundra.
In season: Jun–Jul · Peak: Jun
Remote camps on tundra and river bars under 24-hour daylight, often combined with a raft or canoe float down a river such as the Kongakut. Sightings depend on where the herd moves each year, and weather can delay flights.
A hundred and fifty thousand animals crossing the coastal plain
Drifting through the Brooks Range with the herd
Musk ox, grizzly and wolves above the Arctic Circle
Book a guided trip with a licensed outfitter, flying from Fairbanks via Arctic Village or Kaktovik by bush plane. Go in June for the migration, and pack for cold, wind and mosquitoes.
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Brown bears snatching leaping salmon at Brooks Falls, one of the great wildlife spectacles on earth.
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Three weeks on the glaciers of the highest mountain in North America, 6,190 m above the Alaska Range.
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A week in the northern Serengeti timed to the migration, watching a million wildebeest decide to cross.
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Brown bears snatching leaping salmon at Brooks Falls, one of the great wildlife spectacles on earth.
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Wolves, grizzlies and vast herds of bison in the Lamar and Hayden valleys, the Serengeti of North America.
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