If you’ve come across a photo of brown bears standing on the edge of a waterfall grabbing a salmon jumping out of the water with their mouths, you’ve most likely looked at photos of Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park in Alaska.
The huge park is home to one of the world’s largest populations of brown bears (there are about 2,200 individuals), and there is also the highest concentration of salmon coming here to spawn. In July and September, when salmon arrives in these parts, local bears feel like in paradise.
700-kilogram bears in Alaska reach such gigantic sizes because of the abundance of affordable and highly nutritious food. They usually don’t bother people, but they still remain dangerous and unpredictable. Tourists should take precautions. It is enough for most tourists to watch the fishing bears from special viewing platforms at the Brooks Falls, which are crowded with vacationers in July.
Katmai Park offers a diverse landscape: from the volcanic Valley of ten thousand smokes to Alpine peaks, fertile coastal plains and fjords. Here you will definitely see moose, caribou, wolves, lynxes, wolverines, sea otters, bald eagles and killer whales.
YOUR ADVENTURE: You will see how bears catch salmon among waterfalls
WHERE: Katmai National Park, Alaska
DATES: July and September