Welcome to our bear section, where bears roam free, living their lives in the wild!
Our first ever bear sighting was purely by chance in the Canadian Rockies, we were on the Bow Valley Parkway just as the sun was rising, making a head start on a long day of driving. I spotted a black blob at the side of the road and excitedly stumbled on my words as I pointed saying “b...b...b...bear”! We viewed it from our rental car and took some pictures through the open window as it grazed on the roadside grass... it was a black bear and the early morning lighting was poor which resulted in very grainy pictures, but these pictures would be the pride of our trip. Seeing this little black bear in the wild was the beginning of a passion for these wonderful creatures.
Main Bear Species
Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuc) – south central China
Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) – northern & western South America
Sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) – southeast Asia
Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) – India & Sri Lanka
American black bear (Ursus americanus) – North America
Brown bear (Ursus arctos) – northern Eurasia & North America
Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) – Arctic Circle
Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus) – Himalayas, Northern India, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, northeast China, far east Russia
... add to this list their sub-species and there are a lot of bears to see!! We would very much like to see a wild bear from each of the main species, we have made a good start with our visits to North America, India & Sri Lanka, but we will need to branch out further to see spectacled, sun, giant panda and Asian black bears!
Through the links below you will find our bear viewing advice & bear viewing reviews.