Natural Habitat Adventures gets you up close and
personal with the disappearing polar bear.
Photo: Mike Bruscia

by Brook Wilkinson

As you've probably heard, the polar bear was recently designated a "threatened" species by the Department of Interior. This is a step up from "endangered," but means that they're headed in that direction. There are still quite a few polar bears left (found only in the Arctic, of course, none down at the South Pole), but the worry is that if global warming continues at the current pace, the bears' main hunting habitat--sea ice--could soon melt.

So, how to see these cuddly-looking guys before they're as rare as a black rhino? Two companies, both named to Conde Nast Traveler's Green List in the past few years, run trips that will get you up to polar bear territory. Go now, before it's too late.

Natural Habitat Adventures runs a variety of polar bear expeditions. Their "classic" trip visits the largest concentration of polar bears, outside Churchill, Canada, by tundra buggy. The Ultimate Churchill trip visits a polar bear den, the Tundra Lodge Adventure gives you longer days with the bears, and the Photo Tour promises to send you home with frame-worthy shots.

If you'd rather approach the bears by sea, Cruise North--the only Inuit-owned cruise line--runs several itineraries that give you a shot at seeing polar bears. The Baffin Adventure trip, for instance, visits Akpatok Island, a favorite summering ground for the bears.

Either way, you'll be traveling with an environmentally sound company. Natural Habitat Adventures is the first completely carbon-neutral travel company--they offset the energy used both on their trips and in their Boulder, Colorado office--and Cruise North runs a clean-up cruise at the end of every season.