Jasper National Park
From March to June and again from September to November, visitor activity at the 2,774,500 acre Jasper National Park is intense. Home to God’s creatures great and small, Jasper with its multitude of grizzly and black bears, mountain caribou, moose and wolves is a magnet for the wildlife buff. It’s also the ancient stamping ground for the likes of marmots, pikas and Columbian ground squirrels, and a vast array of avifauna, including the bald eagle.
Sharing space with Banff National Park, Jasper is part of the UNESCO-acclaimed Rocky Mountain World Heritage Site (and the largest NP in the Canadian Rockies), and a core part of the world’s largest national park system. Home to the world’s second largest glacier-fed lake, Maligne Lake (the best place for moose sightings along with Pochohantas Ponds), this National Park in Alberta was established in 1907. Each year its massive terrain easily accommodates the stream of 2 million tourists visiting for its wildlife, the Columbia Icefields and pristine eco-systems – and the summer camping (there are around 82 backcountry campsites), scenic drives, fishing, horseback riding and hiking. In winter, Marmot Basin is a huge draw for the skiing and snowboarding community. Moose-viewing (by the Athabasca River) is best from August-September in the rutting season. Straddling the Continental Divide, the Columbia Icefield is the source of at least eight important glaciers…of these the most spectacular is Athabasca.
Algonquin Provincial Park
Looking for ‘big moose’ in the wilds of Canada? Head for the ancient forestlands of Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park with its assiduously protected lakes, rivers, bogs and glorious canopy of conifers. Canada’s oldest provincial park (estd. 1893), Algonquin offers the promise of over 5-10 sightings in a day of these beasts which gather here in multitudes… In the spring you might find moms and babies heading for the salt to be found (spread by the rangers to thaw the ice) by the park’s main road or ditches in this ample habitat. The park is Canada’s best hotspot for moose-viewing, which can be done along the main road itself. Moose antlers can grow to over 3ft in length and 40lb in weight, each year, to replace the old ones. The park, which has 40 species of mammals, is also big on black bears and wolves (who are particularly vocal on August nights) and is home to 2,000 beaver ponds. If you’re here in April or in early May, do join locals in the annual spring rite of ‘ice-out’ when the ice cap on a lake disappears.
