It was another chilly morning as we woke up early to get ready for our "Exploring Banff and it's Wildlife" tour, which would pick us up at 8.45am. We got onto the bus with about 10 other people ready to see some of the sights and hopefully some wildlife too!
The trip covered all the main tourist attractions in and around the town.... the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel, which originally was built in 1888 (but has since burned down and been rebuilt); the "Hoodoos" - pillars of rock that have been formed over millions of years; Lake Minnewanka, and the frozen Bow Falls; and finally the Cave & Basin, which was the discovery that actually prompted the area to be declared a National Park. These are a collection of natural sulphur springs within the mountain - the Cave being indoors (in a cave), and the Basin being outdoors. Bathers are no longer allowed in the springs due to the discovery of a species of endangered snail that lives only in these springs, nowhere else in the world! The snail is about the size of a passion fruit seed so I didn't really consider that to be the most exciting wildlife sighting of the day.
We did, however, see a male and female Mule Deer through the trees, and a big herd of 5 male Elk grazing on the side of the road. The Elk were amazing, their antlers are huge and after holding one up (see attached pic) you can only imagine how strong their necks must be! While we were stopped taking photos of the Elk another 2 wandered out of the trees and crossed the road right in front of our bus! They were a little younger than the others and didn't like to pose for the photographers so they hid behind a tree.
On the drive back down to town we also saw another herd of Elk but they were much further away than the previous lot.
At the conclusion of the tour we were dropped back in town and had lunch at one of the pubs.
Jase is starting to get a bit of a cold, not surprising considering the cold temperatures we have been in... so we had a lazy afternoon in the hotel. Sunday night is really quiet in town, we just came back from a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant but nothing much really happening so we'll probably have an early night. Hopefully Jase will be feeling better tomorrow and we'll decide in the morning what to do on our last day in Banff.
1 comment:
Nice beanie, N. ;)
Suggestion: chili, ginger, garlic. Boil them in water for 30 mins. Drain off liquid and drink it with some honey and lemon. Also have as much raw chili and ginger that he can handle on every dish (i.e. curries, noodles etc). That should help the cold (seriously).
Stay rad
tm
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