Nat Hab's 2024 Guest Photo Contest

Species: Brown Bear | Location: Brooks Camp, Katmai National Park, United States Of America

During a July 2018 Ultimate Alaska Photo Safari, we had the opportunity to do a river walk while in Brooks Camp. This allowed us to see Brown Bears primarily along the shoreline, with a progression down the river, first of males primarily near the falls, sub-adults next, followed by mama bears with cubs. This is when I noticed a female bear come out of the woods followed by cubs. I pointed my Coolpix at her, zoomed in and saw that there were four cubs. We stopped to watch her and the cubs interact with each other. She came in to the river to fish for salmon and the cubs followed her, eventually to the point where the flow of the river was getting to strong for them, particularly for the two smaller ones. Mama bear came toward the cubs to help calm them. One of the smaller cubs proceeded to climb up on her, struggling at first to clear the water and finally made it to the top of her. The cub stayed on her while the other three cubs made their way to the shore. I took the photo after mama bear climbed up on to the shore, with the cub still hanging on, into the grassy area and she looked in our direction. I later learned that the mama bear is known as 402, often a contender in the Fat Bear Contest. Rest in peace 402, you were a terrific mama bear and will forever be in my heart.

About The Photographer

Enjoys photographing wildlife, wildflowers, landscapes and macro, Entered digital photography in 2016 in preparation to first NatHab trip, Hidden Yellowstone Safari and have continued since, whether it be in my yard, at local reserves and parks, during personal travel or subsequent NatHab trips. While photographing, I prefer to vary the settings on my Nikon cameras in order to capture the scene as close to how I observe it as possible.