Most wolves are land-based predators, working in packs to chase down the likes of deer and elk. But on the coastal islands of British Columbia, these adaptable creatures have carved out a different existence, said Andrew Eames in the FT. Having come for the venison, they’ve stayed for the seafood, “browsing the tides”, grazing on barnacles, clams and crabs, and “occasionally swimming to offshore rocks to creep up on seals and sea otters”. These “sea wolves” have thrived, and are widespread today, but spotting them amid the region’s dense forests is not easy.
Still, your chances are not bad on the bespoke “wolf-searching” trips recently launched by Audley Travel, with indigenous guides and much time spent near the islands’ shorelines, walking, camping and travelling by boat.
After a few nights in Vancouver and in Port Hardy, at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, you sail northwards through the smaller islands of the labyrinthine archipelago. There’s plenty of other wildlife to spot, including bald eagles, pods of humpback whales, and “pungent” colonies of sea lions. Particularly comical are the sea otters, gathered in great “rafts”: you might pause to watch mothers showing their pups “how to open shells by thwacking them on stones balanced on their chests”.
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The first land stop is a shell midden left by humans – the only trace that remains of a former Tlatlasikwala First Nations village on the site. You then pitch camp on a smaller island nearby, setting off on a walk through a rainforest laced with wolf trails.
Amid the dense creepers and cedars like “towering organ pipes”, there’s a sense the animals are watching you. But they’re most likely to reveal themselves at dawn, when they howl together, drawing you out of your tent.
With any luck, you might spot one – its hair “the colour of ginger tea” – gazing at you from a nearby island before padding away into the gloom.
A nine-day trip costs from £5,870pp, including flights (audleytravel.com).
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