Welcome back to Emma’s ultimate guide to national parks. Today we’re heading north – WAAAAAY north to Wapusk National Park – the land of the polar bears.
Buckle in, the adventure continues NOW!

In this episode Emma greets us from marvelous Manitoba, specifically Wapusk National Park.

She’s here to find a friend of Adelia Goodwin’s: Nellie Peters. But also to visit this awesome park!
Wapusk National Park is found in a rather remote area of Canada. It is known for its stunning landscape, from open snowy plains to boreal forests, frozen wetlands, and coastal shores home to various marine animals.

The park was created as an area to protect polar bears while they sleep in their winter dens, as well as home to caribou who raise their calves during the summer seasons.

Now…Emma can’t exactly explore Wapusk on her own the way you might visit Yellowstone or Pacific Rims’ national parks. Why?
Well, although polar bears are extremely cool animals, they’re also large carnivores (males can weigh up to almost a thousand pounds and be up to 9 feet long). They can be unpredictable, and they have been known to attack people in the past. Best to have an expert along with you!

Have you ever wondered why polar bears are white? It turns out that polar bear hair is really special: it’s clear. When the sun hits the hair, it reflects and scatters the sunlight. Our eyes interpret it as white. Polar bear fur also has keratin protein in it, which is slightly white. And polar bears look the whitest when it’s really bright outside with a lot of sunlight, and when they’re clean.

Polar bears aren’t all that you can find in Wapusk! On land, you might be lucky to see animals like the arctic fox, wolf, moose, caribou, wolverine, or smaller mammals like weasels or lemmings. In the water, seals, arctic char, and beluga whales swim around. Emma had a lucky run-in with a pod of beluga whales. She asked us to share some cute pictures!

After belugas and bears, what was left for Emma to see in Wapusk National Park? That would be a beautiful beaded pouch! This gift that Emma received from Ranger Nellie was something that Adelia herself had gifted many years ago.

What is inside the pouch? It’s a secret! Emma was told to open it when she really needed to. Who knows when that moment will come?

Do you have any ideas what might be hiding inside the pouch? Why do you think Adelia gave it to Emma? Now that Emma is back on course, where should she head next for her summer vacation?