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Close encounter with bear at Tofino, B.C.

Photo of bear encounter by Duncan Speight

In beautiful Clayoquot Sound, known for its diverse wildlife and natural beauty, a black bear comes into view. Metres away, a man watches as the bear combs the shoreline for food. Both of them are vulnerable and curious.

The bear sniffs its way to the man. Steady. The man takes a careful step closer, and then one more, trying not to topple as he  carries his digital camera. The rocks at water's edge sparkle like diamonds in ocean's floor.

And then they are face to face. Two strangers meet for the first time. The bear's fur glistens in the sun, as it stares directly at the camera, as if somehow it knows it is its time to shine. The man snaps a couple of pictures, all the while the bear keeps its top hat composure. After all, this is its home. And anyways, it has met the likes of him before. And so strangers no more, and perhaps they never were, they part.
 
Tofino is a village of around 1, 650 residents on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia. It is the main coastal village of Clayoquot Sound.
I loved being there. I stayed at a cozy, rustic, beachfront cabin. It was an inexpensive bliss, captured in Speight's photograph and sent to us by Ocean Village Resort in Tofino, BC.

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