Fiords now world’s top destination
Tourists flock to Norway, but B.C. has splendour on its own coasts
What’s the world’s top travel destination? It depends on how you measure it. The number of visitors? Reviews, polls and surveys? Revenue generated for the region? Any way you count it, fiords remain at the top of all lists. Norway’s fiords, that is. British Columbia has some catching up to do. In fact, many people in B.C. don’t even know we have fiords. National Geographic magazine recently named Norway’s fiords as “the best unspoiled travel destination in the world.” Perhaps they haven’t been to B.C.’s fiords. Very few people have had that pleasure.
Fjords (pronounced “fee-yords”) are long, narrow passages in the sea bordered by steep cliffs, dug out by glacial erosion during successive ice ages. Norway’s coastline is estimated at 29,000 kilometres with hundreds of fiords. In a 2015 survey, Norwegian tourism officials found that 47 per cent of visitors to their country came for the fiords, to “experience nature.” Dozens of cruise ships ply many different fiords. Sognefjord, at 204 km long and 1,200 metres deep, is the deepest and longest.
Recently I was a guest lecturer aboard a cruise ship sailing Sognefjord, showing slides and video of my many adventures to remote destinations around the world. I cruised the fiords for five weeks, marvelling at their amazing beauty. The ships float by dozens of little villages, with pastures stretching up to the sky. At the far end of Sognefjord is the picturesque village of Flaam, and the valley behind is the most beautiful I have ever seen, with waterfalls cascading thousands of metres down the cliffs.
June is the best month to go, when the waterfalls are at their peak. At that time of the year there are 23 hours of sunshine. One important item the cruise line forgot to mention to passengers was the arrival time of 8 a.m. in Flaam. I informed my fans that if they stayed up late to watch the sunset, there would be no sunset. Also, that dazzling scenery took place between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m., when they were sleeping. There is no point in going to see the fiords if you don’t actually see them.
Around the world there are fiords on the coasts of Alaska, British Columbia, Chile, Greenland, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Labrador, Nunavut, Newfoundland and Scotland. Only Chile seems to be actively promoting tours of its fiords which, because of their enormous popularity, seems to be strange. Some people are missing the boat. In B.C., there is only one coastal cruise available to the public, a straight run up the Inside Passage to Prince Rupert, a public ferry that doesn’t enter a single fiord.
The only vessel I know that explores any inlets and fiords of B.C. is the Aurora Explorer based out of Campbell River, a freighter with six cabins for 12 people that picks up and delivers goods to isolated fish and logging camps in the fiords north and east of Desolation Sound. The scenery in that region is beyond spectacular, with snowcapped peaks towering over 2,000 metres high. On my Norwegian lectures I showed my photos and video of the B.C. coast to fans. The images included humpback whales leaping into the sky, orca pods, eagles in 100-metre trees, black bears, grizzlies in estuaries, spirit bears fishing for salmon, wolves on beaches, sea lions and otters. There is nothing like that in Europe. Truly the coast of British Columbia is the Promised Land for “unspoiled tourism.” Why we don’t promote our own fiords whatsoever remains a mystery to me.