Johnny Kingdom and the Bears of Alaska

I'm Johnny Kingdom. Some people call me the wild man of Exmoor.

I don't know about that,

but I've spent years and years filming the wildlife here.

I've even got shots of salmon leaping.

There's another one over there!

I've filmed the salmon for years and years

but I've also had one or two for supper with my dad!

When I was a youngster, I used to get into the river and catch them

with my bare hands.

I don't do things like that any more.

But I've always wanted to see how the real experts do it.

And now I've finally got the chance!

I'm going to Alaska to film the best salmon catchers on Earth -

the brown bears!

I'll be filming them in the river.

He's a big beast, isn't he?

In a field.

Oh, this is brilliant!

And even on a beach!

He's so close. He's too close now.

But what I want to film more than anything is bears catching salmon.

If I can do that, it would be a dream come true.

I can't believe what I'm looking at!

It's happening to me.

It's happening. That's incredible.

I've travelled 5,000 miles to Kodiak Island in Alaska

with my wife Julie.

It's the furthest we've ever been from home before.

Well, we've been travelling 19 hours,

me and the wife, and I'm absolutely shattered.

But you know, it's so nice to be here.

What a lovely countryside this is.

You can see why they call it the Emerald Island.

It's beautiful man, beautiful.

Kodiak Island is going to be our base for the trip.

It's in southwest Alaska, right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

We're here in the summertime when the snow's already melted

because that's when the bears come down from the mountains

to look for food, and it makes them a lot easier to find.

It's also when the salmon return from the ocean to

breed in the rivers where they were born.

So it should be the perfect place to film the bears catching them.

It's here somewhere that we've got to turn right, Julie.

But first, we've got to find where we're staying.

They said outside there'd be a moose.

It's a moose.

This must be it.

Our host for the next few days is Robyn Haight and her daughter Laura.

-You're Robyn?

-Yes, my name's Robyn, Johnny.

-And I'm Julie.

-Welcome.

We're about 10 miles from the main town of Kodiak.

This reminds me of home - of Exmoor,

except this stream will soon be full of salmon.

Back home, they've gone from most of our rivers.

And here's something now, right opposite our room.

It's America's national bird, the bald eagle.

What a lovely bird. In a tree right above the river.

Now this is the bird that takes the fish, the salmon.

About the same size as our golden eagle.

This is the first bit of wildlife I've seen.

It's beautiful, man.

This is a bird I'd love to get some really close shots of.

And it looks like I should be able to do it round here.

It won't be that simple with the bears, though.

They are in remote areas, which you can only reach by seaplane.

And for that, we need good weather.

It's very changeable here so we'll just have to wait

and see what the morning brings.

RADIO: "It's another rainy day in Kodiak.

"The forecast is calling for overcast skies, fog, heavy rain all day today."

It's raining and very, very misty and they will not fly in this.

So I've got to wait until I've got a nice sunny day.

But I'm looking forward to it but still very,

very nervous with the flying, also the bear!

So today instead, I'm going out on a boat,

but first I'm going to have a look around Kodiak Harbour with Julie.

It may not look it, but it is the third largest fishing

port in America and salmon is the biggest catch.

The fishermen deliver to him. They weigh it out.

The fleet load the fish onto boats like this

out in the Pacific Ocean - 100 million pounds of it every year.

Five, six pounds average.

They catch five different types of salmon

so first they have to sort them.

I've never seen so many fish in all my life! They're coming from everywhere. Look at them!

This is the kind the bears like best - the sockeye.

I'd love to see them catch one this size.

This is a huge operation.

Just about everyone on Kodiak works in fishing.

The chances are if you've had wild salmon,

it came from the waters around here.

Right, now it's time for me to try and catch one for my supper.

Hey, are you Johnny Kingdom?

Yeah! Let's go fishing!

I recognised you because of your hat.

Of course, yeah.

I hope there is only one of those in the world!

Lee Robbins is a champion fly fisherman and has lived on Kodiak Island since 1969.

I'm glad you brought your binoculars cos you'll need them

for the size fish you'll catch. Come on, let's go catch some salmon!

Thanks, mate, thank you. You've got a lovely boat, fantastic boat.

We're heading out to one of Lee's favourite fly-fishing spots.

And on the way, we're hoping to see other wildlife.

They call that Elephant Rock. I like that.

And Lee says there's another one up here,

should have some sea lions on it.

I can hear them already!

Beautiful. I've never seen anything like this before.

The reason these sea lions are out here is this is the spot

where there's a lot of salmon that swim by

and that's some of the prime food for these animals.

So they can come out here

when the salmon are going around this corner and then they have this

haul-out spot. This is called a haul out so they can come in and rest.

And you can hear by the growling why they're called sea lions.

Fantastic!

Hello!

Roarrr!

He answered me. Ha ha!

And what a sight that is. They're right beside of us, but very difficult to film.

Soon as you start zooming in, it goes all over the place.

These are called Stellar sea lions and they're very rare.

These animals are recently protected

because salmon fishermen used to shoot everything - eagles,

bears, sea lions - anything that they had competition with, they'd kill.

And it's just recently, I'd say within the last 15 years,

that the sea lion has become protected and a fisherman shooting

a sea lion now can lose his boat and have a huge fine and go to prison.

Seems like to me Kodiak Island is all about fish and salmon.

Sure is. I think that's the whole key to everything on Kodiak.

Right, here we are at Kalsin Bay.

It's a popular spot for locals now

because the salmon have started to make their way up the estuary here.

Lee reckons I stand a good chance of catching one.

I've had a go at fly-fishing before and it's not as easy as it looks.

Let's step out here and talk a little bit about what's going on here.

We have five different species of salmon.

I'm going to straighten this line out while we're talking.

The ones that we're after right now are called the pink salmon.

All of our salmon have two names.

The pink salmon's second name is humpback, or humpy.

OK, there you go.

The biggest fish we have is the King salmon, or the chinook,

and they can be up to 100 pounds.

-100 pounds?

-100 pounds. How would you like to hook

one of those on this rod?

Everybody has a different kind of fish that they prefer,

-like I think you like the red salmon the most, sockeye.

-I love the red salmon.

I like the silver salmon a lot and I love these fish,

-These are great.

-I know I'm doing it wrong.

Back cast. Stop.

-Stop?

-The same amount of energy on the back cast.

That's better. That's great. Just like that. Perfect.

OK, let's fish that one.

OK, now the fish we're after here, Johnny,

are pink salmon. They're the most abundant fish.

How can I tell I've got a bite?

It'll stop coming in. It'll start going out.

You had your strike!

-Yay!

-OK, now let him go.

Strip. I'm sorry, you've got to fish them. Get the rod up.

You've caught one.

-Oh, he's gone away.

-No, he's not.

He's gone now.

He's gone. I didn't do it quick enough.

Now you're reeling backwards. Reel forwards.

-No, no!

-He's still there. I think he's still there.

-I don't think he is.

-Reel it. Reel it. Reel it.

There she is.

You've got him, Johnny!

Yay!

Let him go if he wants to run. You're going the wrong way.

Take your hand off the reel. Take your hand off the reel.

Now, let him take the line. Back towards me. Reel it down.

Don't give him slack. Reel it down.

-Faster, faster, Johnny, faster!

-OK!

-Wow!

-Come here! Let him go!

You've got 100 yards of line!

Come back!

Yeah, I'm all right. He's going to sea!

No, he's not. He's on your side.

-Hey!

-Let's get you over here and on dry ground.

-You're reeling backwards.

-What did I do?

-What did I do that for?

-It's great. Go ahead.

I can't do it now.

Great. Great. Great. Don't go forwards. Back up.

I think I'll just get out of the way and let you catch this fish.

-OK.

-Take your hand off the reel until the rod straightens up.

There you go. Back him right up. Keep coming. Beautiful. Beautiful. Keep coming.

All right, I'll beach him when you're ready.

I'm not sure he's ready yet. Let your hand off the reel.

Want me to get him?

-It's a beautiful!

-Ah, nice fish!

-Look at the size of that.

-Fantastic!

-He's thick, isn't he?

-Better use two hands.

You did such a great fish-hooking this fish. He swallowed it all the way down to his gills

and he's bleeding a little bit. So we'll harvest this one and cook it for dinner.

OK. OK. Look at that. Beautiful.

That's a lovely salmon.

The limit on these fish is ten fish per day.

Well, I only want one!

I know, but we're not hurting anything by keeping this fish is my point.

-Thank you very much.

-You did great, man.

If you had about two more hours, you'd feel a lot more comfortable,

and you'd catch fish after fish after fish.

The only problem is, I've got to do something about changing because I'm wet.

-Everything I've got is drenched.

-I think it came from the top down, not the bottom up!

Johnny, I want you to know something. I realise it was a little confusing at times.

-Yes, it was, yes!

-But look what you did. You cast in really windy conditions, I think it's fabulous.

-I appreciate that.

-I mean I love it!

-Yes, I know.

Lee said, "You'll catch a salmon but you won't land one."

And he was surprised that I landed it. I just can't get over it.

And the taste of the salmon is lovely.

Fantastic. Oh, man!

I'm proud of myself, really.

-Julie, you're proud of him, too, aren't you?

-Of course she is! Cheers.

I just had a call from my bear guide, with the news that I'd been hoping for.

The mist is going to clear later on, which means we can fly

and I can go looking for my first bears.

Brilliant.

-Would you like another sausage?

-Thank you.

I haven't quite made up my mind about these strawberry

and sausage pancakes though.

-They are nice, John.

-He's not going to admit to it, but he likes it!

Don't tell until you try it properly.

Mm! It's lovely!

-I enjoy them.

-Awesome!

LAUGHTER

I've also got time this morning to try and get some bald eagle shots.

I've heard a right racket going on between an eagle and a magpie

and I'd like to see what's happening.

Oh, yes! Cracking shot. Look at that.

Cor, it's fantastic.

Now the magpie's just coming up to

interfere with the bird, and the eagle's looking down at the magpie.

The magpie's so close to that big bird. I can't believe it.

I've got a magpie a foot away from the bird.

And the eagle's looking down and terrifying him.

Now he's spread his wings. This is a really big bird.

I don't know quite for sure, but I'm told that these wings are about two metres wide.

Look at that. He's trying to drive that big bird away.

I've never seen anything like that before.

That's wonderful. Cor!

He flies up to him. He's making sure that the eagle won't get him.

This is another bird I've never filmed in my life before.

Fantastic.

BLUEGRASS MUSIC

Well, this is it.

I'm on my way, hopefully, to see a bear!

# I think I'm going to Alaska

# Where the heat of the summer's coming down

# Boots made of leather

# My coat's for the winter and you won't find me hanging around

# I think I'm going to Alaska

# Where the heat of the summer's coming down. #

My only problem is the little plane I've got to go in.

-Morning, mate.

-Good morning.

-I'm Johnny.

-Johnny. My name's Willy.

-Nice to meet you, Willy.

-Are we ready to go right away?

-We are. You ready?

-I'm a bit nervous.

-Oh, no problem. I'll get you right over.

-You sure?

-Oh, yeah. Slide on in there.

OK.

Quite looking forward to it, really. Until we get up in the sky!

The salmon are only just beginning to arrive

so there's not many places to see bears catching them.

So today I'm actually leaving Kodiak Island

and travelling just across the water to the mainland.

I'm heading for Hallo Bay in Katmai National Park,

a huge nature reserve where about 3,000 bears live.

It's one of the best places to see what the bears are up to,

before the salmon arrive.

Willy's just pointed out something all along the shoreline.

Lots of timber and bits and pieces that have washed up from the tsunami in Japan!

Unbelievable!

This is the first time I've ever landed on water.

Wee bit bumpy, never mind.

Right, we're touching down now.

As you can see by my camera, you've got a job to keep her still.

Oh! This is a bit rough.

Dear, oh, dear!

Ha ha!

During the winter in Katmai, the bears hibernate

up there in the mountains.

They don't eat anything for six months but in April, once

the weather warms up, they come down here looking for food.

Until the salmon arrive in late summer, they'll eat anything.

You've seen some evidence out here somewhere, have you?

I've seen a lot of evidence of bears out here on the front beach.

Jo Murphy has been taking people out to see bears for over 20 years.

This place is excellent for finding bears in all the beginning

parts of the season.

In the first part of the season, the bears are coming in here to

feed on the grasses, and they always have the clams on the front beach.

Oh, I see. OK, yeah. It's funny they eat the clams and eat grass,

so there must be a diet between the two things.

Yes. The bears have a very wide variety in their diet.

Oh, do they? OK.

Now, look down on the ground there, Johnny. See that?

D'you know what that is? This is a place where a bear has been having a little clam breakfast.

Oh, I see. Like a shell.

Yes.

See, the bear has totally eaten all the clam from inside the shell.

Oh, I see. Yeah. And just pulls it out with his paw?

I can see the big print. Oh, look! That's his tool mark there.

Now, the bear track, this actually shows us a lot of the size of the bear. This is the bear's front paw.

So if you're trying to figure out how big a bear is by the track,

you look at only the front paw, you measure from one side to the other,

and add one inch. So if that's five inches across,

to add one, six inches becomes a six-foot bear

from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail.

Six-foot high?

Six-foot from the tip of the tongue to the base of the tail,

so when the bear is standing up, you can add at least a foot because that's not counting the legs.

Now, look here - there's a bear! Look there!

Good grief! He's on the same beach as us! You sure that's a bear? He looks...

Oh, it's a bear, all right. Shall we go take a closer look?

I don't want to go too close. You know that, don't you? I just want to see a bear.

-To me, that looks very, very big.

-That's a female. It's a sow.

And the bears get much larger than that.

It's making me a wee bit nervous.

The bear's paying no attention to us.

A bear that means to move you

out of the area that you're occupying will look you in the eye

and move towards you without breaking eye contact.

A bear that's non-aggressive just gives a quick sideways glance

and looks away. So that is a sign that a bear is non-aggressive.

I understand.

OK, I'm trusting you for the minute.

'Jo doesn't carry a gun, just a can of pepper spray.

'and the bear would have to be pretty close for that to work,

'but it seems to me she knows what she's doing.'

You see now that we're giving her more of the beach to look for clams

-On this side, she's going to walk right past us.

-Yeah, OK.

So we're going to go just a little bit over here.

I'm not trying to tell you something,

but I am getting a wee bit nervous.

Do you want to stop for a minute?

Well, just, you know...

OK, let's go ahead and wait right here for a minute.

You see, she's just smelling for clams.

Can we go down on a knee?

Certainly. You ready? Let's go down.

Right, let's get a shot like this.

Wow.

I don't want to go any closer, because, I tell you now,

I can see its toenails.

JO LAUGHS

I can, honestly.

And that is something worth seeing.

Now, if I was home, you see, with a red deer,

I'd want to go closer,

because I know my animals, but I don't love this one.

-I'm not comfortable.

-Now, look at the bear, though.

See, the bear is just going about its business

that it was doing before we got here,

-and that's just looking for clams.

-I tell you, I'm not being funny,

I'm not worried about the bear, I'm worried about myself.

THEY LAUGH

I didn't honestly think I'd be coming to see you

and get that close to that big animal. That's close!

Oh, jeez!

Oh, look at that.

Digs a fair bit, you know, in so many seconds.

This is fantastic.

Oh, jeez!

Wonderful.

Brilliant, it's brilliant, but...

Cor.

One thing that we really have in our favour is

our bears are very well fed,

so they really are much less aggressive than the inland grizzly.

About 60% of their diet is vegetation,

the rest is a combination of fish, they eat sand fleas,

they eat barnacles, they eat animals, other mammals.

I've seen a bear actually catch a seal and kill it.

I'm shaking, Jo.

Do you know, I'm experiencing something

which I've always wanted to do.

I'm so, so close to this big, big animal,

and this lady beside me,

she's brilliant, to take me in like this.

I can't believe...

I'm not kidding, you can see...

you only see my fingers, look. And that's not Johnny Kingdom.

Because I'm not afraid of anything in my own country,

but now I am really shaking.

Won't you watch the bears for a little while?

Then you'll be just as comfortable as you are with your deer at home.

-Yes.

-The bears are very predictable in their own way.

Because a bear can do so much damage to each other,

they have developed just perfect body language

that tells exactly what their next move is going to be.

This is incredible. If I only see just this one.

When everybody sees this, they will say,

"You can see why he wanted to go there.

"To get that close to a big, big animal."

Oh, look at that.

Now the bear just looked up then.

Do you see she had a bit of clam in her mouth when she looked at us?

Yeah, yeah.

I still can't believe I'm right in the middle of a beach,

and I've got a bear right beside me.

Now, you see the tide is very slowly creeping in.

-Yeah.

-So, pretty soon that bear is going to get

-pushed a little closer to us.

-Yeah.

-Now she's smelling for another bear.

-Eh?

Did you see her just pick up her head and smell?

She's smelling for another bear.

-Now look over there. There's another bear over there.

-Where, where?

-Right there.

-I can't see it.

-Can you see?

Oh, I see it. Yes, I do.

-He's coming this way as well.

-That's right.

Oh, look, he's got a flounder.

-That bear has a fish.

-Oh, yes, yes. He has too.

Star flounder.

Yeah, this looks like another female bear.

-It doesn't look like a male like I thought in the beginning.

-No.

Now, looking as the bear has its back to us,

a female has very round hips,

where the males have very narrow hips, very slim hips.

He's still quite large to me, seeing him there like that.

-There he goes.

-He's turning around, look.

-He's turning around. Look, he's smelling at us.

-Is he?

Their best sense is their sense of smell,

so a bear smells about ten times as well as a dog does.

When conditions are right, they can smell something up to five miles.

Five miles! That's a long, long way.

He's a lovely colour, isn't he?

And that bear is still wearing most of its winter coat.

OK. Oh, I see what you mean.

So he's like the deer then, he loses its coat.

That's right. They're actually losing their coats right now,

since it's the summer season,

and their summer coat is much shorter than the winter coat.

It's also darker. They're beautiful.

Well, that was incredible - bears on the beach!

I still can't believe it.

And now Jo is taking me to the meadows,

where we might even see more bears in the grass.

Now, Johnny, I know that you've been telling me you wanted to see a bear den,

but most of those are way up in the mountains.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So this is the summertime equivalent

of a bear's den. This is what we call a day bed.

This is a spot where a bear will just dig out a big hole,

and you can see there is no grass in the middle of it,

but they will come back here, and, as they feed day after day,

they'll often come to the very same spot

-to take naps in the back meadows.

-Yeah.

What this tells us is that there are bears near here that are feeding,

so if we just keep looking, we're going to be seeing some bears.

All these grasses here, is this what they eat?

Yeah, they're feeding on all the different grasses

here in the meadow.

-Let's stop here for a minute.

-OK.

Wow, wow.

Big bear!

So close. He's too close now. Oh, dear.

OK. Let's see if I can just get one shot of that, yeah?

OK.

He's a big beast, isn't he?

There. That's a really brilliant shot.

What sort is that? Is that the female?

No, that's a male. That's a boar.

That's our first male. Just lying down there, he's eating grass.

That's what he's doing.

Now, looking at that bear's ears,

-do you see how they're still fairly close together?

-Yes.

So I'd say this bear is probably no older than seven years old.

About seven years old? Yeah.

And we're not that far away.

Just a few metres away from them,

and I can keep this still without a tripod.

It's very, very hard to keep it still. At least I can get...

-Here he comes.

-Oh, oh, oh!

And now you'll see the difference, mate.

Oh!

Now he's...that's the difference.

That's big. It's huge.

Look at the body on that.

That is ...

You'll notice even the way he stands tells us he's a boar.

The bore is a lot longer than the sow.

-You see the way he's got that long face and that long nose?

-Yeah.

That's classic boar, but the length in his body tells us he's a boar.

Yeah, he is very long.

I noticed that when he was sideways on just then.

My heart is going thump, thump.

You hear stories about bears and things like that and...

This is a big boar,

and he's showing absolutely no signs of aggression right now.

-He has totally gotten comfortable with the fact that we're here.

-Yeah.

When you're afraid of bears, your body actually makes a chemical

the bears can smell,

and they really do respect it when you're not afraid.

They respect confidence.

Honestly didn't think we'd be as close as this.

-That's only just a few metres away.

-Mm-hm.

Looking at that just now, to me, he looks like a lion.

-Like a male lion with a big mane.

-Yeah.

-Looks like that, doesn't it?

-Yeah, he's shedding out his long winter coat.

-Yeah.

You can see the hair on his hump is still long

and the hair is very short on his back,

so that's his summer coat we're seeing on his back.

-OK.

-Usually, the last place they lose that winter coat

-is right on the hump and on the front legs.

-Yeah.

That's fantastic, isn't it?

The bear is getting up now.

He's all right there, isn't he, Jo?

-Yeah, he's fine.

-He's beautiful, isn't he?

-He is beautiful.

Now Willy's arrived to take me back to Kodiak.

But it's all still happening with the bears!

This is brilliant, man, fantastic.

I can't believe it.

These two boars know each other quite well,

and they're very friendly with each other,

-so they're simply playing right here.

-This is playing.

It's incredible, that.

This is fantastic, you know? To see that happening.

Do you see another bear there on the left?

That bear walks across the front,

coming right past him. Look at that.

What a lovely shot. There's three bears in one shot.

What a shot to capture that is.

FOLK MUSIC PLAYS

'Well, I got to say, what a day that was.'

Cheers, mate.

'I definitely need a drink after that.'

Yes, brilliant.

Course, I still haven't seen a bear catching the salmon,

but if today's anything to go by, I won't be disappointed.

Next clear day, I hope that's what I'll be doing.

# Let it rain

# Let it pour

# Let it rain a whole lot more

# Because I've got them deep river blues... #

Well, I'm out of luck with the weather today.

It's not to going to be clear, and that means no bears.

But right now, I've got a chance to see

more of the island's wildlife, like these Yellowlegs.

You don't get them at home.

And have another go at filming the bald eagle.

Later I'm going out on Lee's boat again,

this time to film sea otters.

Brilliant!

Damn.

Aargh!

Wow!

Ooh! Missed it.

One ready for outside.

I've got a shot now.

That's better.

That's a wonderful shot, that is.

There's a chance we can find our first sea otter

laying over in that spot.

'Well, Lee has got a real treat in store for me.'

Cos I've never seen a sea otter before.

So, I can fool you, then.

I can tell you anything I want, and you'll believe it.

Well, yeah, but you...

OK, if you like.

The route we're taking to see the sea otters

passes through an area where humpback whales come to feed.

They're not after the salmon.

They like other fish like herring and mackerel.

And Lee's warned me to keep my camera ready,

because we could see one any minute.

There he is, right there. Dead ahead.

I did see it. There he is, look.

There, look. I just saw him then.

I spotted my first whale, but I didn't get a shot of it.

He's down for a bit. When he comes back up,

-we'll see if we can get a look at him.

-There, look, there.

I'll go after him. Hang on, boys.

-I saw him then.

-Sit down.

I saw him then. You want me to sit down?

Two whales.

Keep still. I saw...ohhh!

I missed it again, see.

Cor, what a...cor!

I missed it.

Saw two humpbacks here.

What's that? Up there, look.

Right over there, look.

I just saw the back fin of him there. It was a long ways away.

I heard it. Shhh!

One right beside us here now.

Oh! Oh! Cor! The whale!

He's coming up beside me!

I nearly had a heart attack!

-Another nice tail shot.

-Where, where, where? He ain't gone that far.

There, look!

Oh, there, yeah, I see his wings.

Ohhh!

Cor, I can't believe it!

Did you see that?

A whale came right up here beside me! Right there!

A flipping tail came out! Yeah-h!

Cor! What about that, then?

That's incredible, man.

Cor.

I'll keep my eyes peeled,

you keep your eyes peeled and we'll see if we can find some more.

We gotta get it on film.

Wow. Wow.

Oh, awesome.

I don't believe it. It's all happening.

Whoa.

Tail!

Ohhh, cracker!

This is unbelievable, cos all I've seen

is big, big tail on movies.

But here we are seeing it in real life!

I can't tell you how excited I is.

I'm here amongst the whales!

I'm waiting to get another shot now, please. One more shot.

Ohhh, look at this.

Ohh, look at...

Ohhh! Look at that, man.

By gum.

It's bigger than any fish I've ever seen.

Well, I wasn't expecting to see that when I got up this morning

and there are still sea otters to come.

It's very tricky to make them out

because they hide amongst the seaweed, the kelp.

And we've got to be careful we don't get tangled up in it.

There's one in there and I believe it's a female.

I'll get us right up to the edge of that kelp

and we'll see if she stays for us, OK? You see it, right?

-Right out there, yeah.

-OK.

I'm going to drift a bit.

-Very, very difficult, Lee.

-It's a really light-coloured head.

I think... I'm not 100% sure.

Here's one right in front. Here's one right in front of us.

-Where?

-Right to that rock.

-With a little baby on the belly. See it?

-Oh, yes, yes.

-OK.

Right in front of that rock.

-See the baby on the belly?

-I can see something there.

And I...

Yes, I do see one now.

He's sailing along with a baby, on his back,

and I've got a job to get anything at all.

Well, I know where there's a place where there's more habitat like this,

but it's quiet water. We can get closer,

and if there's sea otters there, we'll be able to get a lot closer,

then you can have undeniable proof that sea otters really still exist

and Johnny saw one or two.

OK, good man.

This part of Alaska is incredible for wildlife.

The waters are so rich, all sorts of animals come here

through the summer months to feed.

Look at all the kittiwakes.

BIRDS SQUAWK

Hear that noise!

They're black-legged kittiwakes.

See the black feet?

We get these at home on Lundy Island,

but not numbers like this.

All the cliff is just covered in them.

Unbelievable, you know, until you come to see it in real life.

And Lee has told me they've got the world's biggest puffin out here.

The tufted puffin.

I've never heard of it!

-There's a bunch of puffins out...

-Hang on a minute!

Hang on! Hang on! I didn't see them.

Oh, yeah.

I can see all the colours, like reddish. Yeah.

Keep still, boat, please. Lee, keep the boat still.

That's better.

They are a very attractive bird.

Something like the puffin at home, but...

I've got a job to tell you. I mean, I don't...

They get the red feet and that,

but their head looks funny because of that striped tuft

back over its head.

He's got two tufts on top of his head, one each side, man.

Both the male and the female are out gathering feed now

to bring into the burrows. Did you see some burrows in there?

I saw holes, yeah.

-Yeah. And they aren't very graceful flyers, really.

-No.

They come up and stall and fall in, then they go in the burrow,

and they come shooting out and they bail out off the cliff

until they get up enough airspeed, then they start flying again.

Wow, wow. They are lovely.

Cor, look at that, now. That's a cracking shot, there.

I'm right on a tufted puffin now.

Wow, that's the closest I'm going to get. It's a beautiful bird.

Handsome. Beautiful.

That's what they say out here. "Handsome". No, "awesome".

I'll get it right in a minute.

Come on, boy, fly down.

Look at that.

That is beautiful, my friend.

That's perfect.

Well, I'm still looking across there

and I'm still trying hard to get a close shot of a sea otter.

So, we've not got a real good shot yet.

I have got shots but not good enough, not passable yet,

so we'll keep trying until we get that good shot, yeah?

To the right of the islands, that long black-brown line of kelp?

-Yes, I do.

-Look there.

-That long...?

To the right of the island, on that long line of kelp, what do you see?

Oh, yes, I can see now.

One... two.

How many?

-Three...

-How many?

Oh! Oh.

Must be 20, 30!

LEE LAUGHS

There's otters. They're sea otters, would you believe it?

Oh, look at this, man. It's incredible.

There must be 100 there now.

Look at that.

Wow, wow, wow.

At last, I've seen our sea otters.

Oh, over the moon.

Wonderful! Cor!

Dearie, dearie me.

The last time I filmed otters was in Scotland,

but these ones here are completely different -

a lot bigger and they spend most of the time in the water.

Look at this one beside me.

He's just rubbing his ear, look.

That's an incredible shot!

That's incredible stuff.

He's crossed his legs over, look. I don't know what he's doing now.

He's rubbing his tail.

Yeah. He's just rubbing his tail.

Years ago, these animals were nearly hunted out for their fur,

but they're protected now, so no-one can touch them.

Hello, mate. I'm Johnny from England.

Just look at that.

Beautiful, man.

Well, I've never seen anything like this. This is another thing.

It's definitely the best bit of footage we've ever had with otters.

That's incredible stuff.

Incredible.

I wanted to see a sea otter,

but I didn't think I was going to see 100 of them.

Look! I take off my hat to you, my friend.

That is fantastic. More than I expected.

I can't believe what I've seen.

-Great!

-OK, you carry on with your good work, my friend.

That's fabulous! But I do have a question. Did you see more than two?

JOHNNY LAUGHS

Well, I'm just going to say cheerio to the sea otters

as I pass through.

I don't think I've ever filmed anything so pretty as that, you know.

Not so close as that. There were so many of them there.

That was excellent. Wonderful! Cor!

Well, well, well!

I'm just overwhelmed. Honest!

Cheerio my fluffy friends.

Awesome you!

Well, it's a beautiful morning, and after years

and years of waiting, it looks like it's finally going to happen.

I'm going to try and film bears catching salmon.

Wonderful!

I know John is really, really excited about seeing the bears.

I think he dreams about it as well,

but he's wanted to do it for such a long time.

I think it's because they catch fish with their hands

and that's what he used to do.

I still can't believe it.

I don't even feel that nervous about flying

and this plane is almost as old as me!

It was built in 1943.

Today, my bear guide, Jo, is coming with me on the flight.

She's taking me to a waterfall on the Dog Salmon River

close to Frazer Lake in Kodiak Island's largest national park.

Bears have just started to arrive there

to fish for the sockeye salmon that are making their way up the river.

The salmon are only here for about six weeks

so the bears have to eat as many as they can in that time.

Oh! Look at the water, look at the water!

Wow, that was fantastic, pilot!

I'd like to thank the pilot and you, Jo.

You're very welcome. All the credit goes to Steve.

Yeah, the pilot. And, now, it's Bear Time!

This is Frazer Lake, where the sockeye salmon now come to spawn.

This waterfall was too difficult for them to swim up

so they built the fish ladder to help them

and now over 100,000 sockeye salmon make the journey every year.

And that means the bottom of the ladder is the perfect place

for a hungry bear.

Look at that, look here!

That's fantastic! Look at that!

I'll get a shot before it goes.

I can film it from here.

Wow, look at that! Look how he's bouncing!

Oh! Look at the size of that!

My heart is burning inside. I'm not very far away from this bear.

Oh! Well, well! He's got a salmon.

I don't believe it.

Oh, this is real, man! Real real!

Look at the salmon he's got there.

That's not a sockeye fish, surely.

-That is a sockeye.

-Oh! I'm making a right mess of it.

I just can't believe it.

I can't explain to you how I feel.

I actually saw my first bear actually catch a salmon -

right in front of me. Now, that's hard to believe. Hard to believe.

But, look at that! And the little baby one, look at that!

JOHNNY LAUGHS

I can talk and talk forever because they're eating the fish,

they're eating it, you see. Look at him though.

He's took that salmon right back to his cub.

Instead of chewing it, he's eating the lot.

Look at that, look at that!

In one sitting, she may eat ten fish at one time.

Ten fish at one time!

Yes. They can gain more weight eating salmon

than they can any other single food source.

And they will actually give birth to more cubs

-when they have more body fat.

-Oh, I see. OK, yeah.

The bears begin to hibernate about two months

after the salmon have gone, so this is their best chance

to put on as much fat as they can.

There's another bear coming on the left.

Oh, look at how close he's coming to us.

He's coming right close to us.

This could be a young female.

-This is a young female, yes.

-It definitely is, is it?

Females tend to fish a little bit better than the males do

because they need to be better fishers to feed their cubs.

There's a baby one coming up now.

Baby's coming in to see mum.

Look at that! Isn't that brilliant!

I wasn't expecting to see that.

I expect the baby's saying, "Come on, Mum, catch us a fish!"

Whoa, we saw the salmon then.

Whoa!

So, Jo, how old would that baby be?

That baby would have been born in January,

so it is about six months old.

Cor!

She's got her head under the water now for some reason.

-She's scanning for fish.

-Oh, yeah.

All the bears have different techniques for fishing.

The baby one up there on top, waiting.

CUB BLEATS

-Ah, look at that!

-You hear that little sound the cub is making?

Yeah, what was that for?

That means no fish. When they want to nurse, they make that sound.

That's what the bear's doing, is it?

Now the bear's trying to get a salmon. Getting up speed, look!

That's incredible. Look at that!

How she could kill here!

Oh, come on, look at this! This is what I wanted to see.

And he's caught that thing. Well done, he's caught it.

Brilliant! That's what I wanted to see.

Wow, wow, wow!

Incredible!

She'll take it right across the other side, will it, Jo?

She may take it on the other side.

Did you see that glance she just gave the cub?

-She told him to come with her.

-Yeah. Incredible, that was.

Some bears are very good at fishing and there's other bears

that are very good at fish stealing,

so they like to take them a little bit away from the river.

-A private place like.

-Right, private!

Take it up on a high point. Look at that! How they walk up a hill.

Look at her big feet!

And now tackling into this salmon. Now, look at that!

Right into it.

Ripping it to pieces.

He's just stripped it. He's just stripped the skin right off.

-Jo, stripped it off like that.

-The skin is their favourite part.

-The only thing they like better...

-Eating the tail now.

The little baby one's not having none.

The mother will get the best of the fish first,

-and then she'll give the scraps to the baby.

-OK.

She's making milk for the cub, so she needs the fish more.

Incredible to watch.

Hard to believe.

Well, well, well! What excitement I've had for this lovely lady, Jo.

I've been trying all my life to see these lovely animals.

Now I've seen them, well, I can't explain how I feel.

It's been wonderful. I've got to thank you, Jo, very, very much

for giving us the opportunity to come and film these lovely animals.

You are so welcome. Nothing could be more fun than taking someone out

-to see the bears that enjoys it as much as you do.

-Thank you.

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