Mountains and Wildlife - Hokkaido Photo Tours

Traveling through the Shiretoko Peninsula on a Hokkaido photo tour that I am leading, in any season is spectacular in no small part due to the amount of wildlife in the region.  The Shiretoko mountain range bisects the peninsula with the highest mountain being Mt. Rausu at 1,661 meters tall (5,450 ft).  As with all times of the year, Hokkaido is home to a wide range of flora and fauna.  At each level of elevation, the type of vegetation and the wildlife it attracts differs.  What I commonly spot on my Hokkaido photo workshop adventures are mixed forests consisting mainly of Japanese oak (Quercus acuta) and Japanese maple (Acer mono) among a mixture of other coniferous trees.  Although Hokkaido is above the Blakiston’s line, a faunal boundary line drawn between two of the four largest islands of Japan: Hokkaido in the north and Honshu, south of it, some scientists consider the Shiretoko Peninsula the dividing line for northern and southern variations of plants.  The nearby Kuril Islands share some of the same vegetation.  The ample vegetation invites Hokkaido wildlife that feed off it, such as the Ezo Sika Deer (Cervus nippon) which I have photographed on many visits to the region.  In fact, the largest herd of sika deer on our planet makes Hokkaido its home.  And I am one of the elite pro photographers who has spotted and photographed the largest herd on our planet.  But this only occurs when the conditions are right, and your workshop leader must know the Hokkaido terrain.  Annually on my Hokkaido wildlife tour, participants and I photograph Ezo sika deer.  Throughout the four seasons I take personal expeditions to the same area, and I would recommend anyone who visits Hokkaido to add them to their photographic itinerary in order to capture once in a lifetime photos.  The Ussuri brown bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus), also known as the grizzly bear, is considered the top of the wildlife hierarchy feeding on herbs, nuts, insects, fish, and mammals as well.  I recently hosted a workshop where a participant was convinced that grizzly bears didn’t call Japan home, but after a quick internet search and me translating several signs warning of grizzly bear danger in our area, this participant had no choice but to succumb to reality.  Any time of year there is a medley of flora, fauna, and wildlife to spot and photograph in Hokkaido. To be perfectly honest, I am not a fan of photographing bears, even during the salmon run, as they are just too big and powerful for me, similar to the Canadian Moose or polar bears, and I have had encounters with all three of them in the wilderness since my childhood.  Being raised as a member of the First Nations people of Canada, the Cree, I have great respect for bears, moose, and all wildlife, and thankfully I have never had to put one down.  A few years back I lost a good friend and mentor who was filming Grizzly bears in Alaska because one turned on him.  He was overconfident in his ability to handle the bears; I have another friend in Africa who has a wildlife refuge, and he plays and swims with lions everyday. So far, he has only received a few scratches.